Inter-railing

[fitzroyalty]

went interrailing last summer, brilliant experience, something you have to do while your still young (ie under 30). Would advise anyone thinking of doing it to get the month long ticket, this way if you are travelling with a few friends you can fit everything in without too many arguments. Eastern Europe is brill, everythings a lot cheaper although do avoid Bratislava, its a hole. Would recommend all the usuals, Paris, Barca, Rome, Krakov (defo) Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam. In Eastern block be on your best behaviour as a lot of the police/transport police are crooked cnuts. Someone mentioned Naples, wanted to go there myself but there was a binman strike or something of that nature during the summer and there were regular riots so we avoided it. The bad things that happened were that some theif stole my trainers in the hostel in rome, the traffic police in prague fined us £70 for nt having a valid ticket on the subway and being detained in brussels airport as one of our party (complete dose) had some drugs on him!

[Declan]

Had 2 great tours back in the 80's. First one with the lads which saw us take in Brussels, Amsterdam, visited a pal who was running an Irish pub on the northern coast of Germany and then 28 hours down through Germany ,Italy to Brindisi that was some journey with trying to blag ourselves into first class before boarding a ferry which took us to Corfu - mad spot altogether - Italians and English trying to re-enact Hysel every night at the disco before heading back north via old Yugoslavia and stopping off in Paris - had no money left ended up sleeping in Train station for two nights.
Next one was much more civilised as went with the missus , cheap holiday as  we were actually saving for a mortgage and wedding at the time. Did Paris ,Bordeaux,Biarritz, Nice, Heidelburg, Bruges and London.

Fantastic experiences both and would recommend it to everyone - Great way to experience Europe and meet people

[Our Nail Loney]

So you's are all a bunch of druggies?? Interesting!

[SidelineKick]

Paris is the furthest Ive been, nice spot, isn't it Nail? 

[armaghniac]

In the 80's I wrote to the Romanian embassy in London to enquire about a visa, they didn't reply for 9 months by which time the trip was long over, so I turned around in Budapest. Hungary was surprisingly normal by East European standards then.

I also did one in Scandinavian parts, all the way up to the Artic circle, in July when it didn't get dark. At that time you could also go free on some of the ferries there.

Austria/Switzerland/Slovenia wouldn't be a bad idea, some of the train trips would be incredibly scenic, including the little narrow gauge railways in Switzerland. Mind you I also planned a scenic rail trip through Innsbruck but it was so foggy that I couldn't see the platform. Also tickets without the Interrail would be fairly expensive there. The Bohin railway line in Slovenia is the most scenic I've ever been on, it is an engineering marvel going from tunnel in mountain to bridge high over a valley.

[Rav67]

It's class craic stiffler, if you're at all sociable you fall in with ones easy everywhere you go- we went Berlin Krakow Prague Venice Nice Madrid Algarve Seville.  First 3 stops are very common ones for other Irish, particularly Berlin.  If you go there stay in Generator Hostel, its the biggest hostel I've ever seen and it has a big bar, music at night and food so you could lie in it all day if you wanted!  Plenty of American dolls running about, they're defintely your best chance of getting your end away.  Aussie women tend to be a bit like Irish dolls in that they prefer their own men.  I'm gonna take about 2-3 weeks off in the summer and probably go to Thailand but if I can't round up 4 or 5 boys for that I'll likely go inter-railing again.  Any thoughts on what places you wanna go to?  Make sure you get staying 3 nights in most places cos you don't wanna try to cram in too much.

[Our Nail Loney]

It's class craic stiffler, if you're at all sociable you fall in with ones easy everywhere you go- we went Berlin Krakow Prague Venice Nice Madrid Algarve Seville.  First 3 stops are very common ones for other Irish, particularly Berlin.  If you go there stay in Generator Hostel, its the biggest hostel I've ever seen and it has a big bar, music at night and food so you could lie in it all day if you wanted!  Plenty of American dolls running about, they're defintely your best chance of getting your end away.  Aussie women tend to be a bit like Irish dolls in that they prefer their own men.  I'm gonna take about 2-3 weeks off in the summer and probably go to Thailand but if I can't round up 4 or 5 boys for that I'll likely go inter-railing again.  Any thoughts on what places you wanna go to?  Make sure you get staying 3 nights in most places cos you don't wanna try to cram in too much.

Tht rules you out rav, sure you went and hid in the water park in ayia napa because you didn't want people looking at you when you were dying!!

