I travelled Europe by myself with a Eurail pass. All over again
Where:
Western Europe
When:
September 2023
Trip rating:
5 out of 5
What inspired you to take this trip?
My first European trip decades ago involved a student rail pass, a clumsy backpack, seeing much, spending little. My friends and I prided ourselves on enduring discomfort. We bedded in cheap hostels and survived on bowls of milky coffee, baguettes, cheese, and the occasional piece of bruised fruit to avoid scurvy.
Now older and I hoped wiser, I wanted to do a similar trip, but do it better. An opportunity came following a family wedding in Tuscany. I set off with another rail pass, this time a senior one, first-class, ready to savour the journey, rather than merely survive it.
What was the best sight?
I boarded the first train in Rome. From there, I visited Venice, and then over the next two weeks I travelled to Salzburg, Prague, Berlin, and finally Utrecht, where my younger son lived. I chose well. Not one city disappointed me with its sights: Venice from Murano island; Salzburg from the crenellated walls of Fortress Hohensalzburg; the rotating 'Head of Franz Kafka' in Prague; Berlin's architecture from a boat on the river Spree; and the Dom Tower of Utrecht would be candidates (for best sight). If I were to pick one, it would simply be the ever-changing view framed by the train windows.
What was your favourite activity?
Getting acquainted with each city. I walked. I used public transit. Venice's vaporetti (water buses) win the prize on that front. I joined a great guided walking tour in Berlin. In Berlin and Utrecht, I also cycled using bike-share.
My trick for staying on the go all day (and into the night) was to take refreshment breaks at beautiful locations: sipping cappuccino in the lagoon-front lounge at the Hotel Danieli in Venice, devouring a tangerine from a market stall in cool shade at Salzburg's Mirabellgarten, lunching at the Pergamonmuseum's riverside terrace in Berlin.
What was the most delicious thing you ate?
I found fantastic food in every city, from currywurst in Berlin to spaghetti carbonara in Rome to Indonesian rijsttafel in the Netherlands. My favourite meals, though, were on trains: zucchini pancakes with smoked cheese and pickled vegetables (Venice to Salzburg) and chicken paprikash (Prague to Berlin). Waiters served my order on china plates at tables set with silverware, cloth napkins, glasses. I dined gazing at mountains, rivers and castles. I sampled ice cream in every city and loved it. A seagull stole my favourite, licorice and chocolate, as I wandered through the Roman Forum.
What was the most memorable thing you learned?
Travelling in Europe as a woman alone had benefits; I followed the pace I preferred. Going solo could become quite social; at a Salzburg microbrewery/restaurant, I shared a patio table with a local couple and two women on holiday from Munich. We managed a lively conversation, even though I speak little German. In Prague, I had a long chat with a volunteer tour guide at a medieval synagogue. I built into my itinerary some stops where I joined friends, so I did not spend the entire trip on my own. (But I think I could have.)
What is one piece of advice you
'd give?
Carry a phone charger, adapter and power bank. Eurail passes have changed since my student years. Back then, a little cardboard-covered booklet let me travel anywhere, anytime, on almost any train, for 30 days. Now they have more restrictions: mine allowed five days of travel in a month, and advance planning is required. For instance, I often had to make seat reservations.
Travelling when you're older has advantages. I, for one, definitely learned to do it better.
Leslie Carlin, Toronto
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There have always been so-called "pocket listings" that float around beyond the reach of the MLSes, available only to in-the-know agents who can offer their clients a leg up on the competition. But hardly anyone in the industry disagrees with the basic premise that buyers like being able to find homes easily and in one place. People may gripe about Zillow's power in the industry or the questionable accuracy of its ubiquitous Zestimate, but the ability to scroll through all the listings on the site — or those on any of the other search portals — is unique to North America. Few probably appreciate this better than Boero, the real estate exec who set out to buy the Italian getaway of his dreams. He did eventually find a place that checked off his boxes: "We're happy with it," he says. But he made that purchase with far less confidence than he had in any real estate transaction in his life. And even today, he has no idea whether it's worth more or less than it was when he bought it three years ago. The whole experience, he tells me, gave him a new appreciation for the American way of doing things. "Within the industry, we've made these comparisons ad nauseam," Boero tells me. "'Hey guys, let's not destroy this very special thing we have. Because just look at the rest of the world and how messed up it is.'"
