ericus
Traveller
13 comments
Posted 14 years ago
This year I will go on my first interrail trip, and I will travel alone, and I have some questions about it;
1. The route I'v been thinking of is something like flight from Sweden (where I live) - Berlin - Krakow - Budapest - Wien - Prag - München - Amsterdam - Berlin and then a flight home. Does that sound ok? The things I wanna do is party and meet interesting people from all over the world, I love making new friends.
2. The dates I'm planning to do this is from 19th may - 8th june, how is the weather on the locations above? Warm enough for not bringing a jacket?
3. Will I make that route with the 10 days of travel in 22 days-pass?
4. Let's say I have around 1300 € to spend on hostels, train reservation and all the other expenses except flight and interrail-card, is it enough for 21 days (62 € a day)?
5. Is it a stupid idea to bring my 10 netbook that weighs 1 kg? This would be a good entertainer on long train trips and really good for booking hostels and such.
Thanks in advance.
Best regards,
Eric
PS: If anyone is out traveling in these days and wanna meet up for a beer or maybe some days of travelling together, just let me know! :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
1. Sounds like a good route and the 10in22 should be just the right ticket. You may even have travel days of your ticket left to make one or two daytrips (ie Amsterdam > Antwerpen, Berlin > Potsdam or Hamburg) or for making another spontaneous stopover along the route.
2. Well, I'd bring a light jacket anyway - you never know. But in general you'll be fine without. ;)
3. Yes.
4. That's certainly enough.
5. Take it with you. You will find plugs on many trains nowadays and it's certainly useful to make reservations and stuff.
Flo 8)
ericus
Traveller
13 comments
Thank you for your answers!
How about wi-fi in trains?
Antwerp, is that a fun place? I'd love to go to belgium because of the beer, I love beer and have tried hundreds of 'em.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
In my experience there are only very few trains with dedicated wi-fi and if, then in 1st class... :|
Well, if you like beer, you better don't miss Belgium! :D
Head
Traveller
101 comments
[quote]In my experience there are only very few trains with dedicated wi-fi and if, then in 1st class... [/quote]
I've just seen a leaflet of british East Coast company, saying that thay have free wi-fi in both classes. But haven't tried it yet.
eastcoast.co.uk/On-Board-Our-Trains/In-your-coach/WiFi---Internet-Facilities/
I'm not sure if there is any free wi-fi in second class on the continent )
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Yeah, there maybe some few companies offering wi-fi but I'm not really paying attention to it since I don't have wi-fi equipment. ;)
ericus
Traveller
13 comments
Okay, Belgium is now a must-do. Should I choose Brussel or Antwerp?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Well...I did like Bruges most, then Gent, Antwerpen and Bruxelles. They are all connected very well with frequent free IC services that don't take long from one city to another.
anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Bruxelles isn't that special to visit.. I have been there last summer, well just some hours because we just made a stopp, but it's only a financial city. Nothing special and in the evening is there absolutely no party i heard. just business. Visit the Atomium and that's it. (in Summer you have to stand quite long in the queue and it isn't that cheap).
My opinion.
ericus
Traveller
13 comments
Okay, so now the route looks like this:
Sweden-flight to Berlin-Krakow-Budapest-Wien-Prag-München-Antwerp-Amsterdam-Berlin and then flight home again.
10 days of travel time enough in 22 days?
How big backpack should I have? Will 50 or 60 litres be enough?
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Yeah, the 10in22 is perfect - you will probably have one or two travel days as security if something doesn't work out as planned or if you want to fit in an extra city at short notice. :)
I have a 65+10 litres backpack and it serves me very well.
Flo 8)
ericus
Traveller
13 comments
Thank you for taking your time to answer, it's appreciated! :)
How about hostel bookings, can I book a hostel like 1 or 2 days before arrival, or will most of them be full by then? Cause I dont wanna plan to exact and be locked to this specific route.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
You're welcome - that's why the forum is here. :)
At the time of year you're going to travel I guess you should be fine making reservations a few days in advance - however I'd recommend booking your accomodation in Amsterdam a little bit further in advance (since it's your last city you won't lose flexibility because of that) - same also applies to Berlin (where I can recommend the Wombat's hostel). Also, since Praha, WIen and Budapest (and, with some trade-off, Munich) are so well connected by train you can switch them if you will need to.
ericus
Traveller
13 comments
Okay great. In Berlin I will stay at a hostel in Friedrichshain, I love that part of the city. Looked your up, and it's not so far away, maybe I'll try it on my way home :)
Would you mind giving me a list of all the things you bring with you when you're out? It seems like you've done this a couple of times :)
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Oh yeah, Friedrichshain is nice. :)
Talking about equipment:
[u]https://rail.cc/en/packing-list[/u]
For me personally, the European Railway Timetable and a frisbee are a must; an eye mask comes handy when you want to sleep during the day or when you have to travel overnight in an open compartment carriage with the lights on; pillow; deck of cards; small battery-driven speakers for the ipod...
Oh, and if you want to support the work here at the website and forum, please buy your ticket at [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] , thank you. :)
ericus
Traveller
13 comments
I might do that :)
Thanks again for a very informational site and a great forum .
ericus
Traveller
13 comments
I am somewhat nervous about this thing with sleeping in dorms, are there some unwritten rules?
And, is it hard to go from Berlin - Krakow? That will be my first train trip. Heard somewhere that that is a dangerous route..
Head
Traveller
101 comments
[quote]And, is it hard to go from Berlin - Krakow? That will be my first train trip. Heard somewhere that that is a dangerous route..[/quote]
Well, I travelled there once on a night train that doesn't exist now, and it was a bit specific. I think I didn't sleep at all that night. First, a girl from Polish border control spent good 15 minutes demanding from some Italian guy his address in Poland and other stupid information, but finally they let him in. (since Poland is now in Schengen area, there should't be control anymore)
Then, on first or second Polish station several more guys entered the compartment - they were returning home from Polish army. Of course they wanted to celebrate this, and they gave us vodka and provided with informative talk all night long ) I spent the whole night talking with one of those guys on some mixture of languages, and by the end of the dicussion in the morning he was still sure I was Polish - I don't know a single phrase in Polish...
so the route can get quite interesting - but I doubt it's really dangerous.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Well...behave friendly of course; then, you will soon realise which are the chattier persons in the room and who are more quiet and for themselves. Just behave like you want the others to behave and you should be fine. :)
On the Berlin - Krakow route there is one direct day train:
Berlin Hbf 0935 - 1935 Krakow
I see no reason why this route should be more dangerous than others.
ericus
Traveller
13 comments
How about Krakow - Budapest?