Two months, days later: Doing some sums.

I have spent the last two weeks not really knowing what to do now that there are travel-shaped holes all over my calendar.

Despite the come-down it was a real treat to wake up in my own bed again. There was some early-morning disorientation for the few first days, but I got over it eventually. I’d also forgotten just how much I like my own shower, even though there has not been a disappointing shower – as far as I can remember – for the whole two months. The fabulous water pressure in my hostel in Krakóv, which was unexpectedly bracing but incredibly welcome, deserves a special mention.

When Interrail had their 50th anniversary sale back last year I bought the two-month pass over the one-month on the basis that at half-price it was “only 40€ more expensive”. There had been another calculation before that which was that going in first over second was “only 100€ more expensive”. The difference in price between the two-month and the three-month passes was more than the difference between one and two months, which didn’t make sense then and doesn’t really make sense now.

tl;dr

This time round, while making reservations or organising onwards travel I made a point of noting how much a standard ticket in first would have cost at the same time I made the reservation or, as happened more frequently later on, at the time I decided to travel. When I set off, I had the first five journeys (as far as Stockholm) planned and seat reservations secured.

I paid 488€ for two months’ unlimited rail travel in first class in 33 countries, of which I somewhat rubbishly only managed to visit nine. On top of this I paid en route a total of 211,07€ in seat reservations over the whole two months (including one sleeper). If Google Sheets is to be believed, had I bought all those tickets point-to-point at the time I was travelling, I’d now be a very significant 3.449,48€ lighter.

Had it not been for the half-price sale, I don’t think I’d ever have considered the two-month continuous pass because it’s quite expensive. What I liked about the trip in 2019 is that we more-or-less chose a destination (Oradea), worked out how many days it would take to get there and back, and then took our time doing it. This time I almost felt compelled to keep moving just for the sake of moving; I could have used a train every day during two months if I’d wanted to. I wanted to, but sadly pragmatism won the day and a desire to be able to afford to eat after the first week meant I had to plan around occasional stops to be able to do some work. There had been plans to move in five-hour blocks using Chronotrains (hours of fun, would recommend) but in the end I wanted to get places where I could chill, work, and/or explore, rather than move five hours a day. That is the advantage of the continuous pass: you are genuinely free to go where you want, and there’s room for mistakes.

I also like that the mobile pass is really easy to add journeys to on the fly and there’s no writing in little boxes on trains involved, although secretly I still like looking at the paper pass from 2019’s extravaganza. there’s something nice about a ticket and pass cover with hastily-written station names and punches and stamps from a guard’s, um, ticket-punching-and-stamping thing. A QR code is convenient but is hardly something to look back upon with fondness at a future date and I know that when I upgrade my phone I’ll more than likely lose the journey from the RailPlanner app. Which is not good.

Those exciting sums in full.

In an interesting (no, really) twist, when I rang the SNCF to make a reservation for the TGV to Strasbourg they didn’t have any Interrail seats available, so I bought the ticket through the Interrail reservations service a week in advance and paid 22€ for it.

The same day, a single to Strasbourg from Angoulême in first, without any reductions, would have cost 153€. I did not make reservations on the trains to Karlsruhe, but individual tickets would have cost 7,60€ to Appenweier and then 19,00€ to Karlsruhe.

It is for some reason cheaper to buy individual seat reservations on German trains through the Česky Dráhy site than from Deutsche Bahn. By contrast it seems that reservations for multi-leg journeys is a fixed price via the DB site. Because I wanted to split my journey in Cologne, I bought two reservations via the ČD site (3€ each) rather than one from the DB site (5,90€) although the latter does let you play with intermediate stops and choose how much time you’d like between trains. The ČD site will also allow you to choose carriage and seat by number.

This journey would normally have cost 139,80€.

A normal first class seat on ICE 616 was listed at 55,90€ when I made my reservation eight days in advance though the ČD site. The reservation cost 3,13€ (73CZK). I had breakfast in the dining car and it was glorious, enough to forgive its lateness.

I made this reservation with the DSB over the phone. The operator spoke flawless English and made my reservation for a window seat, then sent a payment link for the 4€ reservation fee by email after which I received a link to download my ticket. It would normally have cost 147€. It was this day I decided children should not be allowed.

This was the break-even point for pass-vs-tickets. The spend on individual tickets from Angoulême to Hamburg would have been 522,30€. Pass including discount and reservation fees at this point were 522,63€.

I made this reservation directly on the SJ web site the day before I left for Karlsruhe. You can choose your seat from a seat map which also shows the direction of travel. It didn’t run from Copenhagen and instead left from Malmö, where the SJ lounge was closed. The bistro car was nice.

