TRAVEL TIP OF THE WEEK

If you're traveling to a place where train travel is prevalent (like Europe), I highly suggest that you research train schedules and journey durations ahead of time. It's very easy to assume that train travel is the most affordable, if not always the quickest, way to go, and it often is, but with the advent of cheap airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet, sometimes you can pick up a cheap, fast flight. Many websites that sell rail passes also link to rail timetables. From the ISE Card website, http://www.isecard.com/ , click on "Free HostelResCard" and then click on "Train Schedules" under Rail Information. You can also find the country specific railway information for every European country here http://www.eurail.com/1_railway_information or you can purchase a Thomas Cook timetable here http://www.thomascookpublishing.com/series.htm?series=Timetables . It's important to remember that rail schedules don't vary much from year to year, but they can be dramatically different from season to season or midweek to weekend.