dawna

Hi everyone
Okay, i am in Baumholder, Germany right now wasting too much of my time! So in January I am planning to have the 21 day Eurailpass. I was just wondering about it.. pretty much everything in general. ...

1)places i should save more time for
2)how it is to sleep on the trains
3)non-touristy places that are beautiful to see that i should definitely NOT miss
4)free places!


I will be going with NOT a lot of money at all. I mean that in the way where i am even planning on snatching freshly thrown away food if I have to!

Yeah, I'm on a budget, and this defines budget for me. I would rather not spend a lot of money on food and have enough money to see some awesome museums and galleries and breweries and stuff of that sort. ...though I am still on the lookout for free things of the sort.

Any tips you can give me will be appreciated! thanks

Gretchen

Is the EurailPass the most economical thing for you to buy?
And, can you even buy it if you are in Europe? It used to be for sale only in the US.
Do your itinerary and then figure out if point to point tickets would be less than the Pass, assuming you can buy it.

NeoPatrick

Do you mean a full eurail pass with all the countries? Or a much more economical pass that covers maybe three countries, or even has an additional country add on? Or do you mean a single country pass, like sticking with Germany? Let's first decide how much of Europe you want to see (you could just stay on trains for the full 21 days and only get off to change trains, and you'll SEE one heckuva lot of Europe. Or are there places you want to experience?

And frankly there are no longer any "beautiful NOT miss places" that have not already been discovered by other tourists.

My suggestion? There is enough in Germany to keep you busy and your pass will be relatively cheap and you can travel cheaply as well -- saving a lot of money from doing a general Eurail pass and staying in a lot of different countries.

ira

Hi D,

Unless you tell us your 21-day itinerary, we can't tell you if a railpass will work.

Enter your itinerary at www.railsaver.com and click "only if it saves money".

If it says to buy PtP tickets, you can be sure that you don't want a pass.

If you are planning on sleeping on trains with a pass, you will sleep in your seat. The pass doesn't cover sleepers.

norween

While you tell us wher you are, you don't tell us where you are a resident from, this makes a difference : Eurail passes are not available to EU residents (they have to use an Interail or an Eurodomino pass)

janisj

just a hunch - but are you a US military/Govt employee dependent at a German base? Because if so then you CAN buy a Eurail Pass. Not saying that is what you want to do. Just that those saying one can't be purchased in Europe are right for "tourists" but not for military dependents.

Now, if you are on a true budget, a Eurail pass is pretty expensive. For rock bottom money - then look at long distance buses. But definitely not a comfortable way to travel . . . .

WillTravel

My impression is that Eurail passes tend to encourage lots of travel just for the sake of movement, rather than a well-thought-out itinerary (I'm sure there are exceptions, and if you want a lot of train rides, there's nothing wrong with that.) Point to point tickets are often cheaper all told. But what places would you like to see? That will make a big difference to your budget.

dawna

hm, okay first, thank you for youre responses. its hard for me to think everything out when i cant even think of all the aspects you know? so thats why i ended up here i guess!

let me try to reply back..
I am IN baumholder right now on the army base, but i am not a part of the military, i am not a dependant, and i am not a resident of europe. I am just staying here for about 80 days.. i arrived in november and i leave in the beginning of feb.

I can have my eurail pass or whatever type of pass that figures to be the best option for me, sent to the states and then sent to me here.

I guess i would say that my budget is about $800-$900 total. i would spend the $500 on the pass, and have the other money to use on whatever else i would need; mainly food sources and shelter. but those i am willing to do extra extra cheap so that i can use the majority of my money to see other things.

At this point, i dont really have any itenerary. i have a few MAIN places that i know i want to see. BUT i know that there is so much more world out there that i even know of, and i kind of just want to go with the wind. i want to just see where the train can take me at any given point, and just go with it. I know i want to go to berlin, amsterdam, paris, italy, spain, ummmm anywhere really!
this is why i dont have any specific itenerary, and it is why i would be afraid to set up an itenerary for myself.. because i would just worry that i would be limiting myself too much.
So, for me, i see it being worth $500 to just give myself the room to be random with my trips.

And i know i would be sleeping in a seat.. i dont really mind being uncomfortable when i sleep. The way i see it, i will get good sleep AFTER the 21 day journey.

Is it too much to fill my head with.. thinking that i will be able to see much of europe in 21 days? i definitely KNOW that i will not cover even a fourth of things that are out there to see.

I guess what i do know is that i dont just want to get a pass for ONLY germany, and i want to atleast see germany, the netherlands, france, and italy, and i definitely want to be gone atleast 3 weeks.
I was looking at the Eurail Selectpass for the 6+1 day option for 4 countries, but i do not want to have to PLAN the 7 days of travel ahead of time. i dont really have the patience for that. and i dont want to do all the planning of where i would want to stay and for how many nights and have to figure out which trains to get on and blah blah blah.. thats too much of a set plan for me and im really not in to that right now.

