Back to Budapest – The Heart of Europe

With a slightly later than planned arrival into Budapest onboard the Kalman Imre sleeper train from Stuttgart, I had stored my bag in one of the luggage lockers at Keleti station and headed to the metro to start my exploration of the city. I had visited the Hungarian capital before, on my first trip following the Covid pandemic but I’ve always thought that I hadn’t really done the city justice as the travel bug didn’t seem to reignite until I reached the second city on that trip, Bratislava. So, as I made my way to St. Stephen's Basilica where the walking tour I had booked onto would start, I was looking forward to giving Budapest the second chance it deserved.

Stuttgart to Budapest Keleti – OBB/MAV EuroNight Sleeper ‘Kalman Imre’

With 24 hours in the German city of Stuttgart under my belt, it was time to continue onwards with my Meander to Moldova. The third train of the trip would be taking me across Germany, through Austria and into Hungary, with the Hungarian capital Budapest being my next destination. Sleeper trains have become a key part of my January adventures over the years, and this year would be no different with this overnight journey from Stuttgart being the first of three sleeper trains of the trip

Stuttgart – The Swabian Metropolis

Having arrived in Stuttgart over an hour later than planned onboard an TGV service from Paris, I was immediately confronted by the giant building site that is Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof as is undergoes transformation through the ‘Stuttgart 21’ project. Unfortunately, this means that there is a very limited concourse area at the end of the platforms, and it is a 10 or so minute walk around the edge of the building site to reach the S-bahn station. Whilst it seems the works will greatly improve the station, both operationally and from the passenger point of view, the current arrangement really isn’t giving the greatest first impression of the city.

Paris Gare de L’Est to Stuttgart – SNCF/DB in 1st Class

Having started my Meander to Moldova with a Eurostar service southward from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord, it was time to begin heading east. The next leg of my trip, a 3 hour 20-minute TGV journey, would take me from the French capital to Stuttgart, my first overnight stop where I’d spend around 27 hours before continuing onwards towards Moldova. And so, having made the easy 5-minute walk from Gare du Nord to Gare de L’Est, I arrived at the latter around 35 minutes before my train was due to depart.

London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord – Eurostar in Eurostar Plus

With the Christmas and New Year festivities having come to an end, the start of January saw me preparing for my first trip of 2026 and, in keeping with tradition, this one was a proper adventure. For previous January trips I had ticked off (Not Quite) All the Small Things and Snoozed my way to Split, so my 2026 trip needed to be as much of an adventure if not more than the trips that had come before. So, for this January trip, I would be Meandering to Moldova, via France; Germany; Austria; Hungary; and Romania with the trip, as always, starting at London’s St Pancras International.

Munich to London Heathrow – British Airways in Euro Traveller

Having enjoyed a great long weekend exploring Munich and its multitude of Christmas markets, it was time to head home. Our return flight was back to London Heathrow, once again with British Airways (BA) in Euro Traveller and so after a 40–45-minute S-bahn ride from the city centre, we headed towards the BA check-in. We’d got to Terminal 1 just over two hours before our flight, around 1345, and I was glad we had as it was quite a walk from the S-bahn station to the check-in and bag drop in zone A, before then heading back to security in zone B.