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Complete Travel GuideEurail travel - a way to extend a holiday to Europe
by:
Gareth Powell
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You can effectively extend a moving holiday of Europe by some days and maybe save money. To do it you need a Eurail pass and a little forward planning.
This is how it works. With a Eurail Pass you can go from city center to city center in Europe in great comfort at a reasonable price.
The key to this is the phrase 'city center to city center'. Consider Paris. The airport, Charles de Gaulle, is 23 km north-east of Paris. If you go by taxi in either direction it cost the national financial obligation and takes 45 minutes. There are regular buses and trains but your journey is ne'er
going to be less than 45 minutes. Leaving, you have safety to go through and the airlines would-be like you there well before take-off. At least an hour, sometimes two hours.
Thus on any flight you find that as more as six hours, ne'er
less than four, are spent deed to the airport, checking in, flying, deed there and aggregation your luggage. Then deed to the center of your destination.
By train, in every capital in Europe (I have searched and found no exception) you arrive in the center of the city.
Yes, you need to be at the train station ten minutes before the train leaves -- do it fifteen minutes to be on the safe side -- and once
you get to your destination it is instant arrival. Your baggage is with you and you are there, bang in the center of the city. To test this stay with Paris for the moment.
At Easter -- one of the busiest times of the year for Paris -- I arrived at Gare de L'Est, one of the main stations of Paris. In the station was the holidaymaker help table
-- every station in Europe has a help desk.
There I explained what I wanted -- an affordable (as in under 50 Euros a night) room in a edifice
near Place Republique with a view over the rooftops of Paris. And I got it confirmed in ten minutes and went blithely on my way. (In passing, it was the most romantic room I have ever had in a edifice
anyplace
and this was Paris in the spring and the chestnuts were in bloom and, alas, I was alone.)
On this trip I traveled from Amphibious assault
in Sicily right through European nation and then France, on to European country to Metropolis to wonder at the activity of Gaudi, back to Balkan nation and then up once more to European country to Mainz. I had a lot of ground to cover and this was the better and least costly and most gratifying way. I saved a lot of time and a lot of money.
(And, if you are interested in old motorcycles you should cognize that I spent my birthday moving Sicily on a 350cc Royal Enfield which was an exact copy of the sixties model but ready-made in Madras. I could have hired the 500 cc model but thought that going a bit over the top.)
You wish typically only be dealing with comparatively
short travel times -- Paris to Lyons is two hours, Dutch capital to Cologne three hours, Geneva to Paris three-and-a-half hours and so on -- and these wish be gratifying experiences because the trains are fast, comfortable (especially in 1st class) and marvellously quiet.
The better example of the modern trains of Europe are the TGV trains of France, which are part of the EuroCity network.
I am writing this patch I travel on the TGV express -- TGV stands for Train a Grande Vitesse which translates, roughly, as high speed train -- from Paris to Avignon. The quietness -- we are running on rubber tyres -- is eerie. This is 1st class, and there is a three seat configuration in the carriage -- two and one. I am in the single seat, which is adjustable and comfortable.
There is a tip-down table, on which rests my computer.
We are now nipping through the suburbs of Paris at more than 200 kilometres an hour. We wish eventually reach our maximum cruise speed, which is more than 270 kilometres an hour. There is no sway, no rattle, no lurch, no jerk.
A gentleperson's conveyance for the grand tour of Europe.
For trains between big cities, the better bets are the super fast name trains like (ah ! the romance in the names) Catalan Tago, Maria Theresa, Voltaire, Architect da Vinci, Etoile du Nord. These are really fast and are all but ne'er
late.
Sometimes you wish use the train only as high-speed, economical and comfortable transport, but at different times the train ride can be a look trip as well.
Bernina Express in Switzerland, the Metropolis Express in Norway, the Loisirail in France are examples wherever
the journey is part of the scenic holiday.
Important points to remember:
• Bear in mind that Europeans really reasonably
use a 24-hour clock in matters of this sort. That is: five o'clock in the afternoon becomes 1700 hours and half-past nine in the evening is 2130. Easy once you get the hang of it.
