What is a pass, what is a trip and what is a journey?

  • 17 October 2021
  • 8 replies
  • 519 views

Hello,

 

I want to travel from Finland to Germany. I am intending to buy a four-day in one month global travel pass. Two days for the ride to Germany and two days for the ride back to Finland.

 

Researching about the interrail mobile pass opens up questions about some terminology.

At one point it says:

Can I change the trip connected to my Pass?

You can change the trip your Pass is connected to up until you activate your Pass. Once your Pass is activated, you can’t disconnect a trip or connect a different trip.

 

And at another point they say

What does it mean to add a journey to my Pass?

Adding a journey to your Pass means it will appear on your ticket ready for inspection on that travel day. You need to add all your journeys to your Pass as you travel so you have a valid ticket for every journey.

 

The ticket inspector will check the journey details on your ticket, so make sure you add the right journey to your Pass before you board the train.

 

And I want to know if I understood the terminology correctly.

 

Journey: A journey is a single train ride. 

 

Trip: A trip is a collection of several journeys. It includes all the single train rides to my destination and all the single train rides to my home city.

 

Pass: The pass is the product I buy from interrail. Only one trip can be connected to it. I have to have decided all the days and all the trains I use before I activate my pass.

 

Is this how their terminology is meant? Because I find it very strange. If someone could give me more insights, I would be very happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 


8 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Yes the Pass is the product :) and you dont have to know which trains you need until you decide to catch a train :) The activation just starts the Validity Countdown :)  you could start even within the last 4 days with your trip of your Validitytime :) but usually the actiavation day is the first travelday :)

A travelday goes from 00.00 - 23.59 :) and you can take ona travelday as much trips/journeys by Train/Bus/Ship within the Validity Room of Interrail (not all Railcompanies and only few ferry and bus companies are included) For example go with a travelday on a daytrip from Hamburg to Berlin and back :) or if you like trains go from Hamburg to Zürich and catch a Nighttrain back to Hamburg on the sameday :D

Back in 2019 i made it within one travelday from Berlin via Brussels London ( a time killer trip to York - Manchester - London) to Inverness :)

another possibility is from Berlin via Vienna to Bucharest with the Nighttrain “Dacia”

Note that the ferries from Finland to Germany/Sweden are only discounted ferries means they don´t need a travelday :)

Userlevel 7
Badge +8

Hi Jan, you understanding is exactly right. Just one minor point to clarify about the journeys: If you go from destination A to destination B, this is your journey (it can be one train ride, or more including transfers depending on your destinations). In the planner section of the App you can search for your journey to fill out '’from'’ and '’to'’, Once you found the journey you would like to take, there is a button you can click to save your journey. Once you are sure you are taking that journey, you have to add it to your Pass before boarding your train. 

Hi Jan, you understanding is exactly right. Just one minor point to clarify about the journeys: If you go from destination A to destination B, this is your journey (it can be one train ride, or more including transfers depending on your destinations). In the planner section of the App you can search for your journey to fill out '’from'’ and '’to'’, Once you found the journey you would like to take, there is a button you can click to save your journey. Once you are sure you are taking that journey, you have to add it to your Pass before boarding your train. 

 

Hi @Nanja

I just want to check if I understand correctly what you’re saying here. If I go from A to B, even if I do a stopover, are you saying that counts as one journey? So, for example, if I’m going from London (A) to Lyon (B)  with a five hour stopover at Lille, are you saying I should find that exact connection in the planner and add it as a single A to B journey to the trip?  Can’t I add two separate journeys (Lon-LIlle, Lille-Lyon)?

And what if I start thinking it will be just Lon-Lille, but then when I’m there I decide to take another train to Lyon? In that case I would necessarily have to add a second journey for the second train on the same day, correct?

 

Thanks!

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Never used the mobile pass myself, but it seems both ways are possible. Planners will in general not suggest a trip with a 5 hr layover though.

Using paper passes-where one has to write down oldfashioned way any trip, I usually do that right before (or after) boarding.

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

On a travel day, you can use as many trains as you like. You just need to add them to My Pass. How many journeys that is, is not important.

Userlevel 7
Badge +8


Hi Greyer, 

Adding a journey to your Pass means it will appear on your ticket ready for inspection on that travel day. You need to add all your journeys to your Pass as you travel so you have a valid ticket for every journey. 

So in your case if you have a stopover, just add your first journey (London- Lille) before boarding that train. Only before boarding the second train you will add that journey to your Pass. 

As rvdborgt mentions, you can make as many journey as you like on a travel day. You just need to add them to My Pass for ticket inspection. 

I trust this clarifies it.


Hi Greyer, 

Adding a journey to your Pass means it will appear on your ticket ready for inspection on that travel day. You need to add all your journeys to your Pass as you travel so you have a valid ticket for every journey. 

So in your case if you have a stopover, just add your first journey (London- Lille) before boarding that train. Only before boarding the second train you will add that journey to your Pass. 

As rvdborgt mentions, you can make as many journey as you like on a travel day. You just need to add them to My Pass for ticket inspection. 

I trust this clarifies it.

Thanks, @Nanja . I actually added both trains to the pass and I have one QR code quth the two trains listed underneath, with the train numbers and times. It all looks good. So basically you can add journeys to the pass during the day at any point. I think I got it now. Leaving tomorrow. Excited! 😁 🚊

Userlevel 7
Badge +8

Perfect. Enjoy your trip, Greyer! Looking forward to hear about your experience afterwards:). 

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