Transportation, my experiences

Transport experiences

The greatest thing for me who’s filled with untamed wanderlust is the easy access to anywhere when I’m placed in the middle of Europe. The bus system in Europe is quite good, and I’ve used it a lot. Most of these busses are just as comfortable as a train, but often way cheaper. But, there is possibilities to save a lot by taking the train as well.

I want to share some of my experiences with different transportation with you, so you’re aware of your opportunities, but also what to watch out for.

There’s lot of websites out there who compares and shows you the different type of transportation, companies and prices.

The site I’ve been using is www.goeuro.com. What I like about this site is how easy it is, how it on the top of the list of transportations shows a plain, bus and train and say the cheapest price for each. For some companies you buy through their site, and for other companies they send you over to the companies site.

Just be aware, if you order a return trip you will choose from a list when you want to go and when you then decide the return you’ll have to choose times from the same company. This may limit you, and I might suggest to also search separate for each way to compare fitting times and prices. Also, remember that they don’t show all companies so a google search can also be smart.

Bus companies as Flixbus, is someone I would recommend! The seats are comfy, usually there’s opportunities to charge your devices, there’s toilettes etc. Their website is also very easy to use. Once, when I had a bus change, and according to my ticket I had a two- hour wait at Vienna Airport, but the bus goes every hour from there, so I went outside to talk to the bus driver, and he was kind enough to let me on that bus instead of waiting another hour. If you’re travelling longer it might be smart to book a seat. When some friends and I travelled from Prague to Amsterdam for a couple of days, then to Luxembourg for a day and then back to Prague, we ordered night busses to get the most out of the day, and to not spent too much money for accommodation. I was happy for the longest rides to have booked a good seat, which was on the upper level of the bus, in front. Here we had more space for our legs and a great view.

Regio jet is also a great one! They have chargers, serve hot drinks included, and a screen in front of you with series, internet, movies, games etc. AND THE PRICE IS GREAT, once I got a ticket for 1,5 euro. There’s also no extra fee for seat reservation, but you choose a seat when you order your ticket online. 

I’ve also used companies as Hello which I also recommend.

On the other hand, there’s one company I’ve had a bad experience with. And that’s with Crnja tours when travelling from Vienna to Zadar. First of all, the travel is almost 10 hours and there’s no chargers or toilettes in the bus. They stopped once at a gas station which gave you the opportunity to go to the toilette and to buy something to eat though. The problem came when we got to Zagreb and they said something over the speaker, which neither my travel companion or I could understand. We were almost thrown out of the bus, and were told “fifteen” and the driver pointed at the platform. So, we waited there without knowing what was going on, as our ticket said the trip was directly. We arrived there at 09.30, and we didn’t know what he meant with “fifteen”, fifteen minutes? Fifteen past?

The bus arrived 10.15, and we got on and got to Zadar.

On the way back we were ready to change the bus, but still with a ticket saying the travel were direct. So, when we get to Zagreb we exit the bus as we’re told in really limited English and wait at the platform the driver tells/points at. Now we’re told a time, and we’re waiting. When it gets closer to departure time we check every bus from this company which arrives at the surrounding platforms, but it’s not there and no one can tell me where to find it. There’s no information board, and in the hall upstairs there’s no one in the information booth. It passes the departure time and I start to call the numbers one the ticket. One number is out of use and no one answer when calling the other one. I enter their website and send them an email. There I find another number after looking around, call it and are given a lot of choices based on pressing a curtain number(which is not informed in English), so I try the different ones. When I ask if they speak English, most of them just hung up on me. One man speaks English but say I have to talk to someone else and that he’ll give my number to the right person to call me back. After a short time, the person calls, but hangs up when I ask if the person speak English. After waiting a bit, I call the number and press the same button to speak with the man who spoke English, and I told him the other one hung up. At this time he’s able to tell me that the bus went from the bus station at the time it was supposed to, so it was nothing he could do for us.  

Our travel was booked through www.goeuro.com, so we called them and a woman told us our rights and took our booking numbers and name to investigate further. Because, even though the bus left the station from a different platform but at the right time, they have to inform about bus changes on the way. So, we sent a complaint to the company.

But sadly, there’s still no answer to the emails, not the one sent that day nor the complaint sent later.

Well, based on this experience trains sounds good, right? Agreed. There’s always an information board, or the station is so small so you can see the train on the platform.

My first tip when it comes to trains is to order your ticket in advance online.  When I travelled from Bratislava to Czech Republic I ordered a ticket online, but for the way back I bought it at the train station and the price was almost double!!

Interrail is a wonderful option if you plan a longer trip with different stops or lay overs. I studied a summer in Roma, Italy, and because I didn’t want to limit myself I didn’t buy a ticket home. So, when going home in August the tickets were sky high! Around 500 euros from Rome to Oslo!!   So, a fellow student and I checked Interrail which turned out to be way cheaper for a 10-day travel. We planned our route as night trains and high speed train require a seat reservation for a small cost as well. We went from Rome to Milan, had some hours there with the luggage stored at the train station. Then we went on to Nice in France for 2 nights with a day-trip to Monaco. From there we went to Cannes for a day before continuing to Paris for a couple of nights, with a cheap hostel right next to Sacre Coeur. Then we went to Hamburg for a night, before heading up through Denmark, Sweden and over to Norway.  

The whole trip: 10 days train ticket, seat reservations for high speed trains and night trains, accommodation, food, entrance fees etc. came in total 800 euros! Just 300 euros more, that a two-hour flight.

Renting a car can always be great. They you have the full freedom to travel when and where you want. With some fellow students, I once rented a car in Prague, they we drove to Dresden in Germany for a couple of days before heading up to Berlin. It was a great experience, we could stop at all those places we saw on the road, just taking it in our pace. It was quite cheap as we were 5 people traveling together splitting all costs.

Just make sure you have an international driving license and insurance, then you’re good to go!

I wish you safe travels, and hope you make the most out of your stay abroad!