ktwade
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 12 years ago
Hi I'm wondering if someone can shed some insight into a little (amazing) dilema i have.
Basically I graduate from uni this summer and have gotten 5 weeks off work for the trip with my boyfriend, starting around June 4th (have to be back by july 11th). We have roughly 2 grand each and are very much willing to budget/sleeping on trains etc. And we have no particular desire to visit any one place so we were going to take it as we go and see what happens- aiming to atleast visit germany, austria, france, italy and croatia. The problem is working out where to start/finish our trip and booking flights out - we kind of do need a route for that sort of thing. So what does everyone else do? The cheapest flights out are to belgium and amsterdam - should we know exactly were we want to go/train routes/sleeping arrangements etc.
Also, I know it is recommended we take a credit card but do most supermarkets/hostels take visa debit cards too?
Any advice/tips from knowledgeable people who have done this before would be really great! Planning on booking our tickets/flights out this evening.
Regards,
Katie.
nltrainer
Traveller
1405 comments
yes, the basic idea of IR when it was founded and still is, that you can just plan at the last second what train to take-even when only in that station. BUT nowadays SOME (that means not all) trains have obligatory reservation (mostly very long international or hi-speed) and/or a small or big suplmt. to pay That applies to most nighttrains too-certainly if you want a sleeper or ''dormstyle'' couchette. it is all explained in the basic FAQ and as every newbie asks the same-just read a few pistings. In topic ''routing'' you find the route that 90% out of all newbie IRers from that isle west of the Northsea think is best-mainly hitting countries wher beer+booze+cigs are cheap.
As a very basic rule of thumb: in West-Eur count/budget with 40/50€/day for food+lodging+entry etc,. in east Eur can do for 10/day/less. IF you have been able that you can survive on meagre budgets-as anywhere the sky is the upper limit
ktwade
Traveller
1 comments
Thanks, but yeah id already checked out the FAQs and have been reading this site for a year haha- what i was asking was how do people decide were to start/end if they arent following any route or using a route planner - just taking it as it goes? I know its personnal preference (like the cheap cigs :| haha) but I was being specific because I wanted those opinions of people who have done it already. wondering if they had a preference when flying from the UK- or whether it was better to get a train/ferry/coach and what to do with luggage, 15/30kg+ etc.
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi Katie...
Have a rough idea where you want to go, but change it spontaneously during your trip. You will always meet new people, maybe join them for some days. Or they give you interesting ideas where to go next.
Think about a route like:
Amsterdam (expensive) - Hamburg - Berlin - Prague - Munich - Vienna - Krakow - Budapest - (Bucharest - Sofia/Istanbul) - Belgrade. Here you can decide if you want to include some buses (for example going to Montenegro, then along the coast up to Croatia) or if you prefer trains, then for example to Zagreb, from there to the coast.
You can also go directly from Budapest via Lake Balaton to Croatia.
From Croatia via Lake Bled (Slovenia), border crossing (Gorizia - Novo Goricia by bus - example her: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail/ljubljana-to-venice[/u].
In Italy pay attention to the extra reservation fees: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail-train-reservation[/u]
Now ... if you are still in mood to continue, go either to Sicily ... or along the French coast via Nice, Perpignan (including the Little Yellow Train) to Barcelona and straight on to Lisbon. Then fly back home. :)
More train connections here: [u]https://rail.cc/en/search-interrail-route[/u]
Peter :)