Thursday, June 17, 2010

Travel For Newbies: Surviving The Train Station

By Ramon van Meer

Traveling is fantastic, but for several newbies, there are plenty of elements of travel that can be daunting, and few are scarier than the dreaded train station. The prospect of receiving lost in a sea of travelers rushing from place to place, getting bumped with luggage or losing one's luggage, dealing with panhandlers or, god forbid, missing the train altogether. It's enough to put anyone off of travel forever. Thankfully, dealing with the train station doesn't have to be a total crisis if you come prepared.

Like any aspect of travel, handling a train station calls for preparation and a certain set of expertise. If you have these two issues, you'll be in a position to get through any station with ease.

Most (but of course, not all) travelers have been through an airport once in their lives, and for a lot of, airports seem to be far less intimidating than train stations. The first factor you ought to do is think about how you would behave in an airport. There are specific rules, right? The similar applies for train stations, and if you know the rules, you can maneuver the station with no issues.

Read about rail travel beforehand. Wherever you're traveling to, hopefully you'll have picked up a guidebook that has some good info about railway travel at your destination. Even though every place and country does train travel a little differently, by and significant, traveling by train is the same virtually everywhere (with a few small changes). If you read up on how the train system works beforehand (Do you buy your tickets in advance from a window? A ticket machine? On board? Are fares charged on a zone basis or a flat rate?), you'll feel very much far better about approaching the train station for the first time.

Check the timetables on the net. Almost every national railway has an on the web timetable and booking system nowadays, and most of the sites will have the alternative to view in English (seem for a tiny flag or link at the best or right corner of the page). If you're traveling very long distance, you must do this several weeks before you travel. If you're only going a few hours down the road, you can do it the night or a couple of days before.

If feasible, buy tickets on the web. As per the above suggestion, while you're at it, go ahead and obtain your tickets on the web, if you're offered the alternative. This will remove the will need to manage ticket windows, confusing devices and achievable language barriers on the day of travel.

Scope out the situation & buy tickets in advance. In several locations, it's advisable to get your tickets a day or two in advance, even for brief or local trips. This will present you a good opportunity to scope out the station and get a feel for the place with no the pressure of creating your train. Let yourself an afternoon the day before you travel to head above, locate the ticket counters or machines and buy your tickets.

While you're there, bring a seem around. Examine your tickets. Can you come across the platform amount listed on your ticket? What about the train car range? Now, can you match your train number to the platform listings board above?

Arrive early. I am talking way early. A couple of hours at the really least. The previous thing you want to be accomplishing is rushing all-around by means of a strange train station exactly where you don't know exactly where you're proceeding attempting to make a last-minute train.

Take it effortless. Find your program first-thing so that you know exactly in which you're going. Ask yet another passenger waiting nearby to confirm that this is the right spot for your train. After you've got that figured out, head to the newsstand for a few supplies (unless you've truly ready in advance and already brought them) like bottled water, snacks and a magazine or paper.

Stick to the platform. Get your supplies and sit down at the waiting region, even if it indicates hanging out there for a long time. When you've done this a time or two and feel a lot more comfortable with train journey,, you can remove this stage, but if you are wandering around, you risk missing the train.

Don't be afraid of strangers. Most newbie travelers experience some hesitation in approaching a stranger and asking for help or directions. The ideal people to strategy for aid are shop keepers, security guards or policemen (in most places). If you have to approach a stranger for support, be friendly and usually be aware of your belongings, just in case!

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