Interrail : Europe by Train

• Author: admin
• Filed under: rail travel europe
• Date: Jul 31,2011

I took this trip with some of my closest friends for two weeks in August 2010. Starting in Budapest and working our way west towards Amsterdam we visited Bled-Slovenia, Prague, Berlin and Dusseldorf along the way. We met up with friends from home and met some absolute nutballs on our travels! (also some of the kindest people i’ve ever met) Inter-railing is a great, great way to see Europe and this movie barely only scratches the surface of our adventure, the rest is up to your imagination!

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Duration : 0:13:31

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: 2010, Absinthe, accommodation, adventure, Amsterdam, azure, Backpacking, berlin, Bled, Budapest, CIrcle of Love, cruise, culture, destination, Europe, eurotrip, Exploring, flying, holiday, Interrail, Interrailing, kalkbrenner, landmark, Museum, nature, paul, perfect, pig, prague, Szigit, tourism, Train, travel, travel log, Visit

“Not a planned day” Moneyb03′s photos around Cologne, Germany

• Author: admin
• Filed under: euro rail passes
• Date: Jul 27,2011

A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Cologne, Germany by TravelPod blogger Moneyb03 titled “Not a planned day….”

Moneyb03′s travel blog entry:

“We are in cologne right now and had a pretty good day. lets recap friday first.

After we last posted we were in Trier. We headed for lunch at mickey d’s, yes we cheated and then off for some more sightseeing. Trier is pretty old and has a lot of roman history. They also have a pretty neat catheral-dom. really great photos that well send at some point. We spent some time walking thru a nice pedestrian shopping area as well. Guess what we saw? A number of shops with stand outside selling crocs. Yes they sell **** in Germany and europe too, not just the usa. After walking around for a bit we also saw a nice basilica with gardens, and the remains of an imperial bath. At that point we decided to call it an afternoon and head towards home. We considered stopping at a small town along the way, but called that off and headed straight for Bacharach. We wandered town, which didnt take long, and decided on a small place to eat on a side street and a nice corner location. Weiner Art was the special that night. I dont know what the art is, but it was pretty good. It was a small family run place with rooms for rent overhead. The lady running the place was very nice.

after that it was one last chance for a gelato on the main road, one lane cobblestone road that is, and one last trek up to the castle.

we didnt talk much about what to do today and joseph crashed pretty early again. i had originally considered us going to burg eltz before heading to cologne but we decided not to. its kind of on the way, but its a 1.5 hour walk thru the woods or expensive taxi then of course the walk back. it would also mean if we got hot, wed be in those clothes for 2 days. ugh. We wouldve had to leave pretty early to do that. plus, i wanted to be sure we saw the cologne cathedral before the 6pm worship and before the 2pm confessionals that would start. i thought it would be open after 2 and only shut down behind the alter. lucky for us we got up here early, 1230, and started looking at 1. by the time we’d seen the whole interior, about 2 and were listening to a choir and orchestra start playing they herded everyone out i think for some ceremony. how lucky was that!!! if wed come later we couldnt have seen any of the inside.

we went ahead and climbed the church tower too for 2.5 euro and its 500 steps. what a work out!!!

there wasnt much else we had wanted to do here so we had decided on the ride up that we’d use our day rail pass and just hop the train to some town nearby. That city ended up being Aachen, germany. it’s about 45-50 minutes from cologne by train. i had done absolutely research on the place and only knew that it was the capital of europe at one time and charlamagne’s sarchophogus was there. turned out to be a pretty decent side trip. we spent about 3 hours there and saw the nice church that housed his sarcophogus and also the adjoining treasury. turns out the treasury holds some of the most priceless pieces of medieval valuables there are including a reliquary with charlamagne’s thigh bone in it, yes thigh bone, cloth sashes from jesus and marys robes. we wandered aachen’s nice pedestrian zone and were also entertained by a pretty funny street musician. he was place kick drum, high hat, trumpet and keyboard all at the same time. sometimes hed stop the trumpet and sing. he looked and sounded like Borat. wait til you see, hopefully it came out, the video.

