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crumbling_mice
Sounds great and I wish I had done it when I was younger and had the time. SOme friends of mine did it, started in the UK and worked their way through France, Italy - calling at Pompei, then on to Greece and then came back a different route to take in Germany and Sweden. THey had a fantastic time and still talk about it now some - years later. Hope you have a great time...sure you will.

Just a word of advice, if you are not from the UK, don;t expect too much from our train services and avoid main city routes at commuter time!

Then you can do it when you are 60+, they have senior passes )

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Angus MacBagpipe
Take the time to compare the cost of flying to travelling by train. I prefer the train for the comfort and ease, but the European budget airlines (like EasyJet) can actually be cheaper.

Whenever I compared a rail pass to buying individual tickets, the rail pass is never cheaper. Just my experience.

Agree.
People should check a tariff on each country's railway website.
There are sometimes unbelievably cheap tickets. Yes, there are conditions. No refund. No change reservation. But CHEAP.
I think Deutche Bahn is the most well organized in Europe.
You can do almost everything on a vending machine in a station.


I had a loooong train trip from Beijing(actually from Tokyo without any flights) to London through siberian railway last September and October.
It was wonderful. Only one regret is I took Eurostar between Paris and London. It was quite boring. I should have a passenger ferry.

I have always wanted to do a Siberian railway trip but I must come to the defense of Eurostar. I put off trying it for several years because I feared I would become claustrophobic over the Channel. Finally, I "bravely" took a chance. Fell in love with the experience. Wonderful interior, well-organized staff, met many nice travelers. Over a period of several years I had business meetings in Paris and London, was fortunate to get some great fares.

Some days I'd leave London first thing in the morning, enjoy a terrific breakfast on the train, arrive in Paris on time, rush to a two hour meeting, spend another three hours seeing an art exhibition, do a little shopping and then back to London grateful for a productive day.

Getting the right fare when you need it is key to the above.

[www.railpass.com]

[www.eurail.com]

Now that some dates are starting to show up. I'm liking the looks of the Eurail 5 country pass. Still have a bunch of reading to do. I still have to check out the links, from Irix. Thanks by the way!

Just to reiterate from my original post. I'd like to hit 3 or 4 concerts.
The U.K., France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany are the countries I'm going to visit.

I'm Was wishing the tour stops were going to be in a nice organised route. Doesn't sound like it is going to be. Oh well.

Anybody with some more train info?

Very early and not knowing all the dates, but I'm wondering where to fly into, from the U.S.?

First time to Europe and I'm really looking foward to it!!!

Depends where in the US you're flying from, but you can get good deals flying into Heathrow, also Paris and Amsterdam. London, Paris, and Belgium are all connected by the Eurostar, so any of them would work as a base, and you can easily reach Germany from all of them.

Heathrow was the best deal so far. I'll be flying out of Pittsburgh, Pa.

The closer you are to NYC, the better deals you can get! Like on Virgin, for instance.

I'm waiting the announcement of the Germany concerts to start planning the trip.

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Cristiano Radtke
I'm waiting the announcement of the Germany concerts to start planning the trip.

That is the smart thing to do. I'm just driving myself crazy here.

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MingSubu

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Cristiano Radtke
I'm waiting the announcement of the Germany concerts to start planning the trip.

That is the smart thing to do. I'm just driving myself crazy here.

I felt the same with the London concerts in 2012, so I'm more relaxed now, though I've almost lost my mind when I saw the date of the Belgium concert.

Doesn't look like much fun getting to Werchter by train...need to catch a first train in Brussels (13 minutes), then another one in Leuven (7 minutes) and finally a taxi in Wezemal...hopefully there is some type of shuttle service from Brussels on the day of the event but their site says "coming soon" under "how to get there"...

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IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

Ming, you're getting to travel a lot; cross-country US last year & now Europe....good for you, enjoy!

Thank you owlbynite.

It's a passion that I've gotten away from, for a few years. Only U.S. and Canada previously. Having my health, time and the means; I figured to see the world now. Who knows what is down the road?

My passport arrived(3 week wait) and a Pinkpop ticket on the same day. Things are starting to look good. Seems like some info on Berlin is going to be announced soon. Soooo exciting!!!!

You sig is so correct.

Been all over. Night train from Lisbon to San Sebastien is a favorite. Learned to avoid the local trains like the overnight from the Spanish border to Lisbon, which stopped every 15 minutes at every single station. Took the TGV from Paris to Avignon, then hopped on and off with a rail pass through the towns and villages of Provence. The trains through northern Scotland are great if you like peaceful dramatic scenery and very few people (much nicer now when there's no smoking). How about six nights from Beijing to Moscow, through Mongolia? That's one you'll never forget. Too many others to mention here...

That sound like a lot of fun, 71tele.

Unfortunately, it looks like I'll only be in the France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Belgium. Maybe England, not sure on that just yet.


Again, thanks for the comments and info everyone!

I plan to take the family to see the Stones in Paris, then take the Eurostar to Amsterdam to see Pearl Jam. If you can afford it, the upper class cabin on the Eurostar is a wonderful experience. You check in separately from everyone else at Gare du Nord and go to a separate waiting area. Get on the train, Sit back, with a glass of wine, some cheese and watch the French countryside sail by.

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drbryant
I plan to take the family to see the Stones in Paris, then take the Eurostar to Amsterdam to see Pearl Jam. If you can afford it, the upper class cabin on the Eurostar is a wonderful experience. You check in separately from everyone else at Gare du Nord and go to a separate waiting area. Get on the train, Sit back, with a glass of wine, some cheese and watch the French countryside sail by.

