Dear Readers,
The origin of this blog post takes us back almost 3 years ago. That’s when I first got in touch with Savannah Grace Book (aka @Sihpromatum) and a few months later I met for the first time when she visited me with her mom, Maggie.
You can read about that super fun visit here:
3 Women, 3 Cities, 3 Days - Fun in Finland!
Savannah lives in Holland and since we got along like house on fire the moment we started chatting, it was obvious that we need to meet again after she visited me with her mom, Maggie. They kept inviting me to Holland and turned out that this spring 2017 will be the spring when I actually make a life long dream to come true and visiting them will be a part of it.
I HAD A DREAM...
As long as I can remember, there’s been this Interrail train ticket system in Europe.
When I was a teenager, many of my friends did a 30-day trip railway tour to Europe. Well, I went to Australia instead, both great options, just a little different. But there's something about Europe's countryside and nature that cannot be compared and the more I heard about it the more I wanted to explore it myself. When I was 9, my mom visited Italy with her friends. I took her to the airport with my dad, and I remember dreaming that one day when I grow up, I will travel too. And I certainly have.
However, I have yet to experience what it's like to travel through Europe by train so I decided that now is a perfect time to do that. The first part of my trip was to visit Savannah in Holland, you can read about that here:
Happy Days in Holland, visiting Savannah
..and after that, it was time to go for the great Interrail adventure, which I will call #MiaGoesEurope tour.
But before we get there I tell you more about what is this Interrail/Eurail ticket system, and how it all works.
In order to avoid this writing to become too boring, along the way, I will tell you some very educational stories and examples (cursived text) in regards my MiaGoesEurope trip (i.e. how things went not quite as planned) and give you tips (i.e. how to avoid my mistakes) so that if/when you decide to go for your tour, you don't need to learn all this the hard way.
Trust me, there will be some learning curves and bumps on the road (even when traveling on railways!) but hey, those are the salt and pepper of traveling so be it!
Lucky for you, I made the mistakes, and learned heaps from them and now you get to learn all the important things upfront - trust me, it's much more convenient this way!
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| A view from the train somewhere on my way to Madrid... |
PLANNING AND EXECUTION
At first, I had to decide a couple of things; solo or group travel. I chose to travel solo, like I do most of my trips. That gives me the kind of sense of freedom and independence that I wouldn't get if I traveled as part of a group.
Another thing I had to decide was the timing of my journey. I decided to depart in April as that's when the spring has already arrived, weather is warm but not too hot or too cold (well, at least that's what I thought...).
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| Somewhere in Austria - view from the moving train... |
My goal was to visit 10 countries in the following order; starting Finland, then visit Savannah in Holland and then continue through Europe as follows: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, and Spain.
TIP 1
Website & App
For planning the trip I used two separate sites and apps as not all train companies and bus companies share all their schedules on all sites.
So, on the Internet, I always checked the train and bus time tables at www.goeuro.com and I also downloaded Rail Planner App to be used on my mobile phone as this app works also offline (after you've searched your schedule once online, it uploads all the necessary info so you don't need wifi in order to browse your route options - which I think is brilliant!).
I still used goeuro.com for buses as via that site I was able to purchase bus tickets directly.
It also helps you to visualize your train trip on an interactive map, which makes it easier to understand your actual location (present and upcoming).
Further, when you search for schedules and routes, you should save the results as "Favorites", so you can always return to your search results later.
IMPORTANT info
Some trains require for you to purchase an actual seat ticket so always check out those Rail Planner search results and see if it says "Reservation compulsory." (I will tell you later what to do if it does!)
INTERRAIL / EURRAIL TICKETS; basic information:
The Interrail Pass is basically a train ticket that allows you to travel on almost all trains in Europe. With it, you get access to most railway and ferry companies in 30 countries.
The Interrail Pass is for European citizens.
You can read more from here:
INTERRAIL TICKET INFO for European citizens (click here to open)
However, if you are interested in focusing on one particular country, you can choose One Country Pass.
The Eurail Pass is the corresponding ticket type for non-European citizens.
If you are not a European citizen but you can prove that you reside in Europe, you can also choose to use an Interrail Pass.
You may read more from here:
EURAIL TICKET INFO to non-European citizens (click here to open)
NOTE: There are special offers to for example youths and seniors, so if you are one, make sure you check them out!