After getting back to cologne about 830 we wandered around for awhile looking for some grub. Cologne has street after street of restaurants all packed next to each other with about 10 seats insided and 30 or 40 more out all next to each other. we ended up at an italian place, yeah i know, italian. joseph enjoyed one more wiener schnitzel for the road and i had a pretty good spaghetti. not as good as yours mom, but one of the better restaurant spaghetti’s i’ve had.

well, time to rap this up. We are catching our night train to Basel, switzerland pretty soon and will decide which city to hit first when we see the weather. we had rain on the river cruise thursday and at rhinefels castle, none friday and it started raining in aachen as we got to the train station to leave. pretty good so far!

michael and joseph”
Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/moneyb03/1/1211054940/tpod.html

Photos from this trip:
1. “Aachen”
2. “Cathedral”
3. “Cathedral in Aachen”
4. “Cathedral in Cologne”
5. “Night scene in Cologne/Bridge over the Rhine”

See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-0134-eb4a-2fbb?ytv4=1

Duration : 0:0:57

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: cologne, day, Germany, north rhine-westphalia, photography, photos, planned, sarchophogus, slideshow, trip, tripadvisor, tripwow, vacation

A Train Journey from Milan , Italy to London via Germany

• Author: admin
• Filed under: travel train europe
• Date: Jul 23,2011

A Railway Journey from Italy to London , through the Swiss Alps and Germany , past bridges , lakes and mountains etc

Duration : 0:9:45

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: alps, journey, milan, Pancras, rail, st, Switzerland, trains

Euro Rail Gap

• Author: admin
• Filed under: euro rail passes
• Date: Jul 23,2011

Big ollie over rail onto slope.

Duration : 0:0:4

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: skateboard

Train Travel Norway: Bergen Line from Ål to Oslo ~ Bergensbanen ~ Ludovico Einaudi: Nightbook

• Author: admin
• Filed under: rail travel europe
• Date: Jul 19,2011

Travelling from Ål to Oslo on June 15, a dark clouded day, I used the so called Bergen Line, or Bergensbanen (Norwegian), also called the Bergen railway, and is famous because you travel through amazing landscapes.
Because there was rain on some moments the windows have not been that clean as needed for a perfect video. I decided to upload the video anyhow, in spite of the dark sceneries on some moments, and in spite of the dirty windows of the train. I had to delete a lot of wonderful film parts because of these problems.

It is not possible to film everything, also it is difficult to have the camera in a constant standby during the more than three hours the train needs for the route from Ål to Oslo. The battery goes empty (I lost my extra battery eilas), and when travelling second class there is not a possibility to upload the battery. First class has that possibility but first class is much much more expensive than second class. Obviously even people with a high income travel second class, because I was sitting next to an anaesthesist when I travelled with the Bergen Line in January 2011. He even took with him bread, fruit and coffee….. If he might read this: thank you for the nice interesting explanations of all what was there to be watched, for offering me even hospitality when there was the question if I would reach Gardermoen airport in time: the train stopped on a certain moment because the train trafic lights did not work anymore. This obviously happens more during winter…… After a while the train could go on and I was in time at Gardermoen.
Part 2: Leaving Oslo Central Station (to Ål) (June 21, 2011)
Part 3: Bergen Line from Oslo to Ål (June 21, 2011) (other side of the route filmed on June 15)

Maps:
Ål

http://maps.google.nl/maps?q=%C3%85l,+Norway&hl=nl&ie=UTF8&sll=52.589701,5.515137&sspn=4.339093,13.304443&t=h&z=15

Oslo

http://maps.google.nl/maps?q=Oslo,+Norway&hl=nl&sll=52.589701,5.515137&sspn=4.339093,13.304443&t=h&z=11

