Shoutbox

Looking forward to Prague, looks awesome. The hostels are rather expensive compared to most places though.

The sleepers are rather expensive, won't be reserving any. Only got 1 overnight train anyway.

You say in your blog posts you're staying in a 'hotel', but then talk about worrying about your possessions - do you mean a hostel? If so, not looking forward to staying in them now.

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Originally posted by Chris4

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Originally posted by aNILEator
So far so good, yes by interrail no Real problems so far except reserving sleepers has been impossible, but trains are much worse quality than uk ones and would kill for an active power supply on them.

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Oh dear, doesn't sound good. Is that with all trains you've experienced across Europe? I'll look into reserving sleepers in advanced, thanks for the heads up.

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I can only speak for Belgium.

The trains here are not bad at all (they are basic, but they do fine). Though, there are none with sleepers. And AFAIK you wont find 'sleeper' trains that much across Europe either. This is rather normal though. Europe consists of small countries. It is not like in the US where you can be on a train for like all day long so to speak. There aren't even many direct connections between non-neighbouring countries either. They exist of course, and they do take a long time, but overall, if you would travel for a few hours on a (non-stop) train you're already across the entire country (for most countries in Europe that is). So no need for 'sleepers' here.

You can find 'sleepers' on international trains though, but even those are rare, again for the same reasons (and for economic reasons of course): the distances are mostly short compared to US/Russia/Asia/etc. eg: By high speed train, starting in Brussels, you'll be in Paris, Amsterdam, Köln or London under the two hours (or even shorter).

If you want to travel from North Europe to South Europe you better take a plane (which again will take you only a few hours), although it costs more. Then there is the very high dense road network. So, if you have the chance and you're up to it, you could easily travel by car (although you need to take the traffic jams with it ).

This said, in the high speed (international) trains, and also in some of the more modern intercity trains, you can sleep rather nice in the seats though.

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Originally posted by Chris4
You say in your blog posts you're staying in a 'hotel', but then talk about worrying about your possessions - do you mean a hostel? If so, not looking forward to staying in them now.

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Even in a hotel you should always be aware of your possessions! And that goes for wherever you go in the world. This said, there are millions of travellers and thousands of young people using hostels each day around Europe. It is still a very safe way to travel. But of course, you don't need to invite thiefs, so use lockers as much as possible, it's just common sense. Almost all hostels (and certainly hotels) have lockers, some free of charge, others for a very small fee.

A hotel is usually more expensive then a hostel of course. But it depends on the luxery and privacy you want to have I suppose. eg: In the hostels you often sleep with multiple people in the same room (not always, but it is common).

There are also many many other things you can do though: eg: bed 'n breakfasts (which aren't always hotels, but sometimes just a nice family who has like 2 spare rooms or something). Then there is this really cheap thing they call coutchsurfing. This is where you sleep in people's houses (in a bed, or... on a couch ). It is becomming very very popular.
etc...

But if you want to have some freedom, and want to travel cheap, I still recommend hostels though.

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
If you want to travel from North Europe to South Europe you better take a plane (which again will take you only a few hours), although it costs more.

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really? i dont know how much does a train ticket cost, but when i was in europe last year, i traveled by plane all the time. i remember spending 25 euros for a ticket from madrid to london-return. Same with rome, it was about 40 euros from madrid to rome return.

As for hostels, i wouldnt worry about your possessions. Sure, youare with strangers, but most of them are just like you: people traveling with not so much money. Still, if you're worried you can always buy a few padlocks and secure your bags. Even better, in a hostel in london you had free access to lockers, you only needed a padlock. maybe you should ask for such services in whatever hostel you're looking to stay in.

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Originally posted by Chrono

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
If you want to travel from North Europe to South Europe you better take a plane (which again will take you only a few hours), although it costs more.

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really? i dont know how much does a train ticket cost, but when i was in europe last year, i traveled by plane all the time. i remember spending 25 euros for a ticket from madrid to london-return. Same with rome, it was about 40 euros from madrid to rome return.

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It all depends on where you wanna go of course and what company you book your flight with. And it especially depends on when you book your tickets. The prices for planetickets can go up quite a lot if you only book like a few days before. Compared to a train ticket which has fixed prices and you can buy it the moment you (almost) step on board. And it doesn't matter if you would miss a train, you can always take the next one with the same ticket (except for international trains). Which isn't possible with air travel. If you wanna travel long distances, you better do it by plane. But if you want to travel from country to country it is usually way cheaper (and more practical) by train.

I'm still not sure how I'll be getting from Belgium to Switzerland. I checked and it seemed more expensive to take the plane. So am I better off taking the train? I was also looking into renting a car but I think that would end up costing me more with gas and everything

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Originally posted by wacky
I'm still not sure how I'll be getting from Belgium to Switzerland. I checked and it seemed more expensive to take the plane. So am I better off taking the train? I was also looking into renting a car but I think that would end up costing me more with gas and everything

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A car would be more expensive for sure. And driving in Switzerland might not be that easy if you're not used to driving in mountains... depends on where you want to go though.