This sounds nice,thanks! I'm planning the Paris show and hitting Amsterdam too. Just don't know in what order.

Once some more dates are announced, I'll have my route picked out.

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drbryant
Stones in Paris, then take the Eurostar to Amsterdam

There is no Eurostar from Paris to Amsterdam. Eurostar is to and from London.
I guess you mean Thalys [www.thalys.com]

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Keep On Rolling

[www.seat61.com]

The man on seat 61 is a great rail travel site by a European rail fanatic with all sorts of interesting ways to get from a to b by rail.

Hello MingSubu,

Although it probably won't fit the tour schedule (if, indeed, there will even be a European tour after today's news...), I recommend that you try to fit in the train journey along the southern French mediterranean coast. Absolutely wonderful views, beautiful towns, and an Open G chord's distance from a certain house in Villefranche.

Declan

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MingSubu
Thank you owlbynite.

It's a passion that I've gotten away from, for a few years. Only U.S. and Canada previously. Having my health, time and the means; I figured to see the world now. Who knows what is down the road?

My passport arrived(3 week wait) and a Pinkpop ticket on the same day. Things are starting to look good. Seems like some info on Berlin is going to be announced soon. Soooo exciting!!!!

You sig is so correct.

thanks!

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Rolling Hansie

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drbryant
Stones in Paris, then take the Eurostar to Amsterdam

There is no Eurostar from Paris to Amsterdam. Eurostar is to and from London.
I guess you mean Thalys [www.thalys.com]

Right it was the Thalys. I saw the Stones at Stade de France, then took the Thalys to Amsterdam where I met a friend coming up from Brussels. We saw the show at Amsterdam Arena. Must have been 2006? It was an amazing 3 or 4 days; I usually take a plane because it is cheaper when I buy combined air tickets, but the Thalys from Paris to Amsterdam in the late afternoon was so civilized, I would recommend it to anyone.

Regarding this summer's travels for Stones concerts, I looked at the train prices from Berlin to Paris and it was 171€.

A direct flight is less than 70€.

Now if the Paris date on June 13th is on I will fly Helsinki-Berlin, then Berlin-Helsinki and Paris-Helsinki on the same booking. Much cheaper than going back home in between.

Price for a train isn't much concern. I like trains. I've crossed the US 3 times with Amtrak. You get to sit back and see the land. And I want to see everything!

Still, thank you for your opinions and input.

Agree it's pleasant to ride a train but I for one like airports a lot too =)

Topi, so do I.

To be honest, a flight back from a Steeler game in Phoenix during the '09 season kind of turned me off on flying. So now, I only fly when I have to.

Yeah, I'm a chicken shit.

I know what Mingsubu is going through. I suffered debilitating aeropbobia for years. Actually was grounded for a few years. It was a slow recovery, but all I can say is, if you still fly when you have to, then get on a plane as often as you can, and never stop flying. I know it's not easy when reports like the Malaysian Airline incident are blanketing the news, but it was the only cure for me. I actually owe the Stones for giving me a part of my life back - I really only started feeling comfortable flying regularly when I made a concerted effort to reward myself by flying to as many Stones shows as time would allow during the Bigger Bang Tour.

Thank you drbryant.

I'm sure it is going to be ok. I'll just maybe skip over Flight 505, while in the air.

Cristiano Radtke did you get you tickets for the Germany shows?

You can find appropriate Timetables & Journey planner at 'Deutsche Bahn' (german railway company): [www.bahn.com] .
('Hbf' means 'Hauptbahnhof' = Central Station)

Landgraaf -> Berlin (Hbf): 'Regionalbahn' ('RB') to Aachen, then 'Regional-Express' ('RE') to Cologne (Hbf), from Cologne to Berlin with 'Intercity-Express' ('ICE'),
also possible: 'Regionalbahn' ('RB') from Landgraaf to Aachen, then 'Regional-Express' ('RE') from Aachen to Düsseldorf Hbf or Düsseldorf Airport (DUS).

Berlin -> Paris: with 'ICE' from Berlin (Hbf) to Cologne (Hbf), then with 'Thalys' from Cologne (Hbf) to Paris (Gare du Nord).

Paris (Gare de l'Est) -> Vienna (Westbahnhof): with the french 'TGV' to Frankfurt am Main and then with 'ICE' to Vienna, only one change.

Vienna (Westbahnhof) -> Düsseldorf Hbf: completely with 'ICE', only one change.


Maybe it's faster & cheaper to take a flight:
Cologne or Düsseldorf <-> Berlin: [www.airberlin.com] , [www.germanwings.com] , [www.lufthansa.com] ,
Berlin -> Paris: e.g. [www.easyjet.com] , [www.airfrance.com] or other vendors,
Vienna: several vendors, comparison at [www.fly.de] or [www.fly.com] .


Carpooling: [www.carpooling.co.uk] , [www.mitfahrzentrale.de] , [www.blablacar.com] .


Public transport in the cities:

Berlin: [www.bvg.de]

Paris: RER B or D1 from Gare du Nord to Stade de France [www.ratp.fr] or from the inner city with Metro Line 13 to Station 'Porte de Paris' (north from the Stadium).

Düsseldorf: [www.rheinbahn.com] or [www.vrr.de]



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 2014-03-26 19:40 by Irix.