The Bergen Line (Norwegian: Bergensbanen), also called the Bergen Railway, is a 371 kilometres (231 mi) standard gauge railway line between Bergen and Hønefoss, Norway. The name is often applied for the entire route from Bergen via Drammen to Oslo, where the passenger trains go, a distance of 496 kilometres (308 mi). It is the highest mainline railway line in Northern Europe, crossing the Hardangervidda plateau at 1,237 metres (4,058 ft) above sea level.
The railway opened from Bergen to Voss in 1883 as the narrow gauge Voss Line. In 1909 the route was continued over the mountain to Oslo and the whole route converted to standard gauge, and the Voss Line became part of the Bergen Line.[9] The line is single track,[1] and was electrified in 1954-64.[10] The Bergen Line is owned and maintained by the Norwegian National Rail Administration (Jernbaneverket), and served with passenger trains by Norges Statsbaner (NSB) and freight trains by CargoNet. The Flåm Line remains as the only branch line, after the closure of the Hardanger Line.[1] The western section from Bergen to Voss is also served by the Bergen Commuter Rail, and was shortened following the 1966 opening of the Ulriken Tunnel.
More: wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen_Line

Norwegian Railroads Information:

http://www.nsb.no/forside/

Bergen Line:

http://www.nsb.no/reisemaal/bergensbanen-article37736-4327.html

Important!
Closed to trains in the Oslo area in summer, from 26 June – 8 August 2011.
Busses will be used when youn travel from or to Gardermoen airport!

http://www.nsb.no/avviksmeldinger/nyttig-informasjon-hvis-du-skal-reise-i-oslo-omraadet-i-sommer-article38626-4172.html

Music:
Ludovico Einaudi
His music is ambient, meditative and often introspective, drawing on minimalism, world music, and contemporary pop. He has made a significant impact in the film world, with four international awards to his name.

http://www.ludovicoeinaudi.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Einaudi

Title:
Nightbook
Album:
Nightbook, 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightbook

Duration : 0:5:52

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: al, Ambient Music, Bergen, Bergen Line, Bergensbanen, Classical Music, Landscapes, Ludovico Einaudi, nature, Nightbook, Norge, norway, Oslo, Oslo Central Station, Oslo Sentral, Piano, Train Travel

“The Italian Riviera… unbelieveable” Jseibel2′s photos around Riomaggiore, Italy (cinque terre)

• Author: admin
• Filed under: euro rail passes
• Date: Jul 19,2011

Preview of Jseibel2′s blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jseibel2/1/1282315061/tpod.html

This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator.

Entry from: Riomaggiore, Italy
Entry Title: “The Italian Riviera… unbelieveable”

Entry:

“Let me start off by explaining just how disappointed I am that I couldn’t rent a kayak and see the “five lands” by way of the ocean; however, Cinque Terre is easily the most beautiful place I have ever seen in person. The trip from Florence to get to the Italian Riviera was less than stellar though. The three hour train ride was riddled with illegal immigrants chanting in some crazy African tribal tongues just glaring at us Americans hoping we fell asleep and they could steal all of our stuff. All racism and stereotypes aside, they gave me the creeps and while they might or might not have been contemplating stealing my ****, they were trying to get to Pisa to sell a bunch of silly touristy things to Americans. I hope that one day my knowledge of languages can evolve to the point where I can even say basic things in the language these guys were spit-balling in. I kid you not, it sounded like everything that people always do to make fun of African languages with a bunch of weird tongue-in-cheek clicking and awesome sounds like they were trying to swallow a ton of food. Unreal.

