Travel tips from a Eurailer

Kasia took the following items with her on her Eurail trip...

Must-haves

Clothing

• Comfortable shoes for all the walking
• Jeans and/or skirt - you can take one and style for many occasions, like sightseeing, partying and relaxing
• Comfy sweatshirt
• Waterproof jacket - I used it during wet and cold days in the Netherlands. Usually you can bring one good, warm, waterproof jacket to have less luggage

Assorted other items

• Earplugs - to have a good sleep
• E-reader - to read when on trains and save the space taken up by physical books
• A pen and notepad
• Powerbank - I charged it in trains and hostels. The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and French TGV trains had power outlets. It was easy to charge my phone and Powerbank in trains.
• Revolut currency-exchange app and card - never had any issues when booking hostels, trains, paying at hostels, supermarkets, shops, train stations, restaurants. Never had any commission when withdrawing, which I did twice. (You can also try TransferWise or Monzo.)
• Cash - in some places cards were not accepted. (This was mostly the case in Berlin, Germany.)
• Steel water bottle - I took a Ragsy bottle to keep water cold or tea warm. I filled it everywhere. No need to buy plastic water bottles.
• Medicine - it's always good to have some with you. I took some antibiotics and painkillers, but used them only once.

Apps

Rail Planner, Omio, SNCF (French railways), Polarsteps, Hostelworld, Booking.com, Sudoku to play in metro, Uber, Lime, RATP (for Paris transport), Maps.me, Revolut

What I didn't need

Food

I took some pasta, tea and oatmeals with me. But don't take any food, because shops are everywhere. You can buy food there and prepare for lunch or breakfast. If there's a kitchen in the hostel, they usually also have tea or ground coffee.

I sometimes ate the breakfast offered at hostels. It was usually around €5-9, with plenty of choices. I then wasn't hungry until dinner.