I’ve never been to Glastonbury Festival but I’m guessing getting your summer rail journey planned across Europe is on a par with the stress of whether or not you’ll get a Glasto ticket when they become available.

Last year for the family holiday in southern spain I went by train (while the others flew). The journey itself had a couple of stressful points in terms of train delays and possible missed connections. But the train travel itself was lovely. And I especially loved the experience of staying in a youth hostel in Barcelona.

But when it comes to trying to book your holiday travel – AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

This year the family holiday in Southern Spain is happening again. Easier second time around presumably? Not much.

Lessons from last year (https://lnkd.in/e–yZuVu):
The romantic idea of buying an Interrail ticket to cover all your travel at a great price is not really the reality (at least in peak summer season).

Specific lessons from last year:
1. You need reservations on top of your Interrail ticket for high-speed trains (otherwise you can’t travel on that train!)
2. You can’t make reservations for high-speed trains in Spain via Interrail but only by going to a station in Spain (by which time the train would be sold out).
3. Seat reservations become available for Paris-Barcelona-Paris 90 days before travel – I tried to make reservations 89 days before travel and there were no seats left.
4. I had to spend an extra day travelling and an extra £270.

Experience this year (starting in Feb when family booked flights):
1. Booked interrail 4-day pass (£207)
2. Reservations for Eurostar London-Paris-London (£56)
3. Bought train tickets separately for Spain Barcelona-Malaga-Barcelona (£143)
4. Youth hostel in Barcelona for 2-nights (£84)
5. Put reminder in diary to book reservations for Paris-Barcelona-Paris 90 days before travel
6. 93 days before travel checked via Interrail – first saw ‘can’t book until 90 days before’ ( 👍); then saw ‘Pass holder reservations may be sold out’ (👀); then saw ‘can make reservations up to 150 days in advance (😬).
7. Sh*t!!! Do I gamble on waiting to day 90 and hope to get reservations for £60?
8. 92 days before travel bought Paris-Barcelona-Paris tickets separately (£261)

Total cost of getting to/from holiday (excluding local travel in Spain to hotel): £751

Cost per person going Easyjet Bristol-Malaga-Bristol: £282

We’re in a position such that we can afford to pay to support my conviction not to fly and still enjoy the luxury of a summer holiday in Spain. I appreciate that many people aren’t and will take advantage of the convenient and much cheaper option to fly.

Lesson: We need system change (and maybe I need to persuade my family that a holiday in the UK could trump Spain next year)

#railtravel

#lowcarbon

#holidays