TIP 2
Luxury & safety
If you want some luxury to your train travels, you can choose a 1st class ticket, which I did, due to the fact that I was traveling alone and for example going to a toilet was much easier as I was able to leave my luggage behind and just ask a fellow traveler to look after them. When you travel solo, you need to think of such things. Trust me, if you travel with 20 kg backpack, you don’t want to take it with you to train’s toilet (it simply doesn’t fit – or it fits in, you won’t!)
Here are some ideas of how different the trains can be so don't expect too much and you may be pleasantly surprised. The difference between the 1st class and economy can be next to nothing or it can make all the difference in the world, for example on Thalys trains they serve you meals, and it feels a little like business class on the (cheaper) plane.
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| Note SAVANNAH GRACE'S BOOK HERE, on the 2nd pic - awesome memoir for travel reading! |
You can choose either “Flexi Pass” or “Continuous Pass”.
If you travel with the Flexi pass you can travel on any day of your choise during the overall validity. The number of said days depends on the pass you choose.
If you choose the Continuous pass (please, note that this option is only available for Interrail Global Pass only) you can travel on every day within the validity of your pass, for example, if you have a 15-day pass, you can travel every day.
I chose the Flexi option because I wanted to be able to travel only on those 7 days within a 30 day period as I knew that there were places I wanted to stay longer at (for example places in Italy & Spain) so it would have been waste of money to pay for the Continuous pass and not travel on daily basis.
IMPORTANT info
How to get the tickets?
You can either purchase your Interrail/Eurail ticket from your own railway station (if there's an international sales desk) or order it from www.interrail.eu
Since I decided the dates of my trip so late, my only option was to buy the ticket from our Helsinki railway station. (Major mistake!)
No problems with purchasing the ticket or with getting advice on how to use the actual ticket.
However, at no point did they tell me that since I bought the ticket from them, I couldn’t use the seat reservation system on www.interrail.eu site. This information would have saved me heaps time as I kept trying and trying to book seats via the said site, even with Savannah in Holland, with no luck
Major frustration - also known as a major learning curve...
To be honest, this annoyed the living daylight out of me as when being somewhere in Europe, finally figuring out which train to take as you just missed your train or had to change your original plans and need to re-route your route etc. you then realize that you actually need a seat reservation since this particular train requires it.
However, since you don’t have a proper booking number (as numbers are different if you buy your ticket from the local station versus online as online ticket sales is its own company) so you can’t book any seats online.
(Post Scriptum: There may be ways to go around this nowadays, for everyone's sake, I hope there is, but at least when I did this for the 1st time in spring 2017 there wasn't.)
What it means is that you either need to call to some call center (wait for an hour on a phone line, like I did and in the worst case scenario pay crazy numbers for your mobile phone operator as they charge extra for foreign phone calls) or need to go to the ticket sales desk at the station. And take it from someone who knows, in larger train stations this was quite stressful, you see, the queues can be very long, like 30 people before you... And, when you’re in a hurry, so tired that you're moving your feet purely with will power because that's all you have left you really don't want to think about some seat ticket. ...It’s hot as hell and you have 20 kg backpack on your back and you have 5 minutes left, and now idea which counters to go to.. and once again you certainly wish you had ordered your ticket online and was able to book your seats online as well.
Let's take Barcelona for example;
I was left on the bus stop (stupid of me to believe the bus driver when he said it's 5 minutes' walk to the train station). It was +35 C outside, no wind, no water left and I knew that the last train to my next destination would depart approximately within an hour. Ok, no problem, 5 minutes by foot. Yeah, right. Nope.
With that heavy backpack, my 7-8 kg duffel bag, the heat, dehydration... it took good 30 minutes to walk that 1,5 km to the train station! I felt like I had come to an oasis once I saw the building. Little did I know. (At this point the battery of my phone had died so I wasn't sure of the time and it turned out that I have about 15 minutes to make it to the last train to Alicante.)
I knew that this particular train requires a separate seat ticket (for both the economy and the 1st class cars and you can't enter the platform area without one). Here comes the tricky part; Not even the train station travelers’ guides who walked around helping people didn’t know where to guide me; to which counter or office in order to get such ticket.
Finally, I figured it out - myself. At this point sweating like a sinner in a church, barely able to stand with my shaky legs, dragging my backpack along.. I finally got my seat ticket, at which point I had 3 minutes to make it through the security check and run to the right platform and the moment I stepped in, the train left. Luckily I was in the 1st class so all I had to do was decide what to have from the trolleys the staff pushed around. Very, very cold Coca Cola Zero, por favor. And some very, very salty potato chips. Healthy? No. Necessary? Heck yes!
SERIOUSLY, LESSON LEARNED.
