questions!

[kateclemens]

Hello all! I'm leaving on the 23rd to backpack for just about four weeks. There are a few things im iffy on so if you could give me feedback on this that would be great!

I've got an interail pass that activates on March 25th. Its for 10 days within 22 days.

March 22nd - arrive in Paris at 8:30pm via jet2

March 25th - day trip to Normandy

March 26th - Paris to Florence (night train)
--> if i get a train after 7pm and it goes past midnight, it still only counts as one day of travel. but what if my journey has a few different trains? i believe i have to transfer twice on this journey. does anyone know if this would count as two days?
--> two hour layover in milan

March 29th - Florence to Rome (evening)

April 3rd - Rome to Budapest (night train)
--> This is too far for the rail europe site to handle. How can I break it up to get train times?

April 5th - Budapest to Krakow (evening)
--> this is short because i have my heart set on a tour of auschwitz.

April 6th - Krakow to Prague (evening)

April 10th - Prague to Berlin (evening)

April 14th - Berlin to Amsterdam (afternoon)

April 17th - evening flight back to UK


General questions...
How do I find out if I need to make a reservation on the train? How do I know if I need to pay a supplement?

Thank-you for any tips you can give me.

[Eagle]

kateclemens, welcome to the Boards! You indicated in your post that you're originating in the U.K. (the fact that you're using an Interail Pass was a bit of a hint).

I'll try and provide some answers to your questions, in the same order they were listed:

> March 25th - day trip to Normandy - this is certainly possible, but Normandy is a large area. What were you planning to see there? You'll be leaving from Gare St. Lazare, so you'll need time to get to that station via Metro from whichever area of Paris your Hotel is located. It's a bit of a walk from the Metro station to Gare St. Lazare, but quite manageable (lots of Escalators as I recall). Plan your train journeys to and from Normandy well! Be sure to determine whether the trains you'll be taking require a compulsory reservation.

> March 26 - Paris to Florence (by night train) - there are a few things to mention. First of all, if you're taking a night train, you'll need to check out of your Hotel by about 11:00 - what were you going to do with your luggage?

Regarding the night train, I'm assuming the rules are the same for Interail passes as they are for Eurail passes. If so, this is my understanding of the 7 pm rule.

If you board the train after 19:00 / 7 pm, you will only use ONE DAY of a Flexpass, provided there are no changes prior to midnight. If that's the case, you would enter the following day's date in the box on your Flexpass.

I checked the trains on the Paris-Florence route and it appears that the train you'll be using departs Paris-Bercy (which I believe is just across the street from Gare du Lyon) at 20:33, arriving Firenze S.M.N. at 08:39 (time 12H:06M, reservations and Couchette fees compulsory, one change at Milano Centrale at 05:38, departing at 06:30). In that case (again, IMHO) I believe you will use only one day of your Pass. Confirm that with the agent when you make your reservations.

If you haven't already arranged the reservation and Couchette fees for the trip to Florence, you might want to make a short trip either to one of the rail stations (if there's one close to your Hotel) OR an www.communitywalk.com/sncf_boutiques_in_paris/map/59822#00041Wb=close to your Hotel fairly soon after you arrive in Paris. SNCF is the French rail network and the Boutiques are somewhat of a "travel agency" for them.

> April 3 - Rome to Budapest - for this route, there are a number of trains departing in the evening, so it's important to choose the one that changes after midnight. For example, there's a train departing Roma Termini at 19:50, arriving Budapest Keleti pu at 11:54 (time 16H:44M, 1 change at Wiener Neustadt Hbf at 08:02, departing at 08:32, reservations and Couchette fees compulsory). There are others on that route, but some change prior to midnight, so keep that in mind.

There are several stations in Budapest, and I'm not familiar with the locations, so hopefully one of our other members can comment on that (calling MTH!).

This is a bit of a LONG trip by train, so you could also consider using a budget flight on that route. Check Germanwings or Wizzair for departures from Roma Fiumicino to Budapest. There's a Germanwings flight departing at 16:35, arriving 21:15 (time 4H:40M). The price for Germanwings at the time I checked was €179.26 including all taxes and fees, however this is of course subject to change. Keep in mind that the budget carriers usually have very restrictive baggage limits, and tickets are most often non-changeable and non-refundable.

> April 5 - Budapest to Krakow - the train I'd probably use on that route departs Budapest-Keleti pu at 19:58, arriving Krakow Glowny at 06:33 the following morning (time 10H:35M, NO changes, reservations and Couchette fees compulsory).

> April 6 - Krakow to Prague - there's a direct train on that route departing Krakow Glowny at 22:15, arriving Praha hl.n at 06:54 (time 8H:39M, NO changes, reservations and Couchette fees compulsory).

Your other rail trips are fairly straightforward, so I'm assuming you have those sorted. In order to determine whether reservations are required, you can generally assume that if you're using one of the "fast" trains such as the TGV (France) or EuroStar Italia then reservations will be compulsory. The best method to check each of your journeys is to use the www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml web site.

Happy travels!

[madamtrashheap]

Mar 7, 2009 14:37:05 GMT -5 Eagle said:

There are several stations in Budapest, and I'm not familiar with the locations, so hopefully one of our other members can comment on that (calling MTH!).

You rang?!! ;D

There are three main train stations in Budapest: Keleti Pályaudvar, Déli Pályaudvar and Nyugati Pályaudvar (Pályaudvar is Hungarian for station). As you're travelling from Rome, you'll arrive at Keleti, as Eagle has noted. The station is located on the M2 Metro line, towards the east of the city, but still central. I'm with Eagle on looking at flying this route rather than the train - you'll save time and also get a good night's sleep (when you arrive that is) and won't have the need to change trains during the journey.