How should we travel?

I thought that I would discuss forms of transport in the countries one is visiting.

We ourselves have now used almost every form of transport in our travels and found advantages and disadvantages in each of them. These also change as one ages and if your physical abilities change. I shall give some detail on the various forms of transport we have used and some of our experiences and then create a separate table of what we believe to be the advantages and disadvantages.

Car Hire

In 2006 we hired a car to travel through Italy, Switzerland and France and then another one for the UK. At first we had been pleased to learn that, as we had made the booking more than 60 days in advance, we would get an upgrade on what we had requested and paid for. Our request was for a 1600 litre engine vehicle as we knew that we would be spending some time in slightly mountainous areas and wanted it to be strong enough to take us through all these without mishap. On arrival at the car hire company at the airport in Rome, we completed all the forms and were directed to our upgraded car. It was not just one level up as we expected but 3! It was a top of the range Peugeot 607, 3-litre diesel. When we enquired about this the staff were extremely unhelpful and disinterested. On returning the vehicle to the Paris branch, we learnt that it had been given to us because they wanted it back there from Rome. Such a large vehicle in the narrow streets of Rome, Pisa and Como was no fun, especially as we were also having to learn to drive on the right hand side of the road. Sadly, the car also got damaged when turning into a narrow driveway in Pisa and we had not taken out the excess insurance as we thought that it was too expensive. Repairs charged were even more so!

The car we hired in the UK was, in fact, smaller than we had requested – an 1100 when we had asked for a 1400 litre engine. When we enquired we were told that there was no record on our order for the 1400 let alone being upgraded. Fortunately the UK is pretty flat and has some good roads so we were in fact quite happy with it. It was big enough for our purposes and small enough to get around those English country lanes. Besides taking the extra insurance this time we also had to pay for a 2^nd driver which was a very good idea as things do happen. On this journey there was not a problem but in 2012 Trevor hurt his back and I had to drive for 3 days while it healed. It was then that I discovered that he has a Masters Degree in backseat driving. It was quite exhausting.

Train

As I have mentioned in a couple of other posts, twice we have purchased a Eurail Train Pass instead of hiring a car. We found this to be a very good option even though one has to carry luggage around the stations and on & off the trains. Generally, the trains in Europe are very good and run according to the time-tables. In Switzerland many of the trains are controlled remotely and doors close in accordance with the clock so as to keep accurate time. This did cause us a very minor problem in Geneva where I had boarded the train to Interlaken with the 2 suitcases but Trevor was still on the platform as the doors started to close. This would have been a really serious problem if, for some reason the doors had not stuck and reopened, as I had the ticket and the cell phone. It was a close call which made us even more careful.

In 2010 we had a Eurail Global Pass which gives 1^st class travel, when available, and means that you can travel in any of 28 countries for the applied for time. It can be used on all forms of public transport including trains, buses, trams and boats. For example, we decided to travel half the distance from Interlaken to Lucerne by boat enjoying 2 hours of gentle cruising and admiring the scenery before hopping on to a train to finish our journey. We spent the day in Lucerne and one of the things we did was to use the Pass to take a boat to the other side of the lake for our lunch. 

In 2014 we were in Eastern Europe and had to have separate Passes for each of the countries we were visiting, Poland, Germany, Croatia and Czec Republic as the latter 2 are not in the list of the 28 countries for a Global Pass. We also had to take a 2^nd class ticket as the cost would otherwise have been astronomical. Using the Pass though was still a very good way of travelling and is financially worth it.

Coach

Although I went on a 2½ week coach tour to the UK and Ireland in 2008, the two of us have now had 2 trips travelling in a group on a coach as the first part of each of these trips. You may have seen my posts on our trip to Oberammegau to see the Passion Play and our 7 days travelling around Bavaria and just into Austria at Salzburg. We found this to be a very nice way of seeing things and being a little ‘pampered’ at the same time as the driver of the coach in each instance would see to the loading and unloading of our luggage. He knew where we were going when and so it was not our problem to have to search for the right train or to read the map to find the correct route to our next destination. The disadvantage is that you get no choice about how long you stay in any one place and you travel for a couple of weeks with strangers whom you may or may not like.

As can be seen from the above there are advantages and disadvantages to each of these forms of travel and I have listed what I can think of in the table below. If you have anything to add please let me know and I shall willingly include them.  I have published this as the Day 8 blog of my 30 Day blog Challenge

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