The reservation fee was 12,84€, but I got my money’s worth in the snack section at the front of the carriage. I’d have had the trolley itself if I’d paid 153€ for the full-price ticket.

Oh lovely Gothenburg and its lounge full of fika and doughnuts! I decided to go here to avoid having to take a 6am train to Oslo. I made the reservation four days before travel, by which time the exchange rate had taken the cost to 13€, still significantly less than the 58€ it would otherwise have been. And I got free stuff. Found nice falafels.

The initial plan was to go from Gothenburg to Oslo but my bouncy Host didn’t respond in time and so an alternative plan was hatched on the fly; a friend in Holstebro suggested I’d like to go there instead. That last-minute distraction would have cost 142,45€ but was only 4€.

While Host was at work I had a day out on the train, the type of thing the unlimited pass is uniquely good for. I walked to the station and got on the train instead of buying a ticket for 40€. The views of the fjords were good and we got to see windmills and hippies! So all good.

Bouncy Host in Oslo made contact and so I decided to back to Gothenburg for a few days before going to Norway. It cost me nothing with my pass, but would have been 116€. Probably worth it to see the funky train transformation.

Nine days in is where the cost of a full-price two-month pass plus seat reservations so far (975€ + 65€) and of point-to-point tickets so far (1031,75€) break even.

This was pretty but I travelled in second because the nasty train woman wouldn’t let me into first without a reservation, but second was free (and just as nice). The pass saved me 61,24€.

The views from the left of the train in the direction of travel were particularly pretty, especially the watery bits from Moss onwards. The train stops in Trollhättan, which I’m going to have to visit next time because I do like a good Saab. Also, the silent zone antimacassars have “Silence” printed on them so it’s appropriate to walk up to people and point without saying a word.

Having made it to Oslo it was inevitable I’d go on as far as Trondheim. Oslo was white when I left on the 10:02 from Sentralstasjon to Trondheim on an absolute beast of a train. There were free sugary snacks and coffee and the scenery got better and better as the seven hours progressed. I sat on the right of the train, but moved about a bit. There are some incredibly pretty wooden stations along the way (I’m thinking of you, Øyer).

I booked this for free at the station in Oslo when I arrived, rather than pay 102€ for a ticket.

The ten-hour journey of traingasm to Bodø on Norway’s longest scheduled service was included in the pass, instead of costing me 80€. I was on the left of the train in the direction of travel but there are plenty of standing places near big windows for photos from either side of the train. It was also open at the end, making for some wintry photos and window-licking. Be sure to be looking out of the right of the train between Mo i Rana and Lønsdalen to see the arctic circle visitor centre.

The same train took us back to Trondheim but I booked a private sleeper which cost me 87,69€ (1000NOK) with the pass but would otherwise have cost 208,10€. I forgot to look out of the back of the train for aurorae on the way back, instead choosing to sleep. Even at night the views I did see were stunning.

Reclining seats are not included in the pass but costs about the same as a sleeper with the pass.

There were some madcap ideas about going from Trondheim to Sundsvall but an invite to Lauffen for Easter put paid to that and helped me flee the expense of Scandinavia. I made the reservation for this journey free-of-charge in the station on the morning of travel and therefore didn’t pay 86€ for the ticket. I sat on the right in the direction of travel.

There was mild panic approaching this as Easter and engineering works conspired to get the entire nation onto trains I wanted to travel on between my deciding to travel on them and going back to make the reservations. The first leg of the journey from Oslo occurred in a train with dirty windows and a bistro car with cake and coffee. First was full; second was blissfully empty. I enjoyed the final train of the day from Katrineholm. The most exciting hostel ever, Centralstationens Vandrarhem, was in the actual station which itself also boasted chandeliers, the joy of which cannot be understated. There was not much to do in Norrköping late on Maundy Thursday.

I’d have paid 65€ for the pleasure of the journey had it not been included in my pass.

This was pretty and marked the last sightings of snow. There was coffee. After a day’s travelling and power-tourism I arrived at a wonderful station right next to the ferry port, check-in for which is at most a five-minute walk.

I didn’t make reservations for the trains; walk-on tickets would have been 110€. The Stena Line ferry to Rostock cost me 72.50€ with no pass discounts (contrary to the information on the web site). Ideally I’d have gone back to Germany only by train, but I was stuck in Scandinavia with no alternative — there were engineering works everywhere — so this was also my hotel.

Trelleborg may well be worth revisiting for another falafel.