TIP 3
Online or personally
Purchase your tickets online and on time. It takes 3 business days (via DHL) AND IS TOTALLY WORTH IT! (Make sure you check all the necessary info from your service provider as the terms may have changed!).
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| One very tired traveler... |
So here’s how it all works
Once you’ve actually received the paper ticket, you need to be very careful with it.
A) it’s personal and your passport/identification info is in it – make sure it’s correct when you purchase your ticket - information cannot be corrected afterward and information on the ticket must be corresponding to your identification (passport).
B) You can’t travel without the actual ticket.
C) All the proper markings; i.e. traveling dates, routes, stations and times need to be added
BEFORE you enter the train - no exceptions allowed.
D) If you don’t do what was told above, you may get a fine of 200 EUR.
E) If you make a writing error with for example dates, it cannot be fixed. You need to add another day and if you have a limited amount of days to travel, you may lose one day with only this one error you made. For example, you were supposed to write 24/06/2017 and you end up writing 25/06/2017, so you spend two days even if you only travel on that accurate date; 25th.
General Advice and Instructions
Prepare yourself for delays. Don’t make your schedule so tight that if one train is delayed, you miss your hotel bookings etc. Trains are OFTEN late!
If you want to feel a bit more secure pay some extra and get 1st class Interrail Pass. I think it was definitely worth it. Yes, you may also need to pay extra for 1st class seats for some trains, for example in Holland, Belgium, Spain, and Italy but that first class traveling is very pleasant compared to some 2nd class train cars.
Ok, it's not airplane’s business or 1st class, but it certainly is nice just to sit down and get your breakfast served etc. Further, you can’t get into all 1st class train cars if you don’t have 1st class tickets so the possibility of bumping into a pickpocket or a thief is much smaller!
If you are traveling in these countries as an Interrail Pass holder, please, make sure to check out this info DETAILED INFO FOR FRANCE, ITALY & SPAIN (click this to open)(I admit, I found about this once it was too late, and it caused me some trouble on the way, but again, I don’t really care now that I think about it. It was another learning curve and now I know better.)
Thello trains (Paris to Milan and Venice) are displayed as EN and is not included in the Interrail pass, but you get 25 % discount on full fare ticket. These trains are listed as follows: Paris – Milan/Venice: EN 221, and Venice/Milan – Paris: EN 220
So if you travel a direct night train that departs after 7 pm and arrives at its final stop after 4 am, you only spend one day even though it starts before midnight and ends after. (Obviously, the travel day begins from 00:01 on the first day of your pass’ validity, for example, if your pass is valid from 1 June 2017 until 15 June 2017, you can’t get into the train at 7.05 pm the previous night.)
TIP 4
Carrying on
Don't over pack.
Why? It's the train that transfers your bags, right? Wrong.
Even if you are strong, and your backpack is light, there may be much more steps to go up and down than you originally anticipated. Yes, there are lifts at railway stations but at least 50 % of them were out of order, which meant that on a very hot day stairs such as these were quite a challenge, not if there were only one set of stairs but, for example, at one station I had to walk up and down such stairs 6 times and between buildings and across the street etc. So don't over poverpackI always do, regardless of my own advice!)
TIP 5
Weather
Take potential weather condition changes into account when traveling a long route that involves many consecutive trains.
Why?
Well, for example in Holland it was +32 C when I left Savannah's house. One day later I arrived at Mannheim station in Germany around 8 pm just to realize that the weather had turned drastically to colder temperatures (even though Mannheim should be much warmer as geographically is more south than Alkmaar). My train was supposed to depart from Mannheim around 11 pm. Turned out it was delayed. A lot. For almost 4 hrs due to power failure hundreds of kilometers prior Mannheim. All the shops and restaurants in the station were closed. There were no indoor areas for us who waited for the delayed train. The temperature dropped all the way to +3 C and with the wind factor, it felt as if it was sub-zero. There was a youngish (around 20 yo) Brazilian couple and elderly German couple (around 70 yo) and I at the station. We did not share a language, but we were all in the same boat - well, actually same station, sharing the same, brutal weather conditions. I literally wore every single long sleeved cloth I had in my backpack, I had 2 pairs of leggings and my jeans on, and my scarf, hoodie and a beanie and I was still freezing! I had no energy left as I thought at this point I would be sitting on the train's 1st class and drinking hot tea and eating dinner... well, I wasn't. We heard distant Turkish music somewhere and desperation started to take over...so I decided to get active and got us all moving. It was an improvised train station dance exercise activation class in order to save us all from hypothermia. I have to admit, despite the fact that I couldn't feel my fingers and my toes were ready to run away and leave me there, we all smiled, laughed and had fun. They probably thought that they better do what that wild, crazy Finn tells them, otherwise, they either freeze or I freeze. Either way, we all felt saved by the whistle when we heard the train whistling from the far. It finally arrived almost at 3 am. I don't know if I'm ever been that tired. Execpt when I got to Zagreb after some twists and turns...
