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[wegie]

One of my nicest train memories is a 1st class sleeper from Rome to Paris.  One of my worst was a 1st class trip from Madrid to Lisbon.  You just never know. - DvF

Le sigh. You make me feel so happy about my Lisbon-Madrid trip in a fortnight. Thankfully, most of the rest of the trip is in the capable hands of the Swiss, the Germans and SNCF.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

One of my nicest train memories is a 1st class sleeper from Rome to Paris.  One of my worst was a 1st class trip from Madrid to Lisbon.  You just never know. - DvF

Le sigh. You make me feel so happy about my Lisbon-Madrid trip in a fortnight.

Is the train Spanish or Portuguese?  I've never had a bad experience on a Portuguese train. - DvF

[wegie]

One of my nicest train memories is a 1st class sleeper from Rome to Paris.  One of my worst was a 1st class trip from Madrid to Lisbon.  You just never know. - DvF

Le sigh. You make me feel so happy about my Lisbon-Madrid trip in a fortnight.

Is the train Spanish or Portuguese?  I've never had a bad experience on a Portuguese train. - DvF

Lisbon-Madrid is, as far as I'm aware, Portugese. However, the following morning has Madrid-Barcelona (mind you, first class on the AVE can't be that bad) and the following evening has Barcelona-Geneva (which looks like it's a Spanish trenhotel).

After that, we have a week playing around above the tree line (a week's walking in the Aravais Alps at 1500 metres and upwards).

Then we go home. Annecy-Geneva-Zurich-Stuttgart-Munich (SNCF coach service; SBB; DB). Visit friends in Munich. Munich-Mainz (DB). Night in Mainz, wine tasting in Eltville? Last leg is probably Mainz-Cologne-Brussels-London if we do it during the day.

[schoolmarm]

The other thing to look for is commuter flights, which can be cheaper, and quicker, than the train.  I have a Venice-Munich; Munich -Rome ticket for $127...no way can the train touch that.  And it is Lufthansa, not even one of the many bucket carriers.

Also for anyone traveling with other people, there are discounts on a "partner" or group ticket.  And some countries have special deals on weekends. (I'm thinking of the German Bayern ticket which allows travel over the weekend to anywhere in Bavaria).

And YES, you can buy train passes in Europe, they just cost a little more.  I believe that the regulations have changed on that recently.

I have to do just one point to point in Italy in a couple of weeks. 

Have fun!

[wegie]

The other thing to look for is commuter flights, which can be cheaper, and quicker, than the train.  I have a Venice-Munich; Munich -Rome ticket for $127...no way can the train touch that.  And it is Lufthansa, not even one of the many bucket carriers.

Up to a point. But having spent an eternity (40 minutes from Marienplatz) on the S-Bahn on Thursday afternoon getting out from Munich to the airport, I'm becoming ever more enamoured of the train.

I do hope you like ham and cheese sandwiches, though :-)

[swtrixie]

I did check flight prices against train fares. Granted it's much quicker to fly between Budapest and Krakow but we'll suck up the overnight train trip and consider that part of the adventure. The airfare didn't come close to the train ticket.

[dolljepopp]

I do lots of train travel in three countries (mostly the one I live in plus the two next door), generally on this country's national line. I find virtually no comfort difference between 1st and 2nd class, although, yes, especially during school holidays, the restive child and tipsy undergraduate quotient is higher in 2nd class. That being said, I often find 1st class (which I take only when it is the same or lower price -- happens occasionally when tour groups fill up 2nd class) is full of corporate folk chattering away on mobiles making IMPORTANT business decisions. I often find that as hard to filter out as toddler or college kid noise.

For phones, I have one other suggestion, especially if you are in Europe at least once a year. If you need to be reachable, but are OK with calling back to the US from internet cafés and/or pay phones, consider buying a cheap prepay mobile phone over here. I bought one years ago when I spent about a month a year in Europe and it is still my mobile now that I use every day. I paid, I think, less than twenty dollars (exchange rate at the time). I don't use it for actual calls outside the country I live in, but do use it for text mesages continent-wide.