3 ms·

Interrail used to be more popular years ago among young adults who had just finished high school. I did it with a few friends at the time, and it was an incredi

by sph 3mo ago

Interrail used to be more popular years ago among young adults who had just finished high school. I did it with a few friends at the time, and it was an incredible experience of self-reliance, patience and just complete freedom. My best memory is sleeping under the stars outside the train station of Biarritz, France, on a mild summer night next to the Atlantic Ocean. Such a refreshing sleep. The next night we did the same, sleeping under the stars outside the train station of Modane, France, very high up in the Alps. Definitely didn't sleep as well with the cold air and weird looks.

xattt 3mo ago
How long was this experience? I have a sense that sleeping outdoors as part of an adventure is getting tarnished by the homelessness and mental health crisis (… which is a separate issue that can’t be appropriately addressed here). I live in a seasonal touristy area and I have to do double-takes as to whether someone is transient, or is just backpacking. The implication here is personal safety. The homeless individual could be unpredictable due to mental health, whereas the backpacker is likely to be neutral.
- sph 3mo ago
  Those were the only two times of outdoor sleep in my life to date. The itinerary was Milan - Zurich - Amsterdam - Paris - Biarritz - Modane - back to Italy, sleeping in either hotels or the closest camping site to the train station. IIRC it was a ticket for 20 days of unlimited travel, which we had to cut short as a friend did get sunburnt so badly to require a hospital stay. Ah, the joys of youth.
  - 374884848 3mo ago
    if you sleep outside train stations in france nowadays you gon have a fun time
basisword 3mo ago
I think it was much more popular before budget airlines became so big in Europe. When you can fly to most European cities for < €50 at anytime of the year taking lots of weekend breaks is affordable even for students.
- hvb2 3mo ago
  You don't see as much though, and your options are more limited still. And the options you do have are likely more touristy as a result. As always, the most easy to reach places will have the most people. I would say that's not what you're going for in such a trip.
  - bluebarbet 3mo ago
    All true. Also: Weekend holidays involving flights are a completely unsustainable and irresponsible form of tourism given the climate crisis. Not that anyone much cares.
    - SoftTalker 3mo ago
      Not always. For solo travel, flying can emit less carbon than driving an ICE vehicle, assuming a full commercial flight and depending on vehicle fuel efficiency. For EVs, hybrids, and group travel the calculation may be different. Also, if you drive, it's likely that the flight you would otherwise have taken is going to make the trip anyway. So you've just added whatever carbon your car emits to the total. If you're really concerned about it, the best plan is to not travel for pleasure, or maybe use a bicycle.
      - c22 3mo ago
        Busses and trains get pretty good bang for the eco-buck. Oftentimes you can bring your bicycle with you for last-mile transportation at your destination city.
      - bluebarbet 3mo ago
        As you hint, the rule of thumb is that driving is (mile for mile) roughly as polluting as flying. But that's surely the point: nobody is going to drive across a continent to go the beach. The problem with flying is precisely the speed with which the damage is done. >if you drive, it's likely that the flight you would otherwise have taken is going to make the trip anyway This is a terrible argument, a straightforward (but surprisingly common) fallacy. The plane is leaving because of the price signal: people bought tickets for the flight. If they stop buying tickets, planes will very quickly stop leaving. I agree that if we care about the environment then we should at least try to travel less, or less far.
marvelous 3mo ago
A guy told me once that he used his interrail ticket to sleep in the trains and save the cost of a hotel. He'd spend half the night going to a random destination and the other half back. The issue he faced once was that some border guard recognized him on the way back and would not believe that he wasn't involved in some sort of smuggling.
- bergie 3mo ago
  That's the way. Get on a train, sleep, wake up in a new city. Last time I did interrail (some 15 years ago), you could sometimes pay a bit of extra to get a spot in a sleeping car.
tokai 3mo ago
On the contrary, it has never been more popular. Numbers are not that easy to come by but there were 750k tickets sold in 2024. In 1991 400k tickets were sold, the highest since the inception of interrail, but they rest of the 90s saw a slump in ticket sales with most years under 200k. So Interrail is either close to double as, or even several times more, popular than when you did your trip.
unD 3mo ago
My daughter (now 20) did something similar last summer: Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, Malmö, Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Paris in a couple of weeks, IIRC. She left with a friend, who headed home after a few days, so she ended up traveling solo for most of the trip. She stayed in hostels (bar in Paris) and ate basically only TooGoodToGo food [0] to save €. She made it home in one piece, with the biggest smile on her face. [0] https://www.toogoodtogo.com/ https://www.toogoodtogo.com/
jmkd 3mo ago
Ha, have also slept outside Biarritz station whilst interrailing. Must be the sea breeze.