The easiest, and shortest, is by plane. The price extremely depends on where you want to go in Switzerland though. eg: To Geneve it only costs like €80 (cheapest company). But other destinations in Swiss might be more towards €200 though (the cheapest flight company doesn't do all destinations, so if you realy want to go to a certain place, your choices might be limited). eg: to Zurich, the cheapest flight is currently €150.

http://www.connections.be/Home-EN.html

If you wanna take the train, there are special trains going from Belgium to Switzerland, for ski tourists, etc. But I'm not sure if they are also available during the summer. I'll check... If they are available, I guess it would take like 9 to 11 hours travel though.
EDIT: there are indeed some. eg: direct train from Brussels to Chur (10 hours) €123.

You could also travel by bus btw. This is also relativly cheap, but not that comfortable. You can compare it with travelling by plane (minus the food and drinks ). I went to Paris like that a couple of times, and although very cheap, it is a loooong ride. But they take a stop every few hours or so though.
EDIT: can't find much info at this moment though.

Another option is going by train, but travelling via other indirect routes. eg: go to Paris (and visit France while you're there ), and from there there are direct trains to Switzerland IIRC. But, all things considered it would be a bit more expensive because you take a longer route etc... then again, you'll also have the chance to visit France for example...

train info:
http://www.b-europe.com/Travel


So, depending on where you exactly want to go in Switzerland, it might be cheaper with the train, or with the plane...

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
It all depends on where you wanna go of course and what company you book your flight with. And it especially depends on when you book your tickets. The prices for planetickets can go up quite a lot if you only book like a few days before.

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yeah, i know quite a lot about revenue management lol BUT with these cheap companies im talking about, they dont do that that often. You can buy your ticket up to 3 days before the flight and still get a very good price (not like with big companies, where you have to buy your tickets with months of anticipation .

I see your point about the benefits of the train tickets though. i'd suggest you people traveling to check out the prices for the train tickets and see if you can find something cheaper by plane. As long as it's a considerable difference, i'd take the plane.

wacky, check out ryanair.com, easyjet.com and edreams.com, those are the cheap companies i remember

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
A car would be more expensive for sure. And driving in Switzerland might not be that easy if you're not used to driving in mountains... depends on where you want to go though.

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true, my friend had an accident in switzerland due to him not knowing how to drive with snow. i guess that's not a problem for wacky though, lol.

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Originally posted by Chrono
As long as it's a considerable difference, i'd take the plane.

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+1

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Originally posted by Chrono

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
A car would be more expensive for sure. And driving in Switzerland might not be that easy if you're not used to driving in mountains... depends on where you want to go though.

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true, my friend had an accident in switzerland due to him not knowing how to drive with snow. i guess that's not a problem for wacky though, lol.

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Snow is indeed one big problem. But I was more refering to driving in mountains and steep passes. Even without snow, driving around on mountain roads needs some skill too (or your car's transmission wouldn't survive if you do it wrong - speaking out of experience ). The combination of the two is even more yucky I suppose But I'm sure Wacky can conquer the Alps

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
A car would be more expensive for sure. And driving in Switzerland might not be that easy if you're not used to driving in mountains... depends on where you want to go though.

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I want to visit most of Switzerland and it would be nice to have somewhere to leave my bag no matter where I go. I don't think driving through the mountains is such a problem (we have mountains in Canada too, although they are not as big). But I'm really not familiar with European cars so that might cause me a bit of a problem, I'm not sure

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
Another option is going by train, but travelling via other indirect routes. eg: go to Paris (and visit France while you're there ), and from there there are direct trains to Switzerland IIRC. But, all things considered it would be a bit more expensive because you take a longer route etc... then again, you'll also have the chance to visit France for example...

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I think this is what I had in mind. I don't think I really want to visit Paris, though.. they don't like us so much (French Canadians) but I'm sure there could be other places I could visit. Either that or pass through Germany and make a stop. I'm just not sure what to visit.

Either way, I'll have to consider price and if I want to see more (plane won't really allow this)

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Originally posted by Chrono
wacky, check out ryanair.com, easyjet.com and edreams.com, those are the cheap companies i remember

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yes, I had already looked at two of those, thank you

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Originally posted by Chrono
true, my friend had an accident in switzerland due to him not knowing how to drive with snow. i guess that's not a problem for wacky though, lol.

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haha no, snow isn't a problem but I don't think I'll be driving through any snow since it's summer in the northern hemisphere

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
Snow is indeed one big problem. But I was more refering to driving in mountains and steep passes. Even without snow, driving around on mountain roads needs some skill too (or your car's transmission wouldn't survive if you do it wrong - speaking out of experience ). The combination of the two is even more yucky I suppose But I'm sure Wacky can conquer the Alps

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aww

I'll have to think about the whole driving part a bit more. I think I can take more time to decide. Right now I kind of have to focus on when I should arrive in Europe. Sunshine seems to have been busy lately
Edit: nevermind, this is due to my stupidness

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Originally posted by wacky
Sunshine seems to have been busy lately

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How come you say I'm busy....Have you read my reply to your message on Facebook? Add me on messenger (addy is in message), it's a lot easier to talk that way...I'm pretty much always there