SPEAKER_03: 0:00

Hi, I'm Alexa. And I'm Cory. And together we are The Romies.

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We are married to each other. Alright. We are a touring musical duo.

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And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

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So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to keep all your plates spinning.

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And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug.

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Welcome back.

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Welcome back.

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The Romies Podcast. Because we're the Romies, our podcast. So I'm saying welcome back because I'm sure you've watched and listened to all of the other episodes. All 250 plus all 250 plus episodes. So welcome.

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Because we know that you are a big fan.

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Big fan.

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We know it. We just know it.

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Yep. Yep. We know it. So since you're a big fan, today we're going to dive into one of our favorite ways to travel across through inside Europe. And that is not backpacking. Not on bicycles. No, no, no. Not on motorcycles. Because we don't really. I mean, I can ride a motorcycle, drive it, but she no. So uh not by boat, not by airplane, not by car. Guess. What's left over? Scooters. Scooters across Europe. Carriage. Carriage and scooters. No, by train. Yay! Yes, Europe by train and not just any train. Today we're going to discuss your rail passes.

SPEAKER_00: 1:36

So if you are American, this is going to apply more to you. If you live in the EU, Urail offers a package to you.

SPEAKER_04: 1:50

If you live in the EU.

SPEAKER_00: 1:54

Hey, I didn't make up the initials. Okay, but if you are European, because we know we have European listeners as well, it's going to they have a package for you, but it's cushier for Americans. We get better rates through your rail. We get cooler stuff through your rail. As locals get other benefits and things that us foreigners don't do that.

SPEAKER_04: 2:22

Yeah, come on.

SPEAKER_00: 2:23

So it's, you know, it's worth checking the pricing for several, you know, the different options. But it is cushier and it really is, at least with your rail, it is geared towards Americans being able to visit so many countries around the European Union, but also like the countries that aren't like technically doing the EU, like Switzerland and England, and well, yeah, because they're on the pound. And so Scotland, Denmark, you can still go to all of those countries. It's a super amazing way that they have coordinated the different rail systems, systems from each country to cooperate with each other and to kind of join together in this your rail experience. So it's it's really cool, it's very helpful. And so we just want to give you maybe some practical stories and practical tips to kind of help you navigate your your rail experience. And even if you have experienced your rail several times, we still might say something that is helpful to you. So hopefully we can might remind you of something here or there. And you guys can always send us comments of things we left out and we can add them on our socials or something or add them in the show show notes.

SPEAKER_04: 3:39

Here, there, everywhere. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we love you.

SPEAKER_00: 3:42

So you want to kick off, Rory? Like, what was our first do you remember our first time that we took your rail?

SPEAKER_04: 3:48

Uh yes, I do. Okay. It was a year after we got married. And we were sojourning with backpacks across the land of Europe for one month, I think it was.

SPEAKER_00: 3:59

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04: 4:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 4:00

Which was a long time for us at the time.

SPEAKER_04: 4:02

Yeah, it it was a long time at the time. Yes. Okay. Yeah. But it was a good time. Yep. And so we got backpacks, and a year after we got married, we hit Europe, bought URL passes to like 14 countries. We didn't hit that many countries, but we wanted to be covered. You can buy different type Urail passes.

SPEAKER_00: 4:19

Yes. So yes, and you can buy what we did most recently um last year was we bought the global pass. So we had the options to do all of them.

SPEAKER_03: 4:32

All of them.

SPEAKER_00: 4:34

All of them. And so, but when we did this one that you are talking about, this first trip, yeah. It was we only chose certain ones and it saved us money. Yeah. And then we also did the Swiss pass. Oh, and so that same year, that same trip. That was extra smart of us and really awesome. And we got to experience so much more of Switzerland than we really have.

SPEAKER_04: 4:57

And we spent a lot of time in Switzerland. So not only were the trains free, the buses were free, the boat steamers were free, but also we got discounts on the gondolas and stuff.

SPEAKER_00: 5:05

So you go up which aren't covered on a little hike down.

SPEAKER_04: 5:07

You see how she tries to block my face? That like because you you you go up the mountains. You go up the mountains. Then you come down. Yeah. See how that yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:15

Mm-hmm. You'll just have if you're just listening, you have to wait for the videos to come up.

SPEAKER_04: 5:19

You'll have to wait. Yeah. Sure. And we're so much more fun on video, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00: 5:23

I'm sure.

unknown: 5:24

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 5:26

So a year after we got married, we we hit the road on your rail. It was awesome. The ride across Europe is not just for transportation. The scenery is ridiculous, sometimes better than a guided tour. It's so cool. We la, for example, last year we discovered the is it the Rome Valley? No, what's the ball?

SPEAKER_00: 5:45

We discovered for us.

SPEAKER_04: 5:46

I mean, obviously, we were not I mean, other people have been there before. It's not like we discovered something that's never been seen.

SPEAKER_00: 5:52

Right. But it was new to us. Yeah, new for us. That kind of discovery.

