We are all very super-excited today, as our long awaited travel tickets for the summer has arrived!
We are going interrailing!
Yes, as a blast from the past, our tickets had to be printed and sent by mail (I don't know why they haven't converted to a more up-to-date system, but I found this seriously charming!).
I don't think I've even heard the term interrail since my teenage years, and I've never done it myself. I have travelled extensively and backpacked myself through a large portion of the earth, and often by train, but I have never interrailed per se.
So who are WE? We are hubby, kid 9 years old, kid 11 years old, and myself. As you can see, we are not your average backpacker-group!
So why do we go by train, you might ask? Well, it's twofold really. One is obviously the environmental issue and a wish to reduce the impact of our travels. The other is of a more experimental kind. Having been backpackers in our younger days, we adults have a slight problem with just hopping on a flight and lounging on a deck chair for an entire vacation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, and we have done it many times, but this time we want to experience something different. See things rather than just veg, experience different locations rather than just the one. Also, we want to see what it is like to travel backpacker-style with kids. Is it for us? I know others do it, but how will we as a family respond to it?
Interrailing takes a lot of planning! A lot more than I had expected, and probably particularly so because we are traveling with kids. As this is our first attempt at this kind of travel as a family, we thought we'd make quite detailed plans, so that we reduce the stress levels as much as possible. This also means we stay on the main path, reducing waiting times and train changes, as this is where we see the trip can potentially become titring and boring for the kids. As a result, we will visit more cities than we would have ideally, but as an initial journey, I think our route will turn out great. We have given the kids one city each to research and come up with suggestions of what to do once there.
Our route is planned as follows: fly to Edinburgh (visiting family) - London - some small seaside town in northern France for beaching - Paris - Frankfurt - Berlin - night train to Sweden - small town in the Swedish woods that no-one has heard of (visiting family) - ferry back home to Norway.
We will be on the road for the better part of 3 weeks.
If you have any recommendations, suggestions or general comments, I am truly happy to hear from you - whether it's on traveling with kids, interrailing or anything else!
