It's All Happening

(click picture to enlarge)

My EuRail pass came in the mail last week! After considering different travel options for Aug 19-Sept 3 before I get to Dortmund (taking into account luggage fees), the 3 country select pass was my best option. I also purchased seat reservations since I only have a certain amount of days in each city and want to make sure I actually make it to Dortmund on time. I bought mine from raileurope.com, they have a very comprehensive website and if you have any questions you can call their customer service line. I spent a total of almost 5 hours over 4 calls getting some finer details ironed out. Of course the night train I need to Dortmund from Barcelona was being worked on until the day after I left. After not liking the problem solution one customer service rep gave me, I called back later that day and found a quicker, more scenic AND 30$ cheaper way. It's been really difficult deciding what to plan before hand, and what to just go with the flow on because I have limited time and funds. I already booked hostels, and bought my train tickets/reservation passes and a ticket to a group tour for La Tomatina festival, but other than that I'm pretty open to whatever these cities have to offer. I have a rough idea of a few things I would like to do but I don't want to have a day by day itinerary, more like a short list of must sees and just stopping to smell the roses along the way!

Here is a map of my travels through Sept. 3 along with a rail pass in case you (like me) have never seen one. The city I will be living in is marked with a shell (Dortmund Germany), and the cities I will visit are marked with stones : Paris, Barcelona, Valencia/Bunol , and Munich.

To use a rail pass you choose how many countries you will visit and how many travel days (34 hour period in which you can take as many trains as you want) you will need. You get the pass validated before boarding the first train, and then as you use the travel days you mark them on the pass and it will be checked on the train. It is a flexible option and also economic if you are taking more than two trains. Actually, I think one of my train trips was almost 2/3 the price of the pass. Traveling by trains isn't cheap if you are packing light try kayak.com, ryanair, jetblue etc for cheap airline tickets or try buses. But with the pass, it ended up being the best option since I had a lot of trains I wanted to take.

Also, if you noticed the title of this post is from the movie "Almost Famous"... thanks :)