8 days, 4 countries, 0 flights 🧳

One of the biggest personal challenges I encounter is how do I protect the planet and leave a minimal footprint, but also get to see and explore all the wonderful things in this world? Travel makes up a significant proportion of global carbon emissions, estimated around 8%, and of this almost half comes from transport. And it is no surprise to hear that flying has the highest carbon intensity of any travel medium.

In January I signed up to Flight Free UK, an initiative to grow momentum for non-flight travel, and began planning for a type of trip I’d always wanted to try: Interrailing. In this post, I’m going to share my tips on interrailing for if you’d like to try it yourself, as well as my experience of a train only international trip (Spoiler, it was pretty great!).

Planning

First of all, planning the trip. You might have ideas about where you’d like to go, a certain budget, or are willing to be inspired. The Interrail website is really helpful for explaining the types of passes on offer and has an interactive map for trip planning, perfect for seeing your route come to life. Top tip – Interrail has annual sales where you can get significant discounts on their passes. There is usually a sale at the start of the year, but as I missed this I held on until the Spring when luckily they ran their Spring sale. Another useful thing to know is that you don’t have to be ready to take your trip to buy a pass, you can buy a pass up to 11 months before travelling and then you can activate it and choose your specific trains later, so if you think you are likely to take a trip in the next year it is worth buying your pass during a sale. You can also get discounts for Youth (12-27) and Senior (60+) tickets.

For this trip I got the four day pass, which allowed me to have four travel days on which I could take any trains, including the trains to leave from and return to my home country. So I guess your next question is, where did I go?

The route

With this trip, as well as having an adventure and setting myself a challenge, I really wanted to be able to do the full trip without having a take a single flight. I also only had a limited amount of days available and so my destinations had to be somewhere I could reach easily from the UK. This led me to choosing a route that was kind of like a big Northern European triangle! During my 8 days, I travelled to:

• London, UK
• Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
• Antwerp, Belgium
• Paris, France

Leg 1: London – Amsterdam

After waking up super early and taking the train (my first of 6 on this trip!) to London, I boarded my Eurostar train to Amsterdam – and was allocated the iconic seat 61. This was the longest of all the trains I took, at around 4.5 hours, but I found these hours travelling by train were very enjoyable, and as much as a part of the trip as the planned destinations. The time easily passes by when you’ve got a tasty lunch to eat, a new book to read, colouring to do, a bespoke interrailing playlist (I created before leaving) to listen to and such interesting views to enjoy. Along this route I got the see the cityscape of Brussels, enjoy watching the birds flying over the fields and even spotted some Dutch windmills too!

Once in Amsterdam I took the free ferry over the river to my hostel. The north of the city is less intensely connected to tourism, so it was a nice area to be based in, and meant I got to enjoy travelling over the river everyday, which was an added bonus. And my oh my they weren’t kidding about the bikes! They were everywhere in this city and were by far the predominant way to travel. It was so cool to see so many people enjoying the city by bike and it being so normalised, compared to the more car-dominated cities I was used to.

Whilst in Amsterdam I attended a Free walking tour, explored Noorderpark, the Jordaan area and Vondelpark. I also got to know another traveller staying in my hostel room and we attended one of the hostel’s events as well as a delicious brunch together. One of my biggest worries about doing this kind of trip and solo travelling was the types of people I would meet and have to share with in the hostels. There is a certain amount of luck involved, but I was pleasantly surprised that everyone I met was so nice and that other solo travellers were up for doing things together or just having a chat, which made the whole trip still feel very social.

I really liked Amsterdam for its beautiful architecture, the way the city was so walkable and had so few cars and its friendly, laidback culture. Oh to be the type of cool girl that cycles in the most fashionable outfit, one hand free to eat a pastry! Amsterdam are also making strides in regard to sustainability, recently making the news for banning fossil fuel and meat adverts. Walking around the quiet canals, it was inspiring to see how many benefits a walking/cycling dominant culture brings, and how these ideas can easily be translated elsewhere.

Leg 2: Amsterdam – Antwerp

After two nights in Amsterdam, I took the ferry across the river for the final time to catch my train to Antwerp. Most of the trains on this trip were operated by Eurostar, due to the locations I was travelling from/to, and so required seat reservations. However the train to Antwerp was a regular inter-city train connecting Amsterdam with Belgium, so I actually got to feel like a real Interrailer and show my pass! The train itself was really nice on the inside, with interesting split layers and big windows, and the 1.5 hour journey went very quickly. Before I knew it, I had arrived at the beautiful building that is Antwerp station, and promptly stepped out into a huge thunderstorm!

Unfortunately, my whole trip was quite overshadowed by rain (and on a few occasions hail), which *wasn’t really* the conditions I had packed for, but the worst of the weather did fall while I was in Antwerp. Between showers, I did manage to fit in another Free walking tour of the city, multiple visits to the unexpected delight which was the old Antwerp stock exchange (it’s only open on certain dates like public holidays, but if you are ever in Antwerp and it’s open, it is well worth a visit), a look around the traditional shopping malls and then when the weather didn’t improve, I had no choice but to visit Chocolate Nation, the Belgian chocolate museum. Their interactive layout was really interesting for learning about chocolate production, and then finishing off by trying ten different types of warm melted chocolate was the best remedy for spending most of my time in the city being rain soaked.

