Two months in Europe by train

Author Message   Lester Green Advanced Member Username: Rtgreen5 Post Number: 248 Registered: 03-2007 Posted From: 69.143.223.11 Posted on Friday, January 15, 2010 - 10:54 pm:    Richard: you've convinced me with your explanation and I probably would have done the same thing since you had no planned itinerary. So you bought the ticket that satisfied your need for flexibility. Thanks for your detailed explanation and I know that your trip report will be of great interest to others who are Pepperd viewers.   Richard Sachs New member Username: Rjsajs Post Number: 3 Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 24.113.209.119 Posted on Friday, January 15, 2010 - 10:32 pm:    $1,500 per pass unfortunately is correct. I live near the Rick Steves store in Edmonds, WA and got them there. The Eurail ticket must be purchased in the US before traveling. http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/eurail.htm The purchase did come with a coupon for other purchases at the store, so we did save some money on some things we got. The pass we got was the “2 month consecutive days” version which gave us unlimited travel throughout all of Europe. We looked at some alternatives, but with the number of trips we were planning it was the cheapest way to go. Some versions limit you to a certain number of trips in a given period – like 5 days of travel in a month or some other limit. The ones we got had no restrictions. Any amount of travel, any number of days – just limited to the 2 months. And we did a lot of train trips. Plus the Rhine cruises and a few other things were included. As I mentioned in my original report, we weren’t sure even what countries we were going to see. If we had gone into Ramstein, then we were going to add the Czech Republic. So we couldn’t by the specific-country type passes. Ah – the price of flexibility. Some caveats – in Germany the Eurail Pass is ideal – just get on the train. In some countries you need a reservation for some trains and in some countries that can be pricey – notably in Spain. We did make a couple of reservations in Germany, but the cost is trivial. In Spain it could be like 10-15 Euros per leg. Italy apparently now requires reservations – I haven’t used a pass in Italy. I was stationed in Verona, Italy back in the early 80’s – train travel was a lot simpler back then. One final note – the Eurail pass is a first class ticket. If you are patient, you can find deals on a daily basis, travel second class, and probably beat the price. Deals pop up a lot. I’m lazy and figured this solved all the problems. First class for the most part has better seats and is far less crowded. Also, most first class cars had electric outlets. Not sure about second class. But either class is clean.   Lester Green Advanced Member Username: Rtgreen5 Post Number: 247 Registered: 03-2007 Posted From: 69.143.223.11 Posted on Friday, January 15, 2010 - 07:37 pm:    Richard: $1500 for a 2 month Eurail Pass seems a little high in cost. Was it for travel for ALL 60 days, or was it limited to a certain number of travel days within a 60 day period? Did you buy the ticket in the States or overseas, as I have read that it is cheaper to purchase them other than in the country(s) of use. I can only speak of my own experience in travelling this way in Scandanavia where I received a senior discount on my purchase of a ScanRail pass, but I purchased a ticket outside of Scandanavia for a limited number of actual TRAVEL days on the train within a longer projected travel period. This meant that if I spent one day travelling to Oslo, I could spend 4 days there or so without having my train/travel days impacted, and this reduced the price. It also gave me the added advantage of UPGRADING my class and sleeping facilities while in transit for a reasonable fee. And it covered meals on the train or at the train station for a small added fee as well and some ferries in Norway and elsewhere. So I had all the flexibility that I needed for my travel arrangements. Could you furnish me with some more details on where and what your Eurail pass covered. Thanks   Edgar Inocentes Senior Member Username: Traveler88 Post Number: 450 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 209.242.132.226 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 09:25 pm:    Fantastic report Richard! Enjoyed reading it plus I've learned so much from your escapades. Watch out - many will soon follow your footsteps.   