First let’s just get this one thing crystal clear-I will never buy another Eurorail pass. Someone told me that they were an expensive product only sold for the North American market and I should have believed it, but I did some research (on the English language website) and it seemed like a more flexible option with a slightly ($15) difference in price. The reality of the cost of the same individual tickets had I had purchased them on French soil would have probably saved me somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 or more. So here’s the story.
Lyon to Arles - Train from Lyon to Arles took 2 hours or more, stopped at every little town, had no air conditioning on one of the two days that a heat wave swept through Europe. But, no problem just showing our three-day travel in a month Eurorail pass to the ticket taker on board the train.
Arles to Chalon sur Soane – Should have taken one of the two earlier trains at noon, but waited till the 1:00 train because it seemed faster. When we got to the station, the ticket agent told us that the train was full, because it was a TGV, the fast train and we did not have a reservation. Had we taken one of the earlier trains, regular TER, no problem. Our fatal mistake was not talking with a ticket agent earlier that day to straighten out the difference of the types of trains.
To complicated matters more, we had to call Dey and tell here that we would be 3 hours late. I had already tried to navigate the no-coin-option pay phones in Belgium with no luck. The international phone card that I bought at the airport for 10 Euros and used only once and that worked at the Belgium airport to call Jackson has never worked since, even though I keep trying.
My bank debit and credit cards don’t work because they do not have the European chip in them. They only work when the card can be swiped, not inserted.
Charge for the English operator assisted phone call where we left a 60 second message- $31.26. I’ll be disputing that charge once I get back to the states.
Anyway, we finally got there. Dey had a taxi waiting for us since they were at a choral concert. 30 Euros, but worth being swept away to our destination.
Chalon sur Saone to Paris – I had made a reservation on the TGV for an extra $33.00. No problem, or maybe not. I guess I did not truly understand that this email confirmation was not the actual ticket. Somewhere in the small print I missed that I needed to exchange it for a real ticket at the ticket counter or a kiosk (where my credit card would not work.) I think the wording said "validate the ticket." Well, on the train I had to buy another set of reservations that cost 45 Euros or about $70.00. Really ticked me off. I guess I just paid the “stupid American tax” on that one. Fatal mistake #2, not talking to a ticket agent, AGAIN.
Paris to Brusells on the Thalys- Purchased 30 Euro tickets online 90 days in advance. Correction of Fatal Mistake #1 and #2, a day before our departure, we take the email confirmation to the ticket window at Gare du Noord where the agent could swipe my credit card and print out the actual tickets for the train.
Voila. No stupid tax. We are now on the train headed north to Belgium racing across the beautiful French countryside.
The lesson learned is that if I am going to be inconvenienced by not understanding the idiosyncrasies of a country’s transportation system I would rather spend the money in the country at the time and not have the false sense of a security with an advance purchase of a special pass. Therefore, I will NEVER BUY A EURORAIL PASS again.
...and always ask at the ticket counter!
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