Eurorail Global Pass – Worth it?
Greetings,
This will be brief as Amsterdam is calling me. It will also be as about as inspired as any final year end project I’ve ever submitted. That means minimal research and NO spell checking.
You can get an unlimited Eurorail pass for ~1400+ EURO. A single trip from Amsterdam to Paris on Thaly’s is ~150 euro. Some character next to me just bought the 22 days continuous. You can sleep on it if you want, overnights are like an extra 5 euro. I need to do number crunching, coffeeshop styl, if that even makes sense.
That’s the deal, that’s what the mouse chasing a piece of cheese in my mind is thinking. Amsterdam is so random, random stuff happens alll the time. Stuff so randomly great that you don’t even blog about it because it’s just another Amsterdam moment.
That being said, it’s also getting bored here. Daily routines speed up and you find yourself asking yourself “WTF am I still doing here”. I need to get some job or move on. The former is ridiculous and the latter is ever so sensible.
I’m actuallly drawing a blank on what I got up to yesterday. I knew it involved eating, not sure what else. I got transfered rooms, again and a gain. A little asking goes a long way.
I was in this one room that smelt like a rancid chicken pot pie being made. There was one girl who could be compared to a wilting turnip and 7 guys who were like rancid chicken meat road side on a hot summers day, it was disgusting.
Switched out of that and into a new one : It was 3 guys just totally passed out who were like aggravated that you opened the door. There was no more locker available so I slammed the door and got a new room. One duded looked like the guitarist from Smashing Pumpkins.
I’m on the 5th floor of this staircase of death, I’d take a photo but the other one I shared is slightly worse. Seeing how I have no real “room”. All my battery packs are dead and on top of that my laptop battery stopped working, wtf!?
Back to Eurorail, it could be an opportunity to set a new style of travel where you have nothing to do for 3 months but visit 21 countries and potentially attempt the Ëuro Rail” world record, if there is one, for most internatinal trips taken in 3 months or something!!??! Or just the most trips taken, anything.
A coffee shop calls my name then perhaps some shoes. I’ve wasted like ~300 euro on garbage shoes. I tried Etnies and Addidas. I’m a Reebok or Nike man, those things fit like clogs for chr~st sakes, one step away from a word I won’t even write here… Those funny plastic shoes with holes in them to represent the hole the company just successfully drilled in your pocket and potentially mind for paying retail price for those pieces of junk.
I digress.
I have no clue what to do next, I do KNOW THIS. If I were to say run my life like a business and my brain is the CEO. If this was a real business and I had a “man” in Europe and it was on the things to do list, from an accounting point of view, it only makes cents (sic) to explore the place to the fullest, now. Especially if your man on the ground isn’t particularly productive in the office.
Updating should be easier out of Amsterdam. Here, I’m on the 5th floor, no wifi, some cafe’s have wifi and no where to plug my charger.
Finally, there are some cool things to do here like visit where Anne Frank lived or the Van Goth museum. I was thinking of the Van Goth so I could potentially spot a fake if in ~20 years I’m buying one for a summer place or whatnot. That or just spend time spotting his last stroke, you know, that type of thing…
Tips hat,
P.S: This is your time to tune out of the voyeur channel you love so much called the internet and televsion. Done the whole Eurorail thing? Let me know, will ya? Great. Maybe airlines? I really love flying, even if there are delays once in the air, you KNOW you are going as fast as possible.
P.P.S: Some random stuff I’m writing so I’ll remember : The Alpha Bum, Croatian Lady, Shroomed American dude who ironically gave me the Eurorail pass idea, the dude who looked like was traveling globe in a gym bag, the biker feeling coffee shop that only plays golf, blank
Have been to Europe three times– there was nothing better then the freedom the train pass gave us and most of the trains were really nice. Slept on them several times while traveling to other countries. What I like is that you can just get on the train and crash and wake up in an entirely different world. The countries really are quite different. I’m a little concerned that you may never want to go home once you visit some of them lol. Like Italy because you like great food and laid back people. Or Greece. Or southern Spain. or….etc. etc.
I loved Sweden and Norway too as they are so beautiful- but I know you’re not into colder weather and they may be enough like Canada in several ways that they wouldn’t be that interesting to you.
All I know about you is from reading your blogs over the past many months– but from that I’d say you would definately love the train pass (pick up and GO!! whenever you want- no hassle!)
Hi Rob,
Still upset at you for bailing on Asia. I was holding out hope for a Chongqing/Chengdu/Lhasa/Kathmandu/India run. Please consult your readership before such decisions in the future. Haha.
Nevertheless, I’ve gotten over the breakup enough now to finally post a comment.
Happy you’re enjoying yourself in Europe. Lots to see. I’ve got a soft spot for southern France as I used to live there.
Get the Eurail pass, but perhaps first consider catching a flight on one of the low-cost airlines (Ryan Air, Easy Jet, Aer Lingus etc) to get you somewhere further away first.
Issues:
-you still end up being nickel-and-dimed despite having a eurail pass for high-speed trains and overnighters
-regional trains suck – you will want to blow your brains out after the 20th stop in a 400 kilometre leg of your journey
-striking is the national passtime in Europe, so there is the possibility of getting hosed due to a rail strike after you buy a pass
-lots of super-cheap air providers – see above
-but on the other hand, what you think will be a short flight from A to B ends up being a 6-7 hour ordeal considering i) travel to the airport ii) need to be there 2 hours before your flight iii) cattle herd at the boarding gate (no assigned seating) thanks to Europeans who don’t know how to line up (although having survived China you’ll be able to elbow the frailest of old folks out of the way) iv) waiting for checked luggage v) travel from new (regional) airport to downtown or wherever.
Random bits of advice:
-Duct tape over blisters
-Go up the Eiffel Tower at night, not during the hot, smoggy, crowded day.
-Aix-en-Provence and Montpellier are cool college towns
-if you want to blow your mind and redefine what it means to you to be a Canadian, make the trip to the Holten Canadian War Cemetery before you leave Amsterdam.
It’s DONE.
By that I mean I have done nothing but decided to buy a pass, the 3 month continuous is like ~$238 more than say a 2 month. If I need to trains to meet cousin, may as well get 3 as that would pay for the extra month there, or close, yes?
lindsay – Sweden and Norway – Worth a little cold and I’ll do it in the summer, never go home? C’est la vie.
Dwayne – good point I still have mixed w/e’s about flying here instead of doing it all land style. shakes fist at coffee shop ceiling.
I am so jealous! A 3 month pass. You are going to have an amazing few months Rob. If you get there, I can’t wait to hear about the Eastern European countries. And just your take on each of the countries and the difference in cultures. And I can’t wait to hear about the different people you will meet on the trains. Oh, I know you’re already so careful about this- but I did have my passport stolen one night on a train when I was asleep as it was in my purse– I used one of those neck chain wallets after that.
I’m still betting Italy will be one of your total favorite places.
Hope your head injury continues to be healed with no further problems! take care
And you can keep us current with each country’s “fun with austerity” events!
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEsAHdQfsNjqlOLo-5j71ghw6hJw
Good to know Lindsay!!! My #shabl pants protect me