SPEAKER_04: 5:56

Yeah. It's it's where all the riverboat cruises go in. Germany, there's a valley full of castles and stuff, and we've talked about it on one of the other episodes that you hear about. But we discovered that because we were taking the train.

SPEAKER_00: 6:07

And we were like, we drive through Germany all the time because we are doing concert tours, and like all of the countries that we visit are like border Germany. And so, and it's so large, it's a large country. And so we find ourselves just driving through Germany so many times, but we're like, how did we miss this? Well, we weren't on this. And so we, yes, we are hoping to do a future episode on this area. So we're we're hoping that that will happen. Castles and the beautiful rivers and just like super, super fun. So and gorgeous. But we learned about that from the train. Yeah, from riding the train. And I think, you know, when we first took the train, that was really fun too because we had the URL pass and we could kind of just go where it's so flexible, whatever.

SPEAKER_04: 6:59

Yeah, it's great. It's flexible on and off, on and off, as many times as you want within your boundaries of your ticket. So it's not like you can only ride it once a day and then it's done. We would we would come to a city uh and say, Oh, what the heck is that? Let's get off, hurry, get off, let's let's look at that. Then we'll get back on the next train or whatever. Yeah, we could totes do that.

SPEAKER_00: 7:18

And one with the Swiss pass that we got, we it was buses as well. And we had like a free day that we were just like, because we're just there exploring. We just I think twice we just got on the bus just to see where it would go.

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See where it would go.

SPEAKER_00: 7:33

I don't remember where it went, but it was with a lot of cows.

SPEAKER_04: 7:36

We got far enough outside town that we're like, I guess we should go back.

SPEAKER_00: 7:39

Well, it's okay, let's go back. But it was just like we had the freedom to just do that because we had the past.

SPEAKER_03: 7:46

We had the past.

SPEAKER_00: 7:47

We had the past. So that was really fun. So there's there's the flexibility of it to me is probably the biggest well a you save money.

SPEAKER_03: 7:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 7:57

But two, cause uh that's really what you're always saving money when you're a starting musician, 26, 25, 28, 20.

SPEAKER_04: 8:06

26, 38, hike, hike, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 8:09

So you're my brain is getting lost now. So the pass is flexible, and so that gives you freedom. And so if you need to or want to change your plans, they don't care. You just, you know, because you have the pass. So you can if you want to decide, you know what, let's not go to Italy today, instead, let's go to Portugal. You totally can.

SPEAKER_04: 8:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 8:34

And and no one's gonna like penalize you for that.

SPEAKER_04: 8:37

Here's something to know. There are some trains that you do have to make reservations on in advance. For example, if you want to ride the TGV or some other high-speed train, oftentimes you can't just show up with your rail your rail pass and say, Hey, let's go. I'm getting on the train. They're gonna say, No, do you do you have a reserve reservation? Now, it's probably free because it's only it's covered in your URL pass often, but you have to make a reservation to ride those trains.

SPEAKER_00: 9:02

Yes. So with the reservations, some of them cost an additional fee just for the reservation.

SPEAKER_04: 9:08

It's a special high-speed train kind of a deal.

SPEAKER_00: 9:12

Or it's just requires a reservation and you have to pay for it. Sometimes you your reservation you might get it and like if you get your reservation online, for example, you might be paying for that reservation. However, we were also there a couple times where we were in the train station itself prior to getting on and needing the reservation. We stood in the line at the ticket counter of that train station and they gave us the reservation for free.

SPEAKER_04: 9:47

Yeah. When the app was saying it was a charge like ten or twenty dollars.

SPEAKER_00: 9:52

So and if if you're doing that every day or you need the reservations or you want the reservations, even if it's just an extra ten or twenty, that adds up. Yeah, so if you're a family of all, you know, big family people, right?

SPEAKER_04: 10:05

So for us it paid off just to go to the train office. And the guy was like, No, that that's free.

SPEAKER_00: 10:10

We said So we we but we didn't learn that till like halfway through our trip or towards the end. Because I think it was in England we finally learned, oh, we don't have to pay for every reservation. But here's the thing we have to get the reservation, but you don't always have to pay for them.

SPEAKER_04: 10:23

Yeah, and it sounds complicated. Oh, what I do I need a reservation for this, not for that, but the app, the URL app. Yeah, you you sketch you set your trip up. What trip do you want to take? You go, you explore, and you decide the trip, and it tells you everything you need to know. It's not, it's really not complicated. Right. The app is a wonderful thing that they've that they're doing now.

SPEAKER_00: 10:43

And we ran into, and you might run into that certain trains are not even covered by your pass.

SPEAKER_01: 10:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:51

Or certain routes are not covered by the pass. And so you're like, yeah, but I have this URL pass, and I should be able to just get from this country to this country because, you know, or I should be able to get from this city to this city because of the URL pass. And there are a few times where we could not go in on specific routes. So we either had to, instead of going through Germany to get there, we had to go through or going through Holland to get there. We had to go to Germany to get there, something like that, for example. So we could still get there. So sometimes you may have to pay like an additional just ticket if you want the route you want. Um like that's the right.

