This email landed as brilliantly timed travel inspiration. We’re planning a family holiday in Greece this autumn (2 adults, 2 kids and a baby) and I read your email and mused aloud to my husband, perhaps we should get the train…? And as a family we’ve just spent the last hour looking at timetables and photos and planning an epic journey across Europe, for a very similar cost to flying. Thank you!
Oh my goodness, this is AMAZING! Please do let me know what you end up planning - I'd love to know how it goes. (I deeply admire friends of mine who do this sort of thing with kids in tow, but they all seem to enjoy it very much, so perhaps it's the best way.)
Pretty cool that train travel can finally become reasonably cheaper than (or at least on par with) flying! With that out of the way, it might just be taking longer? And even then, only for the longer distances, for shorter flights, getting to/from airports from city centers and longer waiting for security checks can easily wipe those out!
Yeah, I think even if you ARE planning to fly, you should probably work out the different itineraries, just to see how they compare in terms of cost, inconvenience and discomfort.
They're a brilliant way to travel. I tend to buy a couple every year when they have their pre-Christmas 25%-off sale. (Think they also have one at the end of the summer.) They're valid for a year (as long as you activate them within 11 months), so you can just hold them in reserve until you fancy planning a trip.
Next month I'm travelling by train Bristol to Copenhagen with family and I'm almost as excited about the journey as the destination. I love train travel. It is more expensive (for us, about £400 each by train, against about £250 each by air, though we did pick the most convenient train times rather than the cheapest) but in 15 years or so of following Seat61 guides, the only problems we've had have been cancelled trains when we get back to London. Which we can handle. The one thing I do wish for is easier booking processes. Our journey goes through 4 countries and involved so many different websites with different nuances. It took us two weekends to piece it all together.
This email landed as brilliantly timed travel inspiration. We’re planning a family holiday in Greece this autumn (2 adults, 2 kids and a baby) and I read your email and mused aloud to my husband, perhaps we should get the train…? And as a family we’ve just spent the last hour looking at timetables and photos and planning an epic journey across Europe, for a very similar cost to flying. Thank you!
Oh my goodness, this is AMAZING! Please do let me know what you end up planning - I'd love to know how it goes. (I deeply admire friends of mine who do this sort of thing with kids in tow, but they all seem to enjoy it very much, so perhaps it's the best way.)
Pretty cool that train travel can finally become reasonably cheaper than (or at least on par with) flying! With that out of the way, it might just be taking longer? And even then, only for the longer distances, for shorter flights, getting to/from airports from city centers and longer waiting for security checks can easily wipe those out!
Yeah, I think even if you ARE planning to fly, you should probably work out the different itineraries, just to see how they compare in terms of cost, inconvenience and discomfort.
Really useful information. thanks for sharing. I knew about man in Seat 61 but, even so, didn't know about Interail passes.
They're a brilliant way to travel. I tend to buy a couple every year when they have their pre-Christmas 25%-off sale. (Think they also have one at the end of the summer.) They're valid for a year (as long as you activate them within 11 months), so you can just hold them in reserve until you fancy planning a trip.
Next month I'm travelling by train Bristol to Copenhagen with family and I'm almost as excited about the journey as the destination. I love train travel. It is more expensive (for us, about £400 each by train, against about £250 each by air, though we did pick the most convenient train times rather than the cheapest) but in 15 years or so of following Seat61 guides, the only problems we've had have been cancelled trains when we get back to London. Which we can handle. The one thing I do wish for is easier booking processes. Our journey goes through 4 countries and involved so many different websites with different nuances. It took us two weekends to piece it all together.