About — Second Class Letters

We started Second Class Letters after a year of trying to replace weekend flights with trains and long stays. The information we needed existed, but it was scattered across forum threads, outdated timetables and travel copy that never mentioned the cold shower or the six-hour delay.

So we write the version we wanted to read. Every route is broken into legs with hedged journey times. Every budget is a real one, rounded and dated. When something went wrong, we say so, because the mistakes are usually the most useful part.

We do not take sponsored stays, we do not name hotels or restaurants, and we do not publish exact prices or timetables that will be wrong by spring. Check the operator before you book; use us to decide whether the trip is worth booking at all.

We pay for our own tickets. When a route is not worth it, we write that too.

rail routes written up: 41
months in one-month stays: 9
sponsored stays: 0

The writers

Porto, Portugal

Inês Carvalho

Rail and routes editor · Porto, Portugal

Inês plans the overland routes and checks every leg twice. She has crossed Iberia by regional train more times than she can justify and keeps a notebook of station cafés that open before six.

Leeds, UK

Tom Whitlock

Budgets and long stays · Leeds, UK

Tom keeps the spreadsheet. He writes the budget breakdowns, the packing lists and the mistakes column, and has carried the same 38-litre bag through eleven countries.

Belgrade, Serbia

Ana Petrović

Balkans and remote work · Belgrade, Serbia

Ana writes about the Balkans by rail and bus, and about working a full week from rented flats with uneven wifi. She tests every desk setup she recommends for at least a month.

Sapporo, Japan

Mio Takeda

Seasons and cold-weather travel · Sapporo, Japan

Mio covers seasonal travel, mostly the cold kind. She grew up in Asahikawa, writes about Hokkaido winters and northern coasts, and believes in thermal layers more than in weather apps.