My traveling companions Rob and Adrian were an absolute riot the entire train ride there, but we were unfortunate in our endeavors to say the least. We had one connecting train between Florence and Riomaggiore, the beautiful Italian coast. When we arrived in this sketchy-looking town called La Spezia where the kind English-speaking people selling us our tickets to the five beautiful beach towns told us very definitely, the next train is at 10:01. Well that was the biggest load of **** I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. All of our comrades within the KSU-Florence program proceeded on to the train that was scheduled to leave a full half hour before we actually arrived in La Spezia, which means they arrived at the desired destination around 9:30 AM. Good for them, right? Adrian, Rob, and I went exploring a little because we thought we had a good hour-long layover: we return to the train station at 9:45 to hop on our next train, but we couldn’t understand that the departures board was trying to explain to us that our 10:00 train no longer existed and that the next closest train (at 10:50) was “SOP”. This part is hilarious because Adrian is fluent in spanish, he was born in Spain, I can speak plenty of French, and Rob is probably my equivalent in German, however we still couldn’t piece together that when a train in Italy says “SOP” it means sopressa. Sopressa as it turns out does not mean delayed, it loosely translates to “deleted.” Needless to say it took a homeless man that understood how dumb we were to convey the message that we needed a new train.

After our supposed 1 hour sojourn in La Spezia turned into a 2 and 1/2 hour slough through some bull **** that is the European rail system, we finally got to our destination, and from here on out words can literally not even approach the explanation that is Cinque Terre. If any average human imagined a place where buillding a village would be literally impossible, I’m sure they would dream up something that looks like any one of the five incredible little towns. Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso are all built into this incredible landscape that includes enormous mountains, a crystal-clear blue ocean, jungle-style foliage, and all of the most amazing terraced vineyards you could imagine. We opted for the 8 euro pass that gave us unlimited train access between the towns and it included a pass to hike the trails between all of the towns as well, I feel like I should have had to pay 4 times that to see just one view close to this gorgeous in America. This hike that is so steamed up by tour guides like Rick Steve’s and the likes is not to be taken lightly. I’m not sure if there is a warning to how tough the hike is, however three very in shape 20 and 21 year olds had a pretty decent sweat built up hiking just through four of the towns. Personally I looked and felt like I just got out of a shower that …”
Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jseibel2/1/1282315061/tpod.html

Photos from this trip:
1. “Vernazza from the hiking trail”
2. “La Spezia”
3. “La Spezia #2″
4. “Breath-taking views from the hike”
5. “Riomaggiore’s harbor”
6. “Riomaggiore from the harbor looking inland”
7. “The Mediterranean crashing”
8. “The easiest portion of the 5-hour hike”
9. “Vernazza, everyone’s favorite village”

See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00da-1490-d18f?ytv4=1

Duration : 0:1:18

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: cinque terre, germans la spezia, italian, italian riviera, Italy, italy train and sop, photography, photos, riomaggiore, riomaggiore snorkeling, riviera, slideshow, Train, trip, tripadvisor, tripwow, unbelieveable, vacation, what does sop mean italy

CHEAP FLIGHTS

• Author: admin
• Filed under: rail travel europe
• Date: Jul 16,2011

http://www.hiphopbeats5dollars.com/ethiopian-hot-hot-girls GET 50% OFF FLIGHTS VISIT http://bills.2hell.com cheap flights travel vacation car rentals airline tickets timeshare airplene trip las angelas vegas new york london europe india asia uk france south america florida deals to from ryanair gatwick holiday airfair puerto rico germany military maui atlanta colombia peru rio south america canada thomas cook last minute cheapest philippines ecuador domestic international usa alaska mexico canada england ireland maui brazilindia chicago germany cheapest florida los angelas rome atlanta

Duration : 0:3:22

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: airfair, airline, airplene, Alaska, america, angelas, asia, atlanta, brazilindia, canada, Car, cheap, cheapest, chicago, colombia, cook, deals, domestic, ecuador, england, Europe, flights, florida, France, from, gatwick, Germany, holiday, india, international, ireland, las, last, London, los, maui, mexico, military, minute, new, peru, philippines, puerto, rentals, rico, rio, rome, ryanair, south, Thomas, tickets, timeshare, to, travel, trip, uk, usa, vacation, vegas, york

