Finding Internal Europe flights, trains, and hotels

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First thing to do before booking any flight, train, and hotels is to list down where to go, how long to stay in a city, and how to move from one city to others. Make some alternatives just in case flight/train ticket to a city in your selected day is expensive. See Europe map to make sure we take logical geographical route. Compare each option and make adjustment if train/flight cost is expensive.

Put in mind that it is usually faster, efficient, and cheaper by taking train instead of flight for adjacent countries. You need extra 3 hours before flight departure for going to airport, check-in and security clearance, and extra 1 hour after arrival to find your way to hotel. This means you'll waste half-day by taking flight, not to mention if your flight is on around 11am-1pm, then practically you have waste whole day.

I had 3 option in Europe Traveling routes (my case: start from London, must end at Frankfurt)
1. London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Frankfurt
2. London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Amsterdam, Frankfurt
3. London, Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt

Option #1 is to stay in London, then using night ferry service (from Harwich) to Amsterdam via Rotterdam, then take train to Paris, night train to Rome, train to Florence, train to Venice, and fly to Frankfurt Hahn.

Option #2 is to from London to Paris by train, night train to Rome, train to Florence and Venice, then fly to Amsterdam, and train to Frankfurt.

Option #3 is from London fly to Rome, train to Florence and Venice, train to Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt.

Later I took option #3, night train from Paris to Venice/Rome or vice versa was not possible as Swiss Visa needed (of which I didn't apply), taking day train would waste my time, and etc etc.

Train Booking

There is a comprehensive reading about taking european train by Mark Smith 'Seat61' (www.seat61.com). Never book a train ticket before reading this site. You'll find all information you need to travel to a city, from train name, types, timetable, price, and the most important is where to book.

Europe trains are served by many companies (state-owned) and in my experience will not compete each other since they have their own unique destination. For example there is only TGV and EuroStar serving London and Paris route, TGV for France Destinations. TGV and Thalys train serve Paris - Brussels/Amsterdam route, etc. Cheap factor is determined from when you book tickets, time (peak/off-peak), and comfort class.

Europe Train departure time is sharp as knife, adjust your watch to station time since trains depart on-time, at least arrive at station 20 minutes (30 minutes for large station) to find train platform and coach.

To book my journey on Western Europe, I did extensive research on multiple websites, comparing prices, and later to be compared with airlines. Fast Internet connection is really a must, and I took almost 4 weeks to complete all my bookings. You'd better spend one whole day (Saturday) to do comparison before start buying any tickets. Calculate total cost needed for whole journey for each alternative, and make sure still have time to explore city.

Germany train company, Bahn, ( http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en )  provides an excellent European train routes and timetables. Use this page to estimate train time and train number, also suggesting connecting trains, which can be used later in other websites. No price will be calculated for trains other than Germany destination.

If possible, it'd better to take over night train (called sleepers) for traveling. You won't end in sleeping in a seat, instead yo will be given sleeping bed in a sleeping car train. This will save you hotel money.

A sleeping-car is the equivalent of a hotel: A cosy bedroom, with comfortable beds, washbasin, and room service. For the daytime parts of a journey, the beds fold away to reveal a sofa. Sleepers come in 1-, 2-, 3- and (sometimes) 4-berth varieties, depending on the route, whether you have a 1st or 2nd class ticket, and the price you want to pay. If you are traveling alone and don't want to pay for a 1st class single room, you can normally book just one berth in a 2- or 3-berth room and share with other passengers of the same sex (sometimes mixed). In addition to the normal lock, sleeper compartments have a security lock which cannot be opened from outside, even with a staff key, so you'll be both safe and snug.

A sleeper costs about £20-£39 in western Europe or £11-£20 in eastern Europe per person per night for a berth in a 3-berth in addition to the relevant 2nd class ticket or railpass. A berth in a 2-berth costs about £35-£49 per night, plus either a 1st or 2nd class ticket or railpass depending on the route and type of sleeper. A single room costs around £70-£90 per night and you must have a 1st class ticket or railpass. On an increasing number of routes (e.g. Paris to Madrid, Barcelona, Italy, and Brussels to Berlin), good-value inclusive fares are now charged, covering travel, sleeper and breakfast.

