Interrail Itineraries #1: As many countries as possible please!

In my last post, I said that I would make an itinerary for people who buy an Interrail or Eurail pass. This is just an example, and, in fact, I would rather you think of your own itinerary, as it is much more fun that way, bust I wanted to give you some inspiration. Please make sure you have a seat reservation if it says required on the Rail Planner App. Also make sure you have your route confirmed on the app, NOT Google Maps (timetables are often incorrect) before buying a pass. Bring your passport (and visa if applicable) as well as travel insurance (World Nomads is Interrail's official insurance partner). This itinerary is accurate as of Monday 5th April 2021 at 21:00 BST, and it is recommended for use after July 2021 because of Covid-19. I recommend either a 1 or 2-month pass for this, but plan how long to spend at each place on your trip before deciding which pass to order. Remember you can only spend 90 days within an 180 day period in the Schengen Area if you live outside of it.

If you are wondering where to go to sleep, check my Where to Spend the Night Whilst Interrailing guide.

I know it's a teenie bit late, but I thought I should tell you that, when you're booking your pass, you can choose between 1st or 2nd class (obviously 1st class is more expensive). This means reservations cost roughly the same (depending on provider prices) no matter what class you reserve. In my opinion, you should buy a second-class ticket, but it's entirely up to you.

First off, you would have to get to the starting point, London's St Pancras International. With an Interrail pass, try and get the train to London, as this is included for free. If you have a Eurail pass, you will have to get the plane to London. To get from the airport to the station, go onto Google Maps and set the directions from the airport to St Pancras International. If you use the Tube to get to St Pancras, you will have to pay a small fare for a mobile ticket, so set up your Contactless card on the TfL Oyster and Contactless app: Apple | Android. Then, scan your phone on the yellow pads next to the barriers. If you can't access this, you may be able to find a ticket machine at the station. When you get to King's Cross & St Pancras International Underground Station - I don't know why they recently changed the Tube station name to make it so long - scan your card again to confirm the payment. Try and do some sightseeing in London if you can!

From here, we will get a Eurostar train to Amsterdam. These must be pre-booked using the Rail Planner App (see link #1) and cost an additional fee. Usually, there is a long gap between trains, so check before leaving. This train should take just over 4 hours to get to Amsterdam-Centraal, where we will get off. Spend a few nights in Amsterdam (not too many, you don't want your pass to expire), and see what deals you can get in the city with your pass in the app or on the website.

Next up, we are going to Frankfurt on the German ICE trains. Reservation for this particular route is not required. High-speed Trains into Frankfurt from Amsterdam usually take just over 4 hours. I recommend only spending a night in Frankfurt, before catching another ICE train to the German capital of Berlin. As you did Amsterdam, spend a few nights there, and see what deals you can get with your pass in Germany. Remember that your pass includes use of the S-Bahn, but not the U-Bahn.

Now, it's time to go to Czechia. Get a Eurocity (EC) train towards Decin from Berlin Central. It may vary depending on when you travel, but usually, when the train gets to Decin, it changes its destination to Praha and carries on. Just to be on the safe side, check this on maps when you get to Decin. Carry on all the way to Praha hl.n. from Decin. Trains from Berlin-Prague do not require reservation. Spend a few days experiencing the wonderful city of Prague (watch a few of the videos from youtube.com/honestguide to see what to do, as well as checking the benefits you can get in Czechia with your pass).

Now, time to go to Austria, in particular Vienna. Get a Railjet (RJ) train from Czechia and follow it to Wien Hauptbahnhof station. This should take just over 4 hours, and reservation is required. Somewhere I recommend in Vienna is the Hundertwasserhaus, a beautiful but unconventional building that uses many colours and is coated in plants. Your pass includes use of the Austrian S-Bahn, but not U-Bahn, similar to Germany.

When you're ready to leave Vienna, go to Wien Hauptbahnhof and get a REX 8 (Regional Express 8) train. Stay on all the way to the terminal, Bratislava Hlavna Stanica. This train does not require reservations, as it only takes just over an hour between the two capitals. Spend some time in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, before going to our next city.

The next city is... Budapest! You can get a direct train from Bratislava Hlavna Stanica to Budapest Nyugati with EuroCity (sometimes InterCity). It takes between 2-2.5 hours and you need to reserve a seat for €4 extra. Use the official Trip Planner App to schedule this, as for some reason the train is not on Google Maps. Spend some time in the capital of Hungary and then carry on with the trip when you're ready!