Euro 66 Move

• Author: admin
• Filed under: euro rail passes
• Date: Jul 16,2011

92019 passes Offord (Cambs) with Euro Livered 66010 66064 & 66212 on 0E32 Enroute From Dollands Moor to Doncaster at 1600 30 July 2011

Duration : 0:0:39

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: rail

“Cinque Terre” Jamierand’s photos around Monterosso, Italy (monterosso trail)

• Author: admin
• Filed under: euro rail passes
• Date: Jul 12,2011

Preview of Jamierand’s blog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamierand/1/1242919380/tpod.html

This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator.

Entry from: Monterosso, Italy
Entry Title: “Cinque Terre”

Entry:

“Buongiorno Everyone!

It goes without saying that any friends we had before this leg of the trip are probably going to dump us. We just spent 3 days In the Cinque Terre (5 Lands) on the NW coast of Italy and they were spectacular. The Cinque Terre are 5 little coastal villages linked together by hiking trails, a regional railway, and a passenger ferry. No cars. We stayed as ‘the honeymooners’ in the town of Monterosso at the beautiful Porto Roca hotel which is high up a rock face looking over the ocean. I should mention that everything is high up a rock face and you will be burning your buns no matter where you go! Our first day, we struck out on the trail, which is marked by red and white stripes. It is very narrow and the Italians don’t seem to believe in switch backs. They built stone steps straight up and down the mountainsides. We quickly discovered that the Eiffel Tower was just a training run! Hiking along with a group of French tourists (which I have a knack for finding when on vacation), we hauled our cookies to the next town; Vernazza. The hike covered about 150m vertical and we were very excited to head down into the seaport for a little gelato therapy. We then decided to press on and try to make it to the next town; Corgnilia. Corgnilia added another 270m of vertical and after all the stair climbing, we were toast. We could see the village of Manorolo from the train station, and the final village; Riomaggiore, was only 30min more by foot. At that point we were spent and took the very crowded, very fragrant train back to Monterosso for more gelato.

After our excellent hiking, and sampling the local seafood at our hotel, we decided the next day would be spent enjoying the ocean, and just chilling out. A little yoga on the terrace and we were off to the beach. The beaches here are stone, which is a little tough on the feet. The water is pretty cool; however, the weather is toasty and sunny so it all works out. The water is also amazingly clear and makes for some nice swimming. We planned on returning to a restaurant that we already tried once and liked very much. On request, I’ve included a few photos of the foods we had. I’m weak for a good caprese and they nailed it. We also enjoyed some of the local seafood, and the pesto that is made in this region of Italy. The waiter decided we needed to try some lemoncellos, but after all the prosecco, I forgot to photograph them!

Our last day, we decided to do something a little different. We got up early, threw back our caffe con lattes, and headed to the beach for some kayaking. It turns out you can get to Vernazza much more quickly by sea than by narrow stone stairs! We didn’t bring the camera, but trust us that it was fantastic. There were lots of little caves along the rock face, and you could see everything beneath the boat, including a snorkeler who was towing 2 octopuses. Guess that’s one way to get dinner.

Tonight is our last night here, and then we are heading back to France, to the town of Bramans. We’ll be staying at a friend’s mother’s house, switching from the Riviera to the Alps. In the mean time, a few things we’ve learned during our first month away are that we will always be gelato junkies, eurorail passes are not as slick as we expected (but are doing the trick), women still sunbathe topless, though not necessarily the ones you would like, and hammer pants are making a comeback. I’m pretty sure we won’t have internet access at our next stop, but on June 1 we’ll be heading to Switzerland and should be able to find something. We love hearing from all of you, so drop us a line whenever you can either in reply to the blog posts, or directly to us!

