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InterRail 2022
  • Pascal Steck
  • Esti Keller
  • Amy Aminah
Jul – Sep 2022

InterRail 2022

After fixing a pile of software bugs it’s about time to chase the travel bug. Once again I’m on the road. Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 1, 2022
    InterRail 2022

    Ignition day

    July 1, 2022 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Rain at 5:45am. Let’s leave this place.
    Chop chop.

    Oops I probably should have read that in beforehand. ⬇️

    Travelling in your country of residence:

    We want our Passes to be as flexible as our travellers, so if you're travelling with an Interrail Global Pass, you can now use it to travel in your country of residence during one ☝️outbound journey and one ☝️ inbound journey that occur during travel days at any point in your trip (outbound and inbound journeys are not extra travel days). If you need more than one outbound and inbound journey, you can always buy additional point-to-point tickets from your country’s rail carrier.Read more

  • InterRail 2022
    1

    Vienna

    July 2, 2022 in Austria ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    I had a Käsekrainer aka. die Eitrige which is a sausage filled with cheese even more cheese than any Swiss equivalent.

    In the evening I ordered the Figlmüller original Schnitzel which was the same my Papa had when my parents both went to Vienna.Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Train journey to 🍕

    July 7, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Before you start a trip, it’s crucial to eat some decent Swiss food. Ivan invited me for a fondue which was the perfect fuel for my upcoming trip.

    I took the train on Thursday evening and on my way do Naples I had to change the train in Milan which meant as much as walking from Milano Centrale to Porta Garibaldi. While I was crossing the Parco Biblioteca degli Alberi, loud music was banging from some speakers and distributing the whole park. I quickly stoped in front of the music and watched the concert before I had to make my way further to Garibaldi to take my night train.

    The overnight journey was just as expected not really comfortable and the AC as always too cold.
    Anyhow I found some rest and on Friday I had enough energy to do some sightseeing.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Napoli

    July 8, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After a long sightseeing day I went to L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele where I had the best Pizza in Italy, at least that is what my Italian colleague told me.

    After i finished my Pizza I started thinking about what else can life offer me. I have been to so many places, seen such beautiful things and now also eaten the best Pizza in Italy, which a actually implies to have had the best in the world.

    Now I have seen it all. And yes to bring back a bit of this delicious Marinana I put some on my shirt, as we no cotton fabric is a good material of conservation.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Napoli

    July 9, 2022 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    With a passenger ferry I made it from Napoli to Sorrento where I walked towards the bus station while I was appraising the beautiful scenery of Sorrento. Old beautiful houses were built at the very edge of the cliff and the stairway led through the cliffs up to the top.

    I was also lucky when I tried to catch the bus to Positano. The queue at the bus station was unbelievably long. I asked a bus driver who was just on the way to leave where to buy tickets. He pointed to the direction and I started walking there. Two Italians hold me back and told me that they bought too many tickets. I bought their ticket and whoosh I was with them standing in the front of the queue. I entered the bus and was able to pick an amazing window seat. I certainly started feeling a bit guilty when I saw that not all people fit inside the bus and that they had to wait another 30 minutes for the next one.

    Nevertheless I made it to Positano and after less than one hour I wanted to leave this overcrowded tourist trap hole. I waited 30 minutes for the bus to Sorrento where I took the train to Pompei. Already a bit tired a waked through the archeological site of Pompei and later on I took the train back to Napoli for my second Pizza in another famous place.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Bordeaux

    July 29, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    The Bordeaux adventure started on Thursday 28th. Within 8 hours one can make it from Baar to Bordeaux. Just keep in mind to do the TGV reservations in beforehand. Otherwise you will pay a first class upgrade from Paris to Bordeaux owing to the high number of travelers during August. But what will you do, either you are stuck in Paris and you miss one night in the hotel in Bordeaux which you’ve already paid for, or you you pay the upgrade price and make it on time to your amazing fille insulaire who awaits you in Burdeos.