SPEAKER_04: 11:33

I think one of the things they said it was a private train, whatever operation.

SPEAKER_00: 11:37

Yes, we did run into that. So one time we were in England and we had, I think we were just trying to get to the airport and we didn't have far to go or something like that. But because it was a privately owned train, it was not a part of the URL system. So you could still do it, but you had to pay, we had to pay like for that specific ticket to get from this city to this city, and then we could continue on the URL.

SPEAKER_04: 12:03

It just happened to be that that particular privately owned train company was not partnering with URL for some reason. Right. So but that was that was really no big deal. Like I said, the the app shows you how it reroutes you around. Right. Well, I wanted to go I wanted to ride the train through this. Well, you can't.

SPEAKER_00: 12:19

Oh, you can buy a ticket. But you can buy a ticket. And and there is a station that you can get to. So that's cool.

SPEAKER_04: 12:26

Speaking of tickets, one lesson we learned.

SPEAKER_00: 12:30

We learned lessons. That's why we're sharing them with you here.

SPEAKER_04: 12:33

Yeah. We got fussed at pretty thoroughly by a train conductor person. Conductor person. Yeah. That walks around and checks tickets. Better name for them. Yeah. Because we had our tickets all scheduled on our app and everything. We were already on the train and the train had not long before left the station, but he came through to check our tickets and we hadn't yet activated our tickets.

SPEAKER_00: 12:55

So you have to activate your before you get on the train.

SPEAKER_04: 12:58

You have to activate that day's ticket. Because he was like, Well, anyone could ride the train, and if I never check it, they don't have to activate it. And they never use that day. So they still have that day to use later on. Because your real comes with you can buy a limited number of days as well within a month, you know, how many days you can ride as much as you want in that day. So boy, he let us have it. But he was really nice. He said, I'm not gonna, you know, charge you anything. You just must have your ticket activated before you step on the train. So that's important to know.

SPEAKER_00: 13:29

You set up your trip in the app and just gonna activate it like as we were going. Yeah, as we were going, yeah. You know, no. Okay, well let's hop on and then we know where we're going. Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 13:37

Yeah, we weren't trying to do anything bad, but apparently a lot of people do get on and try and ride without paying. So you have to activate activate your ticket before you get on the train. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 13:47

Um, so you have you have to you still have flexibility and you can change what you do, but you need to pick unitinerary for the day and activate it before you start.

SPEAKER_04: 13:56

Unitinerary and itinerary.

SPEAKER_00: 13:58

And in Switzerland specifically, if the conductor comes by and your ticket has not been activated, there is a fee and you are charged a fee. Yeah, so he did not charge a minimum of I think it was at least 50.

SPEAKER_04: 14:13

Yeah, something something that would be a really lame, stupid fee. Like, you know, because we were stupid.

SPEAKER_00: 14:20

So don't be dumb.

SPEAKER_04: 14:20

Yeah, don't be dumb. Don't pay. Just activate. Don't pay the dumbness fee. Stupidity fee.

SPEAKER_00: 14:26

Another way to not be stupid is to plan. And so sometimes that's hard for people like us who are musicians. But planning is a good happy thing. And sometimes no, it's a good, happy thing. Sometimes it's a good happy thing. And so there if you join the newsletter from your rail, the I went ahead and joined it. And because our friend told us, hey, your rail's having a sale. You need to know about it. So if you join their mailing list, their newsletter, you will learn that there is a sale. And because I have been on this newsletter for two years now, I have noticed that around Marchish, there's about, you know, the spring sale. Marchish. And you will get a percentage off your tickets. So if you can make your plans to plan in that time frame for whatever time you're gonna go to Europe, that's a good time to get your tickets because 15% off hundreds of dollars is kind of a nice chunk.

SPEAKER_04: 15:33

See what I'm saying? And as we were saying, the URL app also comes in handy when you're standing on track and trying to figure out my next train's coming in five minutes. Which track do I go to? It's in the app. So that's really helpful too. So I mean, if you do URL, definitely download the app and make it your friend.

SPEAKER_00: 15:53

And a lot of trains do have Wi-Fi, uh free Wi-Fi available. And so, Roy, let's let's kind of dive into that just real quick. So, Rory, let's dive into first class versus second class. Sometimes your free Wi-Fi comes with a first class ticket.

SPEAKER_01: 16:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:10

And sometimes if you have a second class ticket, you may or may not get the free Wi-Fi. So every every train, yeah, first class, second class is different. And not every train has class choices. Yeah. So it might all be second class.

SPEAKER_04: 16:26

Computer train, it's all just one class oftentimes. Often, not always, but oftentimes. The city to city or within the city kind of trains, it's all just one thing.

