You thought I was going to say ‘Job’ didn’t you? Be honest, you did. Given my age, probably not an unreasonable assumption.

Sadly, it’s ‘trip’ (and the classic film will probably be of more interest than this section). Should you NOT be interested in how we managed to make our choices, feel free to move on to the Packing section (which is much shorter and probably funnier – I hope).

So – planning. We started AGES ago, pre-Covid actually (as mentioned previously). There were several goals to the trip:

1 – Be away for about 3 weeks

2 – Travel by train as much as possible

3 – See three things on Roger’s hit list – Trier in Germany, the Bernina Pass from Switzerland to Italy, and the mosaics in Ravenna.

4 – Go to Puglia

So we focused on these four – and ended up with a quite complex trip which required plentiful detailed research: train routes, travel times and pricing, where to say…

And a LOT (and I mean a lot) of ‘discussion’, some of it quite lively!

Several people asked if we were going to Interrail –  just pick up and go wherever we fancied. And while that sounds fantastic, it’s actually expensive in both financial terms and time given our goals.

Plus – anyone who knows us (or has even met us, however briefly) would immediately realise that we are almost genetically incapable of doing anything quite so spontaneous. We need structure!

Maybe that will change. Not holding my breath here.

(Some of you may have noticed that there do not appear to be any of MY goals in that list.  Suffice to say, I wanted to wean Roger off airplanes and try a long train trip.  And I wanted to go to Puglia.  So I can honestly say that my goals have most definitely been met!)

And so we planned – with several vital (and I do mean VITAL) aids.

Our first aid was the inestimable, learned, encyclopedic ‘Man in Seat 61’.
This is a comprehensive website devoted to travel by train which provides
incredible detail on just about everything and anything (including videos of
train trips… not quite my cup of tea but still). Should you wish to travel to
Europe (and beyond) by train, this should be your starting point.

And then we purchased some printed stuff – a map of European train routes
(the major ones), a European timetable and a guidebook of trips.

I work better with visuals, so the map was a fantastic way to plot the trip and work out which routes made sense. One issue is that although the routes are numbered (very helpful), the numbers are teeny tiny (less helpful) so cross-referencing to the timetable was slightly hit-and-miss.

The timetable is useful because you can see all the stops on the route, which again helps with planning. Again, the print is tiny and the pages are like loo paper – if you write on anything it shows through to the other side. Which is fine, as long as you don’t need that other side!

We started booking (and paying) for tickets early: Eurostar tickets were bought 6 months ago – if not more (basically as soon as we could get them). The European train websites are fairly straightforward (some more than others) and doing a early recce to get to grips with how to choose and book is highly recommended. In all honesty I found the Swiss rail site hardest to understand because the fare structures aren’t as clear to me – others may find differently.

(Yes, they were all in English!)

I would strongly suggest researching your route (using the various aids and websites) first, choosing a specific date/train combination and then putting a reminder in your calendar so that you can purchase tickets as soon as they become available.

Early booking has several advantages: the tickets are cheaper (almost invariably), you get better seat selection and, most importantly, you often get good deals on upgrades. At least two of our longer journeys are in either first or premium class because it wasn’t that much more expensive than standard.

And after all that time planning, we are now only 3 days away from leaving. Packing. A whole ‘nother level of stress.