Is there a pass that i can get that will cover atleast those 4 countries that would last for atleast 3 weeks that is cheaper than $500?

any other tips and all of this stuff would be awesome!
thanks for your feedback thus far

dawna

okay, im reading around, and i am thinking that it is quite possible that i could be pretty naive in my thinking at the moment.

if i got a 21 day pass, would i be trying too hard to see too many places, and not giving myself enough time in each city?

am i just overwhelmed at the idea of actually PLANNING a trip out, while in all actuality, it might not be that hard to do so?

Let me explain more clearly, since it might be a little clearer in my mind right now.

okay, i am in baumholder, germany. I AM SICK of being in Baumholder, germany! ive been here for about 6 weeks, and i will be leaving back to the states in Feb.

I want to EXPERIENCE some things!

i NEED to EXPERIENCE Amsterdam.
i NEED to EXPERIENCE Berlin.

AND i NEED to be gone for atleast 3 weeks. NO LESS. I would want to start this journey by January 9th, probably no sooner because situations just dont allow for it. And i would need to be BACK TO BAUMHOLDER, GERMANY by atleast Feb 6, because my flight back home is on Feb. 8 and i will be leaving most of my stuff at the place i am staying at the moment (so ill have to come back here for it).

My only reservation with the 6, or 7, or 8, or 9, or WHATEVER day eurail passes is the idea of having to plan out hostels ahead of time.

YES, i am willing to stay in hostels. i WANT to spend no more than $20 per night, preferrably not even THAT much, where possible. (i see people on here say that they want to keep it within budget, stating that they can spend $160/night!! craaaaaazy).

Okay, so lets say i do get one of these type of passes, where i would have to choose my days of travel ahead of time.

What are your tips for travel itenerary, including these MAIN places that i DEFINITELY need to see, and preferrably a few other places i should also visit?

How hard is it to plan out a whole trip and not feel bogged down by these things called "plans"? i want to feel free dammit!

I dont want to do any rental car business. and i dont want to take any flights (im already in europe!).

would it be better (cheaper) for me to plan out my trip this way, as opposed to just getting the 21 day eurail pass, or would the cost of hostels and all that just end up racking up and costing me the same amount, while limiting my view of europe?

thanks for your help!!
i am very indecisive, and i know its pretty last minute THATS WHY I NEED YOUR HELP!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!

janisj

from your calculations you will have a total of $300 left over for 3 weeks living expenses in germany, the netherlands, france, and italy. You are not being the least bit realistic.

And you have another problem - if you will have already been in Germany for 80 days by the time you start your adventure, you will not be able to spend 3 weeks anywhere in the Schengen zone. This is not a minor issue - you will only have 10 days left legal visiting for the NL/France/Italy combined.

So you have more problems than just you $300 budget . . . .

janisj

that should be " . . . your $300 budget"

Plus, unfortunately if you aren't on base in some sort of official or sponsored capacity, you can't buy the Eurail Pass anyway, so the whole plan is a non-starter.

dawna

well actually i think you read some of my post wrong. or maybe i didnt make it clear, i dont know.
I havent been here for 80 days already, i know i only have a 90 day limit in europe without having to have a visa, this is why i ALREADY have a plane ticket back to the US on Feb 8th. And this is why i need to do this journey in January.

I ALSO know that i have never done this before so i get overwhelmed with ideas that hit me quickly.

SOOOOOO that is why i am here, posting these random things.. so that i can get some help!!

NeoPatrick

Finally you answered the major question. You want to EXPERIENCE Amsterdam and Berlin. Get as cheap a train ticket as possible to Berlin. Stay 10 days in the cheapest hostel you can find. Then get a train ticket to Amsterdam and spend 10 days there in another cheap hostel. You will have several hundred extra dollars to spend so you can actually DO something. Forget this nonsense about a train pass which is totally counter-productive to EXPERIENCING the two cities you want to EXPERIENCE. You can thank me later.

janisj

neoPatrick spelled things out perfectly. Absolutely no need for an expensive Eurail Pass. Just take the train to the 2 cities you want to see most and stay in city center hostels. (or maybe squeeze in one add'l city - but that would add more expense - the less moving about you do the cheaper it will be)

harsha

I did a 3 week trip of Europe with a 11 days flexi Eurail pass.This was 5 years ago.This way I got to plan my duration of stay in each place I visited.I'd occasionally board a outbound train before 7pm on the same day I arrived (for e.g.I arrived from Venice in the morning & spent a whole day in Florence before leaving for Naples),as it would still mean that I used only one voucher.
I guess if you could check with the 21 days Eurail flexi pass you will be able to plan your schedule better.You could use the Eurail timetable for optimum time saving.
As it was first class travel in all trains,most of the overnight trains ran empty.So I also did'nt have to pay the overnight supplement for numerous legs of the journey.

ira

Hi D,

>i NEED to EXPERIENCE Amsterdam.
i NEED to EXPERIENCE Berlin.

AND i NEED to be gone for atleast 3 weeks. <

You are suffering from cabin fever.

May I suggest you plot a course from Baumholder to Berlin to Amsterdam to Paris?

Fly out of Paris.

NeoPatrick

I agree with ira, except since dawna is already in Europe, I suspect she already has her return ticket from wherever. . .