EuroCheapo's Practical Info Articles

Mar 13 Yes, dear reader, we know that DotCom (or even .com) is big in your world, but canny European businesses — and individuals, too — know that small is beautiful. And you don’t have to go all the way to Tuvalu, the island territory in Polynesia, in order to pick up a head-turning e-mail address. Though » Read more

Mar 06 “Hey, come on,” said our neighbor as we sat in spring sunshine, exclaiming in mild delight at the timetable that had just been delivered by the Berlin postie. “Look,” he said, “it is just a train timetable.” One book: 140 years of travel history But the March 2013 issue of the “Thomas Cook European Rail » Read more

Jan 08 This is a guest post from budget traveler extraordinaire, Matt Kepnes. Keep up with his travels and read his advice at NomadicMatt.com For the last five years, I’ve spent every summer traveling around Europe. My first summer riding the train through the European countryside enamored me with the continent and I couldn’t resist coming back….repeatedly. » Read more

Dec 19 So here’s a prediction for the year ahead. Looking at European trends in budget travel, we are confident that 2013 will be the year of the long-distance coach. Following liberalization of coach transport elsewhere in Europe, big changes are now afoot in Germany, with the scrapping (on Jan 1, 2013) of an 80-year-old law that » Read more

Dec 17 There are many things we love about the end of the year. Eggnog, HD yule log apps and the subtle but certain scent of travel plans in the new year to name a few. But what we really love are lists. Big honking end-of-the-year recapapaloozas that rehash what we learned in the past 12 months and what » Read more

Nov 28 The latest issue of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable is published today. Just for the record it is the 1,519th edition of the book. Can you imagine that? Surely no other volume in the history of publishing has gone to 1,519 editions. Not all editions are equal. We happen to particularly rate the December » Read more

Aug 09 German Magazine Spiegel reports that Russia and Poland now allows visa-free travel for residents within 50 km of the Kaliningrad border. While this policy change only currently affects our Cheapos in Gdansk (Cze??, czytelnicy!), the hope is that moves such as this, which “Kremlin officials are viewing … as a first step toward a complete elimination » Read more

Jul 18 “I really had to cover a lot of miles to make sure I got good value from my Eurail pass.” We’ve heard comments like that often, and you surely have, too. It is a refrain uttered by folk as they return home from a manic dash around Europe, sometimes even covering seven capitals in as » Read more

Jun 06 Okay, let’s say you’ve made the decision to go for a rail pass. Of course there are times when a pass makes total sense. It may be that you really are making a lot of journeys, or perhaps you just want to relish the freedom to roam at will. Here’s how to get the most » Read more