TRAINS & LUGGAGE QUESTION
 

We will be taking the Eurostar from Rome to Venice next month ( 1st class )and everything I have read on this forum warns to keep an eye on your luggage. My question is what do you do with your bags if you want to go to the dining car? Take them with you??<BR>Obviously we haven't travelled by train before so I have no idea how they are set up. Thanks for any tips.

Hi Im<BR><BR> One suggestion has been to get the cable that is used for bicycles and lock your luggage to the rack.<BR> Actually, the problem is when the train stops, rather than when it is moving.

Another suggestion is to introduce yourself to someone sitting near you. Volunteer to watch their bags while they go to the dining car, and ask if they'll watch yours when you go. We also lash ours to the rack with a cable and a little padlock.

A question for Im. We too want to take the Eurostar from Rome to Venice next month but can't seem to find a way to buy a ticket on line. Have you purchased yours already, if so, how.<BR>Thank you

Hi KathleenL<BR><BR> You can get tickets from travel agencies, but not online outside italy.<BR><BR> Unless you will be going immediately to Venice upon arrival in Rome, you don't need to purchase until you get there.

It is not necessary to take your bags with you to the dining cart, particulary if you travel 1st class. We just did that trip last week on the ES and we had no problems. We even saw ES police (Italian) on board. What I wouldn't do is walk away from your luggage when the train stops at stations. A thief can easily take your bag &amp; walk off the train. <BR>To answer someones question about purchasing train tickets. I was going to buy in advance a ES passes with either kilometers or 4 day flex pass. Boy, am I glad I didn't do that! It would've cost me nearly $800 US for 4 day pass; instead we bought as we traveled. We ended up only spending $350 US and traveled 1st class. The trick is when you arrive in the city before leaving the station buy your departing ticket. You must know the exact date,time,&amp; train number, but that's easy b/c there are schedules posted all over station.<BR>Ciao!

Thanks for the tips.<BR><BR>Kathleen, we bought our tickets on line through Raileurope. Had them in our hands in about 3 days. I know everyone says it is very easy to buy the tickets once you are there but we didn't want to take the time out of our day to go to either the train station or a travel agent.

I purchased Rome-Venice tickets two weeks ago using the ticket machines in the Rome train station. There are English instructions and it takes 2 minutes. Buying the tickets from RailEurope is an incredible waste of money. Most luggage will need to be put in the rack at the end of the car. If you're concerned and the car isn't full, move to a seat near it. Otherwise, as others have said, the biggest risk is during the stops (which aren't many).

I guess that makes sense that the biggest risk is when the train stops otherwise what would a thief do..jump off a moving train with a suitcase? Thanks again everyone.

My search for the same trip brought up an overnight with &quot;sleepettes&quot;, does this mean I can buy a sleeper for this trip. I dont' see more info on the website.<BR>Cindy

Hi, the thief might not jump off of the moving train with your luggage but he can take it to the toilet and rifle though it. This happened to a co-worker, he came back to find his luggage missing and found it in another car with the zipper open. Never underestimate what a thief will do, especially if you have nice or expensive luggage like my co-worker.

Cindy -<BR><BR>I'm not sure what site you are searching on, but the Eurostar between Rome and Venice only takes about 4 and a half to 5 hours, so if there is a sleeping car, I'd imagine that would be used by people taking longer journeys.<BR><BR>trenitalia.com will get you to the official site for Italy's train system: http://www.fs-on-line.com/<BR>

Oh well, it's an early morning train so maybe we'll just pick up some munchies to get us through the morning and have a nice meal when we get to Venice. The dining car always looks like fun when you see them in the movies so we thought we would try it but I don't want to worry about the luggage the whole time.

I wasn't going to respond to this post because so many people offered the same advice I would have, but I sense that IM is pretty freaked out about leaving luggage unattended. There are several cable type locking systems especialy made for luggage, Magellans sells one that is self storing and easy to use. I took the same ES train from Rome to Venice. As it happened our reserved seats were at the opposite end of the car from the luggage compartment. I cabled the bags together and never thought about them until we arrived in Venice. We were first on the train, and quite a few bags got piled on top of ours. Trust me, there are so many people walking through the cars that a potential thief doesn't know who's bag he might be taking. Relax, walk around the train, go to the dining car if you want, enjoy the view, take a nap, etc.

Though it is true that at times thieves climb the train in order to get unattended luggage, this is usually done at the ned of the trip and such thieves look for unattended luggage that has been forgotten on a train's car by the passengers. Usually these kind of thieves are junkies looking for something to sell, they can hardly mix with the crowd on the train and would be instantly noticed if they tried to jump on the train empty handed and soon jump down with a suitcase. Just make sure that you do not forget your stuff on the train at the arrival and everything will be fine.

We purchased our train tickets in Italy shortly before boarding. Most of the tellers speak English and it was easy. You shouldn't have many if any worries about your bags on Eurostar. The trains are clean, safe and comfortable. We didn't take our baggage to the dining car. There was no need. One of us went, while the other stayed. We slept through most of the Journey.

you can buy tickets from RailEurope.com if you want to buy ahead - they will also make seat reservations for you. <BR><BR>I Was never on Eurostar Italia - but I was on Eurostar(london-paris) and Thalys. Both trains had a luggage rack that was a bit away from where we sat - We just had locks on out bags and we where fine. Next trip I think I will bring a cable lock as well just to be sure.

jimcolorado-<BR><BR>no... I am not &quot;pretty freaked out&quot; about the luggage situation. Just trying to be aware and as I mentioned, not ever having travelled by train before, just trying to determine how concerned I should be if at all. Thanks for your reply anyway.

No offense intended. However, I will stick by my assesment that you are still pretty nervous about leaving your luggage unattended, despite several reassuring posts to the contrary. If you check my history in posting, I always give the same advice about safety: Be aware of your surroundings, use common sense, but don't let your vacation be spoiled by worrying about things that COULD happen. Now about the dining car. I think most people agree that the food served in the dining car is eatable, but it can be very expensive and far from gourmet. If you want to bring a nice lunch basket and a bottle of wine, do so and be the envy of other hungry travellers on the train. Just don't use safety of your luggage as an excuse to get up and walk around. The train is great fun and far better people watching than the airplane. Go and have a good time and don't worry about every little thing.

jimcolorado,<BR><BR>Thanks, Jim, you led me to another question which is can you bring your own bottle of wine on board? I'm liking the sound of this more and more. Might be a little early to start drinking but what the heck...we're on vacation, right??