Note to world: Buy your long-distance train tickets before you arrive in Europe.
I’d been researching my tickets for while before I left the States and knew what pass I was going to get. I hadn’t bought it already because my parents went to Europe a few years ago and said you could buy them at any train station for only a few hundred dollars. I looked online and found the price and where I could buy them, which wasn’t in Antwerp, so P and I caught a train to Brussels today to get them.
Right, so if you’re a European citizen or resident, you can get an Inter Rail unlimited travel train pass which lasts a month and costs just under €400. If you are not a European citizen or resident, you need to get a Eurail pass (there are loads of different ones you can get). However, what the website doesn’t tell you is that you will save HUNDREDS of dollars if you buy them outside of Europe. So, I ended up getting a Eurail Flexipass Youth (I feel like such a kid) which gives me 10 days of travel over a 2 month period. For €600. €600! It was less than US$600 on the website, so I really got the shaft on that. Also, it turns out that the Eurail pass doesn’t let you travel to the Czech Republic while the Inter Rail pass does – however you can just buy an extra ticket – but I’m not paying more than the €1,000,000,000 I’ve already spent on train tickets. Oh well, I learnt my lesson! I’m going to be flat broke before I know it.
Anyway, I leave tomorrow for the rest of my trip. Because P and I decided to spend extra time in Antwerp we’ve had to change our travel plan quite a bit. We decided to catch a high-speed train down to Nice and Monaco, and to stay there until we leave for the Sonar festival in Barcelona as we suddenly realised we had to be there in only a few days. Doh! We also decided not to go to Portugal on this trip because it’s a really long journey from Barcelona and then back to Italy. So, Barcelona back to Monaco, and then on to Italy and wherever else we end up.
So, I leave for Brussels in about 7 hours, and I haven’t packed yet. I should probably do that. I really should stop procrastinating (but at least I have my tickets now!).
Ha! Shame about the Eurail pass thing, reading your blog lately is a major flashback to the trials and tribulations I went through last summer. Just be glad you didn’t have to get the “adult” Eurail pass where they pretty much double the costs. Still, I am envious of your trip—have fun! (PS – if you can make it to Slovenia during your travels, DO IT! Incredible and affordable even if the Eurrail pass doesn’t get you there…)
unpacked?
dude, go to prague, just take the train to the czech border and then pay for the rest, its so ridiculously cheap there that it’s probably not more than $10 for that part.
oh and it is sooooo absolutely worth it!
do it do it do it!