Traveling Europe: By Road, Rail, Air, and Water
About two months ago, I embarked on my obligatory college graduation trip and decided to spend it in Europe. I visited 6 countries (7 if you count Vatican City) over 3 weeks and took 4 different forms of transportation to get where I was going. The trip was both exhilarating and infuriating, and I returned home exhausted with my thirst for adventure quenched for the time being.
Now I don't consider myself a travel expert, nor am I much of a Europe veteran (this only being my second time across the pond), but through my experiences, I felt like I learned a lot about the cities I was in and decided I could lend a hand to those who might be visiting for the first time. This way, you can learn from my mistakes and perhaps have a slightly less stressful and more enjoyable trip. Though I guess the fun of any adventure is not knowing where it will take you, and sometimes mistakes turn into blessings. Nonetheless, I have decided to do a 7 post series (8 if you include this one) about the cities I visited and the experiences I had.
To start off, I just want to do a quick review of some forms of transportation I took. Getting from place to place is important and the value of traveling in comfort is seriously underrated these days.
Air
Planes. Most of us have ridden one. Some have gone far. Some have not. But as those frequent flyers will tell us, finding a reliable airline these days is beyond difficult. Now think about finding one to take you across an entire country, an ocean, and then another half country. It's a nightmare.
When booking international flights, I highly advise choosing your airline wisely. Try to get one that will go directly international because you get food, a pillow, a blanket, and non-stop entertainment. I flew for 6 hours across the US on a domestic leg of my flight to Paris and thanks to American Airlines' policies, had no entertainment or food. Just enough drinks to make me want to get up and go to the bathroom every hour or so. Recommendation: A few extra hundred bucks can make your experience much more worth it.
European airlines on the other hand, have been great. Although I was able to check my bags for free (being on an international journey and all), the continent to continent service in Europe has that too! Not to mention that despite the shortness of my flight (only a few hours), I was still served with food. Air Berlin gave me half a sandwich. Lufthansa awarded me with a giant chocolate croissant for breakfast. Additional perks of flying within the European Union: no customs. And sometimes a flight is actually cheaper than a train ride. Make sure to do your research!
Rail
For two legs of my travel, I reached my destinations by train. I did not have the opportunity of staying in an overnight train, as we found out that it cost more to do that than just fly for 3 hours to our destination, but I did have the luxury of being seated in first class. And boy was it great! There was plenty of leg space, a power outlet, and even wi-fi available! The views of the Austrian and German country side weren't too shabby either. I can't quite remember the second line we took, but the first was OBB, and I highly recommend it. Besides, in the modern era, how often do you get to travel by train? It's really the best opportunity to see the sites and get to where you're going quickly(ish).
Road
Naturally you can't always get to where you're going by rail or plane, so in some instances we traveled by bus or taxi. In cities, this isn't the most optimal because traffic, well, sucks. I highly recommend finding the local subway/metro/underground system instead of taking taxis (which often require cash, not everywhere as advanced as NYC) or local buses (too many stops and the schedule is usually unreliable), but more on that in later posts. Tour buses are a nice way to see a city without having to walk. The added bonus is that if you're on a hop on/hop off bus, you can ride one full round to plan out the places you want to go and then hop as you please.
Water
Many places are hard to reach unless you go by boat. Unfortunately, I did not go to any of those places. The water portion of my travels came through a cruise boat, but I'll be dedicating an entire post to that so you'll have to just wait and see what I have to say about cruises. However, I know that in the French and Italian rivieras, there are many beautiful islands and more remote sites, many of which are best reached by ferry. Although I never had the opportunity to explore said places this time, I hear they are definitely worth a visit if I ever make my way back to Europe again.
Now I don't consider myself a travel expert, nor am I much of a Europe veteran (this only being my second time across the pond), but through my experiences, I felt like I learned a lot about the cities I was in and decided I could lend a hand to those who might be visiting for the first time. This way, you can learn from my mistakes and perhaps have a slightly less stressful and more enjoyable trip. Though I guess the fun of any adventure is not knowing where it will take you, and sometimes mistakes turn into blessings. Nonetheless, I have decided to do a 7 post series (8 if you include this one) about the cities I visited and the experiences I had.
To start off, I just want to do a quick review of some forms of transportation I took. Getting from place to place is important and the value of traveling in comfort is seriously underrated these days.
Air
Planes. Most of us have ridden one. Some have gone far. Some have not. But as those frequent flyers will tell us, finding a reliable airline these days is beyond difficult. Now think about finding one to take you across an entire country, an ocean, and then another half country. It's a nightmare.
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| Air Berlin flight |
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| A chocolate filled croissant courtesy of Lufthansa! |
Rail
For two legs of my travel, I reached my destinations by train. I did not have the opportunity of staying in an overnight train, as we found out that it cost more to do that than just fly for 3 hours to our destination, but I did have the luxury of being seated in first class. And boy was it great! There was plenty of leg space, a power outlet, and even wi-fi available! The views of the Austrian and German country side weren't too shabby either. I can't quite remember the second line we took, but the first was OBB, and I highly recommend it. Besides, in the modern era, how often do you get to travel by train? It's really the best opportunity to see the sites and get to where you're going quickly(ish).
Road
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| Picture from: http://www.rome-tours.net/?event=offer.detail&offerId=2154 |
Water
Many places are hard to reach unless you go by boat. Unfortunately, I did not go to any of those places. The water portion of my travels came through a cruise boat, but I'll be dedicating an entire post to that so you'll have to just wait and see what I have to say about cruises. However, I know that in the French and Italian rivieras, there are many beautiful islands and more remote sites, many of which are best reached by ferry. Although I never had the opportunity to explore said places this time, I hear they are definitely worth a visit if I ever make my way back to Europe again.
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