Well today was another early start since I wanted to actually catch a train 2 hours earlier than what I was scheduled to take. The reason for this was that although my ultimate destination was going to be Berlin I would need to change trains in the Swiss border town of Basel. When I looked at my original timetable I discovered that I would only have about 20 minutes to change trains which seemed a bit short. I had become more concerned about the timing of the trains after the TGV from Paris to Geneva was 15 minutes late. Now I know that doesn’t sound like much but when you only have 20 minutes to make a change 15 minutes late is a lot.
After doing some checking of the timetables on the Internet I discovered a a similar train ran from Geneva to Basel but 2 hours earlier. Although this would put me in Basel 2 hours early I’d rather be 2 hours early than 2 minutes late.
After grabbing breakfast and checking out I made my way to the station in the cool morning air. As expected, right on time the train for Basel arrived and I hopped on board. Another good thing about checking the train schedule on the Internet is that you can also check the stops that the train is going to make along the way, which gives you a bit of reassurance that you are travelling in the right direction.
My Eurail pass would cover me for the journey to Basel so I had it ready when the conductor came around during the trip. The trip takes about 2 hours and I was able to see some of the countryside as we approached our destination although most of it appeared to simply be farmland.
Upon arriving at Basel I decided to head to the platform where the train to Berlin would depart from. Because I was 2 hours in front of schedule the early train to Berlin would be in Basel ready to depart. Although I perhaps could have changed my reservation to get on this train I decided not to and lucky I did, as it turns out this train must of had a problem and was cancelled. What I really wanted to see with this earlier train was where my coach was going to be located so I would have my bearings correct.
With nothing else to do but wait until my train to Berlin arrived I went and waited in front of the departure board. I wanted to make sure that my train to Berlin would depart from the same platform it was originally supposed to and that the failure of the earlier train would not cause a change of departure platforms.
It didn’t and so I made my way to the same platform to await the trains arrival. After pulling up, I located my seat number, stowed my baggage and made myself comfortable for the journey.
It wasn’t long before we had departed Switzerland and were in Germany. After a few stops the conductor came along to check my ticket so I gave him what I ‘though’ was my ticket. It turns out what I had ‘thought’ was my ticket was actually merely just a seat reservation. He indicated that I would have to pay the full whack to travel to Berlin which was going to be about 225 Euros. This ain’t right I thought as I had paid for all my fares back in Australia. Then it dawned on me that the Eurail pass I had ‘thought’ was just for local and inter-city travel would actually also be valid here.
This is exactly what the conductor was expecting to see, phew. Lesson learnt there. The Eurail ticket gives you the ability to ride on basically all national rail lines in the designated countries, however you can also make a seat reservation (which is really good idea) to guarantee a seat.
When I checked many of my remaining train tickets I also noted that they are also just seat reservations. I now know that I need to ensure I take more care of my Eurail pass as it is what actually allows you to travel on the train. I also note that the of the Eurail pass I have, which is for any 5 days travel in a month is pretty good value at 366 Euros given the trip from Basel to Berlin was going to cost about 225 Euros without it!
When I started looking through some of my previous tickets I see that everything is totally consistent. For example my train trip from Paris to Geneva was covered by an individual ticket which really looks the sane as a reservation ticket, expect for the small word ‘reservation’ in the top right. So go figure! The main point to remember is that the Eurail ticket is THE ticket to allow you to ride the train.
With that little issue now sorted I settled back for the rest of the trip. After taking on so passengers at another stop I looked over to see my fellow passenger running his laptop with the power supply plugged in. ‘So he’s got power over there’, I thought, ‘why don’t I?” After some hunting around my seat it appears that I do in fact have a power point into which I can plug my laptop. It kinda makes it hard to see when the power point is exactly the same colour as the seat frame.
So now with power to my laptop the next wish was wi-fi access, but alas it was not to be. Surely it would not be too hard to do this but I suppose you can’t have everything. So I set about composing this part of today's blog remembering that I’ll have to check more thoroughly when I board my next train to see whether it also at least has a power point.
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I’ve now just had another ticket check and everything checks out! I’m a whiz now I know how this train ticket stuff works!
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The train got into Berlin about 30 minutes late and I was a bit worried that the information centre would be closed because it was Sunday night. Turns out is open till 10pm, phew. The Berlin Hbf station is a pretty intimidating place, with over 4 levels of trains, shopping and people even at this time of night.
I easily found the information centre where I could buy my Welcome Berlin card after consulting the station layout. With that now in hand I had to negotiate the subway to my hotel. This proved far more challenging than I thought it would be. Initially, I went up, then I went down, then I went round and round trying to find a train to get me closer to my destination. In the end I gave up and asked at the information desk.
Turned out I needed to go up, and get an S train to Friedrichstrasse and change there for the U6 service. I didn’t really make any sense to me but then probably I was expecting too much in a next city, in the dark after a long train trip. I hopped aboard the next train which indeed took me to Friedrichstrasse. I now had to change and locate the U6 service which I managed to do. I knew the direction that I had to travel in by the final destination of the line. What amazed me was the number of people on the platform at this time (9pm) on a Sunday night!
I climbed aboard the subway and counted the few stops until my destination. Upon alighting I had two choices to exit at either end of the station and typically I chose the one furthest away from were I actually wanted to head.
After getting my bearings and heading back in the correct direction I finally checked into my hotel, ready to take a breather and try and work out the train system ready for tomorrow.