John D. Moderator Username: John_d Post Number: 3813 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 95.208.80.143 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 04:08 pm:    Richard, Thanks for sharing - based on your inputs we're going to try out a few of your recommendations while we're in Europe. Regarding Lesson #1 - it will help if future travelers know the system - see Note 1 in the FAQ at this link. Also, lessons similar to Lesson #3 can be avoided by reviewing the Spacea.net Wiki Pages prior to travel - in this case, the "How Do I?" section on the Rota Wiki Page. Thanks again for your report!   Richard Sachs New member Username: Rjsajs Post Number: 2 Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 24.113.209.119 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 03:56 pm:    Wow! Thanks for the interest. My wife is working on our notes, but here are some specific answers to questions. *** Did you have a Eurorail pass or did you purchase tickets as you traveled? We bought two month, global, unlimited country EURRAIL passes. Yes, they cost us $3,000 for the pair, but gave us complete flexibility. Since we wound up using them in five countries for what amounted to about $6,500 worth of individual separate tickets, I’m glad we made the investment. Plus they are liberating – we never hesitated about taking some small side trip. Plus the S-Bahn (local train) in Berlin and the Rhine cruises were included. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Ballpark figure of the total expenses for your great trip. Train tickets – $3,000 Hotels – 6-7K. We aimed at two star hotels for the most part. Traveling off season helped – a lot of places had a free night if you stayed for four nights. Food – 2 – 3K. On a trip of this length we couldn’t splurge every night or we’d have gained 50 pounds. Hotel breakfasts, a large, late midday meal, and something light for supper (if at all). Café noshing also helped. The fact that we were walking miles each day sightseeing helped the diets. Souvenirs – about $200. Part of the packing light philosophy. I took about 5,000 pictures for memories. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** How did you find hotels and other billeting at the various cities that you visited? We had no advance reservations since we didn’t know where we were going. We’ve done this before, just not to this extent. But, crucially – it was off-season (early Sept – early Nov). I wouldn’t do this in summer. I had done a LOT of planning for different itineraries so had a good idea of places. One great source of info is the “Day Trip” series by Earl Steinbicker. He has a series of books and a web site: http://www.lifeslittleadventures.typepad.com/ He is a fantastic source for the “star and cluster” approach we like. For hotels we had two main sources: Lonely Planet and Rick Steves. I’d plan about two cities in advance and just roll through that way. I had planned several itineraries, so we just followed the general outline and improvised. We found places in every town we wanted. One huge help was having a Netbook computer with us. Small, compact, and versatile, I could store photos on it and use the internet where available. Expedia helped a lot, especially for snagging the 4-days-for-3 deals. We used the TI at the station only once – at Arles. A festival was going on and we paid the price for not having known about that. But it was fun. And Arles is a fantastic place to savor. One other thing – my wife took extensive notes on the Netbook and plans to do some articles on the trip. But being able to record our thoughts and impressions as we went along was a great help. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Was this troublesome without wheels and the luggage that you were carrying with you? We pack light. One 22 inch and one small tote each. I’m very lucky that my wife shares this approach. Actually, she’s more ruthless than I am. Washable undies and slacks (all clothing is hand washable and quick dry). And we experienced temperatures from over 100 to freezing. We had combination coats that I did have to carry in a small backpack in the hot climates, but once we got to Bruges, it was firmly into cool weather so no problem. And I loved traveling by train. No fuss, no parking, and we were delivered right to the heart of the cities and towns. I found it very relaxing and liberating. Trains work in Europe! ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Any particular places that you recommend? The Hostal Imperio in Toledo has a good location, nice rooms, and a very patient staff. Plus they have an on-site breakfast and lunch place. In Barcelona, we stayed at the Hotel Continental. It’s right at the top of the Rambla and near the subway. It’s in a building with several other hotels, but it’s the best. It offers a free, 24 hour buffet (including wine and beer) which really helps on the food costs. And it has lots of salads, which somehow are tough to get in Spain. The staff was very helpful. OK – the rooms were pink, much to my wife’s amusement, but they were comfortable. The Hotel Regence in Arles is a real steal – right on the river and near the train station. And convenient to the local, free city bus route. Harlaam is a great place to stay in the Netherlands. We stayed at the Hotel Amadeus right on the main square. We had to carry the bags up a steep flight of stairs, but it was a good hotel – centrally located and very convenient. Harlaam is a good base city – Amsterdam is just a short train ride way, as is Leiden. But Harlaam turned out to be a good destination itself. In Trier we stayed at the Hotel Aulmann – a very modern and comfortable place just up from the main square of the town. The owners have a nearby Kartoffelen (potato-based) restaurant that was one of the best we ate at. In the Rhine valley we stayed in St Goar at the Markt Hotel, one of our real highlights. We sprang for the extra 20 Euros to be on the river side and it was worth it. Very nice room with fantastic views, especially of the castle across the river. And the breakfasts are great. St Goar is a great town to visit in itself with its own dominating castle. It gets overlooked by the more famous Bacharach (which we toured), but we stilled preferred St Goar. In Dresden we stayed at the IBIS chain. Okay – it lacks charm. But it has a killer breakfast buffet included. And is a good location for the train, but is still close to the historic town. If you haven’t been to Dresden, please go. It’s an amazing blend of historic Germany and Soviet blandness. The IBIS hotels (three of them line up along Preggar Strasse coming up from the train like something out of an architect’s nightmare) are such cookie cutter places that you have to see it to believe it. But the historic city, rebuilt from the war, is amazing. Attending an organ concert at the Frauenkirche was a highlight. There were others, but these were the best.   Greg Intermediate Member Username: Greg126 Post Number: 76 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 165.91.114.19 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 02:57 pm:    Me too. Thats on our list.   John McClellan Advanced Member Username: Mccljp Post Number: 231 Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 155.104.37.18 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 02:15 pm:    Excelllent trip I'm jealous and if you feel like writting a detailed report, I for one would love to read it. thanks,   Lester Green Advanced Member Username: Rtgreen5 Post Number: 246 Registered: 03-2007 Posted From: 69.143.223.11 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 02:55 am:    Informative report Richard! You covered a lot of territory on a Eurail pass, but how did you find hotels and other billeting at the various cities that you visited? Was this troublesome without wheels and the luggage that you were carrying with you? Did you reserve rooms ahead of time or just look for rooms when you arrived at a train station? Any particular places that you recommend? Thanks   FHYL Advanced Member Username: Fhyl Post Number: 270 Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 68.68.143.107 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 01:30 am:    Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Would love to see your pics.... We've got to SPAT back to Europe ... it's been a long time since '07 trip. tempus fugit...   John R Garrison Senior Member Username: Majorg Post Number: 2273 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 208.81.157.86 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 01:13 am:    Richard: Outstanding report! Thanks for taking the time to write it up and share it with us. Happy Travels, John   Mike Spengel Advanced Member Username: Mike_sp Post Number: 317 Registered: 07-2006 Posted From: 70.95.149.155 Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 - 12:20 am:    Richard, Welcome to the board and thank you for an excellent and concise write-up. In fact, I'd like to read an expanded version should you write one. If it's not too private, I think we'd all like to know a ball-park figure of the total expenses for your great trip.   TR Advanced Member Username: Travel_ready Post Number: 211 Registered: 06-2003 Posted From: 74.192.140.152 Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 11:21 pm:    Great report, Richard. You just described another one of my dream trips. Did you have a Eurorail pass or did you purchase tickets as you traveled?   