FAO Buenchico

[237SJ]

Hi Chris, you used to run a railway station didn`t you? Have you got much experience of buying train tickets for trains abroad? Is it easy? Can you book them online and print them off or do you pick them up at the foreign station? I know next to nothing about trains in this country let alone abroad.
Thanks

[wolf63]

I think that you will find that, at one time or another in his life, Chris has done most jobs.

I am boring - one job and that was way too much for me. ;-)

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

Hi 237SJ.

Let's start with an important link:
http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml
The journey planner, there on the Die Bahn website, is wonderful because it incorporates the timetables of all European railways. You can ask it how to get from Cleethorpes to Moscow and you'll instantly get the whole journey planned for you!

That link lets you book certain services but, in general, you'll need to look elsewhere. You used to be able to buy tickets for European Rail travel from any principal National Rail station but that facility has been withdrawn. National Rail's official partner company is now Rail Europe:
http://www.raileurope.co.uk/
You can book online or by phone.

However many people prefer to use Die Bahn's UK telephone booking service. (See the panel on the right of the Die Bahn page I've linked to above). There are slight differences in the booking fees of the two companies, with either firm being cheaper for some journeys but dearer for others.

Many European rail operators also allow to book online (usually collecting your tickets at your departure station). Tell me which countries you're considering travelling to and I'll provide you with the relevant links.

[Buenchico]

It's also worth noting that, if you're using Eurostar, you can often get greatly reduced through fares by booking on the Eurostar website. e.g. if you're travelling from Leeds to Strasbourg you can book in a single transaction, paying far less than you would if you booked your trains separately:
http://www.eurostar.com

It's worth buying a good map to help with your route planning. Current edition:
http://tinyurl.com/368k7bo
New edition out next month:
http://tinyurl.com/374477f

This website is a great source of detailed information about rail travel across the world:
http://www.seat61.com/

Any more questions, just ask!

Chris

[237SJ]

Thanks Chris. I`ve got a couple of informative websites about the journey but it`s early days yet (planned for September). I just want to book the ticket then I can get the (3)! visas I need. Plan is, fly to Moscow, get the Trans-Mongolian Railway to Bejing, fly home. I might get Intourist to sort just the ticket out (they were quite helpful when I looked into it before but that was donkey`s years ago) but I was just wondering about the possiblity of doing it myself.

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your reply, 237SJ:
http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm