Sunday, September 28, 2014

All About Trains.


Trains are the epitome of traveling. They have been getting us from one place to another ever since covered wagons were in style. Now with the emerging technology of Mag-Lev (Magnetic Levitation) and other high-speed trains, trains still remain the king of efficient and fast transportation. 

Unfortunately, in the United States, trains are not at all used like they should be. One of the main lines is Amtrak, which tends to be rather expensive. It’s usually cheaper than air, but quite a bit more expensive than driving, and some bus lines. Most of this is due to limited regions of train stops, and American’s desire to drive their own cars whenever humanly possible. In Europe, on the other hand, train travel is much more common and heavily implemented. Here are some reasons that train travel may be for you.
  1. Trains are on time. Except for a few instances and places, trains generally pride themselves on being on time. Unlike the air industry, there is a strict adherence to the clock and you can usually rely on it being there when you need it to.
  2. Trains are easy. Gone are the days of intrusive security measures and awkward baggage checks. All you have to do is show up at the station and hop on the train. Your ticket is checked once on the train, and possibly before you get onto the terminal, but other than that, you could show up ten minutes before your train leaves and have nothing to worry about. Now with digital tickets, I don't even have hassle with printing tickets. I can keep it all on my phone. Most trains also have electrical outlets, snack carts and occasionally Wi-Fi.
  3. Trains are fun. I personally love trains. The seats are generally comfortable, and if you are lucky, you might get one with a table. My favorite is getting a six-person room with a bunch of friends. Taking a train can be like getting a bonus tour of the countryside that you would normally never see. I will never forget the amazing ride along the French/Spanish coast, on my way to Barcelona. Absolutely amazing. Looking out those enormous windows was like being inside a national Geographic magazine.

In terms of prices go, it all depends on where and when you are going. I have found that the earlier you reserve/buy tickets, the cheaper then tend to be. Keep an eye out for discount memberships, such as the VorteilsCard that I got while in Austria that took 50% off train tickets  in Austria and 25% on participating trains outside of Austria. 

In addition, there are rail passes, that are great for extend stay trips or long distance travels. I used the Eurail Pass while in Europe. There are numerous options and plans available. I purchased the “15 days of travel within 2 months” plan, I didn't end up using all of the days, but it definitely was a great purchase. 

One word of WARNING: Just because you have a Eurail, doesn't mean that you can travel wherever you want for free. Many times the high-speed trains will require a reservation ahead of time, which usually costs money, especially on over-night trains. I found that both France and Spain were especially difficult about making reservations and were pretty expensive, even with the Eurail pass 



PRO-TripTip: Use Trains in junction with planes. I found that it was MUCH cheaper to train to cities that had cheap flights to other cities. For example, I took trains from Austria, to Paris, to Barcelona, and then took a $55 flight to Brussels and then trained back to Austria from there. Not only did I save TONS of money, but I saved time and got to see cities that were farther away from each other. Definitely worth looking into. I will be discussing air travel next week, so stay tuned!

-P

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Tripping for the First Time.



Going on a big trip is intimidating. Almost any time I travel to a new place I get stressed. It's part of the experience. At first it used to annoy me, but then I started to realize how it is okay to be stressed. It's just our body's way of coping with the unexpected. For me, traveling has always been a thing, my family would take trips across the country to New Your every single summer. Traveling in Europe. I’ve just always been accustomed to being in new places and having to deal with possibly difficult situations.

The first thing to know about traveling is that you need to be organized. You need to have your ‘ish’ together. Every trip is going to have it’s share of surprises and things you didn't expect. 
  1. You can’t control the variables.
  2. You can control your own variables.
Making sure you have a place to stay, money to spend, and things to do is something you are responsible for, and if you do everything right, you can save yourself a lot of unhappiness. Traveling Abroad is probably the most difficult, mainly just because the language and culture is quite different than out own. There are many online resources for planning a successful trip. Here are a few that I found particularly useful while in Europe:

Trains
Eurail.com

Trains and Buses

Air

Hotels/hostels

Reviews
tripadvisor.com
yelp.com

For traveling in the United States, things are usually quite different and much less intimidating. Taking a car may be the norm, but you never know when a train or flight could be cheaper and/or faster.

Train
Amtrak.com

Air
www.southwest.com
www.spirit.com

Bus
www.megabus.com


-P

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

The Trouble with Tourists.





Hello, my name is Patrick. I am by no means an expert traveler. I have traveled often and relatively far, but I still have much to learn. I do, however, enjoy paying attention to detail, and finding ways to live my life more efficiently. At this point, I figured I would share some of my findings with my fellow travelers, as traveling is one of most time consuming and usually overwhelming activities we get ourselves into.
One of my pet peeves is being considered a tourist. I hate it. I refuse to ever stoop to that level. I am sickened by the loud, obnoxious, shutter happy, poorly dressed, social invaders that plague most famous sights in the world. Now I’m not judging everyone. Just some people. The people who don’t have respect for the homes and cities of others. Those who are only looking out for themselves and disregard any kind of laws or rules to put in place for their protection and the protection of others. There is a human standard that is being broken here, and it’s sure time it was fixed.
I just recently got back from Europe, but that doesn't mean that our troublesome tourists are not among us as we speak. They loiter and wander in our very own towns and local establishments, feeding into the vicious love-hate relationship between the tourist’s pocketbook and the local business owner’s income statement. Have you ever stopped to think that you may be one of those people? This may be you. You may be guilty. You can still repent. You too can travel and remain invisible to the wonders of the world. 

Whether it was from online resources, people I met, or just good ‘ol trial and error, I hope to share with you all the tips and tricks that I have learned, so that you can have the best travel experience possible. 



-P