Planning a trip to Europe

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Aeneas

Rubecube,
I am going to be in Victoria (well mostly Sooke) in June. We should get together then.

When in June? I may be back in Calgary as early as the second weekend of June but I'll let you know.

[Suzles]

Well as an Englander - and not wishing to upset anyone - I would steer clear of Liverpool. If the history of a place interests you I would recommend both Edinburgh and London. And as a newcomer to Calgary (me) one thing you should know is that cars in England (Scotland, etc) will not give way to you as they do here in parking lots. The car is king there. Just don't want you to go all that way and get run over! I love how polite you Canadians are.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Is it me or do EuroRail passes seem like kind of a rip off to guy like me who is spending more than three months in Europe? Any advice on these?

I would do alot of research before buying a eurorail pass. It was a question constantly asked to me by guests and I never did come to a conclusive answer. Of the people that got them, half of them thought it was a great deal and half of them felt ripped off. It really has alot to do with your itenerary.
And since you're more or less winging it, I'd be pretty hesitant on buying one.

There are so many trains to so many places for varying levels of comfort and stopovers - thus affecting the prices, that you really can just assess the situation as it comes and decide how much you want to spend on a train ticket.

Plus, with Ryanair and Easyjet being so cheap, I can tell you that you're far more likely to be happier being able to fly by the seat of your pants instead of having to conform to the structure and rules of the eurorail pass.

But check it out anyway. It does save alot of people money. But not everyone.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I would do alot of research before buying a eurorail pass. It was a question constantly asked to me by guests and I never did come to a conclusive answer. Of the people that got them, half of them thought it was a great deal and half of them felt ripped off. It really has alot to do with your itenerary.
And since you're more or less winging it, I'd be pretty hesitant on buying one.

There are so many trains to so many places for varying levels of comfort and stopovers - thus affecting the prices, that you really can just assess the situation as it comes and decide how much you want to spend on a train ticket.

Plus, with Ryanair and Easyjet being so cheap, I can tell you that you're far more likely to be happier being able to fly by the seat of your pants instead of having to conform to the structure and rules of the eurorail pass.

But check it out anyway. It does save alot of people money. But not everyone.

Another option I've used in the past is renting a car to get between destinations. If you have a few people and can work out pretty cheap and also allows you to get to some off the beaten path places with a lot more ease.

[enthused]

In regards to the Eurorail pass, I'm kind of on the same page as 4x4. I haven't quite been able to figure out if its really worth it... but I am leaning towards no. If you plan on doing a lot of traveling in a short amount of time, it might be worth it, but from the sounds of it you're going to be spending a decent amount of time in each place, and probably don't know your exact length of time there.

If you book ahead of time, you can usually get some pretty good deals on the trains. But as you get closer to the date you want to travel, the prices tend to go up. When I was living in France I bought this card there called the "Carte 12-25" (it was a discount card for people between ages 12-25), and basically by having that card I could get some pretty good discounts when traveling on the train to various countries. I'd imagine you could pick up a similar type card in other countries too... but I'm not sure.

The cheap airlines like RyanAir and EasyJet are pretty good too...you can't really complain when your flight ends up being like 20€ including taxes.

[rockstar]

I had a Eurail pass in summer 2006 when I went to Europe for three months. I think I got a 2-month pass. It has its perks, that's for sure. As long as you had your pass, you didn't have to pay for a ticket.

What they don't really tell you is that most of the time, they require you to reserve a seat on the train. This is above and beyond the cost of the ticket. The cost of reserving a seat varied from 3 Euro to 15 Euro.

Another thing they don't tell you is that when you flash your rail pass to the person at the counter, he/she will typically find the most expensive train, i.e, the ones where you need to reserve seats.

Typically, though, these are the most direct trains to whatever city you're traveling to.

Some trains may take twice the amount of time, but cost 70% less than the direct ones. And these ones aren't even valid with your rail pass.

Thing is, if you're not in a hurry, you can forget about the rail pass, and pay a fraction of the price to take a train that takes a little longer to get to the destination.

As someone who doesn't mind the scenic route, I wish I'd just gone by the seat of my pants, rather than pay the $1000 (? can't recall) for a rail pass.


I say don't bother.

[wooohooo]

I'm sitting at the airport and ready to board in about 5 minutes. Wish me luck!!! Let's hope I survive the 8 hour flight first. Argghh I hate long flights

[rockstar]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

I'm sitting at the airport and ready to board in about 5 minutes. Wish me luck!!! Let's hope I survive the 8 hour flight first. Argghh I hate long flights

b-astard. good luck

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

I'm sitting at the airport and ready to board in about 5 minutes. Wish me luck!!! Let's hope I survive the 8 hour flight first. Argghh I hate long flights

Congrats! Have a great one. Hope it was better than my flight back yesterday, which featured sitting on a tarmac in Heathrow for three hours and then circling Calgary a couple times at low altitudes while they switch runways on us and half the people on the plane were reaching for their paper bags.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

I'm sitting at the airport and ready to board in about 5 minutes. Wish me luck!!! Let's hope I survive the 8 hour flight first. Argghh I hate long flights

I think my uncle and grandma are on the same flight as you. Say hi for me

[icarus]

Originally Posted by rubecube

It also looks like I'm going to be starting off in Amsterdam as opposed to Munich. I think I have a job lined up there. The only thing I'm worried abotu is I've heard there isn't much in the way of accomodations in Amsterdam. I may even just stick it out in a hostel while I'm there, since I'm only planning on being there for two months at most.

Well the Flying Pig is legendary, but two months in there will take a toll on your liver/lungs/brain unless you can keep yourself disciplined.