SPEAKER_00: 16:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 16:36

Well, I say city to city within a small area. Also, your classes vary from country to country. And in past episodes, you may have heard us mention this. In Switzerland, second class is great. First class is awesome. Either one's great. Right. Really, either one's great. You will not go wrong in Switzerland with second class. Now, if you're if you are in countries that are maybe not as affluent. Yes. Then their trains might not be. We bought first class last year and traveling through certain countries, we were so glad we did because the second class cars had such a strong smell to them.

SPEAKER_00: 17:13

I'm very sensitive to smell.

SPEAKER_04: 17:15

Man, strong smells. So we were really pleased that we had purchased first class tickets.

SPEAKER_00: 17:21

And there's no guarantee that there won't be smells in first class, depending on who you sit by.

SPEAKER_04: 17:26

But but some of the smells also were families bringing their meals on, like very culturally authentic meals. Uh so very strong smells. Really strong smells, and that fills the entire number of cars.

SPEAKER_00: 17:38

Because second class is less expensive, you have a lot more people in second class. So if you really kind of like like your space, you're gonna have a better chance in first class.

SPEAKER_04: 17:48

And if you've got work to do, like we often do from place to place, we try and do some work on the train. First class for us is definitely the way to go. Just recently in Finland, we took a train and I bought us first class tickets upstairs in the extra quiet lounge with free high-speed Wi-Fi, free coffee, free hot chocolate, free butt, you know, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_03: 18:07

Free. Yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_04: 18:08

We only had about a four-hour trip, but we had a lot of stuff we needed to get done during that four-hour trip, and it was really worth having it. So that's something to think about too. What kind of trick?

SPEAKER_00: 18:16

And we had a nice view while we were working because of how it was like the seats were positioned.

SPEAKER_04: 18:21

It was if you're backpacking and you're like, I want to be around as many people as as I can and meet all the interesting, most interesting people, man, second class all the way. Yeah, you'll meet some really interesting people. So you meet interesting people in first class too, but it's it's just totally different vibe. So depending on how you want to travel, and you have to buy that, you have to choose first or second class in advance buying your URL ticket. You can't just change from train to train. It's a first class URL pass or a second class your rail pass.

SPEAKER_00: 18:48

You'll buy that from the get-go when you buy your ticket. And now I remember, I don't I'm thinking I don't remember what country we were in, but we had a first class ticket for one of our one of the trains we were on last year. And it didn't matter because the train was so jam-packed, you could not move from one thing to the other to even get to first class. Like we hopped on the train to not miss it. Yep. And I mean, we were like sardines forever, and there was no way we could move. And so at one stop, I think I got off and um and I ran to the front. But Rory, um, you I think you decided you were comfortable where you were. So you were just like, I'm just staying because you actually found a seat. Um but I got out and ran off uh and I found another cabin and it had a little more space, but I had to wait till there was like a stop. But it was crazy. So sometimes even if you have first class, you might not, you know, depending on if you're at a busy time. We were in the summer. Traveling is just gonna be more crowded in the summer.

SPEAKER_04: 19:53

That's one of things about traveling by train as well, is the craziness and the experience and the fun. It's it's an adventure, you know, and you need to be ready for an adventure.

SPEAKER_01: 20:00

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 20:01

I mean, you're carrying your luggage with you for one thing. There are some trains where you can check luggage for like overnight or long trips, and they actually have a luggage car, but most of the time you take your luggage on, they have racks you can put it on uh in second class. Uh, they have some racks as well, and also a big wide open area, but uh you don't want to leave your luggage necessarily and go to the other end of the train and then come back to pick it up when it's time to get off just because you found an open rack somewhere. Your luggage may still be there. We've never had a problem, but I know that there are problems. So anyway, you do carry your luggage around on a train. It is an adventure. So if you got a good backpack, that's a great way to go.

SPEAKER_00: 20:36

Well, and that's why you take Brooks course and and pack lights that we've talked about before.

SPEAKER_04: 20:42

And the Romies, we say travel light. Right. Travel light.

SPEAKER_00: 20:45

So travel light because it just makes your life so much easier and it allows you to run from track to track, or you know, a lot of times you're hauling your luggage up these flights of stairs to get to the train platform.

SPEAKER_03: 20:58

Platform.

SPEAKER_00: 20:59

So sometimes you gotta do crazy stairs just to get up to the platform. And so if you've got like these crazy heavy bags, you're carrying those up those stairs.

SPEAKER_04: 21:07

Yeah, if you're hauling as if you're hauling as much luggage as you can carry, see what I did there, then it's uh yeah, it could be a serious problem.

SPEAKER_00: 21:16

Yeah. Now another little luggage tip is you want to actually remember that you have the luggage and that you don't leave it on the train.

SPEAKER_04: 21:26

Yeah, just once the train pulls off.

SPEAKER_00: 21:28

So if you leave your ukulele or your ukulele, if you have to be proper about it, which ukulele. If you leave that in the top upper shelf over your seat, and then you exit the train and your wonderful husband doesn't rescue it for you before the train takes off, you might not have your ukulele. But if he does, then you'll have it. But if you have a wonderful husband with you, and he does it, then easy peasy.