For example you can have overnight train from Paris to Rome (crossing Swiss border, visa needed), Milan to Amsterdam, etc.

You can book ticket from these sites:

• www.RailEurope.co.uk - UK RailEurope, can book major west europe train
• www.voyages-sncf.com - SNCF France, same function as RailEurope, including all France city connection.
• www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html - Trenitalia Italy, book Italian city train (e.g. Rome to Venice), and to adjacent countries.

I booked from Trenitalia for Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice using my credit card, and it gave me a page to print (or in PDF format). The printed page is a valid ticket, no need to queue at counter anymore, bring it to on board train for staff inspection. The train staff (during middle journey) will come and check using his bar-code scanner and PDA.

For Paris to Amsterdam, I used SNCF website to book (chose English language, sir), separated my journey into Paris-Brussel and Brussel-Amsterdam (it is cheaper in this way), also using credit card. Later the site gave me a page to print but must be exchange with valid ticket at SNCF Ticket office when I was in Paris. SNCF Ticket offices are available at Charles De Gaulle Airports, major metro stations, and Disneyland station.

SNCF website will redirect you to French language site if you choose ticket pickup in France. Read my step by step instruction to buy train tickets in French language.

Some people will suggest you to buy Euro Rail Pass, a pass that allow you to take unlimited train ride on certain days. It might be cheaper but it might not, and again, a lot of research is needed.

Airlines Booking

European airlines are pioneers in world low cost carrier (LCC), but you have to be careful when book a ticket. Never attracted by cheap price shown in the query pages or banner. The rule is 'you will only know final ticket price before entering credit card number'. For every peace ofluggage to check-in, there will be a fee for it. Even they charged me for using credit card as payment method!

LCC Airlines use small airports (usually farther) instead of big ones. For example RyanAir uses Luton and Gatwick Airports instead of Heathrow. Examine needed time and cost to reach this kind of small airports.

Usually cheap means fly very early in the morning or arrive very late in the night. Put transportation from/to airport into consideration, no public bus will take you on 4am to Luton from London.

• www.ryanair.com - RyanAir started up in Ireland is no.1 LCC airline in Europe, so make sure to query it before others. Don't excited about 0 (zero) Poundsterling price when it come up. They serve so many cities in Europe.
• www.easyjet.com - Easyjet is the second, together with RyanAir usually these two will be the cheapest airlines compared to others.
• www.vueling.com
• www.transavia.com
• www.lufthansa.com - give it a try okay?
• www.ba.com - sometimes (seldom) British Airlines offers promo cheap ticket

I quoted from Rick Steves site (http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/flights.htm ): Some websites search routes on multiple (but not necessarily all) cheap airlines: www.skyscanner.net is the best, but you can also try www.mobissimo.com and www.wegolo.com. Because some of these sites focus on budget airlines, they can miss just-as-cheap promotional offers on major carriers; to find the right connection, you may need to search several sites. Other budget-airline information sites — which have destination maps and recent airline news — include www.flycheapo.com and www.attitudetravel.com.

In my case that I had to take route from London to Rome, it would be faster by flying than taking train. I booked flight from London Luton to Rome Ciampino using RyanAir for £65 for 2 persons (this was a £0 ticket in the query page!). It served well, on-time flight and no surprise factor.

Later I took flight from Venice Marco Polo to Paris CDG using EasyJet, cost me €140 for 2 persons. It wasn't the cheapest but I had to take this route and flight. Their ground staff were a bit disappointing, causing delay for 15-20 minutes just for checking when boarding.

Coach Booking

If you want a cheaper but slower travel, another alternative is by taking Bus or Coach. A consortium of European Bus companies called them EuroLines (http://www.Eurolines.com/ ) can take you to city to city between countries. Some routes offer night bus, so it can save some money by not staying in hotel.

Each country has its own eurolines booking site and we have to go to respective site to book. Taking bus from Paris to somewhere means you have to book from France Eurolines site (and unfortunately in France Language).

I took bus from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, so I booked from Netherland site (http://www.eurolines.nl/), it was €22 per person for a overnight bus from Amsterdam Amstel to Frankfurt Main.

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