Jack's Flight Club ✈️ Travel News & Inspiration |
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As international sporting events go, today marks the start of a pretty major one — the 2024 Paris Olympics! This year's event has not gone without its fair share of headlines in the run-up, from the "will-they-won't-they" ofswimming eventsin the River Seine, tocontroversial athletes, andarson attackson the French rail system ahead of the opening ceremony. Thankfully, there's a spot of light relief in the form of Snoop Dogg, who was an unexpected hit for is commentary during the Tokyo Olympics. Tonight, he'llcarry the Olympic torchalong its final stretch through Saint-Denis as it heads towards the Olympic Cauldron at the Jardin du Trocadéro Stadium. |
Happy sports-ing, and safe travels, |
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“I would love some interrailing tips and your recommendations for travelling Europe by train!” |
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“Highlights, recommendations and tips for an interrailing trip around Europe on a budget!” |
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| By Katy A seasoned budget traveller, Editor Katy has already been to every country in the EU, and is gradually ticking off the rest of the world - when she can bear to leave her cats. |
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Good news, readers, you’ve come to the right place! Yes, we’re all about finding excellent flights here at JFC, but my colleagues and I make no secret of our fondness for rail travel, either! Last year’sTrans-European Racefrom London to Istanbul reignited my love of interrailling, which I had first done at 17 — so much so that I’m counting down the days (22, in case you were wondering) until wedo it all again. Considering we’re thoroughly in the midst of planning our trips this year and giving tips to first-timers, your questions are perfectly timed, readers! I’ve gathered top tips from our team, sifted through our existing articles, and even dived back into the group chat archives to see what nuggets of wisdom I could find to help you hit the rails with confidence! Here goes… |
1. Stay Flexible After long days or night sitting on trains, you will need to get stretching and practise those yoga poses. But we’re more talking about your plans!\xa0 Having a route in mind before you go is ideal — you can plan out every connection in advance if you want to, or just play it by ear. Either way, those plans will probably change at some point, and you’ll have to roll with the punches.\xa0 As flight finder Andreia says,“You can have a general plan or a list of countries you want to visit, but if you're willing to explore alternative routes, you may end up finding new cities you never thought of exploring before.”\xa0 And it’s so true — for Andreia, Tristan, and Danni, it was the Serbian town ofNovi Sadthat gave them a pleasant surprise last year. For my team of racers, it was the cute little mountain town ofVillach, near the Austria/Slovenia border. Even though they were just stopovers on our way to the next city, they offered up a slice of real life, away from the beaten tourist track. That said, you want to give yourself enough flexibility for things to go wrong, too. Last summer, we had protests on the line in France, major flooding in Central Europe, hours of waiting at border crossings… So, you’ll probably come across one or two delays or cancellations! Always try to schedule in a buffer to avoid missing connections, and check out alternative routes so that you have a back-up plan. |
2. Be Spontaneous You should stay flexible with accommodation, too. We found that there’s generally plenty to go around in the major cities, so short notice bookings are rarely a problem. You may end up somewhere a littlequirky,though. For example, we managed to grab a 4-bed room in a pod hostel in Sofia called Green Cube for only €13 per person per night. It was cheap, clean, comfy, and close enough to the main train station to be convenient. It did come with a rather unique green glow, however, and I can only describe the experience inside my little pod as what I imagine it’d be like inside a cartoon alien’s womb. |