SPEAKER_04: 21:58

So yeah, by the way, that reminds me, so there is overhead storage, like you, you know, the idea you would have on a bus. It's not big, but there's over you could throw your backpack. Sometimes it's big enough for your smaller luggage pieces. Uh so there is that. So if you're traveling light, oftentimes you can just throw it overhead or under their seat. Yes. Under the seat in front of you or your own seat. I forget which one. But anyway, there are spaces.

SPEAKER_00: 22:20

Now we talked about like how the different classes are with different countries, just in general, also, trains are different across different countries as far as or in regards to the amount of care and love and priority that a country has in regards to their trains. So for example, Switzerland is very structured and like they are not going, they are not going to have a late train. Right. Like that will not happen. Right. However, like it's rare. In Germany, we missed our concert last year because we decided let's let's take the train. And we found many delayed, delayed, delayed trains, and lots of canceled trains. So we would get to a station and that then there would be we were at the station, but there was no train going because they just canceled the route. And it was that's fine for them to just cancel.

SPEAKER_04: 23:19

And then after the fact, we found out that there's a reputation for the railways in Germany to be that way.

SPEAKER_00: 23:26

Uh and then, like, we recently traveled in Finland. So in Finland, it seems like everything was on track on time. Really nice train that they, you know, care about their trains. And even in this little small town where we caught a train, they had a bus waiting, like they had a a backup bus at the in this small town. Um, it was cool that they had plans for if the train breaks down, we're still gonna get you somewhere. Because I could see that there was a bus waiting. Um, now one time in England they had their trains down, but they put us on these really nice buses and they had buses waiting for people. And so even if the train was not functioning, the the town, the city, the country cared enough about the importance of their public transportation that they made arrangements if something was canceled or if something was broken, there were accommodations for that.

SPEAKER_04: 24:23

But I will also say it pays to have friends as well.

SPEAKER_00: 24:26

It does pay to have friends, but I'm just saying you might not only be recording this specific podcast in their home at the moment, or in their studio, even at the moment. But these friends might also house you, feed you, they might do that too.

SPEAKER_04: 24:42

But when it comes to trains, they might rescue you sometimes when you're stuck in a city, but you need to get to a different city, and the rail system has said we're not gonna take you there for some reason, whatever that might be. Yeah, some really dumb, dumb reason. And um well, it was dumb to us.

SPEAKER_00: 25:03

I'm sure someone had a reasonable thing.

SPEAKER_04: 25:05

It was dumb to everyone, everyone, except the guy who made the decision properly, or whoever it was. But it pays to have friends who will come pick you up and take you to your destination for your own.

SPEAKER_00: 25:15

So thank you, Pascal. We love you.

SPEAKER_04: 25:17

Yes, merci, Pascal.

SPEAKER_00: 25:18

Shout out to you, yes, stand up audio. Stand up audio, thank you. Woo-hoo.

SPEAKER_01: 25:24

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 25:24

With that experience that we had last year, that was a uh train out of the Netherlands, and we we were stuck at this one stop. We we were literally one stop away from getting to the stop we needed to do to get to our like final destination. We were literally one stop away. Um the train came to a stop, and it was stopped for I think it feels like it was stopped literally for like four hours, four or five hours.

SPEAKER_04: 25:56

It was a long time.

SPEAKER_00: 25:57

We were traveling during the day, and it was starting to get into the evening, and we were like, this is not going to work anymore. We can't continue to wake for the house.

SPEAKER_04: 26:06

They kept saying, We'll get going, we'll get going, we'll get going.

SPEAKER_00: 26:16

We just made we were just one stop away.

SPEAKER_04: 26:18

It happens.

SPEAKER_00: 26:19

The adventure couldn't get an Uber, we couldn't do, you know, like it was just yeah, uh yeah, didn't work. Depending on the country, they're gonna have different accommodations for inconvenience, and sometimes you'll just be inconvenience, and sometimes you're gonna have no inconvenience at all, and it's gonna be right on time, and everything's perfect and wonderful.

SPEAKER_04: 26:37

Here's the thing you learn, you gotta be flexible, you gotta flow with it. You'll get upset sometimes, but you just gotta learn to flow. When we got stuck for those several hours, there were some kids from a school band or something.

SPEAKER_03: 26:48

Yeah, and they got off the train.

SPEAKER_04: 26:50

They got off the train and straight up playing instruments. They pulled their instruments out and put up put on a little concert outside the train. It was hilarious. And some people were dancing, and one guy was doing some kind of like circus looking thing. What are I mean, you know, making the best of it, roll them with it. Yeah, you gotta be flexible. Who was it uh Jim Mills likes to say?

SPEAKER_00: 27:08

Okay. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 27:09

Yes, blessed are the flexible, or they shall not be bent out of shape. Yes. Yes. So thank you, Jim Mills. Stay flexible.

SPEAKER_00: 27:17

Um, if you're gonna be stuck on a train or on a train just for fun, what are are there some kind of things you want to have on hand just kind of in case?

SPEAKER_04: 27:25

The first one, water.