by sph 3mo ago

xattt 3mo ago

How long was this experience? I have a sense that sleeping outdoors as part of an adventure is getting tarnished by the homelessness and mental health crisis (… which is a separate issue that can’t be appropriately addressed here). I live in a seasonal touristy area and I have to do double-takes as to whether someone is transient, or is just backpacking. The implication here is personal safety. The homeless individual could be unpredictable due to mental health, whereas the backpacker is likely to be neutral.

sph 3mo ago
Those were the only two times of outdoor sleep in my life to date. The itinerary was Milan - Zurich - Amsterdam - Paris - Biarritz - Modane - back to Italy, sleeping in either hotels or the closest camping site to the train station. IIRC it was a ticket for 20 days of unlimited travel, which we had to cut short as a friend did get sunburnt so badly to require a hospital stay. Ah, the joys of youth.
- 374884848 3mo ago
  if you sleep outside train stations in france nowadays you gon have a fun time

basisword 3mo ago

I think it was much more popular before budget airlines became so big in Europe. When you can fly to most European cities for < €50 at anytime of the year taking lots of weekend breaks is affordable even for students.

hvb2 3mo ago
You don't see as much though, and your options are more limited still. And the options you do have are likely more touristy as a result. As always, the most easy to reach places will have the most people. I would say that's not what you're going for in such a trip.
- bluebarbet 3mo ago
  All true. Also: Weekend holidays involving flights are a completely unsustainable and irresponsible form of tourism given the climate crisis. Not that anyone much cares.
  - SoftTalker 3mo ago
    Not always. For solo travel, flying can emit less carbon than driving an ICE vehicle, assuming a full commercial flight and depending on vehicle fuel efficiency. For EVs, hybrids, and group travel the calculation may be different. Also, if you drive, it's likely that the flight you would otherwise have taken is going to make the trip anyway. So you've just added whatever carbon your car emits to the total. If you're really concerned about it, the best plan is to not travel for pleasure, or maybe use a bicycle.
    - c22 3mo ago
      Busses and trains get pretty good bang for the eco-buck. Oftentimes you can bring your bicycle with you for last-mile transportation at your destination city.
    - bluebarbet 3mo ago
      As you hint, the rule of thumb is that driving is (mile for mile) roughly as polluting as flying. But that's surely the point: nobody is going to drive across a continent to go the beach. The problem with flying is precisely the speed with which the damage is done. >if you drive, it's likely that the flight you would otherwise have taken is going to make the trip anyway This is a terrible argument, a straightforward (but surprisingly common) fallacy. The plane is leaving because of the price signal: people bought tickets for the flight. If they stop buying tickets, planes will very quickly stop leaving. I agree that if we care about the environment then we should at least try to travel less, or less far.

marvelous 3mo ago

A guy told me once that he used his interrail ticket to sleep in the trains and save the cost of a hotel. He'd spend half the night going to a random destination and the other half back. The issue he faced once was that some border guard recognized him on the way back and would not believe that he wasn't involved in some sort of smuggling.

bergie 3mo ago
That's the way. Get on a train, sleep, wake up in a new city. Last time I did interrail (some 15 years ago), you could sometimes pay a bit of extra to get a spot in a sleeping car.

tokai 3mo ago

On the contrary, it has never been more popular. Numbers are not that easy to come by but there were 750k tickets sold in 2024. In 1991 400k tickets were sold, the highest since the inception of interrail, but they rest of the 90s saw a slump in ticket sales with most years under 200k. So Interrail is either close to double as, or even several times more, popular than when you did your trip.

unD 3mo ago

My daughter (now 20) did something similar last summer: Prague, Berlin, Copenhagen, Malmö, Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Paris in a couple of weeks, IIRC. She left with a friend, who headed home after a few days, so she ended up traveling solo for most of the trip. She stayed in hostels (bar in Paris) and ate basically only TooGoodToGo food [0] to save €. She made it home in one piece, with the biggest smile on her face. [0] https://www.toogoodtogo.com/ https://www.toogoodtogo.com/

jmkd 3mo ago

Ha, have also slept outside Biarritz station whilst interrailing. Must be the sea breeze.