Across the Europe by train, All the tips you need to know before your trip.

Is your dream to travel across the Europe?

Luxenburg, Picture by Reetta

When I was 14 years old, I saw the first-time video about interrail and since of then it been dream of mine. Seven years later I got to fill that dream.

Here I want to share my intake of solo interrail trip, all the things I wish to know beforehand and what things I learn on the way. I hope this could help you plan your own interrail trip solo or with travel buddy.

If you don't know what interrail is, it's the train ticket that you can buy from eurail.com. But it is not just one train ticket, it's a pass that you can travel around Europe. Interrail pass has been around since 1972 and has developed over the years from paper pass to mobile app. There are many different kinds of Interrail passes varying from one country pass to global passes to suit your planned trip. 

So, what pass did I choose? I originally chose a paper pass 15 traveling days within 2 months, but I ended up changing it to mobile pass into my Eurail planner app due to some delivery problems. My first thought to buy paper pass was that even if I don’t have internet or battery left on my phone, I would have my pass. I ended up liking the mobile pass due to the flexibility it offers. In the app I could easily plan my trip and see it how it goes in the map. It also made it easy to change plans if needed. The app is built away so that most of the features are usable without internet. In the end my concerns of not having a battery or internet were not problems.

Before your trip I recommend go and look through the different kinds of passes. You can even do quick planning of the countries where you want to go with the planner feature on the Eurail.com website. I personally liked to plan my trip ahead of time, it gave me a sense of what kind of pass I could get and how I can save money when choosing my pass. If you don’t have yet the idea where exactly you wish to go on your trip, a good pass option for you could have unlimited travels in certain number of days.

 

What should you bring with you?

Picture by Reetta

Let’s start with what kind of bag you should consider taking with you. I personally took cabin zero 36-liter backpack. I would say my backpack to be good sizes for me and I could easily fit everything there and even had room to spare for some new things on the way. Even though I think my backpack was good sizes and got me through my trip, I would still choose another backpack for my next adventures. I noticed the importance of hip supporting strap in the backpack and especially the lack of in mine. Oh yes, my backpack didn’t have hip support and I could feel it in my back and shoulders. Toward the end of my trip my backpack was around 15 kg and that quite a lot to carry just on your shoulders. I would not recommend taking with you a supper big bag or a suitcase, because you might stumble upon places where you wish to have an easily carried bag, and make sure have a good backpack with hip support. 

What should you pack?

This part might be quite clear to you what kind of things you should pack with you but let me tell you couple of tips that I learn from packing to my trip. When packing clothes, gather first what you want to take with you and then half the amount of clothes. You don’t need some many pairs of short or skirts or shirts as you think. I wish that I would take less close with me, because in the end I had clothing items with me that I used only once and could made the trip without them. During my trip I found places to wash my clothes, and this made it possible for me to wear my favorite item all the time and less favorite clothing I ended up not using as much. One tip when choosing what clothing to take with you is to make sure you can mix match many of your clothing. For me this meant to stick with color ballet and having basic essential pieces. When packing clothing, I found it really handy to roll my clothes to one packing cube, which helped me save space in my bag.

When backing your cosmetics, I recommend buying those bigger bottle items on the way, especially if you need to fly to your starting point. So, leave your travel sizes small bottles of shampoo and shower gel at home and buy them from the first country, this way you have a bigger bottle with you which last you the whole trip. This is also a way to save money, because those small travel sizes bottles are usually more expensive when come to quantity price.

Some other recommendations I have for packing, is to bring a travel towel. Many hostels usually don’t have towels, or you can rent them for extra cost, so it is handy to have your own towel. I took with me a travel towel which packed to really small space and dried quickly, which came really handy.  When talking about showering in hostels, I also recommend take some sandals you can use in the shower, because hostel showers do not get cleaned as often and many people use them, so it is good to protect your feet from all kinds of diseases that can be contracted from the floor. I backed with my sandals that I could use during the day, and they were made from plastic so I could also shower with them.

Did I have some things I wish that I didn’t bring. Yes, I did, I wish that I didn’t bring my camera. You might wonder why; would I wanted to take a lot of pictures and capture the moment. For some people bringing a camera is essential and they get a lot of use out of it, but I just didn’t use my camera at all. I noticed during my trip that it was so much easier to just take photos with my phone than to carry my camera around. So yes, that’s the only thing I wish I would leave at home.

 

Should I plan my whole trip before starting my trip or should I go with flow?

Portofino, Picture by Reetta

This might be a question you consider when planning your own trip. In some point is good to plan your trip, but it is good to leave room for adventure. I met so many nice people during my trip and it was nice to also change my plans to make new plans with new friends. 

I planned my trip to the point that I made hostel booking advance for first half of my trip, and then on the way I planned where I wanted to go next. This worked for me especially because before you start your trip you can think of being superhuman and have a lot of energy to go places, but the reality is that you are not and some point you run out of energy and need place to relax. Planning the first half of your trip gives you the chance to listen to your body and to plan rest of your trip cording to your energy level. One really BIG recommendation is taking your time, it is nice to see many places in a short time, but you get tired, so plan a place where you are a bit longer and a place that would have things to make you relax. For me the place which made me gain my energy was Portofino. I love the ocean and being in a smaller town away from city noises help me to get energy back and be ready to go back to explore bigger cities.

 

Saving money during your trip.

When thinking about traveling the first thing that can come up your head, how can I worth it. Yeah, traveling can be expensive, but it is possible to do it on a budget too. I am a student, and I didn’t have much money when doing my own trip. So how did I do it?

1. When choosing accommodation, I always check and compare different booking sites. Two of my favorites were booking.com and hostel world.There is also website where you can get free commodation, for example couch surfing.

Portofino, Picture by Reetta

2. Making your own food. Yes, it is nice to go out to eat and enjoy all the amazing food, but that can add up to your travel budget quickly. When choosing a hostel, check if you can make your own food there. Even if you make one of the meals during the day yourself it still saves you some money.  And if you don’t have a chance to make your own food, try to find a restaurant outside of the touristic areas, those places locals go, because most of the time those restaurants are cheaper than in the touristic places.

Hamburg, Picture by Reetta

 

3. Search for free activities in the city you are in. You would be surprised how many free activities or really cheap ones you can do in many cities. One of my favorite things to do in cities is to go see local parks and search for street art, this way you also get to see the areas where locals live.

4. Consider do you need to purchase a public transportation ticket. In some bigger cities is crucial to have public transportation tickets, but some are easily accessible just by walking to places, plus you get your work out. Some of the cities where I didn’t buy public transportation ticket where Amsterdam, Brussel Copenhagen, Hamburg, Roma (I walked a lot), and Luxemburg (if you didn’t know Luxemburg have free public transportation.)

 

 

I hope all the tips and the experiences I got would help you prepare yourself to your own adventures.

With love, Reetta