    After the arrival I just wanted to sleep. So Friday was the first day of action.
    Sightseeing in the morning, sightseeing in the afternoon and then a well deserved dinner. After this day I could finally cross out snails from my bucket list.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Bordeaux

    July 30, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Saturday party fever. Time to get wasted.

    After another day of sightseeing, which was actually all designed and written down to paper from my amazing company, we decided to open the Rosé bottle in hour room which came as a present of the hotel. That was actually around 6pm. when everything went south 😋.

    Not all islanders are used to drink, I suppose. I came across a totally new situation, where you have to decide if the person is poisoned and needs medical attention or is still able to process the amount of alcohol in the bloodstream.

    Anyhow the day ended at 6pm and maybe it was for the best, two days of sightseeing did already empty our fuel gauge for a good bit.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Bordeaux

    July 31, 2022 in France ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Sunday funday.

    Do you remember when I mentioned how crucial it is to do the TGV reservation days in advanced. Well on Sunday I stepped once again into the same trap. The train to Dijon was fully booked. The reservation of my hotel in Dijon was not refundable and there where literarily no more trains out of Bordeaux on this day as it appeared on the InterRail reservation platform.

    So in the morning we quickly went to the train station to see if I can buy a first class ticket to Dijon and behold, the machine showed me, that there is still tickets available so I entered birthdate, email, mobile number, full name and clicked through 7 layers of pre-settings until I was asked to pay. I held my phone on the contactless payment system witnessed how it failed.

    We sadly returned to the city center bought a souvenir, cheered ourselves up with an iced cream and maundered through the streets. An hour before the train departed we returned to the train station to buy the crazy overpriced first class ticket to Dijon but…
    No more tickets were available. I started looking for a train to Montpellier, but InterRail told me that there is no free slots anymore. Narbonne the same and the worst nightmare was Paris. There was not one available seat to Paris.

    In the end I decided to go to Nantes since the train towards Paris allowed me to book a seat from Bordeaux to St. Pierre de Corps and then a connection train to Nantes. I paid the overpriced ticket and booked an accommodation. I said goodbye to my amazing islander girl, since she had to catch a flight back to Menorca. I sat down in Bordeaux dirty and hot train station and waited the 1.5 hours until the train was supposed to arrive. It did not. First it showed a 30 minute delay which turned into a 1h 20 minute delay due to an accident on the railroad. Due to this delay I was not able to reach the connection train in St. Pierre de Corps so I just decided to stay in the train, inside the fist class voiture and I continued my journey to Paris. Luckily not one single ticket inspector appeared during the entire trip from Bordeaux to Paris.

    I arrived in Paris at 11.30pm where I had to find for a second hostel option, the one I found earlier in the train was not available anymore. With an eScooter I drove to the hostel and at the reception was a nice Chilean guy who let me check in even after the official check-in hours. I had a cold beer at the bar which was attached to the hostel and then I dropped my stuff in the dorm and took a eScooter to La Tour Eiffel. I booth two more tiny beers from a Indian street vendor and enjoyed the view. Around 1.30am I went back to the hostel and fell asleep in a undercooled dormitory.

    I got up around 8 in the morning, took a shower, checked out, had a croissant and a cappuccino, hopped into the metro towards Concorde, walked through the square and took a train to Disneyland where the TGV which started in Nantes was stopping. Since I already had the reservation from Nantes to Switzerland I thought it would be best to take this train and not loosing once more some money.

    La fin.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Barcelona

    August 5, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Vale, Barcelona does not count as an InterRail trip in the end. After I checked the trains to Barcelona I quickly realized that it might be too late for the reservation. Zurich - Paris was obviously a TGV route and even I tried to book it 3 days prior, I could not get a seat reservation anymore. Rerouting through Geneva - Lyon - Barcelona didn’t work out too. I therefore checked the flight tickets and luckily I found a 50 euro flight from ZRH to BCN. The way back was booked from BCN to Malpensa. Which implies that I did take use of my InterRail pass, even if only for the short distance from Milan back to Switzerland.

