Why Interrail?
Picture the scene: it's New Year's Eve and I'm sweating over the glasswasher in the pub, ruminating on the enviable Instagram stories of all my holidaying and partying pals, lamenting the fact that I'm always working and never get to have any fun. I was antsy - I desperately needed a holiday and had been thinking on it for a while at that point. So what led me to the Interrail pass purchase page at 5 minutes past the bells? I had known I wanted to go somewhere during the summer... but where? I thought I'd let some key factors do the deciding for me.
The first reason that led me to Interrailing was time constraints - I had just 3 weeks at the beginning of summer between the end of exams and the start of an internship. Asia has always been high on my bucket list (Japan and Vietnam especially), but I'd love to dedicate more time there and wouldn't want to miss out on anything by rushing through. Long haul flights would take up too much of my precious time - so Asia was off the cards this time 😞 A short hop across the water seemed like just the right fit for my schedule.
There were also financial considerations - the price of flights to Europe can be mad cheap if you don't pay for checked baggage and book at the right time (thank you, Google Flight alerts!) Generally the cost of living across Western Europe is pretty similar to what I'm used to in Scotland so I knew what to expect and this made budget planning much easier. And a fortuitously timed sale on the Interrail website certainly helped push me in that direction (they run sales a few times a year - keep an eye on their Facebook page.)
The last deciding factor was safety. Now I've read a million blogs from solo female travellers who've had positive experiences in just about every corner of the globe, and I'm confident that a visit to Ho Chi Minh would be just as secure as one to Hamburg. However, for my first time I felt more comfortable with the familiar - somewhere that I understand the culture, customs and infrastructure, and can speak just enough of the language to shout for help if needed. Armed with some high-school French and a European Health Insurance Card, I was headed to Europe!
But as it happens, Europe is pretty big and varied. So I'd need to put a bit of thought into the finer points of my travel plan... Stay tuned for the next post where I talk about which cities I went to and why!
Note:
There are a whole host of different rail passes available depending on where you want to go, how long for, and the degree of flexibility you want. Check out all the options on the Interrail website.
Make sure to do your research as some countries are less-Interrail friendly than others, and will have restrictions on how you use the pass (for example, Italy has loads of different train service types and the pass is only valid on certain ones.)
The first reason that led me to Interrailing was time constraints - I had just 3 weeks at the beginning of summer between the end of exams and the start of an internship. Asia has always been high on my bucket list (Japan and Vietnam especially), but I'd love to dedicate more time there and wouldn't want to miss out on anything by rushing through. Long haul flights would take up too much of my precious time - so Asia was off the cards this time 😞 A short hop across the water seemed like just the right fit for my schedule.
There were also financial considerations - the price of flights to Europe can be mad cheap if you don't pay for checked baggage and book at the right time (thank you, Google Flight alerts!) Generally the cost of living across Western Europe is pretty similar to what I'm used to in Scotland so I knew what to expect and this made budget planning much easier. And a fortuitously timed sale on the Interrail website certainly helped push me in that direction (they run sales a few times a year - keep an eye on their Facebook page.)
The last deciding factor was safety. Now I've read a million blogs from solo female travellers who've had positive experiences in just about every corner of the globe, and I'm confident that a visit to Ho Chi Minh would be just as secure as one to Hamburg. However, for my first time I felt more comfortable with the familiar - somewhere that I understand the culture, customs and infrastructure, and can speak just enough of the language to shout for help if needed. Armed with some high-school French and a European Health Insurance Card, I was headed to Europe!
But as it happens, Europe is pretty big and varied. So I'd need to put a bit of thought into the finer points of my travel plan... Stay tuned for the next post where I talk about which cities I went to and why!
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| Lucerne, Switzerland |
Note:
There are a whole host of different rail passes available depending on where you want to go, how long for, and the degree of flexibility you want. Check out all the options on the Interrail website.
Make sure to do your research as some countries are less-Interrail friendly than others, and will have restrictions on how you use the pass (for example, Italy has loads of different train service types and the pass is only valid on certain ones.)
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