Mark_Lester
Member
so the sched changes mid march.
we want to go mid/late july
the agent we select will make the reservations in late march
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
The Great Circular European Railway Challenge
- Thread starter Mark_Lester
- Start date
- Status
we want to go mid/late july
the agent we select will make the reservations in late march
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Glenmutchkin
Member
That's pretty much the impression that I got from Ffestiniog and Canterbury Rail. We get our requirement with dates and numbers all lined up in January 2013 , tell them what we need and they line it all up for booking as soon as the flag drops.
Wasn't Elvira the granny witch in Bewitched?
That Barcelona video was pretty good and I'm not really a Queen fan. Could this be an opportunity for a sub-plot. There seems to be a shortage of Euro train movies.
To qualify a song would have to mention the name of a town/city that we actually spend time in and have a video to support it. I can think of at least 5.
Mark_Lester
Member
we're going to do songs, in depth, after we've done all the course work.
madrid, mid evening, is the only remaining stop where we don't at least have a sketch of a plan yet.
Glenmutchkin
Member
We spent 5 days in Madrid a few years ago. We stayed in a flat in the red light district, went to art galleries and the railway museum and ate. It rained non stop. Oh and Lady G had her purse dipped out of her bag.
Offhand I can't think of anything that might fit the bill for us. We will need to use the metro to get from Atocha to Chamartin. (Line 1. Single fare 1 Euro)
Madrid metro map here
http://www.madrid-tourist-guide.com/en/map/madrid-metro-map.html
According to this website there is bowling available at Chamartin.
http://www.gomadrid.com/transport/chamartin-train-station.html
I presume we will be requiring some kind of tapas experience.
This seems to be some kind of 5p.m./Groupon type site for eating out deals in Madrid.
http://www.restalo.co.uk/restaurants/chamartin-tapas
Here's the guff on left luggage lockers at Chamartin.
In front of Atencion al cliente (Metro: Chamartin)
These are automated lockers of 3 different sizes where you insert your bags, pay for the first day and get a coded ticket which you will use to open the locker and get your things once you have entered the code and paid for them. They are watched over by a security guard with a security scanner for added protection.
- Small is 2,40 euros a day (volume less than 0.15m)
- Single space is 3,00 euros a day (volume 0.15m to 0.25m)
- Double space is 4,50 euros a day (volume 0.25m to 0.40m)
15 day maximum then transferred to warehouse. One year maximum at warehouse then considered forgotten / rejected.
Monday-Sunday: 7AM-11PM
For a photo op there is a plinthed steam loco in front of the Atocha Museum, just outside the station. Actually forget that. |I've just checked the map and this is much further away from Atocha than I remember.
How about this. The original Atocha Station building has been converted into a 4000m2 tropical garden with 500 species of plants and turtles!
Last edited:
Mark_Lester
Member
atocha looks fantastic, especially the facade, it will still be light. doesnt seem to be much sitting room though.
we've only 2 1/2 hours to kill. the bernabeu is directly on the way between the two. it has quite an aura on match days, I'm sure there's plenty of scarf selling and a san mig to be had outside some football bar even in july.
we'll have bags, and we'll probably all be trying to re-tune our pacemakers after the roller coaster, so we're looking for some kind of base as close to the platform as possible for the night train.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
also, re my costings for the ticket.
i know it's a pain to do, but please nit pick over that, or perhaps easier is to look up the cost of the metro tickets for them. I'm still missing the bus fare to narvik and also what all the day reservations are going to be. and i didnt list milan tirano cos I thought we wouldnt be able to reserve seats, but actually i dont see why not. of course if we were on our own or a pair you wouldnt need to do this (book day seats), but we arent, and we will.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
sorry, i lied, 4 1/2 hours in madrid, we'll need to think about this.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
and if you can find a bus map for madrid let us know, this is proving harder than buchurest to work out where the buses go.
we've only 2 1/2 hours to kill. the bernabeu is directly on the way between the two. it has quite an aura on match days, I'm sure there's plenty of scarf selling and a san mig to be had outside some football bar even in july.
we'll have bags, and we'll probably all be trying to re-tune our pacemakers after the roller coaster, so we're looking for some kind of base as close to the platform as possible for the night train.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
also, re my costings for the ticket.
i know it's a pain to do, but please nit pick over that, or perhaps easier is to look up the cost of the metro tickets for them. I'm still missing the bus fare to narvik and also what all the day reservations are going to be. and i didnt list milan tirano cos I thought we wouldnt be able to reserve seats, but actually i dont see why not. of course if we were on our own or a pair you wouldnt need to do this (book day seats), but we arent, and we will.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
sorry, i lied, 4 1/2 hours in madrid, we'll need to think about this.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
and if you can find a bus map for madrid let us know, this is proving harder than buchurest to work out where the buses go.
