Travel Days

Jeremy and I left the hostel at 5 am on Wednesday to catch the metro to Paris Nord and then the train to Amsterdam. To avoid a €32 reservation fee, we took trains for 7 hours (7!!!!!) involving 4 changes (4!!!!!), which was a little tiring. The alternative with the mandatory reservation was 4 hours with no stops but for $50 we would rather just spend the extra time on the train. We got to Amsterdam airport around 2:30 pm and took the free shuttle to our hotel. More on the hotel later. 

We have come to really love travel days. They aren't too stressful because everything is already planned- it's the planning in crappy wifi that is stressful. We get to relax, we get to sit and rest our bodies and feet, we get to play on our phones or just gaze out the window, and we get to sleep. There's nothing we feel like we should be doing. There's no walking or sun or heat. We just get to sit and the train takes us to the next adventure. 

Jeremy on the train. 

Now I want to make it clear that we don't like this more than exploring or anything. We love the walking tours and sight seeing and adventuring, but these days are nice breaks. 

The train is also a wonderful way to travel. You don't have to go through security, you have way more room in your seat, and you see a lot more than you would on a plane or highway. There's no free drink but there are stops along the way in cute little towns where you can grab a sandwich or something. It's really nice. 

We have the Eurail youth global pass, which allows us to travel 15 different days in 2 months. According to our itinerary we will use 14 of those, which is perfect. We can travel by Eurail-included trains (most of the ones around Europe are included) as much as we want between midnight and midnight on each day. 

So Wednesday was our first day using the pass and it was a great success. 

Now we're in Amsterdam, and there will be a post very soon about our happenings here.