3. Planning the route with some useful apps and websites
Researching apps and travel websites
Having made the decision to focus on taking the Eurostar to mainland Europe, and with a vague destination in my head that I would end up somewhere in the Baltics, I set about planning the actual route in March '23. I still had to work out how I was going to get to St. Pancras in London, which is the departure station for Eurostar, and then where I would stop off on my way to Eastern Europe and the Baltics. I also needed to think about starting and finishing dates.
Around April, one of my favourite bands The National announced a European tour, and one of their concerts was scheduled for Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on 29th September. Before I knew it, I had secured a ticket and this became the fulcrum around which the rest of the trip would be planned.
The very first app I downloaded was the Interrail Rail Planner app. I found the app frustrating at first and it took a while to get my head around it, but after some trial and error, I was using it to plan my trip. It did end of being very useful in exploring train times, stops, journey times etc.
Another app which was extremely handy at the planning stage was Omio, not just for rail travel, but for when alternatives to train travel were needed.
However the best, most comprehensive and most user-friendly source of advice I found while planning the trip was undoubtedly the Man in Seat 61 website. What a mine of information, and what detail!
After endless hours of research (yes, you do need to be prepared to put the research in), I decided to buy a Interrail Flexi Pass which gives seven days travel in one month. I knew that this would not be adequate to cover every journey I planned to make, however with a bit of planning, I knew I would be able to use the Interrail pass for the longer, more expensive journeys, and could then pay for shorter trips of up to two hours separately.
During my research, I discovered that some trips in Eastern Europe were not feasible by train, and I had to look at coach companies such as LuxExpress and FlixBus instead.
The Interrail ticket was not the only travel cost however, as on some of the really busy rail routes, seat reservations were either required or recommended. In most cases these reservations cost in the region of €6, but for the Eurostar, the charges mounted as there was a hefty €40 supplement from London to Brussels and another €29 from Brussels to Amsterdam. As a once-off retirement gift to myself however, I was happy enough to pay these extra charges for my dream trip.
Having started to look at how I might travel around, it was now time to look at where I might stay. This is covered in the next post.
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