more train/pass/reservaiton question
 

Greetings,

I will be in Europe for over a month with my 11 year old daughter. We have a 10 day/20 country pass.

I spoke with Rail Europe yesterday regarding the reservations and am they said to just wait till ALL the reservations become available to save on the postage/shipping etc with the reservations.

I am concerned that some of the dates/times I need might not be available as I have read that there are only a certain amount of seats on each train for passes.

I am traveling in Belgium (I did not use my pass to purchase my Eurostar ticket from London to Brugge as I got a good advance ticket price and did not want to activate my pass for that trip).

Beligum, to the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Italy are all on the current list. We might do a day trip here or there that could involve France - but not sure.

Would you wait and try to get all the reservations at the same time and risk not being able to get the days/times you want?

I might not even use the pass in Italy - it depends on how many days it looks like I am going to travel etc.

Hi M,

Are you absolutely sure that you even need a pass?

Have you checked the prices at the the national rail sites?

You can get a refund of about 80%.

You can buy seat reservations from www.bahn.de for trips in and through Germany.

I think it will be less than what you would pay RailEurope.

((I))

No Ira I am not sure I need the flippin thing! I have been putting off returning and and am thinking of just buying point to point. I believe I purchased protection - I am going to read the fine print.

Unless you are taking overnight trains - or very popular routes on holidays - you can usually just go to the train station a couple of days in advance and buy tickets there. Much cheaper - and you'll be surer of your plans/train times then.

Sorry - this does NOT apply to Eurostar - but to most every other train.

thanks NYtraveler - I already have the only Eurostar I need.

Hi Mom,

>No Ira I am not sure I need the flippin thing!... I believe I purchased protection - I am going to read the fine print.<

I don't think that the protection plan covers you because you don't want to use the railpass, only if you can't.

However, read the protection plan.

I hope I'm wrong.

((I))

No, you were right - it is only if I loose it.

Hi M,

How much of a refund will you get if you just turn it in?

Will this be more or less than your savings if you buy PtP?

In any case, try to buy your seat reservations in country or through the national rail lines online.

((I))

I will have to wait till the schedule is released to see if it is worth it. I can get a general idea now and will work the numbers.