Eurail Stories

Here are some photos taken during my 2006 Eurail trip through Switerland. It was easily the most scenic of all our travels that year. Except, perhaps the South Island of New Zealand.

Swiss countryside

Brienz, near Interlaken.

Magnificent Bern. With real bears.

Swiss mountain journey.

Train carriages ahead.

Using the Eurail pass on the Swiss rail system was a great idea. Firstly, because the CHH system is clean, efficient and punctual. And secondly, because it’s really expensive, so the pass makes it affordable to use.

We’d been warned in a multitude of different ways that some of the rail lines in Switzerland were privately owned and not covered by the Eurail pass. However, we still managed to end up in the middle of the mountains on a train that felt suspiciously unique. We were heading straight up a mountain, and the trains passing us seemed to be filled with American tourists sipping champagne and eating three-course meals. A quick question at the ticket office at the next station confirmed it – we weren’t covered, none of the trains within thirty kilometres were, and we had to buy a ticket to the next stop. 160 euros later, we arrived in Liechtenstein with much lighter wallets. Needless to say, we were a lot more careful next time we used the Swiss rail system.

Linda was travelling on a Eurail Global Pass. Read more of Linda’s stories.

The Swiss Youth Hostel Association issue an extremely useful brochure listing information about all the YHA hostels in the country. In addition to the essentials of address, price and phone number, it also has details of distance from public transport stops, and how to get there from the main train station in the city. We were in Switzerland on a tight budget, in deciding where to stay chose a town called Zug, about an hour on the train from Zurich. According to our handy leaflet, the hostel was cheaper and closer to the train station than the one in Zurich, as well as having a kitchen and smaller rooms.

We were put into a six-bed room on the first floor opposite the toilets, a narrow room with three sets of bunks. An older Swiss couple had taken the two lower beds near the window, so I chose the upper bunk nearest the door. After a nice chat with the Swiss couple, who were walking across the country and trying out hostelling for the first time, we locked the door and went to bed.

The hostel was quiet enough, though I woke up once or twice in the night when people clomped down the corridor and into the toilets. At one point I heard someone taking a leak across the hall, opened my eyes and noticed someone standing over the Swiss guy’s bed. I thought it was the Swiss guy playing a joke on his wife, but realised that it couldn’t be since he was still in bed. You know what it’s like when you are half-asleep. It took me a second to realise that the sound of someone taking a leak wasn’t coming from across the hall, but from the guy standing over the bed!

As I fumbled for my glasses to make sure, the Swiss guy jerked upright with a yell when realised he what was going on. The young pisser was unconcerned and continued what he was doing until the Swiss guy took his arm and led him out of the room. We took the mattress into the corridor and the Swiss guy moved to the upper bunk to the sound of his wife chuckling from her bed. She was still laughing when we woke up in the morning.

Linda was travelling on a Eurail Global Pass. Read more of Linda’s stories.

Enjoying the train ride through Europe. The views are spectacular and the ride extremely comfortable.

Thanks to Quixstart for this excellent montage from last October. Quixstart was using a Eurail pass for his train connections.

Tripso came out with this shocker:

Eurail passes these days aren’t what we baby boomers remember from back in the ’60s and ’70s and even the ’80s. I fondly remember when travelers could get on and off trains at will and the biggest decision was whether to buy a 1st-class or 2nd-class pass. Not any more. The world of rail travel in Europe has become much more complicated. Spontaneity has been squashed.

Tripso

Spontaneity has been squashed? I don’t know ’bout those hippy 60′s or even the great 80′s but I do know I didn’t have any spontaneity problems with my Eurail pass. Each night I choose where I’d spend the next day; each day I pitched up to the train station and got on a train. I went through Italy, France, Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany and Holland. Not bad.

I do agree that it can be more cost-effective to combine point-to-point tickets with air travel: it all depends on where you want to go and what time frame you’re travelling on.

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.

Wow, check out this steamy article on the Indie Travel Podcast as Dave Prine talks of his passionate affair with the European rail system…

I have a confession to make: I had a tawdry affair in Europe. It started out innocently, but before long it escalated into a full-blown relationship. I spent the better portion of a year getting to know her. I returned to Europe several summers in a row and continued the relationship, often exploiting it to my advantage. After a while, we lost touch when I stopped traveling. But last year, I returned and was reunited with my true love: the European rail system.

Hot stuff? I think so. Read all of Love on the Rails here.

How would you describe your relationship with Eurail?