interRail

[turienzo's lovechild]

anyone done this? thinking of getting a zone D ticket(bosnia&herz, croatia, czech rep, hungary,poland, slovakia)

anyone have good/bad experiances? is it value for money?

xxx

 

[ali jenkins]

Think Marty Mcfly is thinking of doing something similar, speak to him

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

i was more looking for opinions of former customers, but i shall talk to mr. funnell

 

[Wilko]

I am planning to do that same Zone this summer

Where are you flying to Tommy ?

 

[London Calling]

Twice mate, but under the old, you could go anywhere on one ticket system.

Absolutely fantastic, though you will see mainly town and cities- you really are doing CULTURAL TOUR OF EUROPE.

And passing through some great countryside.

You could also combine it with some cheap flights, I have also looked at that option for touring Europe.

I did a three weeker and a four weeker.

But made sure I also had a chilling - beach period to recover.

Tips include:

Don't try and do it all, give the quality places some time,
Plan well ahead,
Decide and stick to a budget,
Balance up with a good night kip in a hotel/campsite againgst a "freebie" on a train with all the usual disturbances.

LC

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

I am planning to do that same Zone this summer

Where are you flying to Tommy ?

it looks like the best zone don't it?

i really have no idea, we were thinking of mid july

its only a PIPE DREAM at the moment like

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

top info LC, thanks very much

i;ve only heard good things about this

 

[London Calling]

PS DUBROVNIK is brialliant but an arse to get to, 54 hour journey for us, in some of the worst trains ever there was sheep in the passenger compartments!!!!

Split is great and the area around it, great beaches and history. I went all the way down to Bar at the southern tip of Yugoslavia. A different world. This was in the Tito Communist days.

There is a great lake in Slovenia, it could be lake bled, relatively easy to get to. Tito had a holiday home there, which shows how nice it was.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Ooh, don't start me and that other old fart Gluteus Maximus off reminiscing - the hairy beast and I DID Europe in 1989 and 1991 under the old no zone system.

Ah, the tortuous overnight trains, the ridiculously-cheap drunkenness in a newly-liberated eastern Europe, the "trials of Nuremberg", an ordeal which featured noisy 4am freshly-brewed-beer-fuelled defecation by yours truly on an otherwise nice train which had sadly not been equipped with any toilet paper.

It's a shame it's not as free and easy as it was then with no zones, although you can't really blame southern Europeans for having their trains filled with northern Europeans all summer, yet receive no money for it.

As a student, I'd say: do Interrailling at every opportunity, money and work permitting. It's magnificent.

 

[Cian]

You can still do anywhere on one ticket - one EXPENSIVE ticket.

I used it as a cheap way to get to Slovakia over rail, the way back was in a drunken haze mind... Was heading somewhere specific so it wasn't like the touring roud I expect you're gonna be doing

 

[watsongooal]

How much are the tickets?

 

[Commander]

Did it a few years ago, cant remember what zone but did Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland (although I don't think we were meant to go there) and Holland. Fantastic experience and would love to do it again. Go for it.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Ooh, don't start me and that other old fart Gluteus Maximus off reminiscing - the hairy beast and I DID Europe in 1989 and 1991 under the old no zone system.

Ah, the tortuous overnight trains, the ridiculously-cheap drunkenness in a newly-liberated eastern Europe, the "trials of Nuremberg", an ordeal which featured noisy 4am freshly-brewed-beer-fuelled defecation by yours truly on an otherwise nice train which had sadly not been equipped with any toilet paper.

It's a shame it's not as free and easy as it was then with no zones, although you can't really blame southern Europeans for having their trains filled with northern Europeans all summer, yet receive no money for it.

As a student, I'd say: do Interrailling at every opportunity, money and work permitting. It's magnificent.

What he said.

Overnight trains might be "tortuous" - but that's only in comparison with fast, daytime trains. The whole point is to plan a journey so that you arrive where you want to be round about breakfast time. If that means kipping on a train that's travelling at 30 mph, what's the problem? A 6.30am breakfast at Warsaw station is the perfect way to arrive in a country you've never been before.

 

[The Wookiee]

How much are the tickets?

And where can you purchse them from and what zones etc

 

[Benny Seagull]

did spain, portugal and morocco two summers ago and got f***ed with 'suplementario's' - the ticket does not allow you on any train at any time for free. on many occasions me and my friends were forced to pay an extra fee for a seat and the spanish are miserable bastards at times. check the small print on the ticket - we only saw it once we got back and could do nothing about it. you have been warned. still had an amazing time though!

 

[Arthur]

You can still do anywhere on one ticket - one EXPENSIVE ticket.

It's not that expensive. For an under 26 it's £285 for a month (£405 for over 26).

Seeing a monthly season ticket from Brighton to London is £300+ I think it's quite resonable.

I was going to use it in the summer for the world cup and then bugger off south if/when England got knocked out. Your ticket did cover the ferry from Greece back up to Northern Italy.

I'll echo the sentiments about overnight trains, don't unless you are really really drunk!

 

[Cian]

Its expensive compared to Irish railways - similar distance journey season ticket here is €108 (£71), and that includes free bus travel within the city centre!

 

[Arthur]

Its expensive compared to Irish railways - similar distance journey season ticket here is €108 (£71), and that includes free bus travel within the city centre!

When I lived in Thialand getting the train a similar distance cost about 3p a month and you got free rides on ladyboys. I didn't think it was very relevent to the conversation though so I didn't bring it up.

Do they still allow livestock on the trains and run about once a week in Ireland? I went from Dublin to Galway the other year and we shared a carriage (made of wood and you were allowed to smoke!!) with a goat.

 

[CHAPPERS]

I liked the overnight trains, always found I slept pretty well on them.

Funniest bit of my trip was when a mate got strip searched in Italy after we'd scored some dirty hash off some Afghans on an overnighter. Marvellous.

 

[Cian]

Do they still allow livestock on the trains and run about once a week in Ireland? I went from Dublin to Galway the other year and we shared a carriage (made of wood and you were allowed to smoke!!) with a goat.

"Other Year" being prior to 1981 when they got rid of wooden carraiges clearly

Trains to my town are 2004-2006 stock. Commuter routes are never run by stock older than 1996, "prestige" long distance routes the same. Galway gets old crap - 1970s - but its no older than the exact same gear used in the UK.

Services run at least every 20 minutes at peak times, and the new schedule in March brings them in every ten minutes. Smoking has been banned on trains since the workplace smoking ban in 2004. And unlike the UK train system, we haven't had a fatal train crash since 1981.