Sustainable Travel: More Adventures on the Wheels of Steel

Following his sustainable academic travel adventure to Zagreb in Croatia, Dr Patrick Quinn has stuck with his self-imposed European no-fly zone for work and pleasure.

Author: Dr Patrick Quinn, Principal Research Fellow in Archaeology

Low carbon travel across Europe

Last year, Principal Research Fellow in Archaeology and departmental Green Champion Dr Patrick Quinn challenged himself to take a sustainable and low-carbon journey to an academic conference in Zagreb, Croatia, and travelled 22 hours by train. This journey had five times less the carbon footprint than if he had taken a flight – saving over 400kg of CO₂!  

This time, he’s made his furthest trip yet – getting out to Greece and back without flying, for a research project on ancient stone anchors earlier this year. After taking the train from London to Bari in Italy, he boarded an overnight ferry across the Adriatic to Patras, before visiting museums in Athens and Volos. This summer, Patrick also travelled to Copenhagen by train from London in a day, via Brussels, Cologne, and Hamburg. This included a chance encounter with TV train travel guru Michael Portillo. His most recent trip saw him visit two museums in southern Italy using the Italian high speed ‘Frecciarossa’ service, and stopping overnight in Milan. 

Though these journeys require more planning than a short-haul flight, and unfortunately cost more, they have significantly less environmental impact than air travel. Patrick uses the extra travel time on the comfortable WI-FI-enabled European trains to catch up on emails, read students’ work, and focus on a specific project. His rail journeys are also an opportunity to take in the culture of several European countries on the way. This gives him a much-needed sense of liberation and freedom, after many months spent in the office or the laboratory. 

UCL's commitment to reducing carbon emissions 

Organisational travel is the third-largest source of carbon emissions at UCL, accounting for 11% of the university’s total emissions in 2019. Through our Positive Climate campaign, we are dedicated to cutting carbon emissions across all areas, including waste, water, the supply chain, travel, and commuting. Since 2018, we have successfully reduced emissions from organisational travel by 46%.  

> Read more about how UCL is supporting sustainable travel for staff and students. 

Planning your own sustainable journey 

European rail journeys and even ferries can be booked via UCL's travel partner Clarity. Advice on planning journeys is available through the excellent Man in Seat 61 website and the Inter-Rail Travel Planner. Patrick is also happy to share his tips and experiences with UCL staff and researchers wishing to make similar journeys. 

Inspired by Patrick’s story and want to explore low carbon travel yourself?  

• Low-carbon travel resources; 
• Carbon emissions calculator; 
• Sustainable train travel; 
• Tips for being sustainable when flying. 

Tell us your story! 

> Contact us at sustainableucl@ucl.ac.uk.