What's in your backpack?

What do you need to bring on an InterRail trip? First of all you need a good and steady bag. If you don't allready have a good backpack, go to a travel store to purchase a backpack of good quality. Nothing is worse than your bag breaking in the middle of your trip, leaving all your belongings somewhere in Europe!

Make a travel checklist!

It depends on how long your trip is going to be how much stuff you need to carry. Always keep in mind that YOU are the one carrying your stuff so don't overpack for the sake of your back! For inspiration what to put on your checklist you couldgo to the InterRailnet.com website.

It's fun to make a picture of your bag before you go on your trip! A reminder of what you have been carrying during your trip! For example the photo beneath was made by MC Masterchef.

So okay he was going to Vietnam, but it's just to give you an idea of what other people's backpacks look like!

If you have pictures of your bag, send it to me by email and I will post them on InterRail Station!

Good luck packing!! ;-)

Sheena

Indigo Magazine, homesick for Europe!

There aren't a lot of media for Europe in general. This is what we would like to achieve with InterRailStation. Being a platform to share experiences, stories and news with all (young) Europeans, or just to give eachother usefull tips and ideas. The topic Europe is alive and kicking amongst most young people and that's really nice to see for we all live in the same continent. Borders are dissapearing and more and more Europeans travel to other European countries to either study, work or just travel!

I recently came across an online 'newsmagazine' which reports about news from Europe. Their target group are readers from 20 to 35 years of age,. It's called 'Indigo magazine', and it is made for and by the participants of the European Youth Media Days in Brussels. They've conceived it with a team of young journalists from eight different countries. The great thing about this magazine is that its available in 7 different languages (english, dutch, spanish, french, polish, italian and german).

One article in particular caught my attention, 'Going Multilingual', on page 47. When travelling through Europe you most likely come across those situations when you want to explain something to a local but you just don't get him or her to understand you! Sounds familiar? Well this article explains why some people are really good in learning foreign languages and others are just not! It also implies that when you're drunk you can all of a sudden speak the foreign language fluently!! Interesting! ;-)

I think Indigo magazine is a great initiative to bring Europe under the attention of young citizens.

So if you like to read about Europe in a refreshing way, written by young Europeans you should definitely take a look on their website.

Sheena

RailDance Express Winner!

Congratulations to Sabin Dragoman from Romania for achieving a highscore of 5822 points! With this highscore he's this weeks (week 29) winner of the InterRail Global Pass, 22 days continuous! We've allready contacted Sabin and I wish him a lot of fun travelling through Europe with InterRail.

We have also received some nice emails from the other winners of RailDance Express, Joghem and Hannamari.

Joghem has allready received his InterRail Pass and he'll be travelling through Eastern Europe, starting in Istanbul and then going to Sofia, Belgrado, Budapest, Wenen, Bratislava, Lviv and Warschau. I'm sure this will be a great trip. If you have tips for Joghem like some must see sites, let him know by placing a comment.

Hannamari has let us know that she has never gone on an InterRail trip before and therefore she's very excited that she has won an InterRail Global pass. She really wants to see France, Italy and Austria for she has never been there before. She's still planning her exact route! Where to go, what to see and all of that! So if you have tips for her, let us know ;-)

We've entered a new week (since last Saturday 24:00 CE) so there are again new chances to win an InterRail Pass. Good luck!

Sheena

Some Tips for traveling through Spain!

Bienvenidos a Espana!

The journey continuous...this time to Spain. Spain is a very diverse country and I can say I have always had a real great time. My first trip to Spain took me to Barcelona, the city of Gaudi, with its beautiful buildings, nice restaurants, great clubs, good for shopping AND not to forget the beach!

If you like to combine a city trip with the beach, Barcelona is the place to be. There are also a lot of young people because of the Universities in the city. If you don't have a lot of time, but you do want to see as many sights as possible, I recommend you take the Bus Turistica tour. You can buy a ticket for 1 or 2 days and you can hop on and off the bus as much as you like. The bus will take you to the main (amazing) sights of Barcelona. The tickets can be purchased at one of many tourist points in the city. Make sure you see the Sagrada Famila, the amazing masterwork of Gaudi (the famous Spanish architect), Casa Batllo, La Pedrera and Parc Guell! Almost everything is on walking distance once your in the centre of Barcelona (prepare to walk a lot) so that's very convenient. (picture on the left of Placa Catalunya Barcelona was taken by Tony.M).