3. Make reservations… sparingly! If you have an Interrail or Eurail pass, your train tickets across Europe are paid for — woo-hoo! However, some routes require you to reserve a seat too, the cost of which can be anywhere from €5 to €70 depending on the train.\xa0 Before you panic, I’ve only seen that super expensive reservation price on one sleeper train in Western Europe. High-speed trains in countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and France usually charge €15-€20 per seat, but you can usually get around that by taking a slower (more scenic) route.\xa0 When it comes to sleeper trains, you’llalwaysneed to make a reservation—but beware, the beds tend to sell out quickly, and you may find yourself left with only an upright seat to sleep on. This is where you have to balance that flexibility with planning, especially since some of those sleeper trains can only be booked in person or via email. As always,The Man in Seat 61has all the info you’ll need. But if you’re looking to save on cash, don't buy reservations unless you're sure they’re necessary. The Interrail Rail Planner app is handy for finding your route options, and it does tell you whether you have to pay for a seat — but it's not always super clear.\xa0 When Andreia & co. decided to take the famousBernina Express, they read a bunch of stuff saying they’d have to pay anywhere from €50 to €200. In the end, they decided to go straight to the departure point at Chur and check there, and it turned out the Interrail pass was all they needed.\xa0 |
4. Don’t be afraid of buses Okay, I know we’re here to talk about trains, but let me just throw in the concept of a long-distance bus. Why? Well, some of the most exciting, under-explored places in Europe are easier to reach by bus, that’s why!\xa0 I’ve already purchased my Interrail pass for this year’s race to Tirana, knowing full well that there are no trains in or out of our final destination. In our experience, this was mostly the case whencrossing international borders in the Balkans, though there are a few exceptions that always sell out fast (*cough*Sofia–Istanbul sleeper*cough*).\xa0 But there’s almost always a bus that’ll get you there. Most of them were comfortable enough, and some even handed out snacks! Don’t believe what they tell you when you book, though — the onboard Wi-Fi never works, and the toilet will be locked for the duration of the journey. Don’t worry, they (usually) make a comfort stop or two. JFC Tech Guru Richard does have one caveat when it comes to those buses, however:“I wouldn't recommend night buses to anyone except my worst enemy”. After our bleary-eyed 4am arrival in Belgrade with no sleep and an achy lower back, it’s certainly an experience I wouldn’t rush to recommend… |
5. Make as much of each day as you can From day one of our trip, we fell into a rhythm that let us get a taste of as many places as possible. We were on a tight schedule, of course, but it’s an approach I’d recommend, especially for saving a little cash and avoiding spending your whole day gazing wistfully out a window, eating train picnics. Essentially, each travel day should work something like this:\xa0 |
- Get up early and hop on a train for a couple of hours\xa0
- Arrive in a city or sight along the route that you’d like to visit
- Stash your bags in the train station left luggage lockers
- Spend some time wandering around an old town or climbing an Alp. (We’d highly recommend Innsbruck for both of these activities, but remember there’s snow up there even in summer!)
- Grab your bags and hop on a train in the direction of your next destination.\xa0
- Don’t go all the way — instead, stay in a smaller, less touristy town with cheaper accommodation and soak up the local atmosphere.
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This way, we were able to break up our days, work on trains, then get out and stretch our legs for a few hours before heading off again. It let us check out places like Strasbourg, Innsbruck, Villach, Ljubljana, and Belgrade without spending so much time or money in each one, and we definitely made the most of each Travel Day we used on our Interrail passes. |
- Look for silent carriages! They are great if you need to work, rest, or don't want to deal with other people too much
- A lot of stations charge for bathroom visits, so go to the toilet in the train to save a few euros
- Even though most trains advertise Wi-Fi, it's not really reliable, so prepare for that in advance and make sure you have data on your phone.\xa0
- Set an alarm for slightly less the duration of the trip so that you know when you're arriving to your station instead of having to double-check every stop (helps with resting too)
- Some stations are easy and plain sailing, while others are total chaos. Give yourself plenty of time to find your way around and navigate thelocal peculiarities…\xa0
- Stay hydrated by bringing a water bottle! You can fill it up when you get to a city with free drinking fountains, which are more common than you think - they were everywhere in Slovenia, and lots of places in Germany and Italy also have them.
- Pack smart. Everything from the right bag to the right plug adapter will decide how smoothly your trip goes.
- Head east! Ljubljana, Belgrade, and Plovdiv were some of our favourite stops. Slovenia especially seems to be getting more love from tourists now, but still feels very local and is honestly just beautiful. Just don’t get on the wrong train and miss out on Lake Bled, like us!
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We could keep going with more and more little titbits we learnt along the way, but part of the fun is discovering it all yourself! That said, if you have any specific questions you’d like the team to answer, just hit ‘Reply’ and we’ll get back to you.\xa0 Have an amazing trip, interrailers, and don’t forget to send us a few pics! |
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Ditching The Package Holiday |
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"Hello, I’m still not confident about travelling this way as I usually go on package holidays where everything is prebooked. I do want to travel with you at some point. Can you tell me, when you say standard fare, what does that mean ? I thought it’s the price we would have paid if we were to book without Jack's flights" |
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| Answered by Fran Flight Finder Fran is an Italian globetrotter with a passion for remote destinations and snacking. Currently based in Brussels, she can tell you where to find\xa0the\xa0yummiest fries around. |
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Hey, reader — shout out to you for being brave and wanting to get out of the pre-package cycle! Firstly, it’s important to know that we do not book flights for you, and you wouldn’t actually be travelling “with” Jack’s Flight Club. Instead, we send you alerts when high-quality flights (e.g. no long layovers, as few stops as possible) go very cheap, and provide all the instructions on how and where to find and book them — this can be through an airline's website or via anOnline Travel Agency. We can’t predict exactly when a good fare will come around, so a little flexibility is ideal when it comes to travelling based on our tips. If your bucket list is filled with typical holiday destinations — such as Thailand, the USA, the Caribbean, Mexico, Costa Rica, Australia, Indonesia — you can expect to receive a tip to the country’s main cities around 3–4 times per year, or more. |
In our tips, you’ll usually find a sprinkling of travel inspiration, alongside information about why we believe the flights we’re telling you about are worth booking. In addition, we always cover essentials like: - Travel dates— the months in which you can find flights at the fare we’re telling you about. We’ll also mention any specific holiday periods that are available (Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Easter, peak summer, Thanksgiving, etc.). - Standard fare— an estimation of what a comparable flight to this destination normally costs. This takes into account whether the flights are non-stop, include baggage, or are flying during the holiday season, as these factors all affect the standard price of a ticket.\xa0 - Likely to last— our estimation of how long the fares in this tip will be available for, based on our experience of the airline and the history of that route. Very useful when it comes to airline sales orerror fares!
Now you’re used to reading and understanding our tips, you’ve received an exciting one and booked it successfully — that’s when the fun part starts. Not going on a pre-packaged holiday means you’ll be able to plan and pace your holiday to your liking, including picking the sights and accommodation that best fit your budget/mood/needs! |
Unless you’ve booked a trip to a fully unknown destination — love that! — you probably already have an idea of what you’d like to do/see, and what kind of holiday you’re after. Based on all these factors, you can start looking for accommodation on websites likeBooking.comorAirbnb,which are equipped with a solid filtering system to help you narrow down your accommodation search. Since you’re used to package holidays, hotels that offer breakfast included will be more familiar to you. But if you opt for a private apartment or villa, you’re likely to have a more local experience away from the main touristy areas. Get ready,\xa0because the searching process can be quite overwhelming, especially when it comes to very popular destinations with lots of options. That’s why we created ourJack's Flight Club Travel Community Facebook group,where our members can share their travel stories and tips, and recommend you places to visit and stay. Of course, you can also message us on social media (or reply here to the Detour!) and our travel-loving team/community will scout out the best tips :-) Let us know if you end up booking one of our alerts, we’re already excited for you! |
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Your Machu Picchu Questions Answered... |
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| By Lauren Currently based in Barcelona, you’ll likely find Flight Finder Lauren out on the streets practising her kickflips. When she’s not falling off a skateboard, you’ll catch her hunting down cheap flights to yet another far-flung corner of the Earth. |
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Q:\xa0Help - trying to do Machu Picchu quickly and cheaply, just like Lauren did in her recent article. But in booking our permit, how do we know which of the 4 circuits to choose? They all mean nothing to me. If we follow Lauren's instructions to get there, which circuit would it be??" |