TIP 6
Expect the unexpected
There may be some railway construction work going on or there may even not be railways on some legs and yet you have a train ticket. Don't panic. Ask. If you don't share a language with train conductors or officers, ask other passengers to translate - people are much more helpful than you'd think.
For example,
From Luxembourg to Saarbrücken my Rail Planner said: Train.
As clear is it can be. Except that it wasn't. Turned out that in Luxembourg I have to take a bus. Now I'm confused. I have a seat ticket with a train clearly indicated... So I had to go to the ticket office, which luckily was still open for about 10 more minutes! Turned out that it was sufficient enough for the officer to simply handwrite; "
Another example:
I left Munich in the morning thinking that I only have to change trains in Villach and my next stop would be Zagreb. Easy, child's play.
I was worried as I only had 8 minutes in Villach and I asked the conductor if that's enough. He laughed and said, yes, it, sure is. There are two sets of rails there and this train is on the other set and the other train is right next to this one. I thought; great. Finally, something goes as planned. Ok, you probably think you know what happened next? I bet you guessed wrong.
The train arrived at Villach on time, and the next train was about to arrive at the station. Could it really go as smoothly as it seems?
Suddenly, I think I hear the German train conductors talking about a bus transfer and referring us, the passengers. I wasn't sure if I understood correctly, after all, my German is not that good (ok, it's terrible). So I approached two couples that were waiting to enter to the same 1st class car with me and asked if they spoke English and if any of them spoke German as well. Luckily 2 of them did both. So I asked them if they knew anything about some bus transfer. They said no and looked probably as confused as I felt.
I asked if they could talk to conductors, maybe I just misunderstood it.
Whoop whoop! I actually didn't! I still knew some German. That was good news.
The bad news (almost) was that had I not asked this, who knows what would have happened. It turned out that the train takes us only a few stops further and then we will get transferred by bus to some station from which we continue by the train again, due to some construction work.
Ok, the train got to that next station (I forgot its name), we got off the train.
However, there were no signs, no guidance. We all just started walking towards the station building, we walked through the building and there were 2 buses waiting for us. Yes, well organized!
People started to get in. Again, some traveler's instinct told me to ask before acting. So I asked if that bus was going to the station I was supposed to go to in order to continue to Zagreb. Oops, no. This bus was going to a totally different direction - neither bus had signs or guides! How in the world did all those people get to wherever they were going?
I don't know but I'm sure not everyone ended up in the right place!
I got to the city I was supposed to (because I asked, with my horrible German!), but the bus dropped all the passengers off at the bus stop which was quite far from the terminal and the weather was freezing and on top of that it was now pouring, it really was more like a storm than just rain. I found out that the temperature was +10 C (late April, you'd think something else in southern Austria, especially since there was a heat wave in Europe only days ago).
Ok, so now what. There was no one to tell where to go next. I finally figured it out, platform (Bahnsteig) 8. So I started walking, down the stairs, up the stairs, down and up again....and the last steps I ran when I finally saw number 8.
I confess I tried to run, but I was way too tired already, at this point my journey had lasted I think 32 hrs in total. According to the timetable, the train was about to depart already.
Was there a train? No. Was it freezing out there? Yes. Was I wet? Yes!
Again, I pulled out all the dry clothes I had, put them on and an hour later the train arrived. Yay! Only 2 hrs and I'd be in Croatia, that's a warm country right? So many people from Finland go there for summer holidays... Haha, Mr. Murphy had his fun with me. It was raining cats and dogs when I got to Zagreb. I had luckily managed to book myself a hotel so I took a taxi and drove to the lovely Palace hotel. I ordered some chicken, rice and veggies to my room and I was so tired that after my shower I stayed awake only to eat half a meal. Woke up at midnight, ate the rest and fell asleep again.
(By the way, as simple as the meal looked, it was really, really tasty!!)
Change of Plans
Be ready and willing to change your plans and prepare yourself for some cultural differences.
When I woke up in the morning, at 6 am in Zagreb, the weather seemed equally bad as the day before. I've had it up to my last dry cloth this wet, stormy weather so instead of staying in Zagreb for a few days I decided to leave the same day. Whereto? Depends on what the weather forecast says. It looked like it would be beautiful in Italy, so Italy it is. Andiamo!
