Ginger

Mom, Dad and 13 yr old going to England, France and Italy - summer 03. Getting Eurorail saver pass - doing a lot in short period of time (18 days) - does anyone have advice about reserving train seats in US, so there are no surprises when traveling this summer with daughter &amp; husband? (I am thinking peace of mind is worth shelling out the money for.) Is it reliable to reserve seats here in US so far in advance? Also, can I get the 3 of us on a sleeper car from Nice to Venice?<BR>

Liz

You probably won't need to reserve ahead, but there are lots of &quot;ifs&quot;. Have a look at www.euraide.de. They might be cheaper for reservations.<BR><BR>Run your itinerary at:<BR>www.railsaver.com to make sure a railpass is the best idea.<BR><BR>For the night train (this is explained at the euraide site, too), you'll want a T3 compartment, which is 3 bunks, and a sink.

ginger

thanks

Maurice

From a bit of experience - usually, not. But we caught the train from Naples to Venice overnight on a Monday night, and it was PACKED. We ended up in a smoker, sitting up all night.<BR><BR>If you are going on a longer trip - overnight or &gt;4 hrs? - reserve a day or two ahead if you want to ensure comfort.<BR>I bet most day trips wouldn't need it.<BR>When you consider what a hotel room costs, a private sleeper is probably still a bargain...

Tim

Ginger,<BR><BR>It's a good idea to reserve the sleeper compartments as early as possible (three months?), as often there is only one sleeper car on an overnight train.<BR><BR>You'll also want to make any EuroStar (chunnel) reservations a couple of weeks ahead so you don't get shut out of your fare class.<BR><BR>Everything else can wait. The TGVs out of Paris should be nailed down when you get there. The Eurocity trains, though they technically require reservations, can usually be boarded on the fly if you don't mind an occasional frown from the conductor.

Ben Haines

Dear Mr Calder<BR><BR>I agree that you should book sleepers and Eurostar seats from America but need not book other seats from there. I think booking opens only two months ahead of travel. Offices that do this cheaply are Euraide and DER.<BR>Euraide, offices in Florida and Germany: http://www.euraide.de/. Telephone in USA 1 941-480-1555. Fax 1 941-480-1522. E-mail [email protected]<BR>DER travel agency in the USA, owned by German rail: http://www.der.com. E mail for information [email protected] and for sales [email protected]<BR>RailEurope take a fifty percent mark-up.<BR><BR>The Europe desks at many big stations in London (Paddington, Euston, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street and Charing Cross) can book seats and sleepers from any big station in Britain, France, or Italy.<BR><BR>As Liz says, the sleeper train from Nice at 22101 to Venice at 0715 has compartments that can be set up for three passengers. The most agile among you goes to bed by ladder. The site http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm has notes on getting the best from sleepers.<BR><BR>Please write if I can help further. Welcome to Europe.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>

Ginger

thanks for all the great advice - there are a lot of nice people out there in the world - the Calder family appreciates your assistance.

Rex

Let me urge you to look carefully at the possibility that a rail pass is a wasted additional expense that you don't need. Few itineraries benefit from the purchase of a pass; just buying the tickets from point to point is cheaper most of the time unless you intend (and want) to spend a lot of hours in long train rides.<BR><BR>Check out www.railsaver.com to get the accurate comparison(s).<BR><BR>And don't ignore the possibility that flying from A to B might be cheaper than the train especially if &quot;A&quot; is London or Paris and &quot;B&quot; is in Italy.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>