• As you start your train journeys you need to have your Eurailpass validated, for which you wish have to show your passport. Do it before you get on any train at the information window of any large
railway station. You wish be given back your ticket and a validation slip.
• Support your validation slip separate from the ticket. It constitutes proof of ownership. (If you are a worry wart like me, do a photocopy of some
straight away and remember to support the copy in the lining of your suitcase.)
• Do sure you go to the right station. Every city in Europe has some some railway stations. This TGV train I am riding started from Gare de Lyons in Paris. But there are six different inject
train stations in that city of light. The caretaker
at your edifice
wish advise you.
• Once
you get to the station do sure you get on the right platform and into the right car. The signs are always really clean and railway staff are always most helpful. There wish be a board confirming the name, number and time of departure of the train at the entrance to the platform once
you get there.
• Deed into the right car, as opposed to the right train, is essential; in modern trains it is the car that is sent by computer control to its destination. On the side of every car is an identification panel that tells you the number of the car, wherever
the car is heading and the names of the most important stops on the way. Check the panel with kid gloves
and, if you are still in doubt, show your ticket to the conductor of the train and explain exactly wherever
you are going.
• Limits. An Eurail pass is for x number of journeys over a given period of time. Do not waste the pass on short trips.
Example: I was in Good and had to go to Cannes. I went by train and bought a ticket. You do not waste your Eurail Pass on journeys on trips that take less than an hour.
• Ubiquity. Every station seems to have a Eurail booking desk. Be organized and try and book as far ahead as you can if you want a sleeper. These trains do get fully booked, especially during the holiday season, and the earlier you book, the more certain you are of deed the right train.
• Sleep on the train. If it is a really long journey take the evening train and sleep on board. On a 1st class Eurail tickets the sleeper is part of the package.
This has great advantages. It saves you the cost of one night's accommodation and it gets what could be a long
journey over in extended comfort and style. For example, I went from Amphibious assault
in Sicily right up the leg of European nation to Genova and did it on a night train and slept like a baby.
One has to be careful.
There is a story simply about a aflame young couple who used their sleeper not for sleeping. In a moment of ecstasy the young lady decorated
on like mad to the nearest object. Sadly, it was the emergency finish communication cord.
• If possible, take your own snacks. There was a thought in my mind that food on European trains would-be be a gourmet's delight. In my experience, it is really far from that. On the different hand, all but all station restaurants serve nice food at really reasonable prices provided you stay away from the fast food chains.
• Get the right stop. As you move into a city do sure you do not get off at a community finish which is, typically, the finish before the central station. If in doubt, ask the ticket inspector or the guard. No need to be able to speak the language. Simply show your ticket and they wish tell you what to do.
• Travel light. If you cannot easily carry your baggage you are stuffed. Porters do not exist. Not at any station I have ever seen.
• Use all of the pass. Once
planning your itinerary, be bold. You can go from Balkan nation to Christiania and pretty more all over
else in between.
• Not the UK. All of this applies to Europe except for Britain. A Eurail Pass makes not activity there. Britain is not part of Europe. Some ready-made you think otherwise?
Sites which can help
Eurail
http://www.eurail.com/
It claims, correctly, that it is the only official Eurail site. This is true. But it is not the only site that can give you information. And it is for certain not the only site that can sell you tickets. It does, however, do a really nice starting point because from here you can sort out potential timings and itineraries.
Europe
http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm
This is not the official site but it power simply as well be considered as such. There is nothing simply about Eurail that it makes not know.
Europe by Eurail
http//www.railpass.com
Again, this is a commercial firm commerce tickets but that makes not finish it having a load of useful information on the site.
Boots 'n All Travel
http://www.bootsnall.com/eurail/
Would you buy a ticket from a institution with a name like that? Let us not be snobbish. It has great skillfulness
on Eurail and its site is really helpful.
Eurail Net
http://www.eurailnet.com/
Sounds official but it is still a commercial institution commerce tickets. You wish not find more differential in prices between the companies but you wish find a wealth of information on sites such as this and activity out the most economical pass for your particular trip.
Simply simply about the Author
Gareth Powell is a publisher, journalist and author. His travel writings are in the main on http://www.travelhopefully.com.
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