Travel Junkie: Why traveling by train is better

Europe is a continent that feels more like a very large country than anything else.  You don’t think of a trip to France without thinking in a possible move to another nearby country say Belgium or The Netherlands.  Everything is so close that you can’t afford to go all the way to the other side of the world and not take advantage of how close these countries are from each other.  Thankfully, Europeans know about this and have taken care of things so anybody can move from one place to another with ease.   Budget airlines, Trains, Buses and so forth are there for the taking.    Demand for transportation between countries is very high and travel specialists have noticed this packaging deals that are great for us Tourists.

While Airlines have become very cheap lately with all of these so called budget lines making their way to the market, but if you take to account that most of these are located in off city airports (Girona for Barcelona, like 70 miles from the city), the cost of moving to these airports and the time it consumes, you might as well take the regularly priced line.   Most of them charge more for luggage, extra space, food, and other amenities.  This works specially for the budget traveler, mainly backpackers as they don’t have that much luggage and don’t care for these luxury accommodations.    It takes way to long to travel in these Budget airlines to consider it a complete bargain compared to others.  Do the math, you only have so much time to spend in your travel days to be spending them on airports.

Train Travel by the way has many advantages over other ways of transportation.  First its always on time and arrives in time.  There’s almost no need of having to wait for inspections or check ins, its easier to register your baggage and is almost as comfortable as anything available.   Most High Speed trains and regular trains have a restaurant cart or a bar which makes for great social interaction, even more if you are traveling alone.   If you take to account that when your traveling by train you get a clear view of the landscapes surrounding each country, you’ll realize how much better it is to travel this way as it lets you take a quick grasp of the changes in scenery as you get closer to your destination.   I found it pretty fascinating when I travelled from the U.K to France how everything changed as I exited the tunnel.  Wow, it was beautiful to see the different landscape and architecture  that the french employ.

As a Traveller you can get very good deals for train packages that may include several countries or regions depending on the country.  Say, for Japan you can get the JR Pass for a particular region taking advantage of the line that’s inside the city.   For Europe you can get significant discounts in traveling packages throughout the continent letting you easily reach one place to another.  A ticket from the Amsterdam to Paris can cost almost half the price of a rail pass for 7 days, and that is only one way!   So, buying it at home before you go to the country at hand is the obvious way to go.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting pretty interesting people in the train.  I was on a train from Munich to Prague and had a great conversation with a couple from London that were traveling to the Czech Republic for the same reason we were, the Beer.  We got to taste our first Pilsner together and share our thoughts, it was the shortest 7 hours in my life as we got to chat all sorts of things.  Two english, one mexican and one american sharing different thoughts on cultures that weren’t ours.   This only happens on a traiI’ve had the pleasure of meeting pretty interesting people in the train.  I was on a train from Munich to Prague and had a great conversation with a couple from London that were traveling to the Czech Republic for the same reason we were, the Beer.  We got to taste our first Pilsner together and share our thoughts, it was the shortest 7 hours in my life as we got to chat all sorts of things.  Two english, one mexican and one american sharing different thoughts on cultures that weren’t ours.   This only happens on a train ride.  You get to see people get on and off the train in each stop.  Your in Germany with a cart full of germans when suddenly you passed the border to the Czech Republic and get to see people get off and new different looking folk get in the train speaking a totally different language.  Its always interesting to experience this.

I strongly recommend Eurail and the JR Pass before you travel to Japan or Europe.  They offer great deals on packages for their rail system and should prove to be a great experience that will save you some money and let you move easier and at your pleasure for all the length of your trip.