There’s something deeply romantic about train journeys. In a fast-paced world where the skies are dotted with aeroplanes and air traffic has become the norm, the nostalgic appeal of trains can hardly be denied.

Travelling by train has been a tradition for decades across the world. Whether you're commuting, going on a weekend away or further afield then travelling by rail travel is a popular way of getting around.

To mark the International Day of Peace, we look at some of the famous war zones that have become landmarks worth exploring.

After spending time in Al Capone’s prison cell, tracing the footsteps of 60s hippies at Woodstock, and discovering the eerily beautiful Luray Caverns, Billy Connolly is back to round off his epic journey along the 18th-century Scots’ migratory trail through America.

In the 2nd episode of his immersive travelogue, Billy Connolly plays Hank Williams’ old guitar, visits the infamous penitentiary which housed Al Capone, and discovers that the Scots brought football to the USA.

The three-part series is an epic travelogue that sees the famous comedian travelling through the United States of America, taking the migratory trail that Scots took in the 18th century.

In some respects, Dorothy was right - there really is no place like home.

This March 8th, in honour of National Women's Day, we are celebrating the role women have played over the generations in the creation and maintenance of our railways.

What can be said about Scotland? For one, the scenery (providing it’s not so misty you can’t see the hand in front of your face) in this wild corner of the world can never just be ‘nice’ or ‘pretty’, it can only ever be breathtakingly dramatic, awe-inspiring, and slightly ominous, and you can see all of it in its disconcerting glory through its vast selection of rail journeys.

Whether you read a chapter or two each night to your children, or grandchildren, or enjoyed secretly devouring page after page by wand light, er of course I mean lamp light; the Harry Potter novels and later film franchise, are sure to have had some kind of impact on most denizens of Britain’s green and pleasant lands. With its messages of tolerance, bumbling wizards inhabiting tumbledown cottages, filled with eclectic and magically misbehaved nick-knacks, and scenic descriptions of swathey Scottish landscapes, it’s obvious to any discerning reader that good old Blighty is almost as much a leading character throughout all seven books as Harry himself.

How many of us have wanted to walk straight into the pages of our favourite books? While it might not be possible quite yet to experience the lives of the fictional heroes and heroines we’ve walked side by side through life with for a little while, and sometimes who’d want to (think of just about any character from a Stephen King novel).

Over the past decade, the choice and variety for vegetarians wanting to eat out has boomed – it’s not just stuffed peppers and goats cheese tartlets anymore! But there are some destinations that seem heaven sent for those keeping to a meat-free diet, places where local delicacies cater more to a vegie palate than any other and where it may even be the meat eaters who are in the minority! So here are 5 of the expected and the unexpected when it comes to global vegetarian hotspots.