quote:
Originally posted by Chris4
quote:
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.
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.
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.
quote:
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. 
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.
/ 
