So if your child is planning something similar, here are our tips on getting the most from the trip, and staying safe.
What is Interrail?
Interrail passes were first issued in the 1970s as a way for young people to travel cheaply and freely in Europe. Today, it’s a train pass which allows European residents of all ages to travel to more than 40,000 destinations across 31 European countries.
Interrail also covers some ferry travel, with so many travel possibilities that it’s definitely best to plan your route before buying your pass. Once you’ve got an idea of where you want to go, the Interrail website lets you put in the destinations and shows an approximate map with route options and journey times, so you can then work out the best way to travel between them.
My daughter and her friend travelled to six different European countries on their trip. They started in Italy, having flown to Rome, travelled up through Germany to Northern Europe, then down through France to Spain, flying back home from Malaga. Meanwhile a friend who was Interrrailing at the same time without a planned route, found themselves spending a month zig-zagging back and forth across Europe.
How to book?
You can buy Interrail passes from the official interrail.eu or myinterrail.co.uk websites. Any European resident (including UK residents, even post-Brexit) can buy an Interrail ticket. Most trains can be boarded by just showing your Interrail pass, but some journeys have a cost for seating reservations, especially international and long-distance routes. There’s also a range of different ticket options available, depending on which countries you’re visiting, how many days you’re travelling for, and your age (up to two under-11s can travel for free with each adult ticket holder incidentally).
The site lets you plan out a journey and suggests the best pass for your trip to simplify things.
Interrail travel days don’t have to be consecutive either — you could choose a pass which allows you to travel on five separate days in a month. You can buy a pass to cover all of Europe, or just for a single country too.
Budgeting
It’s definitely worth planning your budget in advance to keep costs from spiralling — the sooner you can book flights and accommodation the better, for the best deals.
Work out a daily allowance for food and other expenses as well, remembering that prices will vary from country to country — your cash goes a lot further in eastern Europe or Portugal than Scandinavia, for example.
Encourage your kids to keep a record of how much they spend every day in order to stay on track. My daughter stuck to a limit of £25 a day for food and general spending money on her trip. Picking up bread, hummus and fruit in a supermarket and eating in a park was a great budget option for one meal a day.
Prepaid currency cards work well for travelling in Europe: they can be loaded with Euros (or other currencies) before you travel, and then used as a debit and cash card abroad.
Bear in mind too that you don’t have to travel by train all the time when you’re Interrailing — on routes involving additional booking fees, it can be cheaper to travel by bus or coach.
Accommodation
When choosing where to stay, think about what you want to do in each destination as well as budget for it. Hostels are always a good start, and my daughter and her friend used both private and shared rooms for most of their trip, but they’re not the only option.
AirBNB can be a great alternative, especially if you don’t want a shared kitchen. They also stayed in a budget hotel in Berlin and in an apartment in Malaga, because they wanted to relax and go to the beach. Wherever you stay, choosing places which include breakfast helps cut costs.
Rather than always relying on phone data, my daughter also recommends getting a local map from reception or Tourist Information as soon as you arrive, and marking your accommodation on it, so that you can find your way back. Visiting a lot of destinations in a short time means it’s easy to get lost.
Itinerary
As well as planning your route, it helps to do some research before your trip and to decide what you’d like to see and do in each destination. If you want to spend some Friday nights at Chabad, for example, tailor your route to arrive in advance and consider contacting them before you go. And check websites for opening times to make sure that you can see places on your wishlist, especially if you need to book ahead or to request visits to a shul.
But don’t over schedule: be sure to include some spare time in your itinerary in case there’s a change of plan — and also so that you can rest!
Staying safe
If you’re heading off Interrailing, make sure you share your itinerary with your parent or carer, or another trusted adult. This should include dates, routes, accommodation (with addresses and phone numbers), booking references and any flight details.
Keep copies of your passport, tickets and other documents at home as well, and also save copies to the cloud in case they’re needed. If something goes wrong and you need help, it’s much easier if everyone has all this information easily to hand.
Make sure that you have adequate travel insurance for your Interrail trip, and keep a copy of the policy number and emergency phone number in case you need them.
Check that your mobile phone will work abroad, along with agreeing a schedule for checking in with parents/carers while you’re away. And downloading an app like Find Your Friends (or a similar alternative for Android) will put their mind at rest when you set off on your adventure!
