Back in 1967 when Kathy undertook a year of study at the University of Vienna, Eurail Passes were a common way for non-European visitors to travel around Europe. Kathy used one pass to travel around during the Christmas season – it was too expensive to fly home – and another to travel during spring break. Airline travel was generally reserved for prosperous businessmen and the wealthy.
Such passes are seldom a great deal now, at least for travelers like us. Of course, Youth Passes (12-27) offer a significant discount, but the 60+ Senior Pass isn’t as competitive. One of the main features of a pass is the ability to travel long and short distances spontaneously, and we two seniors no longer seek such spontaneity!
We likewise have no desire to spend a significant amount of our travel time riding on trains, including the cost of paying an extra fee in advance on top of the passes to reserve seats. We’ve seen too many crowded trains to take a chance on pulling our rollaboards awkwardly along the narrow aisles looking for vacant seeats.
We did buy one three-day Eurail pass early in our post-retirement travel days. It served its purpose, but our travels are much more structured now. In fact, we learned a valuable lesson on that trip. Never again would we consider hopping off a train and then seeking out accommodation. We buy train tickets for specific A to B trips, and try to do so well in advance, just as we book our accommodations.
A bonus is that we commonly buy first class seats, a minor luxury, at a cheaper price than the cost of second class tickets purchased closer to the travel date.
We’ve traveled many enjoyable miles on foreign railroads, including France’s TGV, Japan’s Shinkansen Bullet Trains, and Taiwan’s High Speed Rail. Ten years ago we hit 301 kilometers per hour riding on China's MAGLEV train from Shanghai Airport to its first stop.We’ve also flown on a variety of airlines within Europe, as well as in Asia and South America.
Times have changed in many ways, and one of the major influences has been the rise of low-cost European carriers such as easyJet, Ryanair, and Vueling, and the impact they have had on the fares of such traditional airlines as Lufthansa and British Airways.
We learned a long time ago the trick of grabbing a bargain fare to any European destination, for example Frankfurt, because you can almost always find your way economically to the ultimate destination you have in mind, whether by flying or by taking a train.
That brings up the choice we often face: train or plane? (Buses are another option but we have little experience with them, so we’ll set them aside.)
Let’s look at some of the main factors we consider. The first, for us at least, is the relative cost of each. The second is the time each will take. We also have to factor into that the cost and time required to reach the airport and train station at our origin and destination.
An invaluable website that we often check out is Rome 2 Rio. It's described as an "Australian online multimodal transport journey planner" (Whew!). For example, it shows you nine ways to travel from Frankfurt to Paris by plane, train, night train, bus, car, rideshare, and various combinations (everything but hitchhiking!).
Rome 2 Rio shows ferries as well when they are an option for your route. It's actually amazing. Just be aware that its prices can at times be outdated, but it's a great starting point in travel planning.
When you book a flight, make sure you know your exact destination airport. Paris, for example, has two major airports,
Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY). While it’s not difficult to travel
between either airport and Paris, it’s good to know in advance the actual
airport.This is especially true when you have connecting flights. We've been booked into CDG and out of ORY, for example.
That may be one reason flyer nerds like us often use airport codes instead of city names. Rather than flying to London, we’re flying to LCY (London City Airport), LGW (London Gatwick Airport), LHR (London Heathrow Airport), LTN (Luton Airport), or STN (London Stansted Airport).
Some more nuts and bolts and links…
Our Europe-bound grandson recently asked us for advice about booking European trains, and Kathy was happy to oblige.
Generally you get the best prices by booking trains through the country you will be traveling to or from – on THEIR website.
I like to check an English-speaking site first, just to compare and to make sure I’m getting the best deal possible. For that I have generally used Trainline or Rail Ninja, both of which are British travel agencies specializing in trains. I believe they have the option of youth tickets, for which you may still be qualified.
If you manage to book far enough in advance, you can often buy a first class ticket (which basically buys you a little more room and a less crowded carriage in general) for a cheaper price than you’ll pay later for second class.
To book in the country where you will travel, I like the following:
SNCF or SNCF Voyageurs for travel in and through France
Deutsche Bahn for central Europe, and travel in and through Germany
Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen) for travel through Austria
Trenitalia is the English-language site for travel through Italy (if your Italian isn’t that good!). Italiarail is the other Italian railroad. Check both, as they offer some different routes
For others, you can search (for instance) “Polish train travel” and usually find a tab on top to translate, or you can use copy-and-paste in Google Translate or another translation program.
Sometimes there is very little difference in price for 1st class and 2nd class. In that case 1st class is far less crowded. Most of the time we pay for reserved seats (sometimes not possible on small regional trains), as it can be difficult otherwise to find two seats together, and standing for a long time on a train is not fun. Again, always look for a discounted youth fare.
When you’re in the station with your reserved seat and carriage (car) number, check to see if the station posts a diagram of where your carriage will be when the train stops in the station. That may save you a frantic sprint from one end of the train to the other. We've also learned that sometimes it doesn't, but you can run a lot faster than we can.
For longer distances, flights within Europe are often a good value. Try to compare with Google Flights, ITA Software, or Skyscanner. Check easyJet (no-frills but enjoyable air travel modeled somewhat on Southwest in the US). Vueling also has some great deals, if they fly where you're going. Don’t forget to check for miles-based flights if you have miles available.
It’s not uncommon for us to utilize both trains and planes in a single trip. There are meaningful transportation alternatives for visitors to Europe, and ultimately you’re the one in the best position to decide what will work best for you.
