Eurail Pass Information

"Hatunen" wrote:
"Rog'" wrote:
When I found that I could buy a 1st cl. ticket on an ES train
... online, walk on with my e-mail confirmation, and not have
to interface with a human, kiosk or stamp machine, my decision
to forego a pass was sealed. =R=

However, this won't usually work if you make a spur-of-the-
moment decision to run up to Milano while standing in the
Venice station.

Granted, but then I'm a little too anal to do such a thing. :-) =R=

Hatunen writes:

However, this won't usually work if you make a spur-of-the-moment
decision to run up to Milano while standing in the Venice
station.

Yea, on a couple of occassions, I've played "RailPass Craps".
It's quite fun.

Arrive at a station (generally a big one), roll two dice and
wait for that many trains to go by. Get on the next one. Roll two
dice, get off after that many stops. Take a walk around wherever
you end up; look for a place to get a coffee/beer/whatever.
Roll two dice, wait for that many trains ... repeat until
you've had your fill or your time or railpass had run out.

Eric

"Eric Griswold" wrote:
Arrive at a station (generally a big one), roll two dice and wait
for that many trains to go by. Get on the next one. Roll two
dice, get off after that many stops. Take a walk around
wherever you end up; look for a place to get a coffee/beer/
whatever. Roll two dice, wait for that many trains ... repeat
until you've had your fill or your time or railpass had run out.

Oh, to be young-at-heart and fancy free. I shudder at the concept.

"chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco"
wrote in message
news:1gyj265.da1rzv136t9t2N%this_address_is_for_sp ...

The only time I
used a Eurailpass, it was heavily discounted.

Are you sure, David? I thin the Eurail pass is the one that isn't available
to people resident in European countries, including Britain.

It's worth pointing out
that on many European train services, there isn't an _awful_ lot of
difference between first and standard (second) class.

There can, however, be a big difference in some countries on long distance
services - like the extremely comfy chairs in older Italian first-class
carriages.

The UK seems to
make more of a difference than other countries

It certainly does on price. Walk up fare for an Intercity train, Milan to
Desenzano, last year, with no discount - about 9 euros 2nd, about 13 euros
1st. Anyone like to guess the respective prices for a similar journey in
Britain?

Alan Harrison

"Hatunen" wrote in message
...

However, this won't usually work if you make a spur-of-the-moment
decision to run up to Milano while standing in the Venice
station.

However, Italian fares are extremely cheap, and I have never seen a lower
price than the walk-up fare advertised on the Trenitalia site for "ordinary"
passengers without some kind of discount card.

Alan Harrison

"ALAN HARRISON" writes:

Walk up fare for an Intercity train, Milan to Desenzano, last year,
with no discount - about 9 euros 2nd, about 13 euros 1st. Anyone
like to guess the respective prices for a similar journey in
Britain?

I've just got back from Italy (behold! I am on topic for once!) and
Italian trains are certainly shockingly cheap and good to an
Englishperson. (I paid about 12 EUR Genoa to La Spezia return,
presumably second class although no one mentioned first.)

Needless to say when I got back to Blighty the Stansted "Express"
neglected to go anywhere at all. (My return ticket from Bristol cost
nearly 60 UKP.)

And don't get me started on the buses...

Des

ALAN HARRISON wrote:

"chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco"
wrote in message
news:1gyj265.da1rzv136t9t2N%this_address_is_for_sp ...

The only time I
used a Eurailpass, it was heavily discounted.

Are you sure, David? I thin the Eurail pass is the one that isn't available
to people resident in European countries, including Britain.

That's right, but I was resident in the US at the time, and my partner
(who got the pass through work) had a US passport. I remember worrying
that they might question the fact I had a UK passport, but they didn't
in Brussels (where we got the pass validated first), and in fact that
was the only time my passport was ever looked at!

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

On 22 Jun 2005 10:00:59 +0100, Des Small
wrote:

"ALAN HARRISON" writes:

Walk up fare for an Intercity train, Milan to Desenzano, last year,
with no discount - about 9 euros 2nd, about 13 euros 1st. Anyone
like to guess the respective prices for a similar journey in
Britain?

I've just got back from Italy (behold! I am on topic for once!) and
Italian trains are certainly shockingly cheap and good to an
Englishperson. (I paid about 12 EUR Genoa to La Spezia return,
presumably second class although no one mentioned first.)

Needless to say when I got back to Blighty the Stansted "Express"
neglected to go anywhere at all. (My return ticket from Bristol cost
nearly 60 UKP.)

And don't get me started on the buses...

When I came back to Blighty a couple of years ago, I had just done a
tour of places like Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, and the
thing that struck me was WHY THE HELL CAN THE ROMANIAN TRAINS ALL RUN
ON TIME BUT THE BRITISH TRAINS RUN ON EXCUSES????

A sad situation when after all these year the British still haven't
figured out how to make their train system work at least semi
reliably. Everywhere else manages to, and even Italy's are better, and
much cheaper.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
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--

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 08:47:03 +0000 (UTC), "ALAN HARRISON"
wrote:


"Hatunen" wrote in message
.. .

However, this won't usually work if you make a spur-of-the-moment
decision to run up to Milano while standing in the Venice
station.

However, Italian fares are extremely cheap, and I have never seen a lower
price than the walk-up fare advertised on the Trenitalia site for "ordinary"
passengers without some kind of discount card.

They are cheap, and the trains are usually clean, even if not
reliable.

Conversely, British trains are expensive, often filthy, often very
old, often delayed, and full of Brits with all manner of creative
excuses as to why it's so incredibly ****.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

"Roll two dice, wait for that many trains ... repeat until you've had
your fill or your time or railpass had run out."

And spend half your holiday in rail junction towns and industrial
suburbs.