Last edited:
Glenmutchkin
Member
Can you get your mate Christiano to give us a guided tour?
Will do. Here's what Raildude says about Fauske-Narvik
"Leave the train at Fauske (it is cheaper then) which is close to Bodø. Use Nor-Way Bussekspress ( http://nor-way.no ): bus number 720 Bodø-Fauske-Narvik.
It is about 50 EUR one way (50% discount for students and seniors) and the journey time is 6:30h.
Bus schedules: http://www.177nordland.no/?ac_id=246 "
Another site says that it is 140 NOK. Not sure what that is in real money.
Let's post a money change calculator on the the main website somewhere.
Probably take an hour off that for clearing Atocha, travel, check bags. I think something slightly less exciting may be in order after Barca. Or there again we will probably have split into dissenting camps by then so why not a ten pin tournament.
Mark_Lester
Member
i see everything is at the atocha end, so it will mean deposit bags there, and return 3 hours later, if we are passing the bernabeu with bags of time then we can pop up and see it.
i cant find a bus map, but a bus tour of the old city, and a tapas bar will cover 3 hours easy. I know 3 residents who will be able to give us some excellent recs, though finding the places might be another issue.
i cant find a bus map, but a bus tour of the old city, and a tapas bar will cover 3 hours easy. I know 3 residents who will be able to give us some excellent recs, though finding the places might be another issue.
Glenmutchkin
Member
Mark_Lester
Member
we want say 3 or 4 buses max that take us from atocha to the palacio real and back via the opera house.
i've found a list of services, which is what we'll have to use cos there aint no bus map, but it's torture of course.
i've found a list of services, which is what we'll have to use cos there aint no bus map, but it's torture of course.
Glenmutchkin
Member
I was starting to go through the supplements.
We could do Sweden a lot cheaper by booking 6 berth couchettes (Eu 26) v 3 berth sleepers (Eu 40)
According to raildude the overnight from Oslo to Trondheim does not run on Saturdays which would knacker a Friday D-Day. Same source says that our chosen Copenhagen - Gothenburg doesn't run on Saturdays either.
Can we revisit the logic of not using the pass for Amsterdam - Copenhagen? If we use it the next day for Copenhagen onwards surely we get a train after 19.00 for free.
It might mean that we need to pay for Hendaye-Paris but that might be cheaper than Amsterdam - Oslo. Also there have been odd notes around that Interrail passes are only allowed a few seats on hendaye - paris. We have to pay Paris-London anyway.
We could do Sweden a lot cheaper by booking 6 berth couchettes (Eu 26) v 3 berth sleepers (Eu 40)
According to raildude the overnight from Oslo to Trondheim does not run on Saturdays which would knacker a Friday D-Day. Same source says that our chosen Copenhagen - Gothenburg doesn't run on Saturdays either.
Can we revisit the logic of not using the pass for Amsterdam - Copenhagen? If we use it the next day for Copenhagen onwards surely we get a train after 19.00 for free.
It might mean that we need to pay for Hendaye-Paris but that might be cheaper than Amsterdam - Oslo. Also there have been odd notes around that Interrail passes are only allowed a few seats on hendaye - paris. We have to pay Paris-London anyway.
Last edited:
Here are a couple of sites I use all the time.
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=HUF
http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=HUF
http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/
Glenmutchkin
Member
Thanks Don.