Lee Russler Intermediate Member Username: Lrusslerjr Post Number: 77 Registered: 11-2007 Posted From: 206.251.30.148 Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 11:03 pm:    Wow, I just learned several places in Europe that I never knew existed. You did as much as possible in an efficient manner. I'm envious and need to do this once in my lifetime. Great report!!! Lee   Richard Sachs New member Username: Rjsajs Post Number: 1 Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 24.113.209.119 Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 - 10:34 pm:    On Sep 4, 2009 my wife and I left McChord for a very comfortable C-17 flight to Dover. Upon arriving (at like 1 AM), we registered as “Present” for the next day. With paperwork in hand, we staggered off to get our room. We arrived the next morning to see what was available – we preferred Germany, but would be happy with Rota as well. The first flight was for Ramstein – we figured we were a lock for it since we had made our reservations six weeks prior. Well, we weren’t called – even though people who had signed up after us had made it onto the flight. Turns out the clerk had entered our dates incorrectly and we hadn’t caught it. LESSON #1 – CHECK THE REGISTRATION PAPER, EVEN AT 1 AM. Yes, it was our fault – live and learn. So back to the room to wait. The next flight was to Rota – we had no problem this time. Turns out the Ramstein flight had problems and had to return to Charleston – in fact, we found out later from friends it took days to make it over, so we really lucked out. Got to Rota the next morning and got to the room we had reserved. LESSON #2 – ALWAYS TRY TO GET A ROOM AT YOUR DESTINATION. This gives you time to relax and start getting over jet lag. We then tried to get our passports stamped. This is non-trivial at Rota. Turns out the office you need to go to is off base, one block to the left. And it’s only open from like 9 AM to noon. Hey – their country, their rules. LESSON #3 – LEARN WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET INTO THE COUNTRY AHEAD OF TIME. It saves agony. From there, we proceeded on the trip of a lifetime. We spent two months meandering through Europe. I’ll list what we did – but believe me – this was a life altering trip (and I’m 61 years old). We mostly based in a city for four to five days and did day trips to nearby sites. We went from Rota to Seville via bus. We then used trains for the rest of the trip (had two global, 2-month Eurail passes). Toledo and Barcelona in Spain. Barcelona is a fantastic, lively city. Stay on La Rambla for the most fun. From there, into France’s Provence (Arles, Nimes, and Avignon) for some of the best food in the world. Then on to Paris where we concentrated on day trips from Paris, having been to Paris several times. We went to Moret sur Loing (an Impressionist delight – you’ve seen it in some painting somewhere), Fontainebleau, and Chantilly. From Paris, we continued on to Bruges in Belgium – one of the highlights of the trip. If ever a city existed to just enjoy, it’s Bruges – canals, picturesque countryside, and food to die for. They have one store that sells 400 different beers. Oh – and Belgian chocolate is without a doubt the world’s best (even better than Milka for those who know good chocolate). We also went to Antwerp and Oostende. Then on to The Hague - its Maurithaus is the definition of a perfect art museum, compact and very complete. Delft was the great side trip, then on to Harlaam, our base to see Amsterdam and Leiden. We finally entered Germany. Trier is an oft overlooked Roman city that really was a hit. From there, we went on to the Rhine valley and then on to Nuremburg. Nuremburg is a great city, with great sites and fantastic food. Next, we continued to Dresden – an absolute must-see, with side trips to Leipzig (see the Stasi museum if you want to understand what living in East Germany was like) and Gorlitz (try the Silesian Heaven – a fantastic dish). From Dresden we continued to Berlin for a few days, then on to Erfurt. Erfurt is a gem in the rough – one of our favorite cities. The setting for the two huge churches is just unreal. Plus a daytrip to Eisenach just to put the icing on the cake. From Erfurt we trained it to Ramstein. We luckily got to share a cab with a couple to the terminal. We walked in to mark ourselves as “Present” and were told a flight to McChord was boarding. We ran over, got on the flight and were on the plane back home within 90 minutes. Sometimes, things just work out. We didn’t even know about the flight since we didn’t have internet access at our last place, so we just lucked out. I guess that’s LESSON #4. IF YOU CAN’T BE SMART, BE LUCKY. MOSTLY TRY TO BE FLEXIBLE AND ADVENTUROUS. Get off the beaten track. One last thing – we got back exactly two months after we left. Turns out there is a two month limit at McChord for parking. LESSON #5 – KNOW THE RULES.