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Messages - Maxy
16
« on: February 02, 2017, 08:41:30 pm »
Before my first visit to Switzerland RABDe 500 seemed to me very interesting But when I came to Switzerland - I've managed to catch RABDe 500 between Bellingzona and Lugano and discovered it's very similar by look and feel to Pendolino, at last while you are inside. I dont know where are you from but I never drive on a TGV or ETR610 ETR610 have same feel inside comparing to any other Pendolino-like train. While you inside - you don't see this long train nose.
17
« on: January 28, 2017, 01:40:23 am »
How many days in advance would you need to book the Autolux from Odessa/Kyiv or visa versa? May is not the beach season yet, so demand is not so high like in Summer. The time when you are can be confident you'll got the place depends on weekday and the departure. The worst cases (the 18:35 departure from Odessa to Kyiv on Sundays and the 18:00 departure from Kyiv to Odessa on Fridays - it's better to buy in 3-4 weeks in advance. Other departutes usually are available if you buy in few days. Do you need to book in advance for the overnight train as well? of course. 4-berth compartment in overnight train if it's domestic travel - is cheaper than bus, thus trains are completely sold-out in kupe (4-berth compartment). The more pricey 2-bed compartments remain available longer, but also will sold-out in May. Usually I always just take day trains/buses and have always followed TuT's suggestion about getting tickets at the station the day of or the day before In Ukraine it's usually not possible on most directions. Railway tariff is ridiculously low, but quantity of trains and quantity of places in them is definitely not enough. There's also the option of just flying too from Odessa to Kyiv as it seems very cheap please note, really low fares (499 UAH in case of early booking) is available only to one flight (opreated by BravoAirways), while for other flights of other arlines minimal possible price in case of even earliest booking is significantly higher (about ~1000 UAH). Also important point is which airport of Kyiv depart/arrive the flight. Boryspil (KBP) airport is quite remote (almost 40 km from city center), thus travel time to this airport from Kyiv city center consumes quite much time (almost 1 hour), making total travel time from city center of Kyiv to city center of Odessa in total, including time reserve before check-in in total insignificantly smaller than going by fastest among buses, difference in travel time will be less than 1 hour. In case if you have flight to/from small Kyiv-Zhuliany (IEV) airport, which is located within city, in only 7 km from city center - flight save you more time, in such case taking flight save you ~1,5 hours comparing to going by fastest among buses. But too few flighs are available to/from IEV, most flights are from KBP. What is fancy - the flight of BravoAirways with cheapest minimal price - is the flight from IEV, while more expensive flights are usually from KBP. But yes if I get the overnight train, I can just sleep the entire way and not worry about it. Though I've never done an over night train before oh. You have interesting dilemma. If you are curious to try travel by overnight train - Ukraine is good place for first experience, becase Ukrainian overnight trains provide very good quality/price ratio. On other hand - there is one sad thing regarding overnight train - the abiity to sleep in overnight train is kinda skill. If you are non-experienced - there is significant chance you'll be not able to full asleep all night and will be broken all next day. Those, who travel by overnight trains regularly - have kinda skill and become able to sleep, but you are not trained. But no way to check unless you try. So you must decide by yourself. so would have to figure out the best way with the least amount of people in the berth. well, berth in 4-berth compartment is already quite good. If the price difference with 2-berth compartment is not important for you - choose it. what other places then might be worth spending a night or two along the way instead of just those 3 cities then that's along the way? well, in the area around the places very worth a visit are Lviv, Kamyanets-Podilsky and Chernivtsi (each of them is more insteresting than Chișinău for example), but they are little bit outside the way you've planned. You can replan your itineary to cover them. It's hard to give exact proposal unless you don't tell from where you arrive and where you continue. For example I know few foreigners, who wanted to visit Kyiv, few other cities of Ukraine and Chisinau and figured out it makes sence to do by circle with including the nearby part in Romania, something like Kyiv - Odessa - Chisinau - Iasi - Suceava - painted Bucovina Monasteries - Chernivtsi - side trip to Kamyanets-Podilsky - Chernivtsi - Lviv - Kyiv. Depending on from where you come and where you continue later - you can try to find the flight with open jaw arrival/departure from different places on this circle, allowing you to avoid one of "longer" sections in this circle.
