Buses

If you do not have a rail pass, ar*d need to get to a specific destination at a specific time, then buses are hard to beat for a cheap ride - and, believe me, they can be incredibly cheap.

Unfortunately, buses are also hard to beat for inflicting pain, and few experiences are as agonizing as a long or overnight ride on a crowded bus. Basically, you’re paying for the low price with discomfort. This discomfort is somewhat mitigated if you are comfortable enough with your seat partner to sleep sprawled all over each other. I recommend buses if you have the specific time/place/need mentioned, and especially if the alternative is a long, expensive train ride. I once took a bus from Copenhagen to London. Yes, I was a pitiful, whimpering wreck by the end of the nineteen-hour trip, but it saved about USD 120 over a train ticket. For that kind of money, I can be miserable for one night.

Hitchhiking

I’ve done it, but I don’t recommend it, for obvious reasons. I once met a five-foot, ninety-pound, 16-year-old Polish girl who had hitchhiked, from Warsaw to Rome, alone. When she told me that I actually felt my skin crawl. If you do wish to hitch, remember that while the violent crime rate in most of Europe is relatively low, such crime does happen. Women should not hitchhike, alone or in groups. Period. Some tips for those who insist on hitching; Using a sign, especially for women, can be dangerous. Don’t use one, and when someone stops, ask where they are going. That way the driver cannot lie about his destination to get you into his car.

0 If at all possible, keep your luggage with you rather than in the trunk, and pull it out of the back seat before getting out of the car. If you put it in the trunk, you may get out at your destination only to watch your backpack disappear down the road in a squeal of tires. The same thing goes for gas and bathroom stops.

- Some hitchhikers use a flag to appeal to their traveling compatriots.

- Most student-oriented guidebooks usually have a few sentences on where to hitch out of major cities.

- Women who hitch (although I’m advising against this) will have rapid success in groups of three or less. Men in groups of one or more will be waiting a long time.

- Finally, if you are hitching, be very, very careful. If it feels wrong, it probably is wrong. A long walk or a bed for the night is better than a ride that ends up in robbery or worse.

Creative transportation

If your train pass has run out or if you want to conserve one, or you never had one, you might want to consider one of the following ways of getting around.

Ride-sharing
Ride-sharing is highly recommended if you have more time than money, and is always worth an inquiry, unless you have an unlimited Eurail pass. Ride-share is also perfect if you lose your rail pass, or if the money you’ve budgeted for transportation is diverted to other and more gratifying uses. Ride-share is a sort of an organized hitchhiking service, whereby drivers with extra room offer seats for sale through an agency. The agency then tries to match the empty seats with travelers going to the drivers’ destinations. Most European countries have one or more of these agencies.

As an example, Munich to Hamburg cost me Pound Sterling 45 in total - dirt cheap compared with a train or bus ticket. The big disadvantage of this mode of travel is the uncertainty of finding someone going both where you want to go and when you want to go there. However, for someone who has no fixed schedule, who is happy to wander all over Europe wherever the next driver takes him, or someone who is trying to conserve Flexi pass days, this way of getting around is fantastic.
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The Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel offers three-hour trips between London and Paris, and a two-hour forty-minute service between London and Brussels. Over twenty Eurostar trains per day run between London and Paris, and ten per day between London and Brussels. Any type of seventeen-country Eurail pass, a Selectpass that includes France, a France RailPass, Brit RailPass, or Benelux pass will get you a discount.

- Having taken the Channel Tunnel a number of times, I would describe it as an engineering marvel administered by a bunch of drooling idiots. In order to maximize profits, the fare structure for the Chunnel trains is set up exactly like those stupid airfares already mentioned. For the round-trip London to Paris run, there are no less than seventeen different fares, varying in price from as much as USD 658 to as Little as USD 150 - though special offers can bring this down to USD 70.
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Flying within Europe

Consider the following example for a situation when flying makes sense. Greece is a very common destination for first-time travelers in Europe. Let’s say you are in London, and want to go to the island of los and party yourself into a hospital bed. los is good for that. With a Eurail pass you would pay to cross the Channel (Eurail is not valid in England) by either Channel Tunnel train, ferry and train, bus, or whatever. You would then proceed, probably via Paris, to Rome, and on to the hellhole port of Brindisi, to catch a ferry to Athens.

The train ride from Paris to Brindisi will take roughly eighteen hours. You then get on the ferry in Brindisi, pay a port tax and summer supplement (even with a ferry that takes Eurail passes), and then spend the night sleeping either on the deck or in a room full of smoke. The next morning you arrive in Patras on the west coast of Greece, and pay for a bus, or wait for a train, to Piraeus, the port of Athens, which will probably involve a transfer. At the port you pay full price for a ferry, and spend another night on deck on the way to los, where you arrive the next morning.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? I’ve done it and it stinks. It’s less painful if you start from Rome, but it’s still eight hours from Rome to Brindisi. And you have to do the whole process in reverse to get back. The total cost, if you have a train pass, including couchettes, port taxes, etc, is around USD 120. Flying out of London to Athens, on the other hand, will cost about USD 200 round trip (or much less if you get a cheap flight with a no-frills airline), and you wilt arrive feeling like a human being instead of a piece of raw meat.

