InterRail Passes

The InterRail product has changed since April this year and I noticed that there are still many questions concerning the InterRail passes. I will try to give you a clear view of the new InterRail product.

For InterRail there are two kinds of passes: The InterRail Global Pass and the One Country Pass. With the InterRail Global Pass you can travel through the whole of Europe from 5 days up to 1 month.The costs vary depending on the lenght of validity of the pass. With the Global Pass you can enjoy Europe's diverse rail offerings, ranging from High Speeds trains such as TGV's to the more paced local trains. The Global is useful if you want to travel to more than 1 country in Europe.

If you would like to travel through only one country to explore every corner,  you can choose for the InterRail One Country Pass. With an InterRail One Country Pass you may be entitled to extra benefits in the country you chose. Examples are discounted or free shipping services and reduced admissions in museums.Visit Extra Pass Benefits for an overview of benefits in each country.

Note that The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are considered to be one country (Benelux). In short these are the elements of the InterRail product.If you'd like more information visit InterRailnet.com

If you have any questions concerning the product InterRail please place your comment under this post.

-Sheena-

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

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)

Reservations..when to make, how to avoid!

At InterRailNet.com we get a lot of questions about whether or not to reserve seats for certain trains. We realize that it sometimes is not clear when reservations are required. With this post I hope to clear things up a bit for you.

With the InterRail Global Pass you can travel for free through 30 European countries. With the InterRail One Country Pass you can travel for free in one specific country only. On www.interrailnet.com you'll find more info about these passes.

The general rule on reservations is that all the domestic trains are free and don't require a reservation, for the highspeed trains usually DO need reservations and sometimes charge additional costs. To check if a train needs a reservation I recommend the following website:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?Id=212.27&newrequest=yes

You can easily fill in your departure station and destination and the site will show the connections. If you click on 'details for all'  you can see the details of the trains. If a train requires a reservation, this is listed as 'compulsary reservation'. There's also a red icon 'R'.

If you're on a low budget I advise you to take the domestic trains. Although the trains are slower, it will free you from extra costs! You'll also see more of the surroundings because it usually makes more stops!

You can use the website above as a tool to plan your trip! If you have any more questions about reservations or anything else regarding InterRail, just let me know on -sheena@eurail.nl- or post a comment!

Sheena