140 NOK is about £15.50. Sounds a bit more like it.
here's what I think it costs, ( Mark's figures) Glenmutchkin's figs mainly using Raildude
Per person
interrail 15 day pass £371 £371
eurostar group travel
london-amstrdam £50 [
paris london £41 }£141 £141
amsterdam-copenhagen £50. [
Copenhagen – Gothenburg Day train (compulsory) Eu 7
Gothenburg – Oslo day train Nil ??
nsb
olso-trondhiem Kr850 (2 beds, £90, so £45 each) Eu 54 (2 berth)
Trondheim – Fauske day train Eu 6
I dont have a quote for sweden actually, so call it the same £45 Eu 40 (3 berth)
narvik – Boden day train Eu 4
Stockholm – Copenhagen day train (compulsory) Eu 7
Cpenhagen – hamburg day train Eu 4
Hamburg- Berlin day train Eu 4
Berlin – Dresden day train Eu 4
Dresden – Prague day train Eu 4 ??
prague-vienna £35 Eu26 (3 berth)
Vienna – Bratislava Non reservable?
Bratislava – Budapest day train Eu 2 ???
seat 61
budapest-bucharest £35 Eu 39 (3 bed)
bucahrest-istanbul £35 Eu 22 (3 bed)
istanbul-sofia £20 Eu 18 (3 bed)
sofia-belgrade £10 Eu 10 (3 bed)
Belgrade – Ljubljana day train Nil ???
trieste – venice Not reservable? ?????????
venice – rome Compulsory Eu 10
rome-milan £45 Eu 39 (3 berth)
Switzerland ???????
renfe
geneva - barcelona e75 Eu 75 (4 bed)
Barcelona – Madrid day train Compulsory Eu 10
madrid lisbon e25 Eu 29 (4 bed)
lisbon hendaye e30 Eu 30 (4 bed)
Hendaye – Paris day train Limited availability Eu 6
there are then seat reservations for all the day trains. fortunately we dont get "day trains" in the deep south, I doubt you can get a little white ticket pinned to your seat down there.
estimate 50 quid a day for everything else (I'll make a more informed stab later but I think that's overkill on average) that comes in obviously at £1800 and the bar tab paid, london to london.
Pass + Eurostar = £512
Reservations = £400 Eu 450
Norway Bus = £ 15
Switzerland = ???
Metros etc Separate list to do
Hostels
Left Luggage
INFLATION - What is going to happen to prices? We should allow at least 5% I reckon. One site I looked at suggests that the German reservation fee is now Eu 5 per trip but not clear whether that is the Interrail rate.
POSSIBLE SAVINGS – We haven't gone for the couchette option in the Balkans etc. We might not have any option if they keep reducing the length of the trains.
EDIT Mark - I've given up trying to format this. I'll send you the doc on a PM.
140 NOK is about £15.50. Sounds a bit more like it.
here's what I think it costs, ( Mark's figures) Glenmutchkin's figs mainly using Raildude
Per person
interrail 15 day pass £371 £371
eurostar group travel
london-amstrdam £50 [
paris london £41 }£141 £141
amsterdam-copenhagen £50. [
Copenhagen – Gothenburg Day train (compulsory) Eu 7
Gothenburg – Oslo day train Nil ??
nsb
olso-trondhiem Kr850 (2 beds, £90, so £45 each) Eu 54 (2 berth)
Trondheim – Fauske day train Eu 6
I dont have a quote for sweden actually, so call it the same £45 Eu 40 (3 berth)
narvik – Boden day train Eu 4
Stockholm – Copenhagen day train (compulsory) Eu 7
Cpenhagen – hamburg day train Eu 4
Hamburg- Berlin day train Eu 4
Berlin – Dresden day train Eu 4
Dresden – Prague day train Eu 4 ??
prague-vienna £35 Eu26 (3 berth)
Vienna – Bratislava Non reservable?
Bratislava – Budapest day train Eu 2 ???
seat 61
budapest-bucharest £35 Eu 39 (3 bed)
bucahrest-istanbul £35 Eu 22 (3 bed)
istanbul-sofia £20 Eu 18 (3 bed)
sofia-belgrade £10 Eu 10 (3 bed)
Belgrade – Ljubljana day train Nil ???
trieste – venice Not reservable? ?????????
venice – rome Compulsory Eu 10
rome-milan £45 Eu 39 (3 berth)
Switzerland ???????
renfe
geneva - barcelona e75 Eu 75 (4 bed)
Barcelona – Madrid day train Compulsory Eu 10
madrid lisbon e25 Eu 29 (4 bed)
lisbon hendaye e30 Eu 30 (4 bed)
Hendaye – Paris day train Limited availability Eu 6
there are then seat reservations for all the day trains. fortunately we dont get "day trains" in the deep south, I doubt you can get a little white ticket pinned to your seat down there.
estimate 50 quid a day for everything else (I'll make a more informed stab later but I think that's overkill on average) that comes in obviously at £1800 and the bar tab paid, london to london.
