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?
One of the great joys of train travel is all that time to catch up on reading. We’re excited to have come across the bookstore guide right at the same time TravelBlogs has released their reading lists for 2008.