The next city is Zagreb! Hopefully, from July of this year - you can get direct Intercity trains from Budapest Kelenfold to Zagreb Glavni Kol. with no reservation. If not, go onto Trip Planner to see what to do. Once you're in Zagreb, experience the wonderful country of Croatia.

Next we are going to Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. There are direct International and EuroCity trains, but during August, they run less often so you have to reserve EuroNight trains. Check Trip Planner (Google Maps doesn't show direct trains for some reason) before leaving. Spend some time in the beautiful country of Slovenia (it was ranked the most beautiful European country) before preparing to leave again.

Next, we are going to Milan, the biggest city in Italy. Directions vary so make sure you check (and reserve if applicable) before leaving. Spend some time in Milan, before preparing to leave again.

We need to get a ferry to Barcelona next. Get a Frecciarossa train down to Rome, and then a regional train to Civitavecchia. Both of these require reservation. Then, board your ferry (can be booked at booking.grimaldi-lines.com/?c=GRI&l=en&l1=ITCVV-ESBCN&d1=05132021 - discount available by selecting any accomodation, then Eurail or Interrail and your pass number under partners). This will take you to Barcelona. I recommend booking a cabin; you definitely will need some sleep. Spend some time in Barcelona.

That's the end of this itinerary! The next one will be shorter and start from Barcelona, so you can carry on if you still have time left on the pass.

Where to stay whilst Interrailing

 In my last article, I spoke about Interrail and Eurail passes. I said I was going to make an itinerary for people to buy one to use. I've already written that, and it should be out later today. But first, I feel I need to give some ideas of where to stay whilst Interrailing.

1) Hostels

Hostels are great places to stay on a budget. Interrail made a list of recommended hostels, which, along with thousands more across the world, can be booked from their official partner, Hostelworld.com. You can choose to have your own private room or sleep in shared rooms with other travellers. On top of this https://benefitsportal.eurail.com/?categories=a2840ccc-9b23-4c5d-a940-0e6e446d5d48 has lots of accommodations, including hostels, that you can get discounted with your pass.

2) Luxury Hotels/Holiday Resorts

From one end of the spectrum to another: Luxury Hotels and Holiday Resorts. I know, these do cost a lot, and I mean a lot, of money, but they are good for relaxing in after a long week of travelling across Europe. A good app I've found is Marriott. You don't get a discount with your pass, but they have hotels in every country your pass is valid in except Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. With their app, Marriott Bonvoy, you can book luxury hotels with almost no notice in seconds! These include their classic hotels, as well as some other more luxury brand.  Sometimes, they're not even too expensive! For example, a Ljubljana Four Points by Sheraton hotel, in their "select" group of hotels, can cost less than £60 per night! Pretty good for a luxury brand with an indoor pool. Just search "Marriott Bonvoy" in your app store to download their app.

3) Holiday Inn

You probably know that Holiday Inn is a chain of relatively cheap 2, 3 or 4 star hotels, similar to a Premier Inn or Travelodge in the UK. However, Holiday Inn have hotels in many more countries. To book go to https://www.holidayinn.com.

Eurail and Interrail

 I know, I haven't posted for ages. I've been trying to research my next Rail Expansion, but quickly found that unlike Norfolk, there unfortunately isn't a reliable railway map on Wikipedia for most other counties. However, today I am going to talk about something that could save you hundreds on flight and train tickets.

Interrail, known as Eurail outside of Europe, is a train ticket that gives you free or discounted use of the following partners and more within a certain period of time:

This all amounts to 33 countries of (almost) free travel with the ticket. You have to pay for the ticket, which can be quite expensive, and some services are only discounted to prevent overcrowding, so you need to pay extra for a seat reservation. As well as this, most subway/metro networks, such as the U-Bahn and London Underground, are not included. However, some suburban metros, such as the S-Bahn and London Overground, are included.

As well as this, unlimited travel means the prices are quite high. It costs £159 (€185) for just a four day ticket. However, you can get long-term tickets for cheaper, such as 3 months for £582 (€677). If you live in Europe, you can book at https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/global-pass. If you live outside of Europe, book at https://www.eurail.com/en/eurail-passes/global-pass. They cost the same prices, you just need to book on a different website outside of Europe. To change to a different language or currency, use the bar at the top of the page.

Your pass also includes some exclusive promotions, such as discounted ferry travel and free gifts. To redeem these, visit https://benefitsportal.eurail.com/?.

