Interrailing Trip - Part 1
Taking a break from posting about public transport regulation to post a public transport celebration as I take a short trip around Northern Europe.
So a few weeks ago, when S and I were watching people revelling at Glastonbury with intense envy, we decided we must immediately attend a music festival.
As an avid fan of T in the Park in my younger days (I went three years in a row in 2010/11/12 - yes I wore all the camping wristbands for several years afterwards!), I felt I had grown too old for a camping festival, having not been to one since Wickerman in 2013. We went to TRNSMT on the Saturday in 2022 and that did nothing to convince me I hadn't completely aged out of the music festival scene.
In recent years, I had contented myself with city breaks which usually coincided with a conference so I could get my employer to pay for travel and accommodation. Not bad work if you can get it.
Initially, we had planned to go to a UK music festival but after considering the options we cast the net wider to mainland Europe. This was when we struck on Rock En Seine; Paris’ answer to TRNSMT. It has a great lineup this year (Khruangbin, Queens of the Stone Age, Kneecap, Fontaines DC and Montell Fish among others) plus it's easily accessible by public transport.
Since I have spent much of the last year campaigning with Get Glasgow Moving for integrated public transport Rock En Seine felt perfect.
We discovered the most cost-effective way to travel would be to get an interrailing pass which allows unlimited train travel throughout Europe. A 4-day pass costs £243 each - with a supplement for the Eurostar - an open return to London is £186 and so due to the excessive cost of UK rail travel it makes it great value for money. I believe they do money-off discounts in the winter and the passes are valid for 12 months. Perhaps it's time to Bring Back British Rail.
Because of this reality we have decided to add on Brussels and Amsterdam as destinations to our trip. Admittedly, we only added Brussels because we were too short notice to be able to book the Eurostar all the way to Amsterdam so had to make a stop. However, I am looking forward to trying some Belgian beer straight from the source.
Day one of our itinerary had us travelling: Home - Glasgow Central, Glasgow Central - London Euston, St Pancras - Bruxelles Midi, Bruxelles Midi - Bruxelles Central. All with the same ticket, j’adore integrated public transport.
When walking between Euston and St Pancras, we passed the bus station with all the buses be-decked in the well-kent red livery. London has integrated public transport under the control of Transport for London and the reason the buses have unified branding is because they have a franchised bus network. This model has been copied by Greater Manchester and, hopefully soon, Strathclyde.
After this, it was easy to go through security and board the Eurostar then next thing you know you've lost an hour and you're in France.
Brussels was beautiful and bustling despite what I'd heard from some friends who had visited. It had amazing architecture and the best thing is the majority of the city centre is pedestrianised. It should be held up as a gold standard for city centre planning as all the pedestrianised streets were full of people and the ones with cars were devoid of life.
One of the best things was the clear understanding that pedestrians were top of the pyramid, cars always had to give way and I never saw any drivers getting irate about being forced to stop by some meandering pedestrians (us). I never once heard a toot in anger.
The interesting thing about the interrailing pass is that you activate your pass on the day you travel and it is valid for any train you board that day, including sleeper services. This means you can get quite far on a single days’ travel, I am already thinking ahead to next year…
Sounds like you're having a great time ❤️
Hope you have a lovely trip! 😊