Interrailing

Random

So, anyone been interrailing before?
www.interrail.com

Some of us considering doing zone C over the summer and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with it ?


Cheers.


++ edit - Changed to Zone C ... typo on my part ++

ST*

Sorry - I haven't, but it looks great

I'd love to do the Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark one..
luvverly

neacy69

friend of mine used zone D and they said it was brill really nice and relatively cheap but as they were 4 girls they did feel very safe especially in croatia....

[Jackass]

Hmm...must have changed since i did it...zone E & F used to be the one ticket...was great craic, went to amsterdam, belgium, luxembourg, france, spain, portugal and morroco...all for about €500!! Was one of the best months of my life and met so many people from all around europe doing the same (mostly israel spanish and german) and backpackers become instant buddys, you have beers with really interesting people and end up in some amasing places...ahh man, wishing i was doing it again just talking about it!!

Advice i'd give you is:

*don't just stick to cities...jump on a train to a random place for a day trip..you'll never know what you'll find!!

*Talk to as many people doing the same as you when you're over there..it'll give you an idea of where's cool, where to avoid and you can get some handy tips.

*Don't stay in any one place for more than 2 days, you've got to try and see as many places as possible, otherwise it's pointless.

*don't go in a big group...there was 3 of us, but with accomodation..even seats and rooms on a trains it'd be impossible to keep the group together, plus you have massive bags and crap (a lot of trains in summer are pre-booked, so there may be only 3 free seats left on each train...and with a group of 5,6,7 you'd have to split up and meet in another country...too messy)

*Bring a battery power radio/CD player with speakers...great when waiting around and when camping.

*Don't plan any more than a day ahead...makes it more exciting when you dont know where you're going.

Random

THere's proberly gonna be a group of 4-5 of us. We're looking at the 16day pass at the moment.

sportswear

i have. zone d is a deadly one to do.

16 days is ridiculous. you need minimum of a month.

when i went we did western europe. yours will be a lot cheaper. i am not really arsed going into it loads cos there was a thread in travel section(which is prob where this should be) about interrailing. however i would recommend a few things

1. make an estimation of the train journeys you will be doing cos sometimes the price of the interrail ticket is more expensive than the actual individual journeys.

2. when going on sleepers(sleeping carridges for overnight travel- great fun +saves time and money) be aware that you will have to pay a surcharge of about 20 euro. also there are many other surcharges you may have to pay , for faster trains etc on top of your interrail ticket.

3. When in a sleeper carridge in eastern europe sleep on your valubles. it is not too uncommon that your carridge could be gassed and you robbed blind.

4. if you have the cash go to hostels. they are more fun and get to meet loads of people. tenting is also a good laugh, but more inconvienient. in eastern europe people will let you camp in their backgarden for a small fee.

5. do not carry drugs on your person on the trains crossing borders, friends of mine have been arrested doing this. the dogs will catch you. if you wish to do this put them in a sleeping bag or the like and leave it further down the carridge where you can see it but can claim its not yours.

6. don't bother with travellers cheques. cirrus is the way to go(atm card). aib use 'plus' - don't bother with this. cirrus is better. also take out say 200 at a time as you get charged per transaction.

7. if you are going out at night do not bring valubles with you or passport.

8. any more than 4 people is too many to go with.

9. don't bother booking hostels, they can be found on arrival. booking gives you less freedom.

10. get e111 health form from eastern health board at no cost- entitles you to free medical care in europe.

11. recognise the fact that you will get very pissed off with each other when you go abroad. and live with it.

12. eat well. eating in micki d's every day will mess you up.

13. don't get bird flu.

14. pack less than you think. you will have to carry it around with you for ages. bring a torch.

15.

ARGINITE

Have done zone G, great way to travel cant say enough good things about it!
would agree with everything sportswear said above.

15. Pack SOME clothes in your hand luggage, that way if your main luggage goes to another country you will have something to change into. It happened to me and took a month to get my bag back dam ryan air!

Random

I ment to say Zone C - Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark.

Piste

Wow I really want to go interrainling now...perhaps to zones F and C.

As soon as I finish school I'm gone!

ferdi

i went interrailing with sportswear, it was ****ing rappeh!

Civilian_Target

ciaranfo wrote:

So, anyone been interrailing before?
www.interrail.com

Not par-se but I've done a lot of travelling on trains around the G & H zones while living out there, and in various other part of Europe too.

Some good advise has been given here, and I'm about to repeat loads of it...

1. Pick a pace, and don't be afraid to change it. If you want to go through 6 countries in 2 weeks, go for it. Personally, I like 2 days per city, but be flexible, if you like somewhere, stay there for a while.
2. Don't travel in too big a group. I wouldn't recommend more than 4 people travelling together, otherwise synchronising yourselves is going to be a complete pain and you're going to spend lots of time waiting for people
3. A little research goes a long way: try to get the address of a few youth hostels in all the citys you might visit before you leave Ireland, you don't have to book them necessarily, but it helps to know where you can stay, because train stations are not comfortable
4. As has been said already, you might be better off without an interrail ticket if you're not travelling that fast, that way you're not restricted by zones and the like. Train tickets on the continent often aren't hugely expensive -- an intercity ticket in Zone H costs about €20-€30, but the interrail ticket costs €180, you need to be making more than 6 journeys for that to be even remotely worthwhile
5. Don't carry cash. Take a plus card, and a pre-loaded credit card you can use to withdraw cash too. Setup internet banking before you leave too, its useful to have
6. If you don't have a bill phone, make sure to load up heavily on credit -- you never know when you might need it!
7. Don't be silly and carry lots of valuables. If you're bringing MP3 players and the like, get insurance before you leave, if you don't loose them, you'll probably break them. Get an E111 from the local health board too
8. Relax! If you plan things to death it'll be no fun. Be prepared, but don't be afriad to change plans...

