Eurail Stories

When I headed off on my Eurail adventure, it was the first time I had even been to Europe. I flew to Heathrow, London then a budget flight to Italy. After a week’s hectic sightseeing in Rome I started the 15 day global pass and set off.

My goal was simply to see as much as possible…visit as many places as I could…and that made for a crazy itinerary. I slept on trains for five nights and hostels for the rest of the time. Sometimes I travelled with friends that I had met, other time by myself…but I was always moving quickly. At typical day would look like this:

• Wake up on the train. Check the timetable to see where I was and were I was headed.
• Get off at the first city on my list. Have breakfast in the old town, walk around the sights, look at the outside of famous buildings.
• Back to the train station. Hop on a train for an hour or so.
• Get off at the day’s second city. Have lunch in the old town, walk around the sights, look at the outside of famous buildings.
• Back to the train station. Hop on a train for an hour or so. Have a nap.
• Get off at the day’s third city. Check into a hostel or book an overnight sleeper at the station.
• Have dinner in the old town, walk around the sights (in the dark!) and find a bar with a cold local beer. See if I can find a party that lasts until the train departs.
• Repeat.

Can I recommend this? If you’re crazy enough to be sleep deprived for two weeks! It was an amazing way to see a lot: six countries and their capitals baby! I ended up in Paris — which isn’t cheap! — where I think I slept for most of the week. There are vague recollections of the Arc de Triomph before flying home and back to College.

I’d suggest staying off the booze if you’re going to attempt it; A beer or two is fine, but things get messed up enough without hangovers getting in the way. One thing I regret is that I didn’t meet so many people, but it whet my appetite and I’m hoping to return and do a slower trip one day.

Dave travelled on a Eurail Global 15 day pass and wrote this one-off story for us. Will you share your Eurail Stories?

If you can write then this might be your chance for a great four-six week, all expenses paid trip.

With a hat-tip to hostelbloggers, The Independent and SABMiller Breweries are giving away a European tour worth five thousand quid! With an extra thousand pounds to spend along the way. The trip takes you to seven countries – The Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary and Holland.

Entry is as easy as 200 words on the city you’d most like to visit. I’d recommend

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c) Not over-doing the beer angle; too cliched.
d) If you can point to your travel blog in the application it might score in your favour.

If you win, you have to visit SABMiller breweries in each country. You might even get to drink some beer too.

Enter now. Good luck! And make sure you let us know when you win.

After spending five months in the island nation of Malta it was really time to leave. I booked a Eurail pass, planned furiously then caught the ferry over to Sicily.

I had a Eurail Global Pass planned and ready but I didn’t want to start it for a couple of weeks. I bought tickets on the overnight train to Rome. What an experience! I spoke no Italian, the sales agent no English. He kept saying “reservation” over and over but I had no idea what he was talking about. I didn’t have a reservation!

In Italy you have to validate tickets before you travel using yellow punches on the platform. Luckily I saw some people doing it or I wouldn’t have known. The whole situation was bewildering.

Locusts

Then the people started to gather. Like swarming locusts, every University student on the whole island jammed onto the platform. Everyone wanted to get back to Rome after the Summer holidays. Person after person arrived until the platform was seething with teens and twenty-somethings. I suddenly understood why “reservation” was so important.

As the train pulled into the station everyone swarmed to the edge and a scrum ensued around each door. People fought to get out; people fought to get in. I jumped in where I could — my massive backpack concussing a couple of unfortunates behind me — and found a seat. A seat!

Relief followed by panic

As people started sitting in the corridors I realised how full this train was. And then I realised I was sitting in first class. There was no way I could afford a first class supplement but damned if I was sitting on the coridor’s steel floor for the next 12 hours.

One person in my cabin spoke a little English and, even better, he was in the same situation. With assurances his seat would be there when he returned he left to speak with the conductor. How many euros would my underhand “supplement” be? I had no idea but it was going to be more than the couple it would have cost me to make a reservation before hand!

We were in luck. The train was so packed with people the conductors had decided to abolish the divide between first and second class and I settled in to enjoy my so-called luxury. My introduction to European rail journeys was certainly hectic but that mad energy has made me come back time and time again.

Craig was using an individual train ticket from Trenitalia, the Italian rail company. Find out about Italy Rail Passes.