18
« on: January 26, 2017, 11:59:08 pm »
Obviously buses go back the same way as went here. Anyway the majority of buses between Odessa and Chișinău operate via Tudora/Palanca. Also I'm only seeing buses leaving later in the day from Chișinău, is there any options of going to Odessa earlier? in Winter situation with buses Odessa - Chisinau is very specific. Thing is the road M15 (the road from Odessa - Palanca - Reni) tend to be closed sometimes (from 1 to few times per Winter, typically for short periods, with duration about 1-3 days) on Winter due to weather conditions. For example last time it was closed only 2 weeks ago because of huge snowalls for untypically long period from ~8 to 12 Jan 2017. During those days most of buses Odessa - Chișinău (and back) was simply canceled, the few operating ones - operated with giant detour via Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky and horribly increased travel time. Also demand among the passengers on this route dramatically decrease for Winter on this direction. The demand drops much more significantly especially after the incidents as I've described you. People who suffered during such situation return to homes and tell everybody how horrible it was, those who planned to travel - afraid situation will re-appear and ruin their plans, so prefer not even dare to travel. Most of them prefer postpone such travel for Spring if it's possible. For example since 12 Jan 2017 road M-15 is completely opened, but the evidences of those, who sucked on 8-12 Jan caused dramatical drop of demand, which is already low due to the fact that the Winter. As result - after 12 Jan half of scheduled buses from Odessa to Chisinau are temporary canceled because too few travelers. So I'm not sure if there is bus in morning, but definitely emotions subside in few weeks thus demand will restore to it's normal Winter value, then Spring will come and there will be lots of buses in each time of day. hough I believe it goes out of the way via Vinnytsia while the bus goes via Uman' Yes. There are few departures per day of the fastest buses (providing travel time in fact only about ~5-5,5 hours). Their scheduled travel time is 6,5 hours, but they overspeed little bit and come 1-1,5 hours before timetables. It's the buses of Autolux http://autolux.ua/en/buy_tickets/not all buses of Autolux are so fast, only those, which are marked as VIP (And they are more pricey). "VIP" departures of Autolux don't stop in Uman. For example I often return from Odessa to my home city (Kyiv) by the 18:35 bus, and despite sheduler arrival time 0:40 - I always came to Kyiv before midnight (and thus I always managed to catch metro before it closes, metro in Kyiv close in midnight).Please note, despite they are horribly expensive in Ukrainian scale (ticket to VIP bus of Autolux cost more, than bed in 4-berth compartment of sleeping car of 2nd class(Kupe) to the most expensive among overnight train), VIP departures of Autolux are normally completely sold-out, so buying ticket before departure is almost never possible. But again, all this good only in Spring, Summer and Autumn. In Winter - if you trap to snowy weather or sleeper road - travel by bus can become very time consuming and dangerous, in winter - always choose the train. Do they have night trains from Odessa to Kyiv yes, all trains except the fasterst daytime IC+-one - contains only of cars, intended for sleeping or laying. At present there is no seating cars in overnight trains connecting Kyiv and Odessa at all. If you are taking overnight train - no sence to exit in Vinnytisa, anyway you have too few time for sleeping, no sence to decrease it. The idea of taking IC+ to Vinnytsia and then after exploring Vinnytsia continue by other train to Kyiv is doubtfull. Vinnytsia definitely don't belong to top 10 most worth to be seen cities of Ukraine.It's not bad, but better spend this time wherever else. Uman arboretrum "Sofiyivka" is defitinely worth to be seen in May. But it's horribly crowded in this period, especially on non-working day, when half of Ukraine comes here. Regadring "Sofiyivka" in other time of year I'm really unsure if it worth. In Winter - definiely no. Anyway you don't need whole day in Uman, for exploring arboretrum you need may-be 4 hours, plus whatever you need to eat and rest.
19
« on: January 25, 2017, 02:22:04 pm »
Don't miss S65 in Prague.
It's very scenic railway line within city, sometimes referenced as "Pražský Semmering".
Usual urban transport ticket or pass is valid to go this section, but railway tickets are valid as well.
In fact scenic part is between - the section between Praha-Smíchov-Nord and Praha-Zličín
Both Praha-Smíchov-Nord and Praha-Zličín are easily accessible by urban transport, so whole section is within city. But at the same time - most of 19 minutes of this travel you feel like somewhere outside big city, between rocks.
In previos year trains serving this line had terminus at Praha-Smíchov Na Knížecí platform, so you may read somebody's advice to travel by the train departing from Praha-Smíchov Na Knížecí.
This year trains serving this line was little bit re-routed, they are prolonged to Praha main station, stop at Praha-Smíchov-Nord added and they don't reach Praha-Smíchov Na Knížecí anymore.
20
« on: January 22, 2016, 10:21:21 am »
There is the answer few message below http://europetrainsguide.com/forum/index.php/topic,797.0.htmlNothing changes since those times So - MAV website is unable sell ticket to overnight train to group of cars Budapest - Praha (arriving at 6:30) due to technical glitch. You can avoid this glitch by buying no next station after Praha (for example Decin or Usti) but in this case - you get ticket to group of cars Budapest - Berlin, which are passing Praha too early (near 4 am). if I buy the ticket 2 days before I want to use it, will I have to pay full price?
probably yes. Number of seats at cheaper price is very limited, they are very quickly sold-out. The chance of being non sold-out in 2 days before advance is very small
21
« on: August 31, 2015, 08:23:19 pm »
during last years in Ukraine it's allowed to combine domestic ticket with internatinal reservation for travelling domestic leg using international ticket. Travel in domestic train combining with international reservation for domestic leg and domestic ticket is allowed as well. Good to know, thanks. But how easy in practice is to actually purchase such "unusual" combinations?
No issue, just come to ticket counter and buy, cashier will not try to sell you international resevation for domestic leg if you go by domestic train (waggon). and probably you have less chances to be waken in Chop in domestic car Kyiv - Uzhhorod than in internatonal car Kyiv - Bratislava) The only disadvantage of using Kyiv-Uzhgorod carriages is that there is a good chance to end up in very old one.
The quarter of all waggons which belonged to Uzhhorod depot were withdrawn from service in 2011-2012, so all worst waggons, which formerly could make bad impression if you are unlucky to meet them in train 99/100 and 13/14 Kyiv - Uzhhorod are gone. Now due to decrease number of waggons in Uzhhorod - train 13/14 consist of their waggons only once per 2 days, on other days this train consists of waggons from Kyiv-Pas depot. With Kyiv-Bratislava it's not the case, here all of them are renovated (probably it's the same ones which used to run in Kyiv-Berlin train)
Yes, it's former "Kashtan" waggons. But they are not so perfect. Kupe in 13 in days when 13 is operated by Kyiv-Pass depot waggons are obviously better but only the only your preference is not no be waken (but not come to Bratislava faster). Perhaps it makes sense to mention that by "faster" you mean getting off in Uzghorod and taking a bus to Slovakia, right?
no. I meant going via Zahony - Budapest - Szob, in this case you reach Bratislava at 16:07 instead of 18:05. In case if Bratislava is not final destination, but you continue to wherever (probably Wien, right) - going via Budapest saves even more time if you arrive to Chop by train 99 (arrival to Wien in 15:45 via Budapest and in 19:45 via Bratislava).
22
« on: August 23, 2015, 11:00:48 pm »
As far as we know, in Ukraine with international seat/bed reservation you simply can't get domestic ticket, it needs to be also international. In general it became wrong statement. Such approach really was in the past, but during last years in Ukraine it's allowed to combine domestic ticket with internatinal reservation for travelling domestic leg using international ticket. Travel in domestic train combining with international reservation for domestic leg and domestic ticket is allowed as well. But seat reservation and ticket are still "mutual serfs of each other" or in other words "non-separable". For example you cannot buy reservation unless you produce original ticket to cashier and cashier will write on ticket and put stamp that reservation to section from A to B sold (so you cannot use same ticket for fishing few reservations coming to different cashiers with same ticket for example), also reservation will contain note that is should be used with ticket number (ticket number). The same story with international reservation for domestic train - they will not sell you it it unless you produce international reservation and only after this they issue the ticket. I have a sleeper reservation from Lviv to Cierna nad Tisou into that direct sleeper coach Kiyv-Bratislava and I am wondering if I can buy the international ticket only for Chop-Cierna nad Tisou (2 Eur) section and a domestic Ukrainian ticket for the domestic part Lviv-Chop (approx. 100 UAH), or I need to have the international ticket for the whole journey - this is for 12 Eur, so I was thinking I could save something. No. It's not allowed to combine domestic ticket with international reservation which is issued for international leg. And I agree with tabo, depite domestic ticket (which you can buy online) contans both ticket and reservation, but ticket from it is not combinable with international reservation issued for international leg. If you really on tight budget and seriously need spend less money for this travel - you should better refund your reservation Lviv - Bratislava back if it's possible, and travel using domestic ticket to Chop and travel in seating cars from Chop to Kosice and Bratislava. Sleeping car Kyiv - Bratislava between Chop and Bratislava travel with trains which contains seating cars, so it's possible to cross border here without purchasing international sleeping bed reservation. Also in this case it's worth to think about re-planning your travel using RegioJet train between Kosice and Bratislava if 9 EUR ticket is available on your date. Or if you prefer having possibility not to exit from train in 6 in the morning in Chop but continue laying (not sure about sleeping, re-gauging workers and custom/border officers anyway will wake you up) - you must cover leg from Lviv to 1st Ukrainian station by international ticket. The idea of "pendulum" to Uzhhorod proposed by tabo also will work (and probably you have less chances to be waken in Chop in domestic car Kyiv - Uzhhorod than in internatonal car Kyiv - Bratislava) but only the only your preference is not no be waken (but not come to Bratislava faster).
23
« on: May 10, 2015, 02:37:02 pm »
Salzburg to Munich: very easy and cheap, especially if traveling not alone - so called Bavaria Ticket can be bought and is valid from Salzburg, plus it allows travel during the entire day, so for the same money it's possible to turn Salzburg-Munich into whole day excursion around Bavaria (e.g. leave Salzburg in the morning, arrive to Munich & leave your thing in hotel/luggage storage and spend rest of the for the trip to the mountains, lake Constance etc.)
Or opposite, if excursion around whole Bavaria is not needed - it's worth to mention there is cheaper ticket, with conditions of usage similar to Bayern-Ticket, but smaller validitiy area - not whole Bavaria, but only on a smaller part of it (but including section Salzburg - Munich). I'ts Südostbayern-ticket, here is validity area: http://www.suedostbayernbahn.de/so_bayern/view/wir/streckenkarte.shtmlticket costs 17 EUR (instead 23 EUR for Bayern-Ticket) for 1 person, the similar to Bayern-Ticket each additional person is +5 EUR to price. But important note - despite validity are of Südostbayern-ticket reaches Munich, but it's not valid for MVV (like Bayern-Ticket is).
25
« on: May 05, 2015, 12:16:32 pm »
First of all it means that you can count on cheap Budapest-Ljubljana daytime train (discounted tickets which can be bought from Hungarian Railways website start from only 19 euro, while before departure you'll pay 39 euro), which actually goes through Celje (dep. Budapest 13:35 - arr. to Celje 20:03)
as fair as I know the purchase of SparSchiene 19 EUR ticket Budapest - Ljulbjana is not implemented on MAV website (probably because it's quite new deal, in previous seasons kinda-SparSchiene tickets from Hungary to Slovenia didn't existed)
26
« on: May 03, 2015, 06:35:34 pm »
Yes, I agree, travel via Cieszyn - Cesky Tesin is brilliant idea. It's quite fast and one of cheapest if you've managed to get ticket from Czech Republic to Wien in advance. and catch Czech domestic train till Brno (btw, nice town to stop for couple hours) or Breclav (both are roughly 3 hours away and max. 11 euro for the ticket), while from Brno you can get direct train to Vienna for as low as 9 euro (if bought in advance via Czech Railways eShop). Combining domestic ticket to Brno and get separate ticket Brno -Wien ticket doesn't makes much sense. Little bit cheaper and simpler is just buy via CD eShop just the ticket Cesky Tesin - Wien in advance, it costs 19 EUR. and then another discounted ticket from Vienna to Ljubljana (from 29 euro) well, it's optimal option. Just it worth to know that in cases when it's not avaialble (when such tickets are sold out or if you want to go in time, when price 29EUR is not proposed) - it's still often possible to find other option to make section Wien - Ljubljana cheaper (many of them are based on possibility to get ticket Wien - Graz in only 9 EUR or Wien - Spielfeld Strass in 14 EUR if you buy in advance).
27
« on: November 19, 2014, 09:24:06 am »
but there is information that Russia will cancel (after schedule change in December) their #15 train with which Ukrainian and Russian carriages to Budapest run. Thus situation isn't clear yet what will happen with direct carriages running from Hungary to Ukraine and Russia.
situation already more or less clear. Direct car Kyiv - Budapest will operate but with other trains in absolutely other departure/arrival hours http://www.mav-start.hu/res/ic_34_33_latorca_15.pdfWith new timetable it's quite senseless for usage between Hungary and Lviv.
28
« on: November 08, 2014, 09:51:57 pm »
How much is the ticket debrecen-lvov and return International return ticket Debrecen-Lviv (2nd class) will cost you 47 euro (or half that for one-way), obviously only when bought in Hungary or Ukraine.
with sleeping cariagge of 3 places? As of now, 3 bed sleeper reservation Debrecen-Lviv is 12 euro (UZ carriage), but there is information that Russia will cancel (after schedule change in December) their #15 train with which Ukrainian and Russian carriages to Budapest run. Thus situation isn't clear yet what will happen with direct carriages running from Hungary to Ukraine and Russia.
Canay I buy the ticket on line? No, MAV (Hungarian Railways) doesn't sell tickets to Ukraine online. However in case you really want to have your tickets in advance, you can always purchase online two domestic tickets: a) from Debrecen to Zahony (last station before the border), from 2200 HUF and b) from Chop (first Ukrainian station after the border) to Lviv, here prices start from roughly 2 euro. For the short (15 min.) trip across the border from Zahony to Chop tickets (2,7 euro one-way) are easily bought on spot before departure. As you can see, buying two domestic tickets and one short cross-border one can save you quite a lot of money compared to international ticket price, so if you ok with train changes it might be a good solution
In general I almost agree with the answer the only minor correction - international ticket Debrecen - Chop is cheaper (it costs ~8,4 EUR) then domestic Debrecen - Zahony + internaltional Zahony - Chop. Of course inernational ticket Debrecen - Chop is not purchasable online. But if you want to buy whatever in advance for section Debrecen - Zahony (for example to be sure you'll be able to travel in IC) - you can buy online just seat reservation (without ticket) for IC for section Debrecen - Zahony (or Debrecen - Nyiregyhaza depending on the section on which IC will be used) and use it with ticket Debrecen - Chop which you'll buy on spot before departure.
