ericjonolsen

Hello everyone!!

I have some questions regarding a two-week itinerary in Europe in May, and what better place to ask a question than Fodor, correct?

My current work contract ends at the end of this month, and I am planning on flying to London on May 1st and returning back to the States on May 15th. For the time being, I'm planning on using my pilot friend's buddy pass to fly Business Class from LAX-LHR and back again. This will cost me ~$750 round trip. The downside is I'm flying standby, however, I get to fly Business Class, with a full lie-down seat. Even if it takes me an extra day to get across the pond, my dates are flexible for travel. I'd rather have the comfort of Business class than 10-11 hours cramped in Economy.

My main question is regarding my itinerary. I have priced out using Rail Europe rail travel between London, Paris, Luxembourg and Brussels. Below, please find my proposed schedule and prices.

My question is, should I book through Rail Europe or buy tickets at the ticket counter? Since I'm going to be flying standby into London, there is the small chance, I could be delayed by a day or two, which could throw off my schedule (although it would probably just reduce my time in London).

Itinerary:

May 1 - leave from LAX to LHR
May 2 - arrive in LHR - find a reasonable hotel and explore the city
May 5 (12:25 PM) - leave London and arrive in Paris (3:47 PM) - Standard Seat - $196
May 8 (1:40 PM) - leave Paris and arrive in Luxembourg (3:48 PM) - First Class - $107
May 10 (11:20 AM) - leave Luxembourg and arrive in Brussels (2:18PM) - First - $87
May 12 (5:56 PM ) - leave Brussels and arrive in London (7:03 PM) - Standard - $70

Total cost of train fare: $460 with the option of Rail Protection of $34 (which allows me to cancel/exchange).

Offhand I see I would probably need to leave Brussels earlier, or risk wandering the town carrying my luggage, or waste a whole day at the train station. I believe I chose the $70 for the price, not realizing it was a very late time.

So my questions are thus:

1). Is this itinerary reasonable? Or am I cramming too much into too little time? I would probably be willing to dump Brussels, and focus on London/Paris/Luxembourg. I've had a fascination with Luxembourg as long as I can remember, so I figured now is as good a time as any to visit

2). Do I need to pre-purchase rail tickets early through Rail Europe, or should I do it at the train stations? I ask this for several reasons - I don't speak any other languages, and I would like to reduce the amount of stress/anxiety of having to find transportation the day of.

3). If pre-purchasing tickets ahead of time is favorable, are there better websites which allow me to enter multiple cities and plan an itinerary (one of the reasons I chose RailEurope).

4). Any other recommendations for a two week visit? I am open to other cities/countries/ideas.

Thank you in advance for your wonderful travel expertise!!

bilboburgler

1) yes. If you get to Luxembourg hire a bike and ride to Trier. I'd dump Brussels but some like it
2) Pre-book but not raileurope
3) RailEurope is expensive look at seat61.com for the best ideas, yes book early to get the deals, but if you have to be flexible buy a flexible ticket. In most cases you buy the ticket on line and ick the ticket up at the ticket machine when you need it (you need references and stuff plus the credit card you used)
4) See Trier comment and the lovely Mosel/Moselle valley

You speak English, which given where you are going will be enough if sometimes slow. The odd French phrase will help. Like "Hello"

Gretchen

I'd dump Luxembourg and Brussels personally. Flying standby can be a trial--what level of standby are you doing. Are you an airline employee, or is this a buddy pass. That time of year is entering high season and full flights. OOPS, I see it is buddy pass. Don't get attached to that biz class seat by ANY stretch of the imagination.
I think you are stuck with buying walk up rail tickets unless the ones you get are refundable/exchangeable. You are going to need to be totally flexible, with the ability to also find a place to stay if you are held up. You may even be spending some time at the airport.
Has your friend explained to you how to check the flights--and who is ahead of you on the standby list?

nytraveler

It sounds like you are not planning to reserve hotels in advance. If you want decent places at reasonable pries -esp in London - I suggest you do so know. The best options are alraedy gone - and yuo may find yourself either in a place that is dreaful - or a lot more than you want to pay.

PalenQ

2). Do I need to pre-purchase rail tickets early through Rail Europe, or should I do it at the train stations? I ask this for several reasons ->

Well just buying at stations is no problem - rail staff inevitably speak enough English to easily do it but you'll pay a lot more than if you pre-book - you say London to Paris $196 - that is full fare and even RailEurope sells discounted tickets much lower than that - you could save $120 simply by pre-booking yourself at www.eurostar.com - print you own tickets and just show up for the train.

similarly you may find Paris to Luxembourg tickets discounted on www. voyages-sncf.com - the French Railways site, etc.

For lots of great info on European trains check out these superb IMO sources - www.seat61.com as mentioned above; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (any questions call Byron there - I have bought railpasses from him for years and he will IME answer expertly any rail question even if not buying - and there is not railpass of use to you on your limited rail trips IMO) and www.ricksteves.com.

janisj

I think you need to re-think everything.

Buddy Passes are very iffy . . . You'd need to be totally flexible re dates, meaning you can't pre-book trains or internal flights. Meaning you'd have to pay very high walk up fares. Also meaning you might not get on the Eurostar at all since it does book up.

ericjonolsen

Gretchen - I am quite familiar with flying buddy passes (D3 passes for American Airlines). Also, I have his JetNet login, so I am able to check flight numbers (i.e. how many people are on the flight, other flights, connecting flights, etc). Regarding Business Class - that is part of my the "fun" I suppose, though I rarely fly Biz/First even when using his buddy passes. I chose Biz over First due to the number of Biz class seats vs First class. Statistically speaking, I have a better chance of getting on Biz than First. Also, Biz tends to have more openings/free seats I have noticed than coach.

Regarding hotels - I am booking hotels today via booking.com which allows me to cancel within 24 hours if need be.

I have at least 2 weeks, so I am going to plan out the traveling to Paris part (the first leg of my trip outside of London). This way, if I am held up on a direct flight to London for a day, it won't impact my travels outside of London.

I have been reading seat61, and what a wealth of information!! Thank you to those who recommended it.

So it seems from reading other forums as well as here, many do not think Brussels is worth it?

Thank you everyone for your replies so far.

ericjonolsen

After some more thinking, if I dump Belgium, I can push out the date I leave for Paris from London and allow myself some buffer room if delayed due to standby.

I realize the cost differential isn't too much - $1020 for economy round trip vs $750 for standby Biz class. I know the "smart" thing to do would be just cough up the extra money for a guaranteed ticket, however, I suppose I thought it would be nice to fly like the other half for once.

Additionally, I haven't been able to make concrete plans yet because my employer has emphasized strongly they want me to be available should the company I am contracted to decide last minute they want to renew my contract (which they have done before). So a lot of this will be last minute.

As I previously mentioned, I can book with booking.com so I have hotels reserved (w/o paying a deposit) and that I can cancel. So that should take care of the places to stay.

I realize this is not the most ideal setting for travel to Europe, however, I have to work with the circumstances provided me.

PalenQ

Well if you can't book those train tickets at all in advance yes you will pay hundreds of bucks more than you would if you could book a month or so in advance.

ericjonolsen

I'm going to "close" this thread. I've decided to change my vacation plans and fly to Tokyo and then Taipei, where I have a friend I can stay with. Airfare will be slightly less expensive to Tokyo than flying to London (again, buddy pass, business class), and from what I can tell, it should be much easier to get on a standby flight to Tokyo than to London.

Thank you to everyone who responded, I greatly appreciate it.