Pass + Eurostar = £512
Reservations = £400 Eu 450
Norway Bus = £ 15
Switzerland = ???
Metros etc Separate list to do
Hostels
Left Luggage
INFLATION - What is going to happen to prices? We should allow at least 5% I reckon. One site I looked at suggests that the German reservation fee is now Eu 5 per trip but not clear whether that is the Interrail rate.
POSSIBLE SAVINGS – We haven't gone for the couchette option in the Balkans etc. We might not have any option if they keep reducing the length of the trains.
EDIT Mark - I've given up trying to format this. I'll send you the doc on a PM.
Last edited:
Mark_Lester
Member
switzerland is free!.
if we'd done the bernina express then it would have been 9 quid, but doing our trains we dont even pay that, and the trains are way better, that open top is free!, they just add them on in july & august. we can reserve them i presume, but you cant reserve the open carriages anyway she told me. so there should be loads of capacity and you wont get your medal if you don't do the whole pass in th cattletrucks.
the 19:00 thing is only for flexipass. if your flexipass has started but you are having a day off, then you can start using again on an overnight train at 19:00.
we would only get the benefit of the pass from amsterdam anyway, and if we shove it back any further then we have spare days left.
if we'd done the bernina express then it would have been 9 quid, but doing our trains we dont even pay that, and the trains are way better, that open top is free!, they just add them on in july & august. we can reserve them i presume, but you cant reserve the open carriages anyway she told me. so there should be loads of capacity and you wont get your medal if you don't do the whole pass in th cattletrucks.
the 19:00 thing is only for flexipass. if your flexipass has started but you are having a day off, then you can start using again on an overnight train at 19:00.
we would only get the benefit of the pass from amsterdam anyway, and if we shove it back any further then we have spare days left.
Glenmutchkin
Member
Whoopee!!!
Right. I think that I've got it now.
There is a note on Raildude to say that if you can't get a Eu 6 Interrail seat reservation on Hendaye-Paris then you can pay Eu 18 on the train but this cannot be reserved in advance. Bloody Frogs!
Raildude seems to have a reasonable active forum for technical questions. It does seem to quote slightly different times for some trains - only the odd minute here and there.
I've started work on the Metro costings. If we have more time in Brussels are we going to be a little more adventurous? A day pass is only Eu 4.20.
Did you know that the Trondheim - Fauske train travels via Hell?
Belgrade - hate to bring this up again but if the Sofia - Belgrade train is not vastly late we could get an early morning train to Ljubljana. It's not totally clear whether you get a reservation for free or just that there are no reservations between Belgrade and Ljub. If no reservations we could take a decision on the spot depending on what time we get in.
Belgrade trams, buses etc start running at 4 a.m. so maybe it's one of those early start places.
Last edited:
Mark_Lester
Member
re hell
i thought i'd seen that, though i surely would have stated railroad to hell at some stage.
brussels
it's 3 1/2 hours now, but the atomium is crap, not sure what wlese there is other than grand place, beer and chocolates, it does pretty good in all 3.
belgrade
fantastic, hadnt sen that, with luck we are in ljubljana for mid afternoon, if not then at least we didnt get kicked out at 4 in the morning (though 5:15 would be a real bummer)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
if we get to ljubljana early enough to get to bed early, then we could subject ourselves to the 6 oclock train form ljubljana, we could be in venice an extra 3 1/2 hours earlier. could split that with rome and actually get something to eat.
the good thing is that none of these need reservations, so we could reserve the venice rome train that we'd like to get, but we should still be able to get on otherwise.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
here's another funky funicular bonus prize for getting the budapest connection
http://www.visitljubljana.si/en/directory/traffic-transport/1804/detail.html
Last edited:
Glenmutchkin
Member
I've PM'd you the metro costings.