From Barcelona you can take the train to the capital of Spain, Madrid. Madrid is also a beautifull city that you just can't miss if your in Spain. I was just blown away by the grandness of some buildings that are just standing in the centre of town. Impressive to see that they are made by people! You won't get bored in Madrid for there's a lot to do and to see. I was there for three days and I haven't even seen half of the city. Mind you! Make sure you go to El Parque Retiro, you can really relax and if the weather is nice, enjoy the sun!

Because I really love the sea I just had to go to San Sebastian, in the North of Spain. So after Madrid I travelled north to Bilbao and from there to San Sebastian. If you like to surf (or just enjoy swimming, the sun and the beach) you really should go there! Not only does San Sebastian have great beaches, it also has this really nice old village with funny shops and restaurants. If you go further from the beach you'll enter the more modern part San Sebastian, which is also very nice! From San Sebastian you can either go to Biaritz (also great for surfing) in France or travel back into Spain to see the other probably cool places.

The food in Spain is also really good and really important to Spanish people, they take their time to have lunch or dinner. I really enjoyed this. Tapas, paella and sangria you must have tasted at least once!!   

Look for more information on OkSpain Tourist Office. You can also look for hostels on www.gomio.com or check de sites on my post about hostels.

For my next trip to Spain (don't know when yet) I want to go to the South. I heard that it's really nice there! So Espana yo volvere! (I'll be back)!

Sheena

Italy InterRail Video..... 100 years of InterRailing!

To stay in Italy, I found a funny yet in some way informative video from a group of InterRailers during their journey through Italy. A 100 years of InterRailing caught on tape! It will also give you a nice ´peek´on what Italy is like! (Video was made by spanishphil).

Enjoy!

InterRail tips...Italy

Italy oh Italy, where art thou.... Whenever I think of Italy, the famous play Romeo and Juliette comes to mind. The city of Verona plays an important part in the play! But Italy has a lot more to offer than dramatic love sceneries.

Italy is easy to recognize on a map of Europe thanks to the ´boot´ shape of this country.
Must see cities are ofcourse, Rome, Milan, Venice and Florence.
Rome, for its the capital of Italy and houses the amazing Collaseum which is a must see sight! Also don´t forget to visit the Vatican, maybe you´ll even see Pope Benedict XVI, you never know.

Milan is the city of extremes, its well known for its business climate, is the fashion capital of Europe and is very artistic. Milan is located in the north of Italy.

Venice is just a dream that shines on waters. I mean that quite literally for the best way to explore Venice is by ´gondola´. Although these gondola trips are a bit expensive, I believe it´s really worth it! So  plan it in to you budget!

Florence is the part of Italy where they have miles of beautiful and large vineyards, rolling hills and it actually is the Renaissance capital of the world. So the scenery is amazing. If you are into museums, make sure you visit the Uffizi, which houses work of Michelangelo, Titian and Rubens. Also Leonardo Davinci is from Florence! (nice to know for the Davinchi Code readers)!

Italy has much more to offer than the big cities, the Italian Tourist Board, has all the information you need. Also very informative is the Italy Travel Guide.

Taking the train is by far the best way to know Italy, so your InterRail pass is of good use here! Whatever your destination the train will take you there quickly (1000 trains running daily). You can check the site of TrenItalia for timetables, it is in Italian, but quite easy to use.

The cost of living in Italy is different, for the north and central regions are very properous, the south is comparatively poorer. The luxury products are usually pretty expensive as products like wine(!)are inexpensive. Shopping hours in Italy are different from other countries in Europe. Shops open their doors at 9 am, are closed between 1 and 4 pm and are then open again till 8 pm! The ATM machines are called Bancomat! Might be good to know!

It also might be useful to bring an Italian phrasebook, in the big cities you´ll be able to communicate in English, but when you go to the smaller villages some knowledge of Italian will come in handy!

Before you go to Italy make sure you read into the available information so you know where to go or not to go!! In my previous post about Croatia I gave a usefull link to whatonwhen. Here you can find out what there´s to do in Italy during your stay! The picture of the leaning tower of Pisa on the right was taken in Pisa, Italy, by chripstopher.

