KL467

Just curious how people from the U.S. traveled to Europe before the days of our wonderful Internet? How did you know train schedules? How did you buy tickets? Travel agents? Gee, there was not even a Fodors.com back then.

These days, other than needing a passport, traveling to Paris is not much diffent than traveling to New York City or California.

NeoPatrick

I remember doing a three month Eurail pass and carrying a huge Thomas Cook rail schedule. I also remember carrying a pretty substantial file of copies, maps, and torn pages from dozens of guide books. When someone suggests it's awkward to travel with a laptop -- if only they knew!

janisj

There were these things called guide books, plus the Thomas Cook timetable NP mentions, plus accommodations books, plus tourist aid offices --

plus an antiques called telephones and the even more antique stamps, envelopes and paper

swandav2000

Right NeoPatrick!

My father was the big planner then, and we were living in Saudi Arabia. He used to live by the guidebooks -- Frommer's "Europe on $5 a Day," and "Europa Touring" with both maps and hotel recommendations and phone numbers (I still have his last copy). Yes, folks really depended on travel agents to get the train schedules or rental cars and to make hotel arrangements (the travel agent books had photos of the hotels).

It was a different world then!

s

tuscanlifeedit

I remember just finding tourist offices and relying a lot on their help. I remember calling locally for train and bus schedules, and/or asking hotels to call. I also remember relying much more on guidebooks, and not always eating as well as we do now, with personal recs from the Internet.

Also, we didn't go as often back then.

There weren't the same sort of car rentals deals; or, at least I didn't know how to find them in pre Internet days.

kleeblatt

Let's Go travel book and info obtained from train stations.

Most Swiss families used to have a very thick book containing all train connections within Switzerland. They had to be replaced annually.

The internet has made it so much easier to plan a train journey.

travelme

I have thought of this too. In some ways, it was easier. Today there are too many choices. We read guidebooks and if a hotel had a decent review, we stayed there. Today one tends to agonize over selecting a place to stay. Even if there are 99 good reviews of a hotel its the 1 negative review that will drive you crazy. I try not to do this by the way.

Barblab

My first trip was a 3 month Eurorail trip in 1974. We bought charter air tickets and the Eurorail pass before going over. We carried "Europe on $5 a Day" along with another travel book and ripped out each section to pass on to other backpackers and lighten our load as we went. We had mapped out a general route and then in additon to our books relied on advise from other kids for specific places to stay and things to do. As for train schedules we would check the schedule for our next destination when we arrived in a new town. We had a fabulous trip - one of the highlights of my life.

One thing you didn't mention, which I just had a conversation with someone the other day about was telephoning home. We didn't. It was too expensive and would have involved going to an American Express office and waiting hours for a line. We said good bye at the airport and then 3 months later siad hi to our parents when they picked us up at the airport! Seems fuuny now, but that was the way it was.

PaulRabe

Since my first trip to Europe was in 1968, perhaps I can provide some perspective.

> How did you know train schedules?

You go to the train station and look at the "Departures" sign. You could do this the night before (to ensure you wouldn't miss a train by five minutes), just show up at the train station and wait for the next train to your destination, or look at the next train and decide if it goes to a place you were thinking of going to.

> How did you buy tickets?

Go to the ticket booth and buy them. If you mean rail passes, you'd mail your check to the office selling them.

> How did you find a place to stay?
I know you didn't ask this, but this has been the BIGGEST change for me.

Your guidebook would list several recommended places with approximate prices. You'd go to them, one at a time, until you found one with a vacancy and (you hope) a price you're able to pay. Or you went to the central lodging office at the city, and allow them to find you a place.

> How did you find the best air fares?

Back then travel agents would do this for free.


I am not IN ANY WAY nostalgic for those days -- I MUCH prefer using the Internet for finding the best transport ptices, reading rail schedules, buying the appropriate pass, and finding lodging in the next city you'll be stopping at.

KL467

Barblab, Three months in Europe. Sounds like heaven!

lennyba

My first trip was in 1991 and it certainly was seat-of-the-pants compared to the way we travel now! (Or course, being 22 years old and knowing everything helps. ) We had a Rick Steves guide, I remember, and an idea of all the historical places in London we wanted to see. We bought Britrail passes here and had NO lodgings or meals planned. We mostly stayed in youth hostels and B&Bs. We took the train to Dover and the Hovercraft to Calais, then the train to Paris...as I recall someone at a hostel told us which station to go to and we just showed up.

I shudder a bit now over all the things we missed doing because we didn't know *what* we were doing, but we had a blast.

Barblab

KL467 - 3 months was great, and in 1974 we did it from LA for $1200.! I was just remembering we only bought the Eurorail pass for 2 months and hitch hiked in the UK and Ireland since it was not covered on the pass. That was such a safe and acceptable way to travel then, even for women. Times change.

NeoPatrick

By the way, I wish I had all the money I spent on the faxes and phone calls making reservations in Europe before the days of the internet and before they started offering decent phone rates to Europe. For a five month trip, all hotels reserved, that was one big hunk of money!

scatcat

No travel agent-Frommer's and Fodor's travel guides and I had a Eurail time table book. I read everything I could find before my first trip in 1983. There were still lots of unexpected things. My son and I had a 1 month Eurail pass and we came home after 2 weeks. I had a couple of bad experiences, but I was not pick pocketed.

tower

It wasn't easy...but like everything else, you did it if you wanted to travel. We somehow did it...my first Fodors' Guidebook was for Eastern Europe, 1983..for decades before that I used brochures and maps from each country which I fetched at the various consulates in Boston or L.A., or wrote to the NY Tourist Office for each. Bookstores had one shelf or less for guidebooks back then. Same for my first trip to Ireland and the UK...just a handful of guide books at the small corner book store...now there are shelves and shelves. National Geographic was an excellent tool....my aunt bought me a subscription when I was 12 and renewed it every year until I returned from the service and started college....then I kept it up, on and off for many years.

None of these "hardships" took one moment of joy from us...we just didn't know any better way. It is hard to imagine for many of you who have never "watched" your radio when your favorite program was on!! Yes, we did just that! Imagination is a powerful tool.

stu t.

sshephard

There was a time before the internet?

scatcat

I don't know how we lived without it.

Kristina

Ah, the first trip was in 1988 and I read my "Let's Go Europe" cover to cover before we left. Armed with that, a Eurail Pass, and the Thomas Cook Rail schedule we had a fabulous 6 weeks.

After that I was hooked and started a collection of pages torn from travel magazines and read everything travel-related I could get my hands on.
I remember faxing requests for hotel reservations and waking up in the middle of the night, excited to hear the fax machine go off with a reply.

NeoPatrick-you gave me a chuckle with your laptop comment. I totally agree. My laptop is smaller and lighter than most thick magazines and certainly weighs less than all the guidebooks I used to tote around.

francesw

I've just come back from a 2 month trip with my husband and 2 children (14 and 11) in the age of the internet and it was a dream. We only had one poor accomodation choice which was the only one where we used a reservation service instead of the internet. Most places I just booked the night before.

This was in stark contrast to the trip my husband and I did 25 years ago armed with very little cash and a copy of Let's Go Europe. The biggest difference was the budget.

Treesa

Patrick, so true. I remember my first trip to Europe in 1972, flying with Freddie Laker from LAX with a mandatory refueling stop in Bangor, Maine. I spent a lot of time and money on phone calls in those days. No faxes, no internet, lots of guidebooks and notes galore. Great memories but I wouldn't want to go back to those dark ages.