If we get the early train out of Belgrade we will need to be provisioned up from Sofia.
I think that we might have to have reservations Venice - Rome but more time in Venice is no great loss. We could get a day pass and cruise the entire vaporetto network.
Do you think that there is some kind of Eurofunicular forum somewhere that pulls all these gems together?
EDIT - Raildude says that Reservation is compulsory - Venice - Rome.
If we get the early train out of Belgrade we will need to be provisioned up from Sofia.
I think that we might have to have reservations Venice - Rome but more time in Venice is no great loss. We could get a day pass and cruise the entire vaporetto network.
Do you think that there is some kind of Eurofunicular forum somewhere that pulls all these gems together?
EDIT - Raildude says that Reservation is compulsory - Venice - Rome.
mickpop
Member
I can fall over quite easily without his professional advice, especially after that rollercoaster - oops that's Scousermick speaking!
This is the old sage speaking - planning all this from your armchair is easy but you might wish you hadn't crammed so much in after a couple of sleepless nights,possibly spent in a corridor arguing with a railway official. I think Don and Scooter make sense on that score. Taking on my GCIRC'Magic Man' persona [copyright Troy] you may well find me disappearing for periods of time - sorry if that seems like party-pooping. My pre-Xmas IR trip found us cancelling the last overnight train journey in favour of another night in a proper bed and taking a car and driver the following day. It only takes a minor illness and a lack of sleep to make one consider throwing in the towel.Hangovers too may well play a part on this trip. I'm pretty tough but I think some of the GCIRC crew found it hard going and the two nights recovery in Darjeeling probably saved some of us.
Mark_Lester
Member
most of the excursion stuff can be just amputated if you dont fancy it. I am hoping the showers available in all but the southernmost bits will keep us nice and fresh. we have now 3 nights in a bed, and on two of them you can lie in for a bit at the cost of some sightseeing along the way.
as for Sod's Law, well that's just a bitch isnt it. but it's such a wiggly route now with what amount to some large buffer times that I dont think the "ooh bugger, what now" flowchart that i'll do will be that messy. You'll lose a seriously good bit, but on paper it all looks pretty good.
I fully expect severe problems claiming and retaining berths on any of these balkan trains, should they even exist,
Mick, Glen, Mark and the rest of the nameless/faceless "steering committee"/cabal:
A word of thanks, an acknowlegement and agreement and I am back. Let that be a lesson to you.
I must agree with Mick in that if the rest of your stops are like Budapest, I predict someone will be in the dock for manslaughter by the time you reach Istanbul.
Back to Budapest: I thought the idea was to ride rails. Mark insists on wasting time atop the great black hole of tourism in B-pest: castle hill. In his last post on the topic he was pressing for even more time up there. There is nothing up there for you. They sell admission (with lines) to the Fisherman's Bastion...the place Mark has confused with the towers of the castle (which are inaccessable). The Batsion was built in 1896 for the Millennium Celebration. It is nothing more than what the Victorians dubbed a folly (folley?). The view from the Siklo is almost identical to the Bastion. Forget that.
The info on "views from the castle" is completely erroneous. There are no views. It is not like Buckingham, Windsor of Hollyrood House. It does not have endless oak panelled rooms full of all the Royals ornate chamber pots. It is a white-washed stucco box with just enough oils of dead guys you have never heard of to qualify as a "museum". Don't stand in line and pay for this. The magical lift, is just that...a lift. There are 26,000 of them in NYC alone. Surely there are at least 2 or 3 in London you can ride! These don't qualify as rails. They have little bumpers that ride the cage, but are motivated by cables and counterweights. Not a rail.
The plan for the run up into the hills is entirely unrealistic. It presumes these little trains run with German efficiency at ":19 and :33 past the hour." If you believe this, you need a new arm chair. Here is the reality. You will arrive to find a line which must be compared to the Tower of Babel for the diverse languages you will hear at the ticket booth. Just in front of you will be a family with a dyspeptic father and a harried mother trying to deal with two sticky unruly brats who don't want to dump their ice cream cones before they get on the cog. After you finally do get on the cog, you will have this same family in front of you for the cable car. At least one kid will throw a fit because he doen't want to get on the ride. The clock is ticking. When you arrive at the Childrens/Pionner rail line, they may still be in front of you. For sure there will be a Saudi in the front arguing with the cashier on why they should accept his Rials.
Glen pointed out there should be a "point of no return" when you MUST turn around and head for the central market. What happens if you reach that point before you get on the cog because you have blown so much time in the tourist vortex on castle hill? Or worse yet, if you reach that point as you are hanging over the valley in the cable chair?
Revised ABURP to follow. Comments welcome.
A word of thanks, an acknowlegement and agreement and I am back. Let that be a lesson to you.
I must agree with Mick in that if the rest of your stops are like Budapest, I predict someone will be in the dock for manslaughter by the time you reach Istanbul.
Back to Budapest: I thought the idea was to ride rails. Mark insists on wasting time atop the great black hole of tourism in B-pest: castle hill. In his last post on the topic he was pressing for even more time up there. There is nothing up there for you. They sell admission (with lines) to the Fisherman's Bastion...the place Mark has confused with the towers of the castle (which are inaccessable). The Batsion was built in 1896 for the Millennium Celebration. It is nothing more than what the Victorians dubbed a folly (folley?). The view from the Siklo is almost identical to the Bastion. Forget that.
The info on "views from the castle" is completely erroneous. There are no views. It is not like Buckingham, Windsor of Hollyrood House. It does not have endless oak panelled rooms full of all the Royals ornate chamber pots. It is a white-washed stucco box with just enough oils of dead guys you have never heard of to qualify as a "museum". Don't stand in line and pay for this. The magical lift, is just that...a lift. There are 26,000 of them in NYC alone. Surely there are at least 2 or 3 in London you can ride! These don't qualify as rails. They have little bumpers that ride the cage, but are motivated by cables and counterweights. Not a rail.
The plan for the run up into the hills is entirely unrealistic. It presumes these little trains run with German efficiency at ":19 and :33 past the hour." If you believe this, you need a new arm chair. Here is the reality. You will arrive to find a line which must be compared to the Tower of Babel for the diverse languages you will hear at the ticket booth. Just in front of you will be a family with a dyspeptic father and a harried mother trying to deal with two sticky unruly brats who don't want to dump their ice cream cones before they get on the cog. After you finally do get on the cog, you will have this same family in front of you for the cable car. At least one kid will throw a fit because he doen't want to get on the ride. The clock is ticking. When you arrive at the Childrens/Pionner rail line, they may still be in front of you. For sure there will be a Saudi in the front arguing with the cashier on why they should accept his Rials.
Glen pointed out there should be a "point of no return" when you MUST turn around and head for the central market. What happens if you reach that point before you get on the cog because you have blown so much time in the tourist vortex on castle hill? Or worse yet, if you reach that point as you are hanging over the valley in the cable chair?
Revised ABURP to follow. Comments welcome.
Last edited:
Glenmutchkin
Member
Don I must have missed it somewhere. What does ABURP stand for?
Cabal members - I checked out the Copenhagen-Oslo-Trondheim step on Dbahn and that confirms that it does not run on Saturdays.
Because of the alternate day thing with Geneva - Barcelona we have to set off on one of Wednesday, Friday or Sunday. None of these puts us in Budapest on Monday, but Friday is now ruled out because of Copenhagen-Trondheim.
So D day needs to be Wednesday or Sunday. OK for us men of leisure but will it bother anybody else?
EDIT A Sunday start has us in Paris on Monday when the Musee d'Orsay is shut. It also gives us Sundays in Brussels/Amsterdam , Bucharest and Lisbon. Back in London Monday evening.
A Wednesday Start gives us Sundays in Stockholm/Berlin and Venice/Rome. back in London Thursday evening.
Cabal members - I checked out the Copenhagen-Oslo-Trondheim step on Dbahn and that confirms that it does not run on Saturdays.
Because of the alternate day thing with Geneva - Barcelona we have to set off on one of Wednesday, Friday or Sunday. None of these puts us in Budapest on Monday, but Friday is now ruled out because of Copenhagen-Trondheim.