I hope you´ll enjoy la vita Italiana!
Sheena             

Bored on a train....what to do?

These InterRailers sure know how to 'dance... even in a train!! A great way to amuse yourself on board of train on a longer trip!  Shakira Shakira! Raildancing indeed! ;-)

Video was made by: adrieduSL

Sheena

InterRailing through..... Croatia!

Croatia is the new hotspot in Europe !It is a popular destination under the InterRailers nowadays. This isn’t so strange because Croatia has something unique for everyone. I’ll give you some of the highlights of Croatia!

If you like to see old (welpreserved) cities and impressive architecture, Croatia hasn't only got beautiful buildings, cathedrals etc, it even has 6 Unesco World Heritage sites.                                                                                                  

(Picture on the right taken by mpecarevic)

If you’d rather go and enjoy the sun, the beach and parks you’ll be amazed, for Croatia is truly a land of islands. There are 1.185 islands in the Adriatic Sea on the Eastcoast of Croatia. This is a real unique area in Europe for motorboats, sailboats and the amazing underwater world.

Zagreb and Split are great cities fo some good (fashion) shopping. If you want to buy souvenirs, search for olive oil and the black and white truffels. They're supposed to be a real treat! Dubrovnik is a really popular city amongst most tourists.

I believe Croatia is really worth the trip. So if you’re going InterRailing through Eastern Europe make sure you’ll make a stop there! The capital, Zagreb, has good railway connections, as have the other cities. See the map. On the website of the Croatian Railways you’ll find a timetable, so you can easily plan your trip through Croatia. 

If you want more information about Croatia I recommend the website of The Croatian National Tourist Board, where you can find everything you need to inform yourself to plan your trip.

Croatia is also very environment minded. Since 1997 they’ve launched this project called Blue Flag. It’s idea is that every region, city, island is awarded a Blue Flag as a proof of cleanness and quality. The conditions to obtain the Blue Flag are very strict and it’s a great honour if the flag is awarded! I think this is a great way of cooperating to maintain the environment, reef and the unique monuments. For us ‘tourists’ it’s also a point of recognition, for a blue flag means clean, environment friendly and good sights and entertainment!

For hostels in Croatia you can use one of the websites on my post A Helping Hand with Hostels.

Curious about current Croation events? Check Whatsonwhen for a local guide for global travellers!

If you've been to Croatia and you have additional information to this post please let us know!

For people who are going to Croatia, I wish you a very nice time, let me know about you're experiences!

Sheena

 

A Helping Hand with Hostels

Planning your trip through Europe is a lot of fun to do. Choosing the countries you really want to see and when your 'on the road' you just see where you'll end up on the way! One thing that a lot of you are blogging about is how to find a good hostel or a camping site.

I was thinking about how I could give you more information about this topic. It actually starts with doing your own research online. I'll give you some usefull popular sites which are used a lot to book a hostel.

Picture taken by (takethebiscuit)

For example:

• Hostelling International http://www.hihostels.com (tip)
  
• Hostel Bookers http://www.hostelbookers.com
• Hostel Club http://www.hostelsclub.com
• Hostel World http://www.hostelworld.com/

With these four sites you'll be well on your way to book a hostel. In the summer period it's usually recomended to book your hostel in advance.

Summer is a very busy time and most hostels will be fully booked. So if you want to be sure of a nice place to rest your head, make sure you book in time!

If you want to travel really low budget, sleeping on camping sites is a great solution. Although the camping sites are usually further away from the centre, they're much cheaper and will give you a true outdoor feeling! I've just been surfing the web to find good camping sites and so far I've found one for Portugal. You can book a campingspot for 6 euro's a night.

If you have InterRailed before or you're going InterRailing this summer, to give eachother a helping hand, please let me know about the hostels and/or campsites you're staying or stayed at!

Sheena

Picture on the right taken by (Pleribus)

InterRail trip on Video.....

InterRail is all about the freedom to explore Europe, so of course you want to see as many new places as possible! Some really creative InterRailers have captured their adventures on video for everybody to see. While I was surfing on www.YouTube.com I found this video, made by three girls, that gives a great impression on what sights to see in Europe! It also describes the InterRail feeling which makes it really fun to watch. The video is a bit long (9 minutes or so) but it's worth the watch! Enjoy!

This video was made by: Nina, Pascalle and Cleo 

Sheena