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What is my homecountry?

  • 28 April 2022
  • 5 replies
  • 123 views

Hello!
I am a german citizen currently living in Spain for an Erasmus-Semester. I want to travel to Germany and Austria for some visits but I am not sure about the Outbound/Inbound Journey Rules. Can somebody help me?
 

  1. What is my Homecountry? Germany (as I am noted there as citizen) or Spain (as I am actually living there at the moment and that would also be from where the Journey starts and ends)
  2. This would be my Travel Plan:
    1. Cordoba-Lübeck. This is a 2 day trip. On the first day it would be from Cordoba (Spain) to Biel (Switzerland) via France. The second day of the journey is from Biel (Switzerland) to Lübeck (Germany).
    2. From Lübeck (Germany) I want to go to Würzburg (Germany). Is this homecountry travelling or not?
    3. From Würzburg (Germany) to Vienna (Austria).
    4. From Vienna (Austria) back to Cordoba. Also a 2 day trip. First day is Vienna - Avignon (France) via Switzerland, NOT! passing through Germany. Second day is Avignon (France) to Cordoba.

The way I see it, if Spain counts as my homecountry, this journey would be possible, right? Only on day where I am leaving the country and one day where I am coming back to my country.
If Germany counts as my homecountry, it’s more difficult and probably not possible this way right? Would it then be possible, to go from Lübeck (Germany) to Vienna (Austria) with a non-Interrail-Ticket and continue the Journey from Austria? The question is, if the Journey has to be consecutive, so do I have to continue it from the city where I arrived?

Thank you!!

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Best answer by rvdborgt 28 April 2022, 15:01

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5 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Yes, I'd say Spain is your country of residence. I assume you also have some paper evidence or card to show that you live there?

In addition, book your reservations for the TGV/AVE between Spain and France several weeks in advance, since pass holder seats are quite limited.

Also it's best to book any Spanish reservations in Spain, since it's very difficult to get them outside of Spain (and not at all online). In theory, DB can also book those, but in practice, the number of staff who know how to do it is limited.

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Du wirst-das sollte schon klar sein-probably problems receive from DB-conductors if they see that you travel a lot In DE (not noted for very low trainprices-though it seems you can also profit from the 9€/month Nahverkehr Monatskarte) and have a German Perso. Hence you must have clear evidence that you now live in ESpana-or elsewhere.

In the past the official rule was that you must have lived in that other country at least 6 monthes=over the limit a normal tourist can stay and hence must hold some form of legal evidence for that. But nowadays this is getting more and more blurred.

Thank you so much!

Do you know if there is some direct and personal contact to Interrail where I can get verified information? I just find that Chatbot, that isn’t helping at all...

Userlevel 7
Badge +9

You can try customer service. But be warned that they are currently flooded with requests. Anything that is not urgent wil take weeks. Urgent means: problems of pass holders currently travelling or travelling in the next few days.

If you have questions, search the website for answers, including the conditions of use. If that doesn't answer them, open a topic here.

Userlevel 3
Badge +3

Hi Mattis, As long as you can prove that Spain is your country of residence, this is fine: https://www.interrail.eu/en/support/interested-in-interrailing/what-is-my-country-of-residence. I hope this helps! Cheers,

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