[Our Nail Loney]

Paris is the furthest Ive been, nice spot, isn't it Nail? 

Fcukin lovely.

[Rav67]

Like you can talk, you were likely still lying bokin your ring up in ur room at that time you lazy ****!

[WeeDonns]

7 of us went the summer before last and about 7 others joined in and left us along the way. We started in Krakow. Class city, so much nicer than we expected.  6 pints of Warga Strong here will get the holiday off to a good start. Auchwitch was interesting for a day trip, but jokes to lighten to mood were not appreciated! It wasn't karma!
Went on to Prague then. Kinda seedy when you've a crowd of girls with ya. Went to a strip club with the laziest hoors in Europe. They just dandered round the poles. Got locked outa the hostel here, and having lost the phone in Krakow i hada spend the night outside.
From there we headed to Vienna and then on down to Dubrovnik, which was absolutely class. Nicest place I've ever been to. All the women were class, except the fat, ginger, fair skinned ones you could spot from the other end of town. They were Irish.
Then we headed for Milan, caught an AC V juve game in the san siro then on to Nice and finally Biarritz. Class holiday, although on the last night of the 3 weeks I came outa the pub full drunk  and got knocked down crossing the road  but sure these things happen.
A few pointers;
•   If your from the north, get one of those E11 cards from the post office. If you need a doctor, just flash it and you don't have any hassle at the time with insurance etc. They'll just charge the NHS and then send a bill to you for the rest, which your travel insurance will pay.
•   They don't stamp your rail pass in most trains, so if you need say 12 train journeys,  just get a 10 journey pass and wing it the other times, its good craic avoiding the conductors anyway.
•   They only sell drink in the really long journeys. Bring some with you for he short ones.
•   Bring cards, and if there's some lad you don't know or want sleeping/snoring in your cabin, play bullshit.
•   For the long journeys book your seat. It only costs around €1 and means yous are guaranteed seats together. Most cabins seat 6. When there were 9/10 of us we still bought all the seats in 2 cabins. Although we didn't do this all the time as you meet some interesting people on the trains. And some not very interesting feckers you went to school with.
•   Get a rucksack and not one of those wheelie suitcases. If you're running to catch a train with one of those and you hit a kerb, your 20yards away before you realise you've just got the handle. Plus they take up too much room in the train.
•   Kleenex travel packs = essential. Can't emphasise enough.
•   Hostels don't provide towels. All the lads on our trip assumed they did, so it was a few days before there were any showers.
•   Some crap bars around claiming to be Irish bars and the only thing Irish about them is the brand new hurley nailed to the bar, the tins of Guinness and a crap internet steam of GAA games that keeps cutting out. You'll discover that any other Irish about will have found the decent place to watch a game by the Sunday which actually has Irish people who live in the city drinking in it.
•   Try the local drinks. Some beer beginning with K in a red&white can from Croatia is the nicest i've ever had.
•   Do fun things link kayaking, surfing,skydiving etc You're only young once (i think) Note: If you go sea kayaking, put sun cream on your legs!!
Feck thats a while rant. Hope it helps somehow. The only thing i regret about interailling is that i didn't do it til the summer after final year and we only went for 3 weeks.
Any of you in first year of uni with no plans for the summer, go travelling! You'll regret in a few years when you're working and get crap holidays if you don't.

[Our Nail Loney]

Great post wee donns, f**k I wanna go now!!

[wrecked_em]

