<p>My daughter is headed out for a semester in London, and we are trying to determine a budget for her discretionary travel.</p>
<p>Back in the day, buying a Eurail pass was the way to tour, but now, with all the discount airlines, I have the sense that most college students don’t bother.</p>
<p>Have any of your students used a Eurail pass during their time abroad? Were they happy they did?</p>
<p>DS used it on an eight-week European adventure last spring. It was very worthwhile. If your D buys one, make sure she’s buys the insurance available as well. That way, if she loses it or it’s stolen and she has to buy another ticket, she can get reimbursed for the second purchase.</p>
<p>DS found it useful because you can arrive and depart from the city itself, rather than having to get to an airport.</p>
<p>If your son is going to school and not just traveling, he may find that the Train pass is not worthwhile. It IS still good for those who are taking extended holidays and wish to get around Europe (which I think is what VH’s son was doing). BUT for those doing weekend trips here and there around Europe, your daughter may find that the pass is not worth the money it costs. Check to see just how much traveling she might/might not be doing, and go from there. When my kid was in London, he went to Amsterdam, Munich, Vienna, Spain, and around the UK without a Eurail pass. He took the local trains in the countries to get around. And he flew inexpensively from London when he needed to fly.</p>
<p>If he had been going for a long trip around Europe, (not a semester at school), the train pass would have been more beneficial for him.</p>
<p>A 15-day Eurorail pass costs $483, and my daughter thinks she can get a discount on it through her program.</p>
<p>If she wants to travel over spring break, I think she would easily get her money’s worth, even if she only uses it for a week.</p>
<p>Rail travel is expensive.</p>
<p>VeryHappy made a good point about going from one town center to another.</p>
<p>If your daughter plans to go from city to city on that spring break, the pass might be worth the cost. If she is planning on going to a destination (e.g. Paris), she may not use it…or need it. A lot depends on what kind of travelling she plans to do. Going from city to city would be less expensive by train, I would think. BUT a destination trip isn’t going to involve almost $500 worth of train costs, I don’t think.</p>
<p>You might find it’s best to put the pencil to it. It can be better to buy the pass; depends on the days traveling vs days touring</p>
<p>Be sure to investigate the purchase price from the US vs waiting to buy the pass once she’s in Europe. Once there, she may have access to the UK website prices. Definately use the student discount opportunities.</p>
<p>D1 spent last spring semester in France (Loire Valley). She took several trips to the countryside and into Paris over the course of the semester, always using the train. It was cheaper to buy indivicual tickets. </p>
<p>Then, after the semesrter ended, she stayed in Europe for 6 more weeks, traveling to 10 countries in total. Sometimes she flew, and she was able to purchase very inexpensive airfare (ryanair). The rest of the time she bought individual train tickets, as needed. </p>
<p>She had saved up all her own money for her whole 6 month European adventure. She is very frugal, and she sepnt some time investigating the prices. For her, the Eurail pass never made sense. She was only in England for 1 week total, and Ireland for 10 days. </p>
<p>There is a step (and expensive) learning curve for traveling in Europe. Other students may be able to give her some tips (watch out for ryanair surcharges, pack light, get your tickets validated before you get onto the train, etc.)</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>The passes we bought were for defined countries (which you could select if they were contiguous) and good for X number of days within a Y period (3 days within 2 weeks for example). So you could select the days you were using them and it was unlimited travel during that day. We liked the flexibility. And yes, don’t underestimate the hassle and the expense of going to and getting through the airport. Heathrow is easy, Orly–not so much.</p>
<p>Also, if you buy a train trip (London-Paris on Eurostar for example), the cheapest fares go first then it progressively rises as time draws closer. Some of the early fares are really pretty cheap.</p>
<p>When my sons bummed around Europe for a summer a couple of years ago the Eurailpass was perfect - they had no set plans, so they would just figure out which train to take to get to wherever they decided to go next. It gave them a lot of freedom and they made long looping travel paths, stopping in various places as they went. But when my daughter studied in Sevilla this last fall she took RyanAir everywhere she went. (And believe me, she went <strong>everywhere</strong> I think she spent a total of four weekends in Sevilla out of 16.) The train passes weren’t very economical for the time period involved and the time involved to travel anywhere from southern Spain by train made the Eurailpass undesirable. Since she was travelling on weekends and planning ahead she was able to secure quite inexpensive round-trip air tickets to Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich, Barcelona, Rome, etc. and the travel time was, of course, much shorter than by train (but watch out for the baggage restrictions!)</p>
<p>My guess would be that a semester in London would pencil out similarly to a semester in Sevilla. Particularly if your daughter is thinking of traveling any distance from England.</p>
<p>In some cases doing the travel by train overnight could perhaps save the cost of lodging. It would depend a lot on the desired itinerary.</p>
<p>Son was in London for year and found inexpensive flights to all European cities. The pass you quoted is for a brief period. Seems they may want to travel more spontaneously and also plans may ne shaped by new friends they meet there.</p>
<p>Son wants to spend an extended time in Europe in an upcoming year. Is there a good website that focuses on student/young adult travel in Europe?</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages, I travelled all through Europe with a friend with a 2 week train pass.
