tips and tricks for saving on overland travel

[Miriam]

Dear all,

I am currently planning a trip from Helsinki, via Stockholm, Berlin, Stuttgart, Paris to London. As I, in principle, try not to use planes when travelling within Europe (and limiting overseas flights to the absolutely necessary amount), I invested quite some time in researching cheap ways of travelling in Europe.

As this might help others, I would just like to report on that and maybe open this new thread as a way to publish "good deals" and offers for train or bus travel in Europe or elsewhere that might be, for instance, temporary offers that are not available on www.seat61.com

Anyway - my research started with seat61.com which is a website about rail travel all over the world. it is extremely useful, but misses out - understandably - on the more temporary saving opportunities or tricks and tipps for saving, for instance when travelling with the Deutsche Bahn. Also, it does not report on internationl bus travel in Europe which is generally extremely cheap.

Helsinki to Stockholm by ferry: I went on a website called
www.aferry.com which compares prices for ferries. I found a really good deal in a 3-bed cabin for around 40pounds.

Stockholm-Berlin: there are various options. The cheapest one is the bus - a company called http://www.berlinlinienbus.de/ offers trips from 86 Euro (that is without any concessions). The website www.reisebus24.de offers a search engine for all providers of international bus travel in Europe - I think it is only available in German though.

As I find travelling by bus extremely tiring, I decided to go by train. The company www.swedenbooking.com is very helpful to provide quotes for student but also regular tickets. There is also something called the "Just Nu" tariff which offers very good deals if you book early. My trip from Stockholm via Malmö to Berlin will cost about 110 Euro.

Berlin-Stuttgart: Once in Berlin, I hope to use the "Surf and Rail" offer from the Deutsche Bahn, which sells last minutes trips between certain cities for either 19 or 39 Euros. The problem is that the offer changes weekly and not all connections are included all the time - and you can only book, I think, 7 days in advance. As it would be too expensive to buy a no return ticket from Berlin to Stuttgart (118 Europ), I otherwise probably use a car pooling website to get a ride by car which will be around 27 Euro (www.mitfahrzentrale.de , for instance). (If you are going on a round trip iby train n Germany, you can save up to 50% if you book early).

Stuttgart-Paris.
The Deutsche Bahn (www.bahn.de) (in English, as well) also has an international offer called "International Surf and Rail" which has offers on some fixed, limited connections, which can be booked several months ahead of time. It is really worth checking it out. I am going from Stuttgart to Strasbourg for 19 Euros. My connection from Strasbourg to Paris is only 33 Euro, but you can get it as cheap as 20 Euro if you book on time on www.tgv.com/UK --> Buy ticket --> Occassional trips -- Prem (i.e. special offers). There are offers for all TGV connections in France from 20 Euro so this is a really good deal.

Paris-London.
Well , there isnt really any other option that going with the Eurostar (unless you want to go by Bus - I did this last year on a special offer with the National Express for 18 pounds return (and this was for two persons ... yes, really)). It takes about 7h - if you do not have to wait at the border because someone forgot his or her passport ...). With respect to the Eurostar, you basically have to book a return trip even if you won't come back, as the single trip only costs at least 150pounds, where as a return ticket is available from 52 pounds altogether.

Anyway.
I hope to present these suggestions and special offers in a better form at some point. I would be very happy to see more of these tricks and tips here.
Miriam