Kevin Mathews

All, <BR> <BR>Just a quick tip about something I've discovered. There are special train prices for the high speed trains in Europe (like Thalys) called mini-fares. They are much cheaper than normal fares. <BR> <BR>For instance, my wife and I are going to Paris from Brussels for a day. The normal 2nd class fare would have cost us close to $300 round trip including the reservations. With the mini-fare it was $88. <BR> <BR>There are two drawbacks to this fare: <BR> <BR>1) It is non-refundable/non-exchangeable. <BR> <BR>2) You cannot have it delivered to a US address. <BR> <BR>We are having our delivered to a friend in Germany who will forward them here to us in the US. <BR> <BR>Anyway, just letting you guys know...

xx

C'mon, Kevin! <BR> <BR>Please give us more details about these fares. Where did you get the information? How did you arrange the fares? For which countries can you arrange them? Tell all! <BR> <BR>Frugal Traveler

Kevin Mathews

LOL. There's not much more to tell. If you go to www.thalys.com you can get information about all of the different fares. <BR> <BR>I went to the French site (www.sncf.fr)and booked the ticket there. The mini-fares are good for other trains besides the Thayls. Just go through the normal booking procedures and you'll get a drop-down listing the available types of fares. <BR> <BR>The only drawbacks are non-refundable (like advance purchase tickets here in the US) and you can't have them delivered to the US or Canada. However, there are about 50+ countries which you can have them delivered to. <BR> <BR>Kevin

xx

Oh whew! <BR> <BR>Thanks, Kev. Will look for the info. Do you know if there is a comparable program in Italy? <BR> <BR>FT

Kevin Mathews

FT, <BR> <BR>I don't know about Italy, but, train travel in Italy is extremely cheap.