SPEAKER_00: 27:27

Have water with you.

SPEAKER_04: 27:28

Last year when the train was stopped, uh there was no water unless you had it with you.

SPEAKER_00: 27:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 27:32

Like there was no potable water.

SPEAKER_00: 27:34

Some trains do have restaurant service, especially if there's like a first class train. If you're if you're in a smaller town with a smaller train, it might not accommodate and have the restaurant option.

SPEAKER_04: 27:44

Right. And so I this particular train for some reason there was nothing to drink. There was a restaurant car, but apparently they were out of water or something. And so everybody was like, Hey, you got any water? Can I have some? Like, do you have anything to eat? Oh, you've got a snack. Can I have some of those crackers? I haven't eaten in hours. I mean because it was a long yeah, you know, everybody everybody was kind of flowing together and trying to help each other. Water. That was a big deal on that one.

SPEAKER_00: 28:07

And most all trains have toilets. Not every so often, some will be out of order or whatever. But even the sinks for those in those trains, the water is non-potable.

SPEAKER_04: 28:18

No, you can't drink.

SPEAKER_00: 28:19

So you don't want to drink that.

SPEAKER_04: 28:20

So yeah, when you're stuck for hours like that, some of the old school trains you can't use the toilet because the toilet empties onto the track. So they're like, you cannot use the toilet in station. The toilet. Toilet. Do you like that? Toilet.

SPEAKER_00: 28:32

I did like that.

SPEAKER_04: 28:32

That was good. Boy, my like Texas is really influencing my accent. The toilet cannot be used in station sometimes. I'm just saying. Okay. Here's a fun thing that we talked about in some episodes past, but since this is the train one, we'll talk about it again. You can get a sleeping train. And uh when you're traveling, like when we were traveling Europe for the month, it was so nice. We would finish with the city and think, well, I guess we'll get a hotel or a hostel, stay the night, and take the train where we want to go to the next day, but we're gonna lose half a day. Instead, we jump on the train, take a night train. We get a couchette, it's got beds, we sleep on the way over. Now you pay extra for that, but it was your rail pass, so we got a good deal. Uh, you sleep through the night, you wake up, you're at the city the next day. And in Scotland this last year, on the Caledonian railways, it was awesome. You wake up to a knock on your door, and they brought your breakfast to you. Yeah, it was so great.

SPEAKER_00: 29:32

But I do want to just share the story of how we got on that train.

SPEAKER_04: 29:36

Caledonian.

SPEAKER_00: 29:38

We were trying so hard to get reservations. So we mentioned reservations earlier. We were trying so hard to get reservations for this specific night on this specific train. And everybody that we talked to and asked would not let us get on. They would not give us a reservation. And so we later learned that because you have a rail pass technically they have to like let you on yeah but you still have to have a reservation so um it's strange so it was difficult to understand and all that okay but here's the deal so we asked everybody we went uh to another ticket counter we ended up talking to somebody they could not help us and they said but while you're waiting you can take this train and you can have these options and we have a free lounge for you and so while you're waiting you can go to this lounge.

SPEAKER_04: 30:34

Yeah so we didn't know about this lounge so we went to the lounge in the train station and so we were able to enjoy uh the some refreshment right like all of that stuff is it was like when you're in an airport and you go to a nice air airport lounge you gotta be a member to go she let us go to this lounge because we just had entry to it I guess by having New Year Well pass.

SPEAKER_00: 30:59

I don't know I don't remember we were maybe we were just cool but she let us she said yeah you have there go free lounge so we got to wait in the free lounge because you know we weren't gonna be able to get on this train or whatever. While we were there we're checking into the lounge and we're saying she told us we could come she's like yeah she's checking us in we kind of just shared our story we really wanted to go on this night train and it's so important to us that we get there and we want this night train and blah blah blah blah blah and she said I have an insider tip for you and we were like and so she was so super cool and so she shared with us okay these people get here at this time you need to go there and you need to go talk to them and maybe you can maybe they will get you on totally oh my god we love you forever so not only did um so we went we were stuck for a while waiting for this all to happen and so we went down at the designated time they're on the on the on the platform on the platform waiting for the the conductor to come by he could make the decision right there on the spot when nobody else would do it. Yeah and they told us if there's room but there'll be room so they're like if there's room on the train but there will be room you know that kind of a thing so and he he's the one who said well you you we have to let you on the train because you have a Euro he's the one who told us that you have a Euro pass you can have at least a seat. And I was like great even if we can't sleep and have a couchette we will at least get on this train. So I was happy with that. And then um but he and and the nice girl at the counter right you got to get that nice person at the counter who's willing to help you um and they were able to get us a couch. And um so the of course you had to pay for the couchette. It's an additional cost.

SPEAKER_01: 33:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 33:03

So um we would have been able to just ride with our URL pass on a chair through the night and just be on a chair the whole night.

SPEAKER_02: 33:11

Instead.

SPEAKER_00: 33:12

The couchette was I want to say it was like for the both of us total about 150 so kind of what you would pay for a hotel or what we would pay or let you know we try to pay less than that.

