Travel by Train With Worldrail

By Alan Wissenberg

Contributing writer

In my Munich and Berlin offices, I meet lots of travelers each summer who wait until their arrival in Europe to obtain reservations. Whereas I love to be in train stations for the architecture and the design of the buildings, it seems a shame that so many Korean visitors to Europe spend hours in train stations just to buy the reservations from point A to point B. What is really sad is that the travelers spend lots of time in lines and do not always get what they expect.

How can you avoid this problem? Consider an alternative from the travel books if it saves you time and money. If everyone else from Korea is ending their trips in Paris, why not start in Paris (or London) and fly back to Korea from another location?

One of my favorite summer routes through Europe starts in Paris with the overnight train to the Spanish border (at Cerbere/Port Bou) because it offers inexpensive couchettes in the direction of Barcelona. And from there, consider the following route for a two-week trip (overnight trains use the symbol ``(N)'') that includes many of the cities you probably hope to see based on rule 2 above: Barcelona ― (N) ― German border ― afternoon on the Rhine River ― Cologne ― (N) ― Prague ― Dresden ― Berlin ― (N) ― Interlaken ― (N) ― Rome ― Venice ― (N) ― Munich.

Why end the trip in Munich? Because Munich offers direct flights back to Seoul with Korean Air and Lufthansa.

After you decide the route, consider rule 3: ``Buy the necessary seat and couchette reservations before you get the railpass.'' The best planning means nothing if the reservations you need are not available.

Let's look at an example where planning is especially important: railpass travel on French TGV trains. If you enjoy the KTX trains in Korea, then you will probably want to compare it with the experience of TGV-like trains that connect Paris with the rest of Europe. Direct trains go to Amsterdam, Basel, Bern, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneve, Cologne, Lausanne, Luxembourg, Nice, Montpelier, Munich, Strasbourg. Stuttgart, and Zurich.

So why does a railpass holder pay 3 euros for a first class TGV seat from Paris to Strasbourg and 20 euros from Paris to Munich? Answer: each railroad route has different prices for these high-speed services.

You can avoid the last-minute stress of ``sold-out'' trains and really ENJOY a trip by railpass through Europe by contacting Worldrail in Korea. Let Korean-speaking experts help you plan in advance and obtain the necessary reservations before you purchase a railpass.

Worldrail is presenting a travel program that combines railpass to Germany and Czech and Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival. The company and portal site Naver is holding an event titled ``Traveling Scholarship Program with Oktoberfest.'' It will send one person who submits a good traveling idea (and makes good theme tour program) to the beer festival in Europe free of charge this September. Anybody who has an interest in traveling and enjoys drinking beer in Europe can apply for this ``Beer Road Tour Event'' (Please click https://travel.naver.com/event/ for details).

Worldrail will select another person for next year's Oktoberfest, which will be the 200th festival. Among those participating in this year's festival, one person who completes the mission proposed by Worldrail will be given the free trip to next year's Oktoberfest. For more information, visit www.worldrail.co.kr, call 1644-5453 or send an email (in Korean or English language) to us at worldrail@gmail.com.

The writer is the President of EurAide, Inc. and lives in Germany.