So D day needs to be Wednesday or Sunday. OK for us men of leisure but will it bother anybody else?
EDIT A Sunday start has us in Paris on Monday when the Musee d'Orsay is shut. It also gives us Sundays in Brussels/Amsterdam , Bucharest and Lisbon. Back in London Monday evening.
A Wednesday Start gives us Sundays in Stockholm/Berlin and Venice/Rome. back in London Thursday evening.
Last edited:
Glenmutchkin
Member
Yes. As you have probably spotted we haven't pinned this down yet. We are waiting for a favourable weather forecast.
Brilliant. We now need to think up snappy acronyms for all of the other days.
Glen: ABURP (first draft) can be found on post #153. Also, post #159 gives, at least I thought, the sane plan for avoiding the blue haired tea trap on castle hill. Load up at Keleti with sandwiches, palinka and beer and you should be good to go until the central market. The food is cheap, fast, good and filling. Take extras with you if you must.
Re: D-Day weather. Don't ask Monty, check with Ike.
Re: D-Day weather. Don't ask Monty, check with Ike.
Last edited:
Glenmutchkin
Member
Actually I toyed with mentioning Group Captain Stagg in my post.
I looked back at ABURP #1. I think that The Dear Leader is worried about splitting the group up. By all accounts it was almost a disaster in India. We've got months to work out the fine detail and it will change, expand, shrink, stand on its head and get back to square one on a regular basis.
I don't know if you have seen this but it will give you an idea of what you are up against.
http://www.indiamike.com/india/indi...eat-circular-indian-railway-challenge-t93181/
PS He's told me that he will be offline tonight so we can say what we like.
Glen: In the words of the Great Bard, Richard Starkey, "All together now!" ABURP2 will have the entire group together. But it will not be headed "into the breach."
Re: Gcirc vs. GCERC. This is not a unified trip on one central governmental rail system. This trip involves many languages, more than a few alphabets, many cultures, and peoples that have been fighting each other since before the Romans arrived. It was not too many years ago the info you are trying collect was considered "State Secret." A toodle around the Raj it ain't!
Re: Gcirc vs. GCERC. This is not a unified trip on one central governmental rail system. This trip involves many languages, more than a few alphabets, many cultures, and peoples that have been fighting each other since before the Romans arrived. It was not too many years ago the info you are trying collect was considered "State Secret." A toodle around the Raj it ain't!
Last edited:
Glenmutchkin
Member
Interesting that you describe the Cog as a cable car. We think that a cable car is one of those fancy ski lift things that featured in "Where Eagles Dare". i.e. A cabin dangling from a cable.
Have you offered your description of Budapest to any of the Tourist Boards? I bet that Austria or Slovakia or somewhere would pay good money to see that published.
I was using it as a demonstration of attention to detail, flexible planning and sheer bloody minded-ness. I accept that in terms of admin Indian Railways made much of life simpler but they do operate a bureaucracy evolved from British Civil Service paperwork.
And India has all the cultural differences, multiple languages & alphabets that you could wish for. The one big advantage would be a single currency.
So that's what the Eurocrats are trying to achieve.
Last edited:
There is a "cable chair" that connects the cog to the Pioneer Childrens line. Get in the chair, hang over the valley. I have stood in lines in Austria and Slovakia as well. I am probably persona non grata there for my comments on their lines as well! I don't like interminable lines, and I "don't play well with others."
Glenmutchkin
Member
I'm losing track of all of these different variants. A hanging chair probably doesn't qualify for a Rail event.
I'll drink to that. Who's going to win the Superbowl?
I would have to say hanging from a cable in a dinky chair over a valley better qualifies for points than does a lift. But, the point is, this is how you are going to make all your rail rides and food shopping work. You need this connection. In ABURP #1 I pointed out that perhaps the acrophobes in your group would have a problem with this. Is anyboby listening? I am more than marginally aware of these things since the Great Heidlburg Incident when I was 3. That was when my father thought it would be a bright idea to dangle me over the castle wall. It was probably only a 2-300 foot drop, but in my mind's eye I see 2,000 feet. I don't do cable chair rides. That was why I suggested guiding the acrophobes through the mysteries of the central market as the rest of you dangled over the valley. But that plan is out.
- Status