enantiogramme
Traveller
1 comments
Posted 11 years ago
Hello everyone-- I'm an Australian who has been living in Germany for almost a year now. I really would like to buy the 3 month Eurail pass before heading home, but the wording about whether this is based on citizenship or residence seems to vary. On this site it says: Non-European residents who can prove their place of residence outside of Europe (see country list) by producing a passport., does that mean I'm fine to buy it on an Australian passport?
I've looked all over and there seem to be so many conflicting ideas about how strict they are about this-- some say people in my situation don't need to worry as long as they're a non-European citizen, some say to have it sent to an Australian address and have it sent over (I don't see how this helps?), some say it's just impossible to buy this ticket if you've been in the country 6 months. I was wondering if anyone had any experience of this and could give me some advice. What documents do they actually check? It's a pretty expensive ticket so I don't want to take chances but if there's any way to work this out I'd love to know. Any help would be really appreciated... thanks in advance!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Well, to me it seems as if you are eligible to buy an InterRail ticket: [u]https://rail.cc/en/how-to-interrail[/u]
Peter should know the details?
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi.
As you stayed more than 6 months in Europe/Germany, you have to buy an Interrail pass, following the official rules.
You have to prove your residency in Germany by official documents, like a visa, residency permit (it is sometimes said telephone bills, banking information, ... will work as well, but I doubt).
As you have to understand the train staff which don't know you in person, only see facts:
if they check your ticket and want to see your passport/ID-card as well (to see if you are the person with the name on the ticket - won't happen often, but sometimes), it looks strange if you travel with an Australian passport + Interrail ticket. So you have to explain, why you do so = visa, residency permit.
Peter :)
enantiogramme
Traveller
1 comments
Hi, thanks very much for your help-- if I go with Interail hopefully my visa will be enough proof. Just for my purposes the Eurail 3 months pass seemed like a great deal... oh well, back to the drawing board :)
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
There is no real choice between Eurail and Interrail.
Either Eurail OR Interrail. It always depends on the place where you lived the past six months on the first day of travel - and of course if you can prove it or not. :)