SPEAKER_04: 33:24

But you're gonna pay more for hotel and transportation. Right. And this was like both all in one plus breakfast.

SPEAKER_00: 33:31

I'm just saying I think I I don't know did we pay for breakfast on top? I think the food was on top. Anyway um and that's where we discovered some of the best mac and cheese you've ever had in your life was on that train on that night. Caledonian railways get the mac and cheese but anyway so they gave us the green light and they're like okay you just need to come back but even when you come back you still have to talk to this person. And then this person might let you on. So we still had we still had one more hurdle. So we went back to the lounge while we're waiting for the next hurdle and the next step and the like the I met the girl that I talked with the girl who had helped us and like we had so much in common and like I got a new friend from the whole thing. Like it was super fun just to talk to her and just be refreshed in that lounge and just so there were so many wonderful things that came out of that. We did get on we went back we followed the steps we did get on the train. We had a wonderful experience again that mac and cheese um and then you know I think we have shared pictures of us on the train but we'll share some more um of our little couchette that we had it was really cute.

SPEAKER_04: 34:39

So very clean that was a really fun story um and just a fun experience but so you know there there are times hopefully that story teaches you something new if you are a because we got no no no no's like on uh several times walking to different train stations even in London trying to get a yes and we had to talk to the actual because she gave us the tip we had to talk to the actual conductor to get the yes we needed so the our our lesson there was like well you just keep asking be persistent because I was ready I was like they said we can't let it go okay ten no's before that yep so it but it was definitely worth getting on that train.

SPEAKER_00: 35:20

And we were able to keep the schedule that we had wanted to keep and and do all those things. So that was that was really good. Really great um so if you are riding on a train Rory like what are some good things just to kind of like be aware that there are other people on the train what are some courtesy things that we could keep in mind while we're traveling well on a train.

SPEAKER_04: 35:40

If in fact you're in first class they expect a little more decorum than second class. They don't want you screaming and going crazy and getting drunk and especially when you're in the quiet zone. Yeah stay in second class if that's what you want to do. And if you have a first class ticket you can ride in second class if that's what you want to do but don't do it in first class. It's not cool. And they will call the conductor we've not experienced that personally because we're good first riders but I'm just saying you try and keep things on the low down a little quieter. You know don't put your feet on the seats woo when we uh took our first URL pass we were in Switzerland and we had been had a long day and we put our feet up on a wooden bench seat and the conductor made it very clear to us that you do not put your feet on the seat and I'll it's wood it's a wooden bench no way you don't do that keep your feet off the seats also when people are getting off the train if you're gonna board let the people get off first and then you get on. That's the way it works. Let the people get off they'll let you get off first when it's your turn and then you can board the train.

SPEAKER_00: 36:46

Right. And try to be quick with your exiting you know don't be taking your time lugging your big old luggage like just try to like try and be a fly on and on and off.

SPEAKER_04: 36:56

Yeah. Yeah one thing you might consider too is the kind of food you decide to bring on the train like we talked about the smells that it can create I've mean I brought some Asian food on the trains before and I was like everybody's smelling this man whether it was I don't remember if it was Indian or Chinese or Thai or whatever but it was a strong smell sort of like when you're on a plane and somebody brings a meal like that and the whole plane's like oh man come on anyway that's something I mean you may or may not care about that but it's something to think about anyway.

SPEAKER_00: 37:24

Yeah be aware of it.

SPEAKER_04: 37:25

Yeah yeah and try not to eat a can full of beans before you get into first class. I'm just saying you know things to think about yeah that probably is a good thing to think about because I don't appreciate it when other people do up in there. So maybe doing to others as you would have to roll the window down on the train or that's just to throw the person out who's doing that foul foul thing. I'm just saying Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 37:54

Alright so other tips is maybe if you like for me because I can e get easily distracted or whatever I it's I usually can set a timer and I'll look and see when the train is supposed to be stopping. So let's say I'm en route I might set a timer for like 10 minutes before the arrival time so that if if I've got workout I know I need to start packing up and um or if I'm wanting to sleep I've got my alarm so that I can wake up in time to not miss my stop. So it's it's kind of a good idea to just kind of keep a timer so that you know when the train is going to be stopping. And then you can you're not then you're not having to keep looking at the clock. You can just like enjoy the scenery that you're seeing or that reminded me of a book you want to read or whatever.

SPEAKER_04: 38:42

Yeah remind me of something too bring headphones if you if you need to listen to something or if you want to watch something nobody else wants to watch and listen to whatever you're watching and listening to I mean unless they want to but I don't think they want to. No people don't want to hear your airplane when a kid or somebody's playing music and playing a game and you're like can you please just mute it or put headphones on. So be courteous bring your headphones.

SPEAKER_00: 39:06

And if you do want to be watching a movie or listening to music on your on your headphones or whatever you can download them in advance um because the Wi Fi probably works but it's just better if you if you can have it pre-downloaded that's a good little tip.

