On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:10:55 -0700 (PDT), "Jen C."
wrote:
>Thank you Hatunen, Giovanni, and Tom,
>
> That information has helped out a lot!
>
>I really wanted to do the rail, but I think for a family of 5 it just
>doesn't make financial sense. It will cost around $1000 to $1500 to
>rent a full-size wagon or van with all the insurance buffs.
With a larger group it may be cost effective to rent a car. But
bear in mind that parking in larger cities could be costly.
Hotels rarely have free parking (if any at all).
>It looks
>like the train solution would cost us $2700 just for 8-day Eurail
>passes,
Financially, Eurailpasses are generally a losing proposition,
especially if used mostly for only one country, and especially if
you must buy the first class passes.
>and then about $500 per night train if we wanted a double +
>triple cabins.
That sounds a bit high. A compartment's total cost is about the
same whether you have one person or three in it. The biggest
problem these days is that night trains are disappearing for the
very good reason that faster regular trains make the trips quick
enough that there would be little time to sleep. In fact, sleeper
trains travel quite slowly to make sure they don't arrive at some
ungodly hour like 04:00. Sometimes they even pull off on a siding
for several hours.
Were you so inclined, with your family party you could book a
six-passenger couchette compartment to yourselves.
My wife and I use sleepers often in Finland where we must cover
quite a distance from Helsinki to Oulu, but the cost of a sleeper
in Finland is rather modest. Nevertheless, I have the problem
that I have trouble sleeping on a train (although my wife sleeps
like a log). All the starting and stopping and jostling is too
much for me.
>Then on top that, there would be endless planning
>involved to avoid having to change trains in the middle of the night
>etc.
Planning is rather simple at http://bahn.hafas.de
>Then there's the danger if we get delayed and miss a train that
>I have reservations for...
Trains in Germany are rarely delayed and night trains rarely
require a change in the middle of the night.
>In looking at the map more carefully, Germany doesn't look much bigger
>than New York State, so the amount of driving shouldn't be excessive.
Check the scale on your maps...
--
************* DAVE HATUNEN (hatunen@cox.net) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
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