And since by train it would have taken more than half a day to get to Trieste, I decided to choose Flix bus instead. It had wifi, a toilet and it went via Ljubljana so I got to see it too!
By the time I got to the bus, the rain was gone and I got to enjoy the views.
Once we got to Croatian/Slovenian border, there was a passport control there and we all had to step out of the bus in order to go to the border control. For some reason, I always find them intriguing. Some people were very frustrated due to long queue but I didn't mind. With all the traveling experience I understand that it is all for our own safety.
So, the bus started to approach Italy, wow, Trieste looked amazing! I couldn't wait to feel the warm sun...
BUT... there was no wifi anywhere near the train station and I didn't have enough time to decide whether I choose Venice or Verona so I ended up arriving at Trieste without any place to stay. For some reason staying in Trieste didn't feel appealing.
The only hotel I remembered near Verona, to which I felt I had to go was a hotel called "Art" something. So I decided to make a quick phone call and called my (adult) son back home as phone calls at that time were much cheaper than roaming. So I asked him to book me a room for 2 nights to this "Art" hotel near Verona and send me booking details via txt message as I didn't know if I would get any internet before actually getting to the hotel.
With my maybe 20 words of Italian I found out that next train to Verona would depart via Venice in 30 min so I decided to go for it as I really just wanted to get to a hotel and relax, stay still for a while, get freshened up, put on some nicer clothes, get proper, luxury service and nice meals....
Being without internet connection turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I truly fell in love with Byblos Art Hotel Villa Àmista and ended up cooperating with them - it was an amazing place that I can warmly recommend to anyone and any time! The entire hotel is one ongoing exhibition and the art as well as the design is splendid!
You may read my story of that magical hotel here:
Magical Byblos Art Hotel Villa Amista
After my stay at Byblos I decided to stay in Verona area for a bit longer, and ended up booking a wonderful Air Bnb for a week, in the middle of the old town, wonderful location in an incredible town! Can't wait to return! However, I enjoyed it so much that this story deserves its own blog post at some point...
This was my first visit to Italy and I absolutely fell in love with it and I know for a fact that I will return!
TIP 8
Check it out!
When you plan your routes, check, double check and triple check everything and prepare yourself for unexpected incidents. They always occur. Sooner or later. Don't stress.
But again: Check
Whether seating ticket is required.
Whether there are legs that will be operated by bus even though the schedule says "Train".
Whether the 1st class is at the end of the train or the first car of the train.
Whether your ticket is actually even valid with said train company.
If your instinct says something's off, it probably is. Asking has never hurt anyone. Being stubborn and not asking has, for sure.
TIP 9
Lights out
Always carry a flashlight. You never know when you end up in a situation where you literally see nothing.
What do I mean?
Well, my train left Villach and I was walking towards my cabin when suddenly the train entered a tunnel and complete darkness took over the train. There were NO lights inside the train. Imagine walking inside a moving train in complete darkness with a backpack on and having no clue what's ahead. Not fun. Not at all. Exciting yes. Safe? No.
TIP 10
Attitude
Stay positive. Things will always work out - eventually. If you get lost, it's an adventure. If you get wet, you will appreciate warm, dry clothes. If you miss your train, you might end up into the next one wherein you will meet awesome traveling company...
Live, love, laugh - you are blessed, you are traveling!
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I hope all of the above has been useful to you and that you have enjoyed my adventures. For your information, there will be 4 #MiaGoesEurope trips in total so stay tuned.
As you all know by now, my journeys rarely lack action, so get your popcorns ready!
I absolutely loved my train tour through Europe, its landscape is fantastic, unique, constantly changing and breathtakingly beautiful - a lot to photograph, although moving train and dirty windows set their challenges, but you know it, I know it, in my opinion, challenges are only opportunities given to us in order to show what you're really made of so I do my best regardless and at all times. That's all I can do, that's all I promise to do.
Friends, think positive and positive things will happen!
With love,
Mia 💖
p.s. If you have any questions, feel free to ask with the contact or comment form or via my social media accounts. I'm always happy to help, whether it's about my Europe, Asia or Finland journeys, hotel consulting work, social media tasks etc.
I also organize accommodations, excursions, meals, tours, media trips etc. in Lapland so don't hesitate to ask for guidance and assistance if you need any help - also, feel free to recommend my services to any friends who plan on visiting my beautiful Finland, and Lapland in particular.
