Rail is one of the best ways to see Europe. Photo / Getty Images
Eli Orzessek finds the answers to your travel questions.
I've recently booked a trip to the Netherlands, France and Germany for next year for me and my partner. While we are there, we'd like to travel by train as much as possible, so we've also booked Eurail passes so we
can be flexible with our travel dates. We're going for first-class tickets, but were wondering if it's necessary to reserve seats, which attracts an extra charge?
Aneta
I think rail is definitely the best way to see Europe. My father and I got first class Eurail passes through Rail Plus when we visited Germany and Denmark in May.
While one of the bonuses of travelling first class is that the cabins are often not as jam-packed as second class, they can fill up with business travellers at busy times. When this happens, it can be hard to find two seats together. For this reason, I definitely recommend reserving seats — though there were times it was unnecessary, at other times if I hadn't reserved, we would have missed out on seats. If you download Eurail's Rail Planner App, or a similar country-based app such as DB Navigator in Germany, it will warn you when a train trip requires a reservation or is expected to be busy. But it's definitely worth the extra euros to ensure you're not sitting on your suitcase for a long train trip.
During a round-the-world trip is it terribly ridiculous to backtrack? I want to do a New Zealand, Sri Lanka, US and Europe trip, but it's very expensive getting from Asia to the US. Should I just pay and do it? Or go somewhere else?
Kelly
