14/11/2024My third annual, low budget, Interrail trip to some favourite spots and new adventures
Benefits of travelling by train
Moor Stories
After my summer 2021 trip, where I travelled through Europe in a minivan, the beloved Citroën Berlingo, I decided I wanted to travel cheaper, lighter, and even more flexibly than by car. I realized I could go much further if I took the train, and that’s when I decided I wanted to buy an Interrail pass in the summer of ‘22.
And so I did, every year since. This year was my third time travelling by train, and I’m not planning on stopping soon. Travelling by Interrail has been such a great adventure and the most affordable way of travelling Europe so far. It has its challenges for sure, but that’s also why I travel with basically no plans, the thrill, the problem-solving, the adventure. I love it!
In this post, I will try to give you an overview of what my Interrail looked like this year. The beauty, the struggle, the (new)gear I used and an overall itinerary of the trip. In later posts, I want to go more into detail about the destinations themselves. Where I stayed the night, how to get there, what I did, what I roughly spend and some tips and tricks.
Travelling by train has saved me a lot of money on gas, of course, but it has also helped me enjoy the travelling part itself even more. Don’t get me wrong, I love driving, especially through new and beautiful countries. However, if you travel by car you can’t dwell too long on the beautiful scenery, or you’ll swerve on the road (I speak from experience here).
If you travel by train, you get the time to really daydream away at the views. Plus it shows you way more of a country, and it’s country site then just the main roads. When travelling to bigger cities by train, you’ll mostly go through the countryside, where you’ll get a good view of what life is like out of the city. I mean take Amsterdam for instance, or Paris. If you visit those cities, you’ll definitely get a glimpse of what the country and culture are like. But it can be a very generic idea, and in my opinion a lot of big cities tend to look a lot alike. Especially if it’s a famous tourist destination.
Besides giving you a lovely introduction to the countries you visit, travelling by train offers another advantage: rest. If you solo travel like I do, you’d have to stop every 2.5 to 4.5 hours to rest if you travel by car. Now that I go by train I get to take naps, eat whenever I want, and I can use the restroom, all whilst getting closer to my next destination. To save as much valuable ‘vacation hours’, I like to travel at night if I can. This way I can even try to sleep. Spoiler, sleeping in a train is not for everyone. And definitely not as cosy as a bed or hammock.
Like I mentioned, I like to travel as cheap as possible. I like to get as much out of as little money that I have. That means I don’t reserve night trains, for instance. Most of the time you have to reserve these or other fast trains, weeks or even months in advance. Travelling with next to no plans means I’ll have to go with whatever trains are available with no seat reservations. And, in a lot of cases, stand.
Warning: This will also likely result in you taking twice as long to get anywhere. But that also means you don’t spend hundreds of euro’s on seat reservations. And you travel basically for ‘free’ every day. I’ll get back to the financial part of travelling by train later.
Travelling at night by train is a tricky one, though. Regional trains stop running at a certain time, and depending on where you want to go, that could mean you’ll be stranded at a train station somewhere until the first train departs again in the morning. Here’s where some adventure comes in. However, staying at train stations at night is not for everyone. Train stations are known to be places where it can get quite sketchy at night, especially if you're a solo female traveller.
Over the years, I’ve spent time sleeping outdoors while waiting for my next train, CouchSurfing, or occasionally wild camping. I like the thrill and adventure, but that doesn’t mean I’m not careful or that I never feel unsafe. On the contrary, by doing stuff like this, I learned what to do and especially what not to do. So find a way of travelling that works for you, and that gives you the most joy out of travelling.
