Euro Rail FastTrack Worksheet

Section 1: Wish list

So, where do you really want to go? List the places you want to visit, the things you want to do, the hostels you want to make sure to swing by, ect. in the following 20 boxes. Please don't be too much of a tourist. If your list goes: Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, The Mona Lisa, Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc... crumple it up and start over.

At least try to be a little adventurous, as in:
1) Drink beer with a rowdy group of Germans
2) Hike a huge mountain in the Alps
3) Slap a bull on the ass while running in Pampelona
4) Dance the Flamenco till sunrise in Sevilla
5) Break the bank in Monte Carlo
6) Do absolutely nothing on a beach somewhere
7) Etc...you get the picture.

Knock yourself out

d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___
d._______________________ . ___

Now, rank order them with the column on the right

Section 2: Setting a rough itinerary

Plot these points, including their respective ranking number, on the clean map you printed. Go back to WiseNomad.com's FastTrack section for a detailed and zoomable rail map. Once you've done the plotting, it's time to figure out what's realistic given your time and financial constraints. Plot a couple routes and pick your favorite. Then answer the following four questions:

1) Where will you fly into? ________________
2) Where will you fly out of? ______________
3) How many days will you be in Europe? ______
4) How many will you spend traveling? ________

Last thing, go back and either knock off 25% of your destinations or increase the length of your trip by 30%. No joke, this will be the first good decision of your trip. Everybody, and we mean absolutely everybody, tries to squeeze too much in to too short of a trip, so take what you think is a reasonable schedule and change it according to these percentages. You'll be pissed later on if you don't.

Section 3 - Rail pass -vs- point-to-point combo

Use the convienient point-to-point calculator on WiseNomad.com's FastTrack section to figure out the price of all the point-to-point tickets you'll need to buy to get where you want to go. Compare this total point-to-point cost to the price of your best rail pass alternative. Keep in mind that you can sometimes combine a less expensive pass that gets you almost everywhere you want to go with one or two point-to-point tickets and come out on top.

Point-to-point Pricing Summary

PtP____________________________ $_____
PtP____________________________ $_____
PtP____________________________ $_____
PtP____________________________ $_____
PtP____________________________ $_____
PtP____________________________ $_____
PtP____________________________ $_____
PtP____________________________ $_____
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Total $________