Channel Crossings

The English Channel is crisscrossed by hundreds of ferries, hover-ctaft, jetfoils, and other craft, and there are dozens of ways to get from England to the rest of Europe. The shortest crossing, not surprisingly is at the closest point between France and England (Dover t0 Calais) and some Eurailers opt for this. Others choose similar tnps from one of the nearby ports such as Oostende in Belgium, on which there is a Eurail discount, or Boulogne. There are fifty percent discounts on many Channel crossings for InterRail undergo passholders, although those with the 26+ pass will find the selection much less extensive. Most of the vessels crossing the Channel are car and passenger ferries, although some routes are’ covered by hovercraft and jetfoils. These make the trip across the Channel in less than half the time of a ferry, but you can’t get out on deck and walk around. Some things to remember about crossing the Channel:

- Since England is not a Eurail country, you will have to pay for your rail ticket between London and the port in Britain (about USD 30 from London to Dover, for example). You also have to pay with an InterRail pass, although discounts are available.

- Even though the boats are slower, they do allow you to get a beautiful view of the white cliffs of Dover when approaching or leaving England. You can’t get this on the jetfoil, and the cliffs really are worth seeing at least once.
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Ferries and the Channel Tunnel

Two ferry crossings that many travelers will make are the English Channel and the infamous Brindisi to Patras crossing to Greece, which can be similar to the trip described on p. 14. This is, incidentally, “free” to holders of the right InterRail pass. Apart from the Channel ferries and those between Italy and Greece, others that you might want to consider are those between France and Ireland, which are “free” with a Eurail pass. Your Eurail map will show discounted and “free” ferry routes, as will your InterRail information. “Free” ferry lines will almost always have some way of squeezing money out of you, however. “Summer supplements” and port orj departure taxes are common tactics. Don’t be surprised if your “free” trip ends up costing you twenty or thirty dollars and a Flexi pass day. This is especially true on the Italy to Greece run.

When taking an overnight ferry, you will usually have several price-dependent seating choices. The cheapest option is “deck,” which allows you to find a place on deck or on a bench to camp out. Most ferries also offer airline-type seats for a bit more, but expect clouds of smoke. A bunk in a cabin is the most expensive option, but even that can be cheap enough to fit into a very tight budget. You don’t have to pay for the whole room - bunks are usually sold individually. That ten bucks you could save by sleeping on deck may not be worth it.
Ferry food is very expensive and rarely appealing. Bring enough food and water to last the journey. Coins from all countries served are accepted on almost all ferries. Finally, when you get on a ferry, think of the time zone change. Crossing the English Channel, crossing from Italy to Greece, and crossing from Sweden to Finland each involve a one-hour shift. Be especially careful if you have a connecting train or flight to catch.

Train Pass Conservation Strategies

You just paid a lot of money for a Eurail or InterRail pass, and I guarantee that on some of those long train trips you will think long and hard about how to get the most out of it. Once again, most oil these will make more sense if you read Basics #2 first.

- If you have a first-class Eurail pass, you can always buy second-class reservations on high-speed trains such as the AVE or the Thalys.

This can save you anywhere from five to twenty dollars, and all vou miss in second class is a hideous meal that makes airline food look good. (For some reason, the Thalys is especially expensive, and the food served on it would be disgraceful if served in a prison.) Also, the Channel Tunnel is much cheaper in second than first class. Second is perfectly comfortable, and the ride is over in three hours anyhow.

Train Stations

One of the nice things about train travel is that a number of travel necessities can be taken care of upon arrival at the train station. Some recommendations:

- Virtually every train station in Europe offers some form of luggage storage, either in lockers or at a left-luggage office. These are especially useful for those who bring too much and want to drop off their main pack to live out of a daypack for a while. Old-style lockers have a key, while new lockers print out a combination for you. Be warned that some of the new-style lockers will simply open after the lime you have paid for has run out. Make very sure whether or not you have to pay in advance for all the time you use. I prefer the left-luggage office myself, although it may not be open 24 hours. One idea if you happen to remember: when you check a bag, leave a photo ID that you won’t need in the bag. That way, if you lose your claim check, you can easily prove that the stuff is yours.

- Luggage storage facilities in France may be scarce, depending on the current situation with regards to Algerian terrorism. Yet another reason to travel light.

When in Roma

When in the station or using a timetable, remember that some European cities are spelled differently in English than in their native languages. A friend of mine, a professor at UC Berkeley no less, was once astounded to find that no trains went to “Florence” (Duh, Steve). A short list of the most important cities: