WillTravel

I am thinking of using the left luggage facility at several train stations:
Munich Central
Passau
Vienna (probably Westbahnhof)

First, I haven't been able to determine if Passau has a left luggage facility. Does anyone know?

Do you think the security is sufficiently good at these train stations to store a laptop safely?

Robespierre

I'd guess every DB stop in Germany has lockers - in 2004, we stashed our stuff at a whistle stop called Buchloe, where we changed trains between Munich and Fuessen.

Yes.

Larryincolorado

A lot of German stations do not have lockers; even fewer have left luggage. You can see what stations in Bavaria have what at www.bayern-takt.de. I put my bag in a locker in Passau last October, but I didn't see any left luggage room (BTW, I put my bag in the locker, but I took my notebook computer with me).

I have never worried about security in a locker.

Larryincolorado

Based on my experience in Bavaria last October:

Munich is the only station that I know of that has a left luggage room.

I used lockers in Munich, Donauwörth, Nürnberg, and Passau.

Bad Mergentheim and Bamberg had a few lockers, already taken.

Oberammergau, Dinkelsbühl, and Harburg did not have locker.

Larryincolorado

Füssen, I know, has lockers. So does Karlsruhe.

Bacharach and St. Goar do not.

afterall

Westbahnhof has lockers. I'd be quite happy leaving a laptop in one of them. You have the key or the code, after all!

I'd also leave it at a left luggage place if it was in an ordinary bag, not an obvious computer case.

Cheers.

quokka

I would NEVER leave a laptop or any other valuable in a locker at a train station. No way.

A friend of mine had her suitcase stolen from a locker in Frankfurt train station a while ago. Police told her that this happened frequently because the thieves copy the keys, which is easily done.

Those new lockers with number codes may be safer in that respect, but who knows.

yk

Interesting discussion.

I have stored my rollaboard suitcase at many railway station lockers in the past - different cities, different countries - and have never for once worried about security. But then, I never travel with a laptop.

I can't speak for lockers in Germany and Vienna, but on our recent trip, we stored our luggage once in Angers (France) and once in Ghent (Belgium).

In both cases, there are no longer keys for the lockers. Instead, we were issued a ticket after we locked the door.

For Angers, we had to punch in the # code to open our locker, whereas in Ghent, there was a barcode on the ticket which we had to scan it in order to open the door. Seems pretty secure to me.

PalenQ

I too have used thousands literally i think of train station lockers over decades of rail travel in Europe and have never noticed any security violation - or evidence that anyone had opened it.

I try to get a locker that is in view of say any train station personnel - like the left-luggage office or a kiosk, etc.

And with the newer codes be sure there is no one looking at the code slip when it comes out of the slot after you close and pay for the locker.

Perhaps your home owners insurance covers loss of theft of laptops, etc. abroad?

I would also suggest you do not let anyone see that you are putting a laptop in the locker.

And always check the locker so that it is really locked before leaving

Dukey

Frankly, I'd rather have a laptop stolen than all my clothes while I was on vacation!

I've used both lockers and left luggage rooms, including that automated one in Cologne, without any difficulties at all.

Perhaps I was lucky.

afterall

To be honest I don't travel with a laptop - can't be bothered. Why lug it around when there's always an internet kaff if you look hard enough or ask.

However, I have carried a laptop to the UK to stay somewhere where I KNEW internet access would be difficult and then had to take it back home via Thailand.

I left it there in the left luggage at BKK airport, and on another occasion in a suitcase in a guesthouse.

Yeh, maybe I was lucky. But if you don't make it obvious then I don't see a problem.

I would never, however, EVER, leave my passport.

GeoffHamer

I too have used luggage lockers all over Europe at bus and railway stations, as well as ports, without ever having a problem.
I never take a computer, but no potential thief would know whether my bag contains a laptop, camera or jewellery.

Larryincolorado

"Why lug it around when there's always an internet kaff ...".

When was the last time you were in Europe? Internet Cafes, at least in Germany, are becoming as rare and difficult to find as Dodo birds. In the meantime, almost every little Mom+Pop B&B now has WLan. Sub-Notebooks are very small, light (~2#), and inexpensive.

There is no longer any excuse not to be "connected". Why spend half your time looking for the few remaining ICs when you can use your notebook any time, for free!

And, as I said, my notebook stays with me in the little case where I carry other travel related info. It's small enough I don't need to find a locker for it.

WillTravel

In this case, I need to have a laptop (although it's not essential by the time I get to Vienna). But I am thinking of asking IT at work to take a travel laptop destined for the scrap heap, rather than my standard work one.

afterall

WillTravel - now that sounds like a great idea!!

LarryinColorado - of course you can buy really lightweight laptops, notebooks, whatever. And granted it is easier to find an internet kaff in Varanasi than in Vienna; Bangkok rather than Barcelona; Dhaka rather then Dresden. (been to any of these places?)

But those tiny slim machines are EXPENSIVE. The difference between one of THEM and an ordinary laptop is a RTW flight.

You clearly have so much disposable income (for now) that you don't even think about it. Probably stay in 5 star too and the thought of having TO FIND an internet kaff is, oh, only for the plebs, and, who knows, maybe quite frightening for you.

But the plebs get to meet real people in that internet kaff on the corner.

molker

Vienna Rail station lockers only available for a maximum period of 24 hours - consider this in your decision making.

Westbahnhof has also now begun a major reconstruction - all tracks in operation but some walking disruption - a little inconvenience

kybourbon

afterall - I don't think you can buy an around the world ticket for $349.
http://www.compusa.com/applications/...amp;CatId=4013

Larryincolorado

"But those tiny slim machines are EXPENSIVE."

On my last trip I used a 2.9#, <1" thick Toshiba Protege that I got on Ebay for a litle over $100. For my next trip I have really splurged on an even smaller, 2.2# Acer Aspire One for $350.

On my last trip, after extensive searching, I found and used an internet connected computer in a bar in Nördlingen. They only had that one publically accessibe internet computer in town.

A sports bar in Weikersheim had one internet computer (the only one in town per the TI office) but one person hogged it for three hours and I had to go home disappointed. I found two over a bar in Vilshofen.

However, my host in a Privatzimmer (€31 Ü/F) in Fürth and my host in Burghausen (€38 Ü/F) both had free Wifi.

For my next trip, I will have Wifi in Treis-Karden and Braunlage. I already know there is no IC in Treis-Karden or in Bad Herrenalb; I don't know about Braunlage.

I should ask, what's a "5 star"? I don't think I've stayed in a hotel with a star once in the last eight years (that's how I can afford these "expensive", $350 laptops).

Cowboy1968

You hardly find a lot of internet cafes in Germany anymore. Everyone is going wi-fi or using 3G, and even pay phones have a wi-fi hotspot built in these days. Only place in Munich (not even talking about small towns) were you still find ICs would be around the main station, while the major one "Easyinternetcafe" across from the station shut down last year due to declining demand for those 20th century services.
You can almost forget to find any internet cafes in smaller towns. Maybe the local youth center still has a few machines running, but times when ICs were at every street corner are long gone.