While less of an obvious tourist destination, my two nights in Antwerp were a great break in between two busy capital cities to explore somewhere in a more relaxed manner, and a great place to pick up lots of tasty souvenirs for my family back home.

Leg 3: Antwerp – Paris

Upon leaving Antwerp, I took yet more pictures of its incredible train station (what a picturesque Pret) before boarding the train to Paris. I hadn’t visited any of the places I went to on this trip before, and of all the destinations I was most excited about seeing Paris for the first time. The weeks before my trip had been spent reading some of my parent’s guidebooks on the city, working out what was still relevant (not the part about bringing enough Francs with you) and dreaming about what I might get to see in one of the world’s most iconic cities. As was the theme of this trip, I arrived during a downpour of rain, and had a very wet walk to my hostel, housed within a stunning historic building a few steps away from the Seine (I learnt how to use the Metro by the time it was time for my train home, so didn’t have to do that walk with a backpack in the rain again thankfully!). One day was spent just walking, following the banks of the Seine, diverting whenever I was near something iconic and of interest (this led to a lot of diversions and some very sore feet that evening) and taking in all the sights of Paris. I read my book in the Jardins de Luxembourg, ate French cherries by the Eiffel Tower, and in a burst of sunshine and something that could almost be described as warmth, I took the opportunity to get an ice cream as I walked along the river. Emily Cooper move over, I was not coming to Paris to do things by halves. In the evening, despite my feet crying out to not walk any further, I went with my new hostel roommate to a Eurovision screening party nearby and even made it by accident onto French TV, although that part of interrailing is optional.

On my second day in Paris, I decided it would be worthwhile working out how to use the Metro system so I could visit the Montmarte area. Once you’ve bought a ticket, it is really easy to add money to your card for as many journeys as you need, and with a numbers and colours system, I found the trains easy to navigate, despite not speaking much French. Montmarte was a beautiful area to explore, although it did get very busy later in the day so I’d recommend going earlier in the morning to see the sights without ten tour parties following you around. In the evening my roommate and I pushed through the language barrier and went to see the Eiffel Tour sparkle, which really was spectacular.

Leg 4: Paris – London

For my final morning I walked around Les Marais area, and found a (vegan) bakery to sit outside, eat a pasty and people watch (which was my Paris fantasy). Then before long it was time to return to Gare du Nord and embark on the train back to London. By this point I had to start the second book I’d bought with me, but after many days of non-stop walking and exploring, I was just happy to sit and enjoy the journey. Back in London I had a gap between arriving and my train home, so I spent the reminder of the afternoon in the British Library, fitted in seeing the Magna Carta (as you do), then got my Leon at Euston and finally caught train number 6, getting back home right at the end of day 8.

Embedding sustainability during the trip

The minimise my environmental footprint further beyond not flying, there were a few other things I did to make my trip as sustainable as it could be. As my first foray into backpacking, I knew I needed to get a bag big enough for an extended trip. My bag of choice was a 35L Cotopaxi backpack, which I managed to buy on sale before my trip. I first of all loved it because it was so colourful, but it also came with great credentials: Made with leftover fabric, a 30% lower carbon footprint compared to similar bags made from new materials, sustainability prioritised in choosing the materials used, repair schemes and a percentage of revenue going to non-profits, this bag is really working hard! And on a practical level I had a great time bringing it on the trip with me. I really like how you can unzip it the entire way round and it has built in compartments, so you never have to worry about removing everything just to get a pair of socks out from the bottom. It also has plenty of pockets and different size sections, perfect for accessing snacks. Finally did I mention the pretty colours?

Where you stay also has an impact on your footprint as you travel. Generally speaking, the more luxury the accommodation, the greater the footprint, as more resources are required. Luxury can be nice for special occasions, but on a trip like this where travel and experience were the driving forces, I stayed in hostels in all three locations. Not only did these end up being a great way to meet fellow travellers and a much more affordable option, but their paired back set up is less resource-intensive, and also shows how little we actually need to be comfortable – living out of a backpack will start a lot of decluttering thoughts!

Finally – the food. Sometimes going abroad can make it feel more difficult to find vegetarian and vegan options, but it seems like the choice is definitely improving. I enjoyed a very tasty pastry and tea in a vegan bakery and café in Paris, and when I did eat out I always had a choice of veggie dishes. I also tried where possible to try local dishes and seasonal local food, such as cherries in France, which were delicious to eat in season.

The verdict

8 days, 6 trains, 4 countries, 2 French pastries and 1 TV appearance later, and the trip has come to an end. As a first ever interrail and solo travel experience, I have to say I think it went pretty well. In only 8 days I got to see such a variety of places, experience multiple countries and languages and got to enjoy the journey between each of those places too. The travelling days weren’t frustrating and nor did they wipe out an entire day for exploring, but were instead an enjoyable and core part of the trip. A trip driven by minimal environmental impact, but delivered big cultural and personal impact. Sure, you can’t travel to every destination in the world by train, but if you are fortunate enough to be able to take the train over flying somewhere, you’ll get to experience a whole lot more. So go on, see where the train could take you; plan a trip, get your ticket, and make your next trip a flight free one.