We had a vague itinerary. It was very cool to just jump on the next train whenever.
We did get a sleeping car for one long leg and that saved us hotel.</p>
<p>I second the advantage of being dropped off into town center and not at an airport.</p>
<p>Skyhook-Try STA Travel</p>
<p>D was also in France last spring. Her travel was more carefully planned, over a period of time. Though Ryan air is cheaper, it was rather complicated to use, requiring a trip to Paris from her provincial city, an overnight in Paris, an early AM bus to a smaller airport, no carry on luggage, which made travel to woofing destinations impossible in her estimation. When I think of what she later spent on ferries and trains, for someone wandering for a few weeks, Eurail would be a bargain. </p>
<p>Heck, I still want to wander Europe with a Eurail pass.</p>
<p>I used a Eurail pass during my time in Europe 30+ years ago. What makes me question its value now is:
<p>I also traveled to Europe for several months using Eurailpass more than 30 years ago. It did not make sense to get for either of my d’s when they studied abroad. One was in Rome,the other in Vienna. They used the discount air carriers and they also got student fares on trains within the countries they studied in,such as day trips to Pompeii and Pisa.In the case of Vienna, to get to Budapest and Prague. Both programs had trips, some class-related that we paid for in advance as part of the tuition charges and required, other’s optional and first come, first served to sign up such as ski weekend in the Alps.</p>
<p>The Eurail pass is more beneficial for continental Europe. If you have to take the Eurostar from London to Paris every time you want to go somewhere, that is not ideal.</p>
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<p>you should double check this… when I used the Eurail pass in 2008, if you got on an overnight train after a certain time (perhaps 8pm), then it counted as the following day only. That was one of the big benefits. I rode multiple overnight trains and they were all like this. <strong>I just googled around, and it looks like if you leave after 7pm, your “travel day” goes until midnight the following day, aka 29 hours of travel time for using 1 day on the Eurail pass.</strong></p>
<p>You need to carefully study the Eurail timetables to decide if it is worth it… sometimes you can spend a Eurail pass day, but it might not cover the whole trip (example: when I went to Poland, it wouldn’t cover the travel in Poland, so that had to be paid for separately).</p>
<p>I took the Paris to Rome train when I was in Europe. Actually, I went Paris to Milan, then Milan to Pisa, and then Pisa to Rome. All just using 1 day of Eurail travel. That said, it looks like there is an issue with a new train company that covers part of the Paris-Rome trip, that might not be part of Eurail yet. Also remember that the Eurail allows you to get on some trains without buying a ticket, but some trains (all overnight ones, some others) require extra fees. These trains are clearly marked in the Eurail timetable.</p>
<p>I agree with soccerguy. It’s not worth it starting from London, as Eurail does not work in the UK, and does not work on Eurostar (that is the train through the tunnel to France). You can buy a similar thing for the UK called a Brit rail pass, but I also think that wouldn’t be worth it either, unless you were on a vacation and travelling constantly, rather than just at weekends. Probably better to get a young persons railcard for UK travel.
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