u/Wise-Painting5841

Est-ce que c'est une bonne idée?

Non? Pourquoi?

Je suis intéressé par l'opinion des personnes qui ont fait le mouvement en une ou l'autre direction.

I was in Spain last month. Talking with a cousin that has a small veggie garden for auto consumption.

Nothing fancy, more like a hobby and to enjoy eating your own tomatoes.

He told me for the last 3 years his tomatoes have dried up before giving any fruit. Each time this has happened he has made an adjustment to plant the seeds 15 days before, so he is now planting 45 days before than when his parents passed down the garden to him years ago.

And he is moving to different varieties. It looks like cherry tomatoes are more resistant to extreme heat.

This preoccupied me. He lives in an agricultural rich area of Spain, that is a country with a long agricultural tradition. This is not poor soil and it was not bad weather area at all years ago. Vineyards, orchards are/were typical sights along the road.

So, if this area is fucked up, I have to wonder big scale. If crops start to fail, I guess we will import more from other regions, but this has some limits.

So how do you prepare for this scenario?

So, I was going to cross Spain from South to North.

We took a night bus from Cadiz to Madrid (23h to 7h) and we did a reservation for the train from Madrid to Irún (9h to 17h)

We knew the bus would be taxing, but we planned to rest and sleep in the train: we would have 4 seats around a table, air conditioning, restaurant car for a coffee and lunch.

So the train was cancelled and they pushed us all in a small train to Valladolid. As it was almost full, they distributed us around the train. 3 hours, small train no air conditioning, no resto, no vending machines.

In Valladolid, they issued a special train for us. A cercanías: again, open seats, no tables, no air conditioning, no restaurant, no vending machines, not even water. 2 washrooms for full trains, one or them clogged and full to the brim spilling each time the train took a curve.

In Andoain they pushed us into buses to Irún. We knew about this. I asked for restrooms - they told us no time. Go! Go! Go!

So yesterday was a hellish day. Red eyed. 9 hours in crowded trains without air conditioning, rationing the water. Only food was whatever snacks were left in our backpacks.

Thanks Renfe, we will always remember this trip!

I took a trambahia in Spain (Cadiz-Chiclana).

It is covered under Interrail but conductors cannot read the QR code of the eurorail.

I got in a slightly heated conversation with one of the conductors. They were not able to read my QR. She did not know what an eurorail was.

She threatened me lightly (if you have no ticket I can read you should go down in the next station). I pushed back (it is