SPEAKER_04: 39:22

Yeah some of the Wi-Fi on the trains works but it's not great for streaming.

SPEAKER_00: 39:25

And we should have checked into this last year. We've learned with luggage which we are going to be talking about luggage if EU law might compensate if your train is like extremely delayed and causes issues for you. So you can always just put that in the back of your noggin in case that might apply to you.

SPEAKER_04: 39:44

Yeah and sometimes if you need to cancel cancel a reservation or a seat go and see them in person. Because oftentimes it's free when you do that. If you do it on the app it might charge you sometimes so it's good to go talk to the people about things like that. Right. Get it taken care of in person.

SPEAKER_00: 40:03

So just to kind of wrap up this session some takeaways or to book your seat reservations early for some routes the reservation is optional and sometimes we went ahead and made the reservations because we knew we wanted uh to for sure have a seat.

SPEAKER_03: 40:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 40:20

And that's one thing that the reservations do for you. They're sure so that you're signed you a seat right and so that way if you don't want to stand uh for the whole thing or you just want to know hey I am guaranteed a seat and you just want to have that peace of mind, the seat reservations can be good for that as well. So um try to book those early on the ones where you know it's super important that you have that get your ticket validated before you get on or activated in the case with your rail before you get on the train. Also keep in mind like recently Rory booked this finished flight for us and I think Rory that you went you didn't go through your rail you just did like the normal hey I'm in Finland I'm gonna go to the train station and buy a train ticket.

SPEAKER_04: 41:04

But keep in mind the flight or the train ticket you said flight. I'm sorry the train you bought the train ticket while I used I used their local app okay their local train app for Finland. I didn't use the URL whole thing.

SPEAKER_00: 41:17

Right. So as Americans keep in mind even if you didn't buy the URail pass it might save you money to go to your rail and buy your ticket because you'll get that American price.

SPEAKER_04: 41:28

Yeah it's possible versus what you might buy just as a local and so um so just you know like your brain was like I'm in Finland I'm going to go to the finished train station right of course yeah so but remember as Americans you have that URL option um so depending sometimes things have to be in advance but it's worth just checking okay um and then uh be ready for surprise for surprises yeah packs art and light yeah it's what we said earlier it's taking the train is not only about getting from one place to the next place it's about the whole journey uh the scenery the people that you meet on the ride over in Finland going to the airport we had a four hour ride and there was a man sitting next to her that uh struck up a conversation with her and it was really cool in the end the way it all happened and not we got on there and kind of wanted to be quiet and do our own thing. But in the end it was a providential meeting and it was really cool. So it's about all of that. Sometimes you have hiccups along the way things happen but you'll find oftentimes when you're talking about it afterwards, especially telling people about the trip, those are the things you remember.

SPEAKER_00: 42:36

They're memorable you're making a memory you're having an adventure and we I think when we when we think about the trains and being able to take the train in Europe it's always good fuzzy feelings that we have.

SPEAKER_04: 42:49

Fuzzy like yeah warm fuzzies.

SPEAKER_00: 42:52

They're just it's so nice it Rory traveling with Rory is wonderful because he does all the driving and so I get to either or just enjoy enjoy the conductor no um but yeah so like for me it's great excuse me but for Rory like he's having to pay attention to the driving and so for me I love having when Rory can take the train because I feel like hey now you can just like enjoy the scenery or just take a break and not have to be behind the wheel and you can enjoy this journey or have some work time or have some you time or whatever you need this to be the train just kind of provides that because they're doing all the driving they're doing all the thinking they're not thinking about where you have to go next you just hop on the train and they are doing all of that for you. And so that's kind of one thing especially as Americans we are a car society we don't live we Rory and I don't live in New York City and we don't live in DC so we are not on public transportation all the time or Seattle or Atlanta. You know we're not like in those cities um where all the time so it's just like we're we're people we're a car um society and that's what we're so used to so I feel so kind of pampered when I'm on a train. And I really I really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_04: 44:19

So when you when you're on a train you feel like you're wearing diapers that's really strange. Pampered I mean that's what it would mean. I guess that's where we get that expression I feel so pampered like I don't have to get up and go to the bathroom I can just do it right here in my seat.

SPEAKER_00: 44:33

I mean it's really convenient it's not I think this is a good time to end this episode. We look forward to seeing y'all on the next one.

SPEAKER_04: 44:40

Speaking of pampering in your seat uh do you have a crazy train story like you travel a lot have you traveled a lot on trains in the US or internationally it'd be super fun to hear your crazy train stories a crazy train get on the crazy train with us chat with us on our socials when we post about this one let us hear your crazy stories alright share it your paper going I'm telling you we hope we've inspired you this episode don't join us next time please subscribe to rate and share our podcast with your friends or whoever and please like and follow us on Instagram YouTube and Facebook we're also on X and on all social platforms we are at OR A M I D S and our main hub is our website at www.thermies.com right that's D A D R O A M I D S dot com we'll be there until next time thanks for listening bye