A month before my husband, Thom, and I took a trip to Italy, April 16-May 10, 2013, we bought Italy train passes from the Rick Steves website; Eurail passes must be purchased in the US and, within six months of purchase, must be validated in Europe before your first train ride. Our 4-day, single-country Saver Pass (for two people traveling together) cost $454 for the two of us, riding in second class.
Four-day, three-night journeys between Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador, aboard the 54-passenger train Tren Crucero are available from Tren Ecuador (Sincholagua s/n and Av. Maldonado, Quito; phone 593 2 399 2100, ext. 1175).
Running from the coast up through the Andes, with views of tropical forests and volcanoes, the train ride varies from 50 to 86 miles each day, with passengers staying in hotels at night. The itinerary includes visits to villages, markets and ranches. On two of the four days, steam locomotives are used.
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by William Kemp, Austin, Texas
For our stay in Bangkok, Thailand, during an independent trip to Southeast Asia, my husband, Earl, and I followed the recommendation of an ITN reader (“Woman Driver in Bangkok,” April ’12, pg. 32) and contacted Rat of Rat Service (phone [66] 08 9108 2170, email rat_bkk@yahoo.com).
In South Korea in April, two central inland region tour trains of Korail began providing access to the mountain areas of Chungcheongbuk-do, Gangwon-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do, formerly accessible only by twisting, sometimes unpaved roads. Purchase tickets on site or at www.korail.com/en.
The tour company China Travel Guide has launched a new free app for iPhone, China Trains, which allows users to check China’s train schedules, plan trips to many cities, look up trains by number and check ticket availability, all in English.
Tickets cannot be purchased from the app, but the schedules can be downloaded for offline use. The app is available on the Apple App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Good luck sometimes comes wrapped in what appears to be misfortune.
Getting off the train from Interlaken, Switzerland, to Montreux in June ’12, just 11 days into our 3-week Swiss trip, my husband, Jerry, and I were gathering our things together when I said, “Where’s my Kindle?” We searched everywhere, and I determined that I had left it on my seat when we changed trains.
We reported the loss to the railroad people in Montreux. We also emailed our son back in the US, telling him to shut off access to the Kindle so a finder could not download books and charge our credit card. Meanwhile, there was nothing to do but carry on.
by Kenneth Jessen; Loveland, CO
On a 2-day stop in Barcelona, part of a Mediterranean/Black Sea voyage with Holland America Line in 2012, my travel companions, Gary and Bev Hartman, and I took an independent trip to Montserrat on the first day, knowing that we would have more than a day to return to the ship.