Random

Appreciate all the feedback, please keep it coming.

Random

Any must-dos or must-sees along the way? Any places to completely avoid ? Anyone done Zone C in particular - which airports did you fly into / out of ?

tintinr35

id go to the travel forum to be honest where this thread belongs!!!

Random

tintinr35 wrote:

id go to the travel forum to be honest where this thread belongs!!!

I couldn't find the travel forum when I first posted this, and it seems a waste to start a second thread there now. I have sent a PM to a mod asking them to move this.

Agent Smith

sportswear wrote:

i have. zone d is a deadly one to do.

16 days is ridiculous. you need minimum of a month.

when i went we did western europe. yours will be a lot cheaper. i am not really arsed going into it loads cos there was a thread in travel section(which is prob where this should be) about interrailing. however i would recommend a few things

1. make an estimation of the train journeys you will be doing cos sometimes the price of the interrail ticket is more expensive than the actual individual journeys.

2. when going on sleepers(sleeping carridges for overnight travel- great fun +saves time and money) be aware that you will have to pay a surcharge of about 20 euro. also there are many other surcharges you may have to pay , for faster trains etc on top of your interrail ticket.

3. When in a sleeper carridge in eastern europe sleep on your valubles. it is not too uncommon that your carridge could be gassed and you robbed blind.

4. if you have the cash go to hostels. they are more fun and get to meet loads of people. tenting is also a good laugh, but more inconvienient. in eastern europe people will let you camp in their backgarden for a small fee.

5. do not carry drugs on your person on the trains crossing borders, friends of mine have been arrested doing this. the dogs will catch you. if you wish to do this put them in a sleeping bag or the like and leave it further down the carridge where you can see it but can claim its not yours.

6. don't bother with travellers cheques. cirrus is the way to go(atm card). aib use 'plus' - don't bother with this. cirrus is better. also take out say 200 at a time as you get charged per transaction.

7. if you are going out at night do not bring valubles with you or passport.

8. any more than 4 people is too many to go with.

9. don't bother booking hostels, they can be found on arrival. booking gives you less freedom.

10. get e111 health form from eastern health board at no cost- entitles you to free medical care in europe.

11. recognise the fact that you will get very pissed off with each other when you go abroad. and live with it.

12. eat well. eating in micki d's every day will mess you up.

13. don't get bird flu.

14. pack less than you think. you will have to carry it around with you for ages. bring a torch.

15.

sound advice

we did it after our leaving cert....

26 days eating mac donnalds takes a toll on you colen...

Rockee

A lot of the high-speed, long distance trains are pe-booked, in other words its not like in Ireland where you can just plonk yerself down onto any old seat. I went travelling in summer 2004 and I want it all again this summer.

Random

prebooked to what extent? HourS? Days ? weeks ?

And we're looking at 16 days at the moment ... so we wouldn't wanna restrict outselves too much in terms of booking in advance ... the whole point being that we go at our own pace (granted, only 16 days ...).

Also, is the World Cup in germany gonna have a huge impact on things do you think ?

bounty_hunter

Christ, I'd ****ing love to do that.
To the OP: I have no advice to add to the thread unfortunately, but thanks very much for the link.

Rockee

ciaranfo wrote:

prebooked to what extent? HourS? Days ? weeks ?

And we're looking at 16 days at the moment ... so we wouldn't wanna restrict outselves too much in terms of booking in advance ... the whole point being that we go at our own pace (granted, only 16 days ...).

Also, is the World Cup in germany gonna have a huge impact on things do you think ?

a lot of weekend long distance train journeys can get booked out so maybe if you want to travel on a saturday night/sunday morning youed need to book maybe on the wednesday/thursday just to be in a with a seat!

Id say the craic would be 90 with the world cup on...pity im not going to cheer on the boys in green but hey! Knowing the Germans Id say they are well prepared for world cup crowds and backpackers alike so id imagine they have extra trains layed on....german reliability!:D

fiobs

DubGuy wrote:

*Don't stay in any one place for more than 2 days, you've got to try and see as many places as possible, otherwise it's pointless.

It depends on what you want from the experience. I really enjoyed spending 3 or 4 days in some places. You can get really drained from travelling too much and its difficult to get a feel for a place if you're only there for 2 days.

I agree with alot of the other advise given especially with regard to planning as little as possible. The only thing we booked before we went was our flight there (didnt even book return flights til the week before we came home!).

We didnt get an interrailing ticket because it didnt fit in with our route but i think it actually worked out cheaper for us. Also, sometimes we ended up taking eurolines buses instead because their times etc suited us better, so its nice to give yourself the option.

It's an amazing holiday...Have fun

themole

checkout the german rail site:

http://www.db.de/site/bahn/en/start.html

afaik, the network stretches into austria, so it may be cheaper to just buy tickets from them than to get an interrail ticket.

as far a planning ahead goes, at least get the names of hostels in places you are going to before you arrive, a map is also very helpful.

lookinto trains at least the day before to see if you need to book in advance.

but it all depends on how far you are goin in each hop.

good luck.

Random

So we've looked into it a bit more now. We're looking at flying into Zurich (Aer Lingus) on Day 01 and flying out of Copenhagen (Scandinavian Airlins) Day 18.

Our proposed route (with durations depending on timing and interest) being ..

Day 01 - Zurich
Vaduz
Salzburg
Vienna
Munich
Stuttgart
Frankfurt
Cologne
Dortmund
Bremen
Hamburg
Day 18 - Copenhagen

or something to that effect.

Anybody have any thoughts on that ?

(p.s. I've asked the mods to move this to travel.. soon hopefully :P )

casanova_kid

Yeah we're doing that zone and the one east, taking in Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam.