Interrailing through the eyes of a first-timer 🚂

Great idea taking employees along.  Will be great knowing they have some experience when us travelers experience issues.  Keep up the great work. Thank you

Another first-timer here!
 

Not Quite the Orient Express: An Interrail Journey from Brighton to Istanbul
 

We didn’t pack for a holiday. This wasn’t that sort of trip. My wife and I boarded the train at Brighton Station with musical scores, recording gear, and a strange idea: we were going to reimagine the Gatwick Express as the Orient Express.

Yes, that Gatwick Express — the 60-minute commuter train between London and Brighton. The idea was to turn it into an absurdist theatre piece: fake luxury, live music, velvet waistcoats, whispered announcements. A mobile performance on a budget train.

But then we asked: What if we did it for real?

So, we bought Interrail passes and followed the original Orient Express route from London to Istanbul — or as close as possible. No Belmond luxury, no crystal glassware. Just us, backpacks, and a shifting landscape.

We started in London, took the Eurostar to Paris, then trains through Strasbourg, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Budapest. The cities were beautiful, but there was a sense of something underneath — nationalism stirring, politics hardening. In Bucharest, we felt it more keenly. Students were protesting. Areas barricaded. The air felt different.

Trains became emptier, although people were friendlier. Stations became cavernous shells. In Ruse, Bulgaria, the border formalities became theatre in their own right. We arrived in Sofia tired, quiet, and observant.
 

The final leg to Istanbul — overnight, noisy, unforgettable — dropped us not into romance but a highway-ringed terminus far from the myth of Sirkeci. The dream was gone. But something richer remained. Although more protests as the mayor had just been imprisoned

Throughout the trip, we recorded. Not just sounds, but moods, behaviours, announcements, tension. We’d set out to build a show — we came back with something darker. The Orient Express, it turns out, was the perfect metaphor: a fantasy of unity, running through a continent drifting apart.

Now we’re back in the UK, preparing to stage the whole thing — on the Gatwick Express. But the show’s changed. It’s still immersive, still musical. But the themes are different now: borders, identity, authoritarian drift. Even our silly identity game — passengers receiving direction-based roles with cashew nuts and colours — started to feel eerily real.

So yes, Interrail was amazing. But it wasn’t carefree. Europe feels more fragile than it did. This wasn’t a nostalgia trip. It was a wake-up call.

We’re about to set off from Budapest to Prague and then into Austria and Switzerland on a Global Eurail Pass. Have found it challenging to establish a route where our pass is accepted on direct trains so we’re needing to change trains more than we’d like.
Still haven’t worked out how to book, and pay for, seats where this is mandatory.
Had hoped to experience one or more panorama trains in Switzerland but am feeling daunted by the booking and payment process. 
I hope the actual travel is easier than all the planning has been.

​@Shezza  you can do this route entirety without reservations if you want.

Regiojet, Leo Express and Supercity trains require reservations, but on the vast majority of trains you'll see on that route - including Railjet, Eurocity and Intercity - they're optional.

This is really helpful guide to which trains in which countries require reservations:

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

You can also do a search on Bahn.com (great for timetables) and look to see if a train is marked with an R - this means reservation compulsory.

Can anyone shed light on whether we can take any of the Panorama trains in Switzerland on our Global First Class Pass without surcharges? 

Bernina Express: use the front carriages, no reservations.

Golden Pass: reservations are optional and not needed.

Gotthard Panorama Express: use the hourly IR train instead, no reservations.

Glacier Express: use the hourly regional trains instead, no reservations.

Another first-timer here!
 

Not Quite the Orient Express: An Interrail Journey from Brighton to Istanbul
 

We didn’t pack for a holiday. This wasn’t that sort of trip. My wife and I boarded the train at Brighton Station with musical scores, recording gear, and a strange idea: we were going to reimagine the Gatwick Express as the Orient Express.

Yes, that Gatwick Express — the 60-minute commuter train between London and Brighton. The idea was to turn it into an absurdist theatre piece: fake luxury, live music, velvet waistcoats, whispered announcements. A mobile performance on a budget train.

But then we asked: What if we did it for real?

So, we bought Interrail passes and followed the original Orient Express route from London to Istanbul — or as close as possible. No Belmond luxury, no crystal glassware. Just us, backpacks, and a shifting landscape.

We started in London, took the Eurostar to Paris, then trains through Strasbourg, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Budapest. The cities were beautiful, but there was a sense of something underneath — nationalism stirring, politics hardening. In Bucharest, we felt it more keenly. Students were protesting. Areas barricaded. The air felt different.

Trains became emptier, although people were friendlier. Stations became cavernous shells. In Ruse, Bulgaria, the border formalities became theatre in their own right. We arrived in Sofia tired, quiet, and observant.
 

The final leg to Istanbul — overnight, noisy, unforgettable — dropped us not into romance but a highway-ringed terminus far from the myth of Sirkeci. The dream was gone. But something richer remained. Although more protests as the mayor had just been imprisoned

Throughout the trip, we recorded. Not just sounds, but moods, behaviours, announcements, tension. We’d set out to build a show — we came back with something darker. The Orient Express, it turns out, was the perfect metaphor: a fantasy of unity, running through a continent drifting apart.

Now we’re back in the UK, preparing to stage the whole thing — on the Gatwick Express. But the show’s changed. It’s still immersive, still musical. But the themes are different now: borders, identity, authoritarian drift. Even our silly identity game — passengers receiving direction-based roles with cashew nuts and colours — started to feel eerily real.

So yes, Interrail was amazing. But it wasn’t carefree. Europe feels more fragile than it did. This wasn’t a nostalgia trip. It was a wake-up call.

Hey there! Rachel here, one of Angelos' colleagues at Eurail. Thank you for sharing your journey with us! It’s a reminder that travel (especially by rail) is often not about going from point A to B. It’s about what we carry with us, what we notice, and who we become along the way. 

My colleagues and I believe in travel as a way to cross borders not just physically but emotionally too, connecting not just destinations, but perspectives. Your story captures that beautifully, and we are moved that the Interrail Pass could play a small role in something so meaningful and (dare we say!) transformational for you. 

A nice trip, Nordkette in Innsbruck is defnitly worth it!
I do love this city, very easy and much to see. Even a golden Roof.

I’m a resident of Portugal, what’s a good route when traveling solo, also as you go from country to country can you depart the train for a few days and see the counties then board the same train the next day or whenever the next train on you destination arrives to the next country or city on your route/destination?

Not entirely sure what you mean here. But of course. There’s maximum flexibility. you can hop on or off any train included in the pass (which is about 98% of all trains in Europe). Just be attentive to some mandatory reservations which limit flexibility a bit (mainly Spain and France).

Perfectly possible to explore the country a bit for a few days, before continuing by train.