anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Posted 10 years ago
Hi,
this is my first time I plan to travel by interrail during may and I'd like to ask some basic tips :)
My route, as planned so far, will be starting in Paris, where I visit a friend.
Then I'd like to do the following:
St. Malo, ferry to Jersey, Brest, Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Toulouse, petit train jaune, Marseille, Nice, Milano.. and from there I plan to visit friends again before going home.
So my questions are in general:
I want to sleep in hostels. Will I find accomodation just upon arrival? I don't want to plan my exact route in advance and make reservations.
Do I need a sleeping bag? I don't want to camp.
I found that if travelling alone, I will often be charged to pay the full room, if its for 2 people, btw. One possibililty would be to make friends with other travellers and share a room. What else can you recommend? Is it possible to book a bed in a f.e. 6-bed-room and stay with any five other girls/women who've booked this?
Is it usually possible to lock the large backpack anywhere (in the hostel or at the station) and only take the daypack with me? Do I need to bring a padlock for the lockers in the rooms?
What size of backpack would you recommend? I suppose it will be warm in May and I won't need too many warm clothes. Besides my back starts to hurt really fast when carrying anything, so I'd love to minimize the weight. I plan to take the following:
- mini-netbook, big camera, ebook reader, small dictionary, mobile
- sneakers, boots, flipflops
- a spare pair of jeans, one shorts, one skirt, maybe one summerdress
- like 5-7 t-shirts and longsleeves + 3 tops
- fleece jacket, rain jacket, a light pullover
- bikini, towel
- cosmetics like suntan lotion, shampoo, daycream....medication....
Has someone been to Jersey and can answer the following: Is there a discount on the ferry or is the ferry included? Do I need to book this in advance? I can't find a hostel on Jersey, what could be a cheap accomodation over there? I'd love to stay for one night.
Do I need to make reservations for any trains and will this be still possible on the day before when I'm sure where and when I will go?
Will I be fine communicationwise with a very good knowledge of English and a very little knowledge of French? I took the class at school, but have never spoken French so far.
ok I think, that's it so far. Looking forward to your answers :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
# In May you should find free accomodation upon arrival. Anyway, I would recommend to have a look at sites such as Hostelword beforehand to get an overview about how many hostels are there in each city, where they are and how to get there etc...which will make it easier to find them and change plans if one was actually fully booked.
# Yeah, if you want to have a private room, you usually have to pay for the whole room. Only in a dorm which you would share with several other travellers you pay only for your bed.
# There are lockers at larger train stations in France, otherwise you can leave your luggage in the hostel - however you may have to leave your backpack in your room without a possibility to put it in a locker (since many hostels just have small lockers not suitable for a backpack).
Bring a padlock with you as some hostels may charge extra for it; in combination with a small steel cable this it's also quite useful to secure your luggage on the train...
# I travel with a 65 liter backpack plus an extra bag for my camera that also serves as daypack. This is enough even for longer trips and you could even get away with a smaller size, depending on how long you want to travel.
Packing list looks ok to me - dont pack too many warm stuff, although a weatherproof jacket might be a good idea when you're heading to the Atlantic coast.
# Never been to Jersey; there is no discount for the ferry as far as I am aware of.
# You may need extra reservations, depending on which trains you want to take: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation[/u]
# You will be fine with English - but try to speak in French, it is the perfect oppurtunity to practice...and dont be frustrated if someone replies in English... :P
To support the free information and the forum on railcc, please be fair and buy your official Interrail pass via our railcc partner link: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
Thank you! :)
Flo 8)
anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Hi Flo,
thanks a lot for your immediate reply :)
I just bought the ticket via railcc to make sure I get the discount today. OMG, this was a fast decision :o , I hope I'll be fine, hehe.
So, I'll make sure to check the hostels online from home and make a list with the adresses.
Does it happen often that backpacks are stolen on a train? I don't hope so, but I'll bring a padlock to make sure I'll be able to keep my luggage.
Maybe I can check in advance on the net, if the railstations and/or hostels have lockers for the big luggage. If I have a small locker in a dorm I could at least put the most important belongings in there.
I think I'll try and make a pile of the stuff I want to take with me to see if it could fit in a 55 l backpack, which is what I was thinking of to buy and take a small daypack with me to carry my camera, raincoat and food during the day.
Ok, so I'll start to do the more detailled planning and may come up with more questions later.
Thanks for running this great site and I'm happy to support you by buying my ticket via railcc :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
You're welcome. Thanks for the support as well! :)
Well...sadly it happened to two guys from the forum that their backpacks were stolen literally on the last train they took on their trip last year...but overall I think this is very rare and as long as you keep an eye on your belongings you'd have to call it bad luck if something would happen. :os
On the different booking sites it is usually listed if hostels offer individual lockers (but usually not if you have to bring your own padlock).
You can also find information regarding lockers at stations for many countries on the websites of the different railway companies. But I would only use them if you do not stay overnight in that city, otherwise I always store the luggage in the hostel which is usually also no problem after I checked out.
nltrainer
Traveller
1405 comments
@hostels: there are VERY few in those towns. the ones that are are from the old-fashioned FRench organisation, you need a membership card, and they mostly close by daytime. EVERY FR town has dozens of hotels on/around the ''place de la gare'' and many are not online nor are easy to book that way- they believe in the fone and walk-ins. Prices vary and must be posted outside. If you are with 2, then a cheap room (bath in the hall) is often just as cheap/expensive as 2 beds in YH, but without the kitchen. But the last yrs many of these close down and/or are changed into modern expensive designed places.
Some regions over there offer special tourist ride at will passes, for 1 or 2 persons and these are a lot cheaper as IR-passdays.