[Debian-uk] Trains from Debconf to Munich, Koeln, Paris, London, Cambridge

[Paul Sladen]

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011, Ian Jackson wrote:
> Paul Sladen writes ("Re: [Debian-uk] Trains from Debconf to Munich, Koeln, Paris, London, Cambridge"):
> > and you end up paying +/-15 euros for Couchettes per leg
> Can you get a proper sleeper berth on Interrail ?

Of course.  The Interrail ticket takes care of the travel component
and so removes any doubt about you validity of being on the train
(except for Eurostar and the Stockholm Arlanda Airport Express).

You just pay the reservation/upgrade fee for whatever comfort you
like.  (Zero for unreserved travel, 3-5euro for a seat, 15-20 for a
couchette, up to 150euros for a private posh berth overnight).

Being a single CIV ticket it also removes any doubt about dealing with
missed connections; having a 3 euro reservation from Paris to Le Harve
(for a ferry to Portsmouth) once saved my bacon after the
Copenhagen---Koln sleeper was delayed by two hours.  DB bought me a
shiney new 259 euro Eurostar ticket to ensure I got to the wedding in
time.

Being a single, pre-issued ticket CIV, it saves all those strange
conversations in strange languages when there's only 3-minutes to
change trains.  You already /have/ a ticket with universal validity
and just get on the train and worry about paying for your seat/bed
later, if the worst comes to the worst.  This is particularly handy on
the X2000 trains in Sweden which are otherwise mandatory reservation.

Tickets and reservations are different things and you can make use of
this;  if I need to be on a specific train in order to make certain
combinations of events work (UDS->Linuxtag) but aren't sure if I'm
going to them, I sometimes book the reservations in advance and
then get the expensive ticket itself closer to the time.

It all depends, sometimes (for say Berlin<->London) a pre-booked DB
Spezial ticket (with 46 hour forced stop-over in Brussels for FOSDEM)
works out better, but as soon as you're spending a couple of hundred
euros the open "Travelcard" convience of an Interrail Global Pass wins
out hands down, it's just annoying if you live in Finland or the
British Isles where you first have to pay for a ticket across the
water, or if you live in Germany where it's not valid within the
borders (and most European journeys are going to pass through
Germany).

	-Paul