29
« on: October 13, 2014, 12:11:31 am »
so i guess i will buy treitalia ticket from Milan to ZuerichHB ..but i stop at Arth Goldau? right ... that i will buy now... Yep, somehow TrenItalia website doesn't have Arth-Goldau station in the list, but since the promo fare is the same (22 euro) it totally ok to purchase ticket till Zurich, but get off in Arth-Goldau (train definitely stops there, so no worries)
Just for your information (not important for this case, where usage of Zuerich is OK, because SMART fare is the same 22 EUR so possibility to choose Arth-Goldau is not important, but may be it will be useful to whoever in some other case, where it's more imporatnt) - it's possible to make trenitalia website to accept Arth-Goldau as start or destination point. Yes, auto-complete on main page really don't propose it to choose when you starting to type this location name. But in case if you just type in Arth-Goldau - and press CERCA button - it still works, and you'll see result of seach from/to this station.
30
« on: August 13, 2014, 09:51:07 am »
I've successfully finished my travel using the ticket I've shown above.
During my travel - my Europa Spezial ticket was inspected 4 times. 1st time - in ICE222 in Germany (not interesting), 2nd time - between Haarlem and Leiden (absolutely no questions from conductor to me), 3rd time - between Rotterdam and Dordrecht (also no questions from Dutch conductors) and 4th time - between Dordrecht and Roosendaal by Belgian conductor.
And only on the last inspection the Belgian conductor was the only person who had doubts if my ticket is valid, but his doubts was related not to the route at all - he just saw the Zangenabdruck left by Dutch conductor 2 days before and told me I should use such ticket within Netherlands within 1 day despite 15 days validity period (complete nonsence I think). Obviously I objected, he tried to consult his collegue, but other conductor was disagree regarding 1 day, so angry Belgian conductor said something like "Ok, I still consider your ticket is invalid, but I don't really care much about dutch section of ticket, show me what ticket you have for after Roosendaal", I show him my ticket Roosendaal - Antwerpen, and this ticket complectly satisfy him.
Yes, I've had printed answer from NS forum, but the situation when I need to show it to conductor don't appear.
Also probably I may deduce clue why intermediate stations in Netherlands are not shown in VIA section. My deduction comes from following 3 facts:
First - before starting my travel using this ticket I decided to show it in DB Reisenzentrum. I got answer - my ticket is valid for the usage I want and I shouldn't worry regarding emtpy VIA section, lady in window was not very verbose, but just tell, that route withing Netherlands is not reflected in VIA section and it's common case.
Second - in Germany I tried to buy separate NRT ticket for section Leiden - Zoetermeer via Gouda.
I wanted to get this ticket as NRT from abroad to avoid paying 1 eur for domestic NS paper ticket with minichip inside or putting extra money to OV-chipkaart (you need not less than 20 EUR to be able to check-in in NS train). And no luck. Lady in counter agreed to issue such ticket, but after some attemts she told me - you know, something goes wrong and I got error, don't know why, you'd better try to buy this ticket locally. I made 3 different attempts in 3 different German towns (to be sure it's not a fail of a particular person) and with same result. Also on last attempt we tried to play a little - tried to replace destination - use Den Haag instead of Zoetermeer - same issue, tried to remove Gouda from via - in this case issue disappeared, but that was not the thing I've needed.
Third - I just wanted to buy separate ticket for travel between Leiden and Zoetermeer via Gouda and decided to overpay 1 EUR for minichip paper ticket to avoid putting 20 EUR to OV-chipkaart. Ticket machinge don't allowed to choose via route and obviously proposed the route via Den Haag. I went to counter and got answer "there are no VIA in Netherlands anymore, if you want indirect route in case if allows to achieve destination faster - you may travel paying cheaper for shorter route, but if riding indirect way is not giving faster achieving the destination - you must cover your travel by 2 separate tickets".
My clue is following:
VIA section of my Europa Spezial ticket is empty due to abolition of VIA by NS, at the same time it looks like conditions of Europa Spezial assumes that VIA exists and thus NS allows owners of such tickets to travel such way.
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