Emma
Traveller
11 comments
Posted 17 years ago
Basically I have enough for about four months travelling (allowing for emergency money, etc) and I have a route idea which is fairly detailed in some places, but not in others. For example, I know exactly where I'm going in Greece and how I'm getting to Italy after that, but is it okay just to think, okay I want to get from Paris to Kortrijk, and not plan the exact trains, but just allow, say, two days for travelling there?
I haven't been travelling before and so I'm not sure on the estimates! Is there a guideline of how much time I should allow for travelling in relation to just seeing the sights? I don't particularly have to be anywhere at any time, but I'd like to stick vaguely to my route.
admin
Traveller
203 comments
Hi there,
Yes I understand your predicament. When I Interrailed for the first time I had little idea of planning travel and arranging accomodation. I made up my mind on my route from day-to-day and had a kind of meandering holiday without any unlucky no trains/accomodation situations but I recommend part-planning, with a broad overview and, if you will go to popular places during June/July/August, you should definitely book hostels or hotels.
There are internet hostel sites, on which you can arrange things really easily and cheaply. This takes a lot off your mind. In July I Interrailed for the third time and had all of my hostels booked in advance. This meant that I had little stress except for that of catching the trains.
Paris to Kortrijk gives you the opportunity to stop in Lille, which I understand is a nice place for a short visit.
I recommend that, unless a place is dull or dangerous, two nights/3 days everywhere gives you a chance to explore and recover from night train travel.
You could do some research on Lonely Planet's site to find interesting places that you might want to consider for your itinery. I'd recommend Grindelwald in the middle of the Swiss Alps, Central Berlin, Nice - Cote d'Azure, and Krakow and/or Prague.
I have a lot of pleasure from planning my trips and I'm sure you will.
Happy Interrailing!
[quote]Basically I have enough for about four months travelling (allowing for emergency money, etc) and I have a route idea which is fairly detailed in some places, but not in others. For example, I know exactly where I'm going in Greece and how I'm getting to Italy after that, but is it okay just to think, okay I want to get from Paris to Kortrijk, and not plan the exact trains, but just allow, say, two days for travelling there?
I haven't been travelling before and so I'm not sure on the estimates! Is there a guideline of how much time I should allow for travelling in relation to just seeing the sights? I don't particularly have to be anywhere at any time, but I'd like to stick vaguely to my route.[/quote]
Jasefest
Traveller
1 comments
hi
i found that planning is not really that necessary. all we had was a general idea of our route, a rail timetable, and a 1000 euros each to last us the month and i found things tend to work out in the end.
be warned though, always allow more time than you work out it will take to get somewhere if you are planning ahead. for example we planned to get from barcelona to nice in a day, and it took us three! thats just an example, but especially in summer, trains tend to be booked up, and all thats left could be a train that costs a 45Euro supplement, which doesnt suit everyones budget.
sweet