Ciao ciao,
-Stopher & Jamie”
Read and see more at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamierand/1/1242919380/tpod.html

Photos from this trip:
1. “Porto Roca View”
2. “View of Vernazza”
3. “Giant Clam”
4. “Hotel View”
5. “Steep Trail out of Monterosso”
6. “Looking back at Monterosso from the trail”
7. “A wide bridge on the trail to Vernazza!”
8. “Trail to Vernazza”
9. “Snail on the trail to Vernazza”
10. “Vernazza from the trail to Corniglia”
11. “Trail to Corniglia”
12. “View to Manorola from Corniglia”
13. “Prosecco”

See this TripWow and more at http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00d8-4944-8c59?ytv4=1

Duration : 0:2:4

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: ciao prosecco, cinque, cinque terre, italian riviera, Italy, monterosso, monterosso trail, pesto linguine, photography, photos, slideshow, terre, trip, tripadvisor, tripwow, vacation

Travel europe for 6 months byt rail?

• Author: admin
• Filed under: rail travel europe
• Date: Jul 11,2011

me and my mate are planning on traveling europe next year for 6 months by rail. we want to visit as many places as we can. we plan to stay in hostels (dont mind dorms or sharing) and when possible crashing on peoples sofas.

has anyone ever done this? would it be a good idea to take a small tent? how much will we need to save? we have about £3000 between us so far and know we will need to save alot more.. but how much? we want to do EVERYTHING low budget, just want us and the world! see as much of europe as we can!

I would not start out with a tent, as a tent requires you to carry a lot more gear, like mats, plates, spoons, forks, knives and a stove with pans.
If you find that you really want to use a tent you can pick these items up from cheap supermarkets, second hand stores or even from people you meet in hostels.

Campsites are mostly not near railway stations and often also not near bus stops.
Forcing you to walk much more with your gear.
And a big disadvantage of camping is that you will have to leave all your gear in a place where you can not lock it away, when camping wild not even under the eyes of a security crew.
Camping can be a good option in Scandinavia where hostels and hotels are very expensive and camping wild is allowed as long as you keep to some rules. When you head that way you are early enough to pick up your gear.

For a 6 month travel I would not buy a rail pass, although it might be fun to set out with an 5 days out of 10 days InterRail pass. If you book well in advance your point to point train tickets will be cheaper as will be flights with the cheap airlines.

Keep your distances short by making a lot of short hops in a logical way, working your way north to south, or east to west and go round in a big circle rather than backwards and forwards or hopscotch around Europe.

Talk with people you meet, in hostels, your hosts if you go couch surfing and people you meet in trains, to get the best places and find out which places best to avoid.

If you travel hostels, do your own cooking or eat the cheapest options of the local kind of fast food, you can count on using about €75 per day now, couch surfing and staying in one of the formerly communist countries you can get that down a bit. But do not fix your plans if you have less money. Make your plans such that you can return home when you run out of money.

If you are European (which I assume as you use the pound sign and the England/Ireland version of Yahoo) you might even be able to do some work to top up your cash.
If you hope to do that best check what you need and in which countries you can find work with the least difficulties in paperwork.

If you are not European, you will have to be very careful with visa as you will not be able to stay more than 3 months in the Schengen area in 6 months. You can combine that with a stay in the UK and Ireland, and in the countries on the other side of the Schengen zone, so you can have half a year in Europe.

Do not take too much luggage.
Clothes for two weeks, underwear for 3, good shoes to walk on all the time and slippers or flip flops for the nights and emergency use, a small towel, a small toilet bag with just the needed items.
Do not bring unneeded items like a hair dryer, but do bring a phone and its charger, a camera and charger, and a music player like an MP3 player. I think it is still best to have them as 3 different items, otherwise your phone will always be out of power when you need it.
Take your time, it is very tempting to do a city per day and wiz through the countries, but you will not remember much when you do that. Better stay a week in a big city like Paris, and also visit some small towns, villages, beach resorts or national parks. It is often cheaper and it will give you a much better view on Europe, most people do not live in the capital cities.