So, the second day of Interrail was a loooong one. We almost-kind-of-really-didn’t sleep at London St. Pancras station. We slept on the Eurostar straight to Brussels – missing our first ever ‘under the water’ tunnel experience. Brussels was seen in a short visit instead of longer ‘layover’. And Cologne was a missed opportunity. But Berlin was a great way to end the day. Well. After a couple of hiccups. Follow me!   London St. Pancras station Sleeping in stations is not a smooth option. Some stations close at night (especially in France, more on this later). Other make you feel unsafe and some are totally fine. If you choose to sleep in any stations along the way, London St. Pancras is probably one of the safest in Europe to do so. To save us some money and avoid missing the first train to Brussels, Sara and I decided we’d sleep at the station. But we didn’t really think this ‘sleeping idea’ through. The station’s Starbucks is open 24 hours. So we thought of hanging around and sleep in turns there. They used to have these lovely sofas where we could sit, relax and (we wrongly hoped for) sleep. (Throughout the […]

The post Europe on a Shoestring – Brussels to Berlin (day 2/15) appeared first on Tidy Kingdom.

Six years ago, I fulfilled one of my dream trips: to travel around Europe by train. If you didn’t before, you can read about the beginning of the journey here. My friend and I bought our Interrail tickets in the beginning of July 2010. She met me in Hertfordshire (where I was living at the time) on the 23rd and we started our trip on the 25th. The plan was to use our Interrail Pass to get to London St. Pancras and jump on the Eurostar straight to Brussels (our first planned stop). But day 1 was unexpectedly spent in Brighton. Here’s what happened.   This was not according to plan Tip #1: take your time to plan your trip in advance. The Interrail Pass* gives you free travel on a large number of trains around Europe. Faster trains, as for example TGV or Eurostar, come at an extra (yet cheaper) cost. With our passes, we knew that we could book the Eurostar from London St. Pancras to Brussels Midi at a discounted rate. The only way to book it is to call them on +44 (0)8432 186 186 and fares (or places) are subject to availability. I highly suggest you book these in […]

The post Europe on a Shoestring – Brighton (Day 1/15) appeared first on Tidy Kingdom.