My next article will be an Interrail travel itinerary (wow, that word's difficult to spell), so look out for that in the next few days if you're not convinced about buying a pass yet!

National Rail Expansion - Norfolk

 Ok, I know my blog background used to be London and my name used to be Tubebloggerguy, but I had this fantastic idea for a series that was too good not to do – What if I made a post for every English ceremonial county (except Rutland, West Midlands, Bristol, Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester, Greater London and City of London - either too small or too urban)?

In case you didn’t know, I am from Norfolk. That is the most I will tell you about where I live until I move away from there. So, why not I start with my home county?

As of March 2021, there are thirty National Rail stations in Norfolk. There used to be many more, however since the Beeching cuts about 60 years ago, many of East Anglia’s railways have either been made into heritage routes or closed completely. Beeching proposed a further closure of East Anglian railways, which would’ve made the Norwich-London Liverpool Street line Norfolk’s only railway line. Luckily, the government rejected this proposal.

Just before I initially thought of the idea for this series, I was looking at the Bittern line from Norwich to Sheringham, where, to avoid cutting through the centre of Cromer (a village in North Norfolk), the train comes into Cromer station and then heads in the other direction along the same stretch of track to go to Sheringham, the line’s terminal. This means that from the other station in Cromer, Roughton Road, it is way faster to drive to Sheringham than getting the train. From the beach in Cromer, where most visitors go, it is also slightly quicker to get the bus than walking to the station to get the train to Sheringham. However, I struggle to think of a reason why you would even need to get from Cromer to Sheringham, giving the facilities are rather similar in both villages.

To fix this weird occurrence, I propose reopening one of the railways affected by the Beeching cuts – the King’s Lynn to Hunstanton Railway. However, the new railway would go further than Hunstanton, following the Norfolk coast all the way up to Cromer, which, due to the train having to pull out and come in from opposite directions to get to Sheringham, is already built like a terminal. Cromer would also be the new terminal of the Bittern line. The route would appear on the signs at King’s Cross as follows (notes in brackets):

Great Northern

Cromer via Cambridge (current signs just say via Cambridge)

Calling at:

King’s Cross (existing operational station)

Cambridge (existing operational station)

Cambridge North (existing operational station)

Waterbeach (existing operational station)

Ely (existing operational station)

Littleport (existing operational station)

Downham Market (existing operational station)

Watlington (existing operational station)

King’s Lynn (existing operational station) (The train would have to do what currently happens at Cromer and pull out in the other direction to the one it came in in, but it would very quickly move onto an abandoned stretch of track that used to be part of the line from King’s Lynn to Dereham. The same would happen when going along to Norwich, which I will come back to later.)

Sandringham (limited service – weekends and bank holidays only)

Snettisham

Heacham (limited service – peak hour and weekends only) (would need to be at Norfolk Lavender, as central Heacham is too built up)

Hunstanton (would need to be slightly east, as the town is too built up)

Holme-next-the-sea (limited service – weekends only)

Wells-next-the-sea (existing Heritage Rail)

Blakeney

Sheringham (existing operational station)

West Runton (existing operational station)

Cromer (existing operational station) (It is weird to have Cromer as the terminal for the North Norfolk Coast branch of the Great Northern line, but it is in a better location for a terminal than the Bittern line’s current one at Sheringham and would mean you could get the train from Norwich to the North Norfolk coast.)

 

Next off, I would make another Great Northern branch that would go to Norwich from King’s Lynn directly, only stopping at poorly connected Dereham and the closed Swaffham station. From King’s Lynn, this would mean that it would sometimes be quicker to get the train to Norwich, then change for the Bittern line if you wanted to get to Cromer. The line I am about to propose would provide a direct connection to Norwich for people in King’s Lynn, as well as providing a service to London and Norwich from Dereham and Swaffham. The route would appear as:

Great Northern

Norwich via Cambridge (it would still need to say via Cambridge, as that is a major hub)

Calling at:

King’s Cross (existing operational station)

Cambridge (existing operational station) (after which it would appear as Cromer via North Norfolk Coast)

Cambridge North (existing operational station)

Waterbeach (existing operational station)

Ely (existing operational station)

Littleport (existing operational station)

Downham Market (existing operational station)

Watlington (existing operational station)

King’s Lynn (existing operational station) (would also need to pull out in the other direction and join up with the remaining section of rail that the line only going as far as Dereham used)

(the rail would then be rebuilt between King’s Lynn and Dereham)

Swaffham

Dereham (existing Heritage Rail)

Norwich (existing operational station)

 

The final change I would make would be another line, starting at Ely, proceeding directly to King’s Lynn (not stopping at Downham, Watlington or Littleport) and going via Fakenham and Holt to Cromer. This would appear on signs as “via King’s Lynn”, similar to the current trains to King's Lynn that show "via Cambridge" at King's Cross.

There we go, the first article in this brand-new series!

The least-served London Overground station

It's no secret that Kensington (Olympia) is the least-served Tube station. I mean, it even says so on the Tube map! But did you know that there is an equivalent for the Overground?

Battersea Park is a station next to... you guessed it, Battersea Park! It is mainly served by Southern services, however it gets 16 London Overground services a week (one each weekday in each direction at 22:48 and 23:03, one northbound at 06:33 each weekday as well as one northbound at 07:26 on Sundays). According to the London Overground timetable for this branch (which also has the only official current map I can find with the station on), a train terminates here each day, coming in from Dalston Junction. This train then leaves in the opposite direction 15 minutes later. I don't know why this service happens, and why it doesn't go all the way to Highbury & Islington in some services, but according to Wikipedia, "since December 2012, a skeleton London Overground service has run to and from Battersea Park (instead of Clapham Junction) at the extreme ends of the day to retain a "parliamentary service" between Battersea Park and Wandsworth Road. The station is also used by London Overground when the route into Clapham Junction is closed by engineering work." In case you didn't know, "parliamentary" is just a posh word for ghost train. A list of examples is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_train.

The timetable is:

Monday-Friday Sunday

06:33 23:03 07:26

22:04 N/A

If I made a Tube line, where would it go?

 At the moment, there are 11 Tube lines, as well as TfL Rail, Overground, Trams, Cable car and DLR. London hasn't had a new Tube line (unless you count the Elizabeth line as Tube, even though it has a different roundel) in over 40 years. This is the line I would make if I was given the opportunity:

First off, I would replace the High Wycombe to Marylebone Chiltern service with this Tube line. This would create better links to central London from High Wycombe, Wembley and Marylebone for relatively cheap. It would also stop at Brondesbury or Brondesbury Park Overground station.

Next, I would bring the line up to Mornington Crescent station. This would relieve stress on Camden Town station as there would be another direct way to King's Cross St Pancras, where the line would go next. This would then join up to the Piccadilly line and share the stretch of track up to Green Park, however wouldn't stop at Covent Garden. 

After Green Park, it would go along to Sloane Square station, renamed King's Road. It would then go to a new station, King's Road West, around 51.48458483715844, -0.17548151633188858. After that, it would go to Imperial Wharf before terminating at Wimbledon Park.

The least used Zone 1 Tube station

 Now, I was looking at the Tube Map the other day and I wondered: What is the least used station in Zone 1? You may know that Roding Valley is the least-used station on the whole Underground network, but what is the least-used station in the most used zone? Well, to find out, I had to venture into the endless maze of Wikipedia. I went to the List of London Underground stations page and pressed "sort by usage". I then scrolled down until the first time I saw Zone 1. However, 2 stations with exactly the same (rounded) values came up - Lambeth North and Regent's Park, both on the Bakerloo line. This honestly didn't surprise me - I suspected these two would pop up quite early. Now, I still didn't know the least used Zone 1 station, but I had narrowed the list down to two potential candidates. I scrolled back up to the top of the Usage column and saw a reference mark, number 5. I hovered over it and saw this link: Station Usage Data. I clicked on it and immediately saw that I had downloaded an XLSX file to my computer. I opened it and scrolled down to Regent's Park. Station Usage (2019): 3,867,435. I then scrolled up to Lambeth North: 3,868,659. I now knew that the least used Zone 1 station was Regent's Park and, to be honest, it didn't surprise me. The station entrance is nowhere near the park's main attraction: ZSL London Zoo. However, the station is close to Madame Tussauds... but Baker Street - an interchange also on the Bakerloo line - is closer. On top of that, Great Portland Street station, which provides a direct route to the park from the busiest station, Kings Cross St Pancras, is only 183 metres away. Really, I don't think there is a point to Regent's Park station, giving it is next-door to a much more accessible station, and not too far from another station on exactly the same line that is also an interchange. Even if they didn't close the station, it would probably provide more use if they connected GPS and Regent's Park together underground - that way, people wouldn't have to pay two separate fares to get from one to another. All in all, On my least-used scale, Regent's Park ranks a 3/10 rating, and is classified in my usefulness of stations list as "A bit pointless, ngl".