7 of us went the summer before last and about 7 others joined in and left us along the way. We started in Krakow. Class city, so much nicer than we expected.  6 pints of Warga Strong here will get the holiday off to a good start. Auchwitch was interesting for a day trip, but jokes to lighten to mood were not appreciated! It wasn't karma!
Went on to Prague then. Kinda seedy when you've a crowd of girls with ya. Went to a strip club with the laziest hoors in Europe. They just dandered round the poles. Got locked outa the hostel here, and having lost the phone in Krakow i hada spend the night outside.
From there we headed to Vienna and then on down to Dubrovnik, which was absolutely class. Nicest place I've ever been to. All the women were class, except the fat, ginger, fair skinned ones you could spot from the other end of town. They were Irish.
Then we headed for Milan, caught an AC V juve game in the san siro then on to Nice and finally Biarritz. Class holiday, although on the last night of the 3 weeks I came outa the pub full drunk  and got knocked down crossing the road  but sure these things happen.
A few pointers;
•   If your from the north, get one of those E11 cards from the post office. If you need a doctor, just flash it and you don't have any hassle at the time with insurance etc. They'll just charge the NHS and then send a bill to you for the rest, which your travel insurance will pay.
•   They don't stamp your rail pass in most trains, so if you need say 12 train journeys,  just get a 10 journey pass and wing it the other times, its good craic avoiding the conductors anyway.
•   They only sell drink in the really long journeys. Bring some with you for he short ones.
•   Bring cards, and if there's some lad you don't know or want sleeping/snoring in your cabin, play bullshit.
•   For the long journeys book your seat. It only costs around €1 and means yous are guaranteed seats together. Most cabins seat 6. When there were 9/10 of us we still bought all the seats in 2 cabins. Although we didn't do this all the time as you meet some interesting people on the trains. And some not very interesting feckers you went to school with.
•   Get a rucksack and not one of those wheelie suitcases. If you're running to catch a train with one of those and you hit a kerb, your 20yards away before you realise you've just got the handle. Plus they take up too much room in the train.
•   Kleenex travel packs = essential. Can't emphasise enough.
•   Hostels don't provide towels. All the lads on our trip assumed they did, so it was a few days before there were any showers.
•   Some crap bars around claiming to be Irish bars and the only thing Irish about them is the brand new hurley nailed to the bar, the tins of Guinness and a crap internet steam of GAA games that keeps cutting out. You'll discover that any other Irish about will have found the decent place to watch a game by the Sunday which actually has Irish people who live in the city drinking in it.
•   Try the local drinks. Some beer beginning with K in a red&white can from Croatia is the nicest i've ever had.
•   Do fun things link kayaking, surfing,skydiving etc You're only young once (i think) Note: If you go sea kayaking, put sun cream on your legs!!
Feck thats a while rant. Hope it helps somehow. The only thing i regret about interailling is that i didn't do it til the summer after final year and we only went for 3 weeks.
Any of you in first year of uni with no plans for the summer, go travelling! You'll regret in a few years when you're working and get crap holidays if you don't.

christ weedonns you've came up in the world if you're able to get that down ye.  I do recall liftin half drank tinnies(and not that many of them) from our living room floor and you passed out!!
However if any of yous hoors are doin a holiday like that again gimme a shout!!

[milltown row]

before we got wed. me and the missus did the inter-railing had a blast. flew to Paris first, during the world cup finals in France at the time (didn't see any games )

stayed in Paris for 2 nights, sampled the semi- final win. Paris was really buzzing open air concerts and like. then we headed to Lyon for 3 nights stayed in a hostel some craic. wife is used to hotels, was strange for her to sleep with girls but we managed to get our own room. Lyon is a great city and the finals night was fantastic. well we had a little argument and i solved it walking into a tree while looking at these women, fecking hurt

after Lyon we head down to Nice, some spot and then we headed to Cannes and stayed in our first Camp site. Newcastle County Down it wasn't. the Campsites were amazing. stayed there for Bastille Day, wine on the beach and the fireworks going off in Nice, brillo. i could go on but we headed to Innsbruck, Bern, Switzerland by the lakes, then up to Munich to a campsite invaded by mad Irish men  (no sleep). then Cologne and Amsterdam then finally Brussels

it's hard work no doubt, but looking back it was the best Holiday without doubt that we had as a couple. some craic some memory's great hospitality and loads more stories. loved to do it again

[Rav67]

Just when you mention Auschwitz-  went there one day and on the bus back to Krakow there were these 2 older men and a young protege dressed in biker gear and wearing Skrewdriver t-shirts (for those who don't know they're an English neo-nazi punk band with hits like "nigger I hate your face" and "smash smash the ira")!  Was wondering if the neo-nazis who go there think Auschwitz is a big exaggerated conspiracy like the historian David Irving, or if they see it as a sort of shrine for them.  

[Treasurer]

Mind you I also planned a scenic rail trip through Innsbruck but it was so foggy that I couldn't see the platform.

On a Funtrek years ago, I missed the chance to go to Piz Gloria and the revolving restaurant made famous by James Bond, and when I later saw photos others had taken, I was determined that it would be included in some future trip.  Four years later I went out of my way to include it on an inter-rail itinerary but it was so damn foggy we could hardly see the fingers on our outstretched hands!  So we sat in this revolving resturant in the Alps and bought postcards of what we WOULD have seen if it wasn't foggy.