Train travel (and booking tickets) in Europe

I've been doing more planning for my big trip this summer.  I land in Munich, and my first stop after that will be Salzburg, Austria.  I've been researching both bus and train routes, pricing, seating options, etc. for a while now.  While I originally had my mind set to take the bus to Salzburg, I've since changed my mind.  On many of the travel blogs that I read and different discussions I frequent, the consensus seems to be that taking the train has a much more scenic route.  So, while the train will be a bit more money, I'm willing to spend it for the views.  Prior to this upcoming trip, I've only used trains in the UK and France, so I'm excited to experience train travel in other countries.

Snacks on board a Virgin train in the UK

The planning is also different for me this time because I've gotten quite used to traveling solo, but I'll be traveling with a friend (and fellow scrapper) this time.  That means that pretty much every decision made has to work for both of us.  For instance, she wants to visit the Dachau concentration camp, while I do not.  So, we will likely split up for some of our time in Munich.  However, as far as booking transportation goes, we will be together the whole way.  Once I got confirmation from her that she was on board with taking the train (see what I did there?), I booked our tickets.  I compared several of the direct train websites with GoEuro; the pricing (at least when I looked) was within 1 Euro, so I chose to book with GoEuro.

The Eurostar train I took between England and France

There are some things to keep in mind about train travel in Europe.  First, it is much more common in Europe than it is in the United States.  We just don't have the same kind of infrastructure here; Amtrak is really the only major option for train travel, and those routes don't go everywhere.  In Europe, trains are everywhere!  There are subways/trams in most major cities, plus the long-haul trains that go between cities in various countries.  If you decide to use trains as your primary mode of transportation, many countries also have discount passes that allow you to get the most bang for your buck when you're visiting for more than a few days.  In most cases, you'll get the cheapest fare if you book in advance and if you travel during non-peak times.  If you've got a strict schedule, this may be tougher to do, but I'm usually able to make it work by planning accordingly.  On most trains, there will be options for 1st or 2nd class; 2nd class is just fine, but if you like the idea of having a meal served right to your seat, having free WiFi at a decent speed, and relaxing in roomier seats, then 1st class is the way to go.  For my train journey between Munich and Salzburg, I chose 2nd class, since the trip is under 2 hours. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Using Airbnb as a woman

Image
Today I want to talk about using Airbnb when I travel.  And not just using Airbnb, but specifically using Airbnb as a woman.  It is sad that I have to even think about it that way, but as I live in the real world, there you have it.  When I was first traveling on my own, I stuck with hotels in busy places, as I felt safer and I tended to be closer to city centers.  For most touristy activities in larger cities, that's a great place to be.  However, travelers pay a price for that, and I felt it.  I wanted to be able to put more of my money into actually enjoying a city rather than into a room I'd hardly be in each day.  Enter Airbnb. As a female traveler who often is globetrotting solo, I felt that I had to be smart and careful in my choices with Airbnb options.  For instance, after I do a preliminary/mainly generic search for what I want, I start narrowing down the options. 1)  I look at the owner of the property; I tend to immediately exclude a listing that has only a
Read more

Booking Flights - Part 1

Image
In order to scrap photos from an awesome trip, you first have to get there, right?  Today I'm going to talk about booking flights.  I want to say up front that I am not a travel agent, so the info I'm passing along here is totally from my own trial and error and things I've read/researched over the years. 1.  Managing your research time :  Nobody wants to spend hours and hours looking for flight options on 10 different airlines.  So, I highly suggest using a fare alert tool.  There are quite a few out there, but my favorite is Airfarewatchdog .  It allows you to search for flights right now, but it also gives you the option to set up fare alerts for certain cities/destinations.  I love this feature, as I can just put in several options, save them, and forget about it!  I don't have to really think about it again (unless I want to) until I get the email alerting me that there's a price of interest on the cities I indicated.  Be aware, though, that you can only
Read more

100 Days Project

Image
Have you heard of the 100 Days Project?  If not, you should look into it.  Basically, it means that you commit to doing something for 100 days in a row.  That something can be whatever you want!  Right now, it is quite popular in the crafty world; I follow several Facebook crafty groups that have people participating in it (we started August 1st).  I didn't do it on the last go-round because I wasn't sure I could stick with it, but I decided to take the plunge this time.  I purposely kept my goal vague: Just do something crafty related every day for the 100 days.  As I write this, I've made it through 5 days.  Here's my list of what I've done: 1.  Made the first pocket page for the 2016 Ireland travel album (this was a trip my husband took): 2.  I made a map page for the Ring of Kerry, which will go in the same travel album: 3.  I participated in an online live scrap group via Skype!  This was the first time I've ever done that (I've done it bef
Read more