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Hello! So, it looks like the routes have been updated slightly since I booked, and somehow it seems even more confusing now. I think if you are looking for the basic route with the classic viewpoint of Machu Picchu (like this), then it's circuit 1, sometimes called 'classic photo ticket' by tour operators.This summarydoes an OK job at explaining the other routes. I'm not sure if it will be the same now, but when I visited this February, it seemed as if the routes kind of all merged together at some point. At the beginning, you start on one path, then reach a cross road with various routes sign posted. But as you worked your way around, the sign posts appear less and less, and there seem to be several unmarked path options for you to veer off along. So realistically, I'm not sure which path I ended up on, but it all seemed very relaxed, and everywhere I wondered revealed a cool structure or viewpoint. Overall, I can't imagine you'd be disappointed with any of the routes! |
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Q:"Dothey have a wheelchair option?" |
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Unfortunately, I did not notice any wheelchair-specific paths in Machu Picchu. There were various routes you can take to the site itself and some of them did not have any stairs, however the paths were a little uneven, so I think accessibility would depend on what kind of wheelchair you have. I have seensome companies online offer specialist wheelchair tours, so it is definitely possible, but it might be worth reaching out to one as they would know the best routes and viewpoints.This pageon the Machu Picchu ticket site gives an overview of which routes might be suitable for visitors with different accessibility needs. |
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Hi, Just a reply to Lauren. Hubby and I went to Machu Picchu several years ago. Hubby did all the booking and we also got the train (and bus) from Cusco to Aguas Calientes. We stayed in Cusco for a few days either side of our visit, but I suffered from altitude sickness. Not as much as when we went to Tibet, but that’s another story! We caught the shuttle bus up to Machu Picchu in the dark, as we wanted to see sunrise over the sun gate. Needless to say, we didn’t as it was misty! It’s a magical place though, and it’s one I’m glad we went to. It sounds as if it’s got busier, though not much easier. What I found fascinating was the fact that you could sit outside the restaurant, actually next to the trains! The trains were a great way to see the countryside, but we didn’t have any on board entertainment, only the music when we got on. We tagged a trip to Easter Island from Lima too, another place it’s hard to get to cheaply. Hubby found that LAN had made a mistake with their flight prices, so we went! It’s worth booking hotels before you go as there’s limited rooms.We hired a jeep with a fellow traveller and toured the island. I ate Easter eggs on Easter Sunday on a beach in Easter Island! Not sure where I’d like to see next, I’m currently in Guangzhou, China visiting my son for a few weeks. I’ve seen the wall and the terracotta warriors on previous trips here. The cradle of humanity in Central Africa is an amazing place, as it’s supposed to be the birthplace of humanity. Thanks for the great information about travel and destinations in Detour. I look forward to it dropping in my inbox. Thanks,Fiona |
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Hi Fiona! Thanks so much for your response, and I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. You're right, it probably is a lot busier now - the crowds around the entrance were quite something. I also loved the fact I could eat my dinner next to the incoming trains in Aguas Calientes, very picturesque! Your travels sound truly inspirational, the thought of eating an Easter egg, on Easter, in Easter Island made me chuckle. Have fun in China, and please do let us know if you have any Guangzhou travel tips after your back. Happy travels, Lauren\xa0 |
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All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week. |
- In this week's groundbreaking aviation news, US airlineSouthwest is finally giving into peer pressure and will begin assigning seats!
- Worried about your bags getting lost in transit?Here are their oddsof arriving in the sunshine at the same time as you do.
- There wereexplosive scenes at Yellowstone NPon Tuesday, as a hydrothermal eruption took visitors by surprise.
- And finally, Portland Airport has been taking therapets to a whole new, hairy level. Keep your eyes peeled while travelling through the airport, and you may just spot a pair ofemotional support llamastrotting by!\xa0
One stroke of those furry friends, and all your prob-llamaswill melt away!
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Sent with ❤️ by Jack's Flight Club |
© 2024 Jack's Flight Club JFC Travel Group Co, 2140 S. Dupont, Camden, DE 19934, United States |
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