Did you bought a paperpass (Actiavation date cant be changed after purchase) or a MobilePass? (can be activated after pruchase)

once activated the 3months start counting :)

Means if you let say you travel from the 3rd September till the 1st October and stay then home in the UK the time still counts further you can´t pause the Pass You still can start another excursion :)

Just note you have just 2 traveldays in your Country of Residence (on these days you could even catch a train from London to Scotland )

A 3month pass activated on the 3rd September will be valid till the 2nd December.

I starty with my 3month pass in August (13th) First UK then fly Home for a Event.
Start another trip to SouthEast Europe. and return then even back to Home
In September is my plan then to use the pass for weekend trips (i live not far from the border)
In October i have once more holidays and i intend to use then the Pass for another Journey (till yet not decided where to go )
I will then finish all my trips till the 12th November :)

You can use your pass for as many trips you like during a continuous period of 3 months. However, you can only travel on a maximum of two days in your country of residence. For all other trips within your home country you need to buy a ticket or use other means of transportation. 

Thanks to both - Seewulf and Anna.

Anna, your response provoked a sigh of relief, since it indicates that I haven’t blundered in purchasing a 3 month Continuous Pass, but Seewulf, your reply has me worried, because I bought a Mobile Pass, and in my total ignorance when I received the first emails from Interrail after purchase in May I think I blindly followed the instructions and copied and pasted the Activation code - which means the 3 months start counting. 

Oh dear! Is there any way that I can find out whether I have activated my Pass?

If you open the app, you can choose at the bottom of the display “My pass”. Then you see, whether the pass is already activated. As far as I have learned in the last days, you can change the start date of your pass by deleting your trip, but I haven’t tried that myself.

Stephan

Thanks Stephan, that’s useful to know. I’ve looked in the app and I can see that the Validity Period is from 17 Sep - 16 Dec., so I guess it hasn’t been started yet.

But underneath it says “Outbound/Inbound 0/2 used”.

What does that mean?

Oops, sorry guys, it’s true what they say - “There’s no fool like an old fool” - I made a mistake when I said I’d activated my mobile pass by copying and pasting the Activation code.

I really did copy and paste an Activation code, but it was the one for joining this Community. Duh!

I suspect that all may be well, and that the clock hasn’t started running on my mobile pass. 

During the activation process you select a start date, that is the day when the validity of your pass starts. The first day of the validity will automatically be a travel day.

Until 23.59 CET before the start date you can deactivate your pass by removing the travel day and then say that you want to deactivate the pass.

That means that you have not used any of your travel days in your country of residence. 

You can travel from 17 Sep to 16 Dec, but I think you can still change that before 17 Sep.

“Outbound/Inbound 0/2 used” means, that you have still not used your two trips from your/back to your home country.

Stephan

The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is to not activate the pass before the first travel day as you only can deactivate the pass before 23.59 CET on the day before the start of the validity.   

Oh, I see. Thanks Stephan.

One more question, just to be absolutely clear.

I want to go to France on the 3rd of July for just a few weeks. If I bring my validity period forward to start on the 3rd of July then the validity period will expire on the 2nd of October. But I will be in Central Asia during September. 

Can I pause the pass after returning from France, and start using it again when I get back from Central Asia? I suspect not, but I’m not sure.

And thanks again Anna for your latest advice. With regard to the mobile pass, when the time comes to activate my pass, how do I do so? By clicking on ‘Add a journey’?

You can't pause a pass.

Please check this page. There's also an extensive mobile pass FAQ.

You’re right, when the pass is activated and your first travel day runs, you cannot pause.

Stephan

Great stuff everybody. Thanks for your patience.

Has nothing to do with the question: but mine-3m, 2nd (after all) 50% discount starts on 14/8-and also in UK-though new Elisabeth line not running Suns.

Plans to visit newly opened trams in Palermo, Odense, Bergen/NO and even side flite to Tenerife.

And to ride various minor bordercrossings DE-PL, CZ-PL and HU-RO-if they run, weekends only.