Travel insurance - Tips & Advice - Holiday planning guide

Sophisticated networks have opened up most of Europe for those who love travelling by train. But don’t forget to take out travel insurance before you go.

Hands up everyone who remembers ‘InterRailing’. In the 70s and 80s (and possibly the 90s), hordes of people would happily hop on a ferry across the channel and spend weeks or months pottering around Europe on trains. It could be a quite hit-and-miss affair – turning up at a remote station in France only to discover that the timetable you have is out of date and there isn’t another train until the morning.

Some might say that this was part of the charm of the whole experience. But, of course, modern technology, both on the Internet and on train lines, has made life so much easier.

Full steam ahead
For a start, if you’re planning on visiting Europe by train, you no longer have to get on a ferry – the Eurostar is your first port of call and will take you to gateway European destinations, from where you can continue your journey. Most major European countries are now at your feet.

Of course, travelling across Europe by train requires plenty of forward planning and that is where the Rail Europe website comes into play. This is THE definitive site for travelling by train from the UK across the continent. Not only does it contain up-to-date train information, you can also book tickets online.

And train travel really does open up Europe for you. You could easily arrive in Paris and spend a couple of days enjoying the city before heading north and east into Belgium and onto Amsterdam. Or why not head south, on into France or Italy. Not only do you get to see the countryside passing by, travelling by train is more environmentally friendly than flying, plus you don’t have all that time getting to the airport and then having to wait for your flight to take off.

The lure of train travel is even stronger when you consider that there are train passes available that will reduce the costs. Plus there are InterRail cards that give you practically unlimited travel for a specified time around Europe.

If you go to Rail Europe’s main site you can check out an interactive map of all the destinations in Europe that are available. And what’s more, you can enjoy a virtual tour around Europe, as well as getting loads more information on travel, schedules and passes.

Of course, if you are planning to travel to a number of destinations, then you might want to consider travelling as light as possible because continually having to carry your bags may become something of a strain. And while there may be compartments for luggage, you will want to keep your bags in sight all the time.

Get the right insurance
When travelling abroad by train, you need to make sure that you have adequate travel insurance – and you can do this with Direct Line.

Our single trip, annual multi-trip and Discoverer policies will cover you for overseas emergency medical expenses and in the event of cancellation or curtailment. They will also cover you for the loss of personal possessions, such as theft of your suitcases, money and your passport, subject to the terms, conditions and policy limits applicable.

You can find out more about our travel insurance policies – including being able to read our policy documents, containing all the conditions and exclusions – and get a travel insurance quote online. And, if you buy online, you will get an instant discount.