I made a reservation for this train while I was on it (5,90€), but ultimately needn’t have because nobody else got on. I met a meerkat and then my train crashed. The scenery was nice and there was a dining car, though the Easter weekend was kicking in and there was some minor chaos. I checked the last-minute ticket price, too: 175,90€.

Brilliant day out. Have a go on Concorde and nom nice cheesy jalapeño chips and wash them all down with a lemon radler? Would recommend. Trains free for me; 25€ return otherwise.

I nearly lost my hat in Nürnberg, but remembered it just at the last minute. The window seats on the upper deck of the Intercity from Stuttgart were lovely. I got coffee at my seat (not free). The weather cleared up the closer we got to Berlin and dining car, train slippers and little fluffy clouds combined for a lovely journey. Through the DB site I paid 5,90€ for seat reservations on two trains as opposed to the full last-minute 223,90€.

This is a very pretty journey if you’re not in a Kafka seat, and you’ll want to be sitting on the left of the train – preferably in the dining car – as it approaches the border with Czechia and snakes along the Elbe. It becomes Happy Hour in the dining car at Děčín, which means a veritable feast with proper Budweiser in a proper glass is be really good value for money.

I booked the seat the day of travel for 3,10€ and didn’t have to pay 129,85€.

I was so happy to be aboard a Railjet again and also happy I’d found the Nicholas Winton memorial. On the Railjet was a dining car – more beer in a glass – and comfy leather seats in first. Brno was nice if not a little drunken (other people). I got a cathedral and organ music and revelled in my first ever hostel experience.

The reservation was 3€ and a last-minute ticket 73,20€.

This was a day out in itself, really. I got to get a train way too early in the morning then stomp around Břeclav for a bit and see a pointy church and a castle. There was a train with a dining car which decoupled from the train in Bohumin taking some women’s husbands with it, but for me the journey was uneventful and in most pleasant company. In a stroke of genius, those lads got hot water for their Aeropress from the restaurant car.

3€ for an obligatory reservation or only 34,77€ full-price. Lovely views from the dining car.

This sucked, but I got free stuff on the pointy non-tilting tilty train before it broke down ten minutes outside Kraków and got to wear my train slippers while we waited for it to move again. I made the obligatory reservation the night before and paid 9,30€ for the pleasure. The full-price fare to Warsaw Central was 59,02€. I dutifully paid 0,22€ for the seat reservation to Białystok instead of 15,25€ full-price for a seat in a compartment of six.

Not the train experience I wanted – everything late – and not the train to Białystok I wanted either, but hey ho. We got there in the end and I found a nice place to have sandwiches and coffee between trains.

This was late, but the journey was pretty, which was the nice part really because this was the start of my journey home. I wanted to be on one of the new Intercity trains but it’ll have to be next time. The seat reservation was 0,22€ again and I saved the 15,25€ of a standard ticket.

I made a run for Vienna on the early morning service because I couldn’t get a berth on the sleeper the night before. I got to share a compartment with people who found their private conversation very funny, but I took two trips (two!) to the dining car where breakfast was lovely and my lunchtime pierogi went down nicely with a beer.

The normal price through the ÖBB site when I booked my free reservation the night before was 163,00€. There were disappointing snacks in the lounge.

Even if those people wouldn’t stop talking, I enjoyed my Railjet Business Class experience but now wonder whether first in the quiet zone would be better. I got a curry in the dining car as mountains slid past the window around Salzburg. We were horribly delayed, but this allowed for more enjoyment of the big reclining seats and view. In Munich I very nearly boarded a train to Verona, but ended up in Ingolstadt as planned.

The ticket in business would have cost me 200€ but my reservation was 15€ for the upgrade. I didn’t buy a reservation for the trains from Munich but I ticket would have cost me 45,90€.

As this was my last opportunity to have a meal in a proper dining car I somewhat extravagantly had both lunch and dinner on the train. I had forgotten about the 1st Klas restaurant in Amsterdam Centraal but wouldn’t have had time for an evening meal as German trains were having a really shitty weekend. And then there was that driver.

Usual DB reservation fee: 5,90€. Cost of same-day ticket: 233,90€

Well. That was fun. And I bought a book, even if there was no chance of assuaging munchies in the NS lounge. Reservations: nada. Point-to-point: 39,06€.

I really wish this journey hadn’t happened for so many different reasons, but ultimately I needed to get home but I’d have enjoyed it more without the last-minute change in plans and the resulting rush against the clock. Still, it was fun and the views were nice.

I made the obligatory reservation for the TGV from Lille to Angoulême, which cost 10€; when I booked it, the cost of a seat in first was 112€. I didn’t book the others; the cost of Amsterdam to Antwerp was 65,40€ and the onward train to Lille Flandres 44€.