    Barcelona per se was hot and stinky. 😊 I enjoyed it a lot. My islander girl and I discovered different corners of the city center, jumped into the Balearic sea and ate yummy food. It was definitely valió la pena.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Brussel

    August 12, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    I’ve chosen a horrible train company.

    On my way to Brussels I had a train from Zurich to Cologne and then Cologne, Brussels. The company which brought me to Cologne was the worst I’ve ever chosen. It was a night train plus it operate from Zurich to Amsterdam. Long distance trains are usually a bit more comfortable than an S-Bahn. In the case of Zurich-Amsterdam, the train was uncomfortable and they didn’t turn off the light. From 23:23 until 5:53 the train was bright as day.

    When I arrived in Brussels at 8:45 I was a wreck. Without any sleep and with a little incident in the Thalys train, where I should have shown a reservation, which I didn’t have. I made on time to Brussels.

    I spent the whole day sightseeing and tried the two most famous things Belgian is famous for. At 3pm. I was able to check in my hostel where I first took a shower and rested for a bit.

    In the evening was still too tired to do some night photography not to mention heading to a bar with life music. So I postponed this two events for the next day.

    Luckily on the way back home I won’t have a overnight train anymore. If I take a overnight train again should from now on avoid driving with SBB.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Bruxelles

    August 13, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Lö dösiem schuur

    Brussel must be a shelter station for all those lost French souls. When I walked through the streets the majority was speaking in French followed by Spanish and Italian tourists and occasionally you could hear some Dutch, English and German.

    The second day was dedicated to visit the Atomium which is located in the northern outskirts of BXN. After seeing this monument I went to the mini Europe park which was just nearby. Even though it was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot of the different architectural styles from the past 3000 years, I had to shell out a pole of money for it. 😜

    I went back to my hostel at midday where I was told that the rooms will be locked from 11 till 3pm for the cleaning crew. With 30% of battery I continued my sightseeing trip by going to the Brussel-Noord train station, where I hopped on a train towards Leuven. In the Mini Europe theme park I saw this mini town hall of Leuven and it looked quite impressive. After I arrived in Leuven and after a stroll through the historical center I went back to Brussels to get ready for dinner, night photography and some live music bars.

    Dinner was nice although the Stoemp wasn’t as good as they described it in the internet. Sunset photography worked out well too, that’s why I went to a bunch of bars wehere I tried my well deserved Belgium beers. The entire day was quite relaxed although I did quite some stuff eich the little drawback in the end they I couldn’t find a bar with some groovy jazz bands neither any kind of live music.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Gent & Brugge

    August 14, 2022 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Sunday in Bruges

    Before I went to Brugge I made a little pit stop in Gent where I was thrown back by this massive towers and churches in the center of the town. I unquestionably had to go up one of this 90 meter high towers to see everything from another perspectives.

    Later I continued my trip to Brugge where I checked into a fancy hostel with a cool bar downstairs. I had to take my 5pm nap before I went out to see Bruges jewels. After the nap I finally made it to a chocolate shop where I tried some delicious pralines. I walked around the old town and places myself in one of the more famous mussel restaurants in town. Belgium’s traditional dish no. 1 is Mussels and Fries. I certainly overdone by ordering the biggest menu they had to offer. I stared with a runds carpaccio followed my
    Mossel natuur ending in Dame Blanche.
    Not only the beef carpaccio also the mussels and the dessert was totally worth the money.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Augsburg

    August 26, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Aminah and I decided to use our InterRail pass to practice our German skills.
    Our journey started on Friday morning where we took the train towards Germany. We were quite wasted because of the night before. My friends asked me if I’d like to join a little street food festival on Zug. Aminah and I joined the scenery and we soon realized that this night won’t end anymore.
    We had quite some luck on Friday morning when we entered the train in Zurich direction Munich it was barely a seat taken. We used the journey to rest and recover from the night before.

    Once we arrived in Augsburg, we checked into our hotel and went sightseeing. The day was quite relaxed but we laughed a lot and enjoyed the time together.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Munich

    August 27, 2022 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    It rained cats and dogs during the night from Friday to Saturday. It was a chilly morning when we decided to visit the big Bavarian neighbor of Augsburg. The train journey took only 31 minutes. We arrived before 10 in the morning in Munich where I had one of my super silly ideas to dare Aminah that she wouldn’t be brave enough to run through a fountain near the train station.
    Well, I was wrong and so I had to borrow her my jumper so she stoped freezing at this rather cloudy and chilly day.

    After around 6 hours of sightseeing in Munich we jumped onto a train back to Augsburg. We took a long nap and prepared ourselves for a traditional dinner at the Ratskeller in Augsburg.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022
    1

    Ljubljana

    September 2, 2022 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Overnight train - floor experience.

    Our journey from Zurich to Ljubljana was quite unique. It all started with Aminah’s trip from Tenero to Baar, where she missed the first connection. Fortunately every 30 minutes was a train departing from Tenero towards Arth-Goldau, Zug or even until Zürich. Unfortunate was only the crazy delay the train accumulated in the end. This particular train wehere Aminah was traveling with did not stop in Zug due to the delay and so she found herself in Zürich where she called me and asked me desperately if I can pack all her clothes for our two week interRail adventure.

    When I arrived in Zürich we went straight to the EuroNight train and asked if it is possible to enter the train without reservation. We presented our InterRail passes and the conductor let us pass.

    Once inside the train we couldn’t find any free seats. There was only one wagon with seats 💺 dedicated for the Zagreb route. Three wagons were couchettes. The rest of the train constellation was operated by the Austrians aka. the NightJet wagons.

    We could place our bottoms for about two hours into some seats until the wagon was occupied. In the end we were forced to sit on the floor for about 8 hours.

    Funnily enough we weren’t too tired when we arrived in Ljubljana even though we didn’t shut an eye on the entire trip. Nevertheless we walked from the cute little old town to a park where we took a little nap on the almost dry lawn.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Lake Bled

    September 3, 2022 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Day trip to the second most famous tourist attraction of Slovenia.

    September days in Slovenia are not too different to the swiss ones. In the morning you need a jacket and in the afternoon the temperature climbs up to 27°C and you carry your warm clothes with you for the rest of the day.Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Predjama & Postojna

    September 4, 2022 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Castle and Cave day trip.

    - Predjama Castel
    A mere few kilometres from Postojna Cave, the Karst world offers an unforgettable experience in the fairytale world of knights. The impregnable medieval marvel has been perched in the middle of a 123-metre-high cliff for more than 800 years. Behind the largest cave castle in the world, there is a network of secret tunnels, from where the knight Erazem of Predjama would set out on his plundering expeditions. The Cave under Predjama Castle is the home of a colony of bats.

    Natural elements seamlessly interwoven with manmade ones, the result of man's work and nature's creativity has created a pearl of medieval resourcefulness. The world's largest cave castle, listed as one of the Guinness World Records, tells a picturesque story about the times when comfort had to give way to safety, and when the clatter of weapons would often drown out troubadours' songs. It is so special and unique, it ranks among the ten most fascinating castles in the world, and so romantic that many couples choose it for their wedding vows.

    - Postojna Cave
    The world's most captivating cave with magnificent cave formations and diverse fauna. Take an unforgettable ride on Postojna Cave's underground train and experience a fascinating subterranean paradise shaped by tiny droplets over millions of years.

    Postojna Cave is the only place where you can see the most precious brilliant in the form of a cave formation and also meet the baby dragons. Just like the world above the surface, Postojna Cave boasts towering mountains, murmuring rivers and vast subterranean halls. It is a real challenge for explorers and the cradle of speleobiology.

    I was responsible to take care of a green skirt, Aminah brought with her. On the underground cave train journey I lost it on one of the seats. Which turned the day in a two hour waiting for the skirt situation. 😇    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Maribor

    September 5, 2022 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Interchange in Zidani Most

    It was around 9am. when we checked out and got ready to walk to the train station in Ljubljana. Our train journey was supposed to take around 2.5 hours including a 30 minute waiting time in Zidani Most.
    It was two stops earlier when the train stoped in the middle of nowhere without any announcements.

    116 Minutes later the journey continued. The conductor mentioned something about a technical issue and also explained us that the train to Mari or is 10 minutes behind us and we do not have to wait too long once we arrive in Zidani Most. She was wrong. We waited about an hour and a half in Zidani Most until the connection train arrived. Instead of a 2.5 hour journey we finally had a 5+ hour trip.

    We straight went to the irish bar-hotel checked in and walked around the city afterwards.

    The next day we had some time to kill before the train departed towards Zagreb. We only had a 20 minute delay in the Slovenian train towards the Croatian border. Also on that journey we had a 40 minute dead time in Dobova which shrunk down to 20 minutes which we thought was enough time to order a pizza in the only restaurant in this little village. They forgot to make our pizza so after waiting for nothing we run back to the train station where we entered a old friend of us. It was the Zurich to Zagreb train we traveled with the first day of our adventure trip.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Zagreb

    September 6, 2022 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Ghost town vibe.

    A bunch of capital cities in this world are wiped out during the summer peak season. Every Stockholmy has a cute red or blue lake house deep in the nature of Sweden. Zagrebians have their summer residence near Zadar somewhere at the Adriatic Sea.
    When we arrived in Zagreb, we didn’t encounter the typical ghost town vibe. Why? Simply because August has already passed. So remember, travel the cities in September and you will come across all the local homies and member, dive into the nightlife smooth and tender and get blown away by its mystical vibe, sparks and ember.

    Enough bullshit for now, I don’t know what to tell about Zagreb, even all the locals were back in town, the city did not really catch our attention. Nonetheless we enjoyed the warm weather, the crowded city center as well as the meat based cuisine.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Thessaloniki

    September 8, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Our flight to Thessaloniki was free of stress and delays. We checked into our hotel and discussed if we first shall go to the beach or do a city walking tour. We discarded the beach idea due to the rather long bus journey of about 1.5 hours to the next nice beach and went for a city trip.

    Fish for diner rounded up with an ice cream near the sea front and soon after that we called it a day.

    The second day in Thessaloniki was dedicated to recharge our batteries to the max. We slept until midday and only left the hotel for a coffee and later a beer. After all those long train journeys and motivated sightseeing tours Friday the 9th. was our day off.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Athens

    September 10, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Calispera Acropolis

    Approx. 4 hours in the train from Thessaloniki to Athens with a 20 minuets delay which was peanuts compared to our Slovenian friends.

    A bit more heat a bit more traffic and a bit more viciousness were our first impressions of this ancient city.

    Even though we arrived Athens in the second half of the day, I convinced Aminah to tick the highlights of the city on the same day. We straight went to Acropolis where we once more experienced that members of the European Union do not have to pay any entrance fees when they are 25 years or younger.

    We finished the day with a mediocre dinner and a cool movie on Netflix.    Read more

  • InterRail 2022

    Athens

    September 11, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    While I enjoyed the 34°C on the second day my chaperone was melting away. Luckily there was an ice cream store in every second corner.

    Since I was a proud possessor of a 30€ ticket for Athener most visited archeological sites, Aminah and I continued ticking off the remaining sites one by one. In the early afternoon we were done with Athens top seven.

    🔸 The Acropolis
    🔸 Ancient Agora
    🔸 Archaeological Site of Lykeion
    🔸 Kerameikos Archaeological Site
    🔸 Roman Agora
    🔸 Hadrian's Library
    🔸 Olympieion – Temple of Olympian Zeus

    We went back home for a siesta before we prepared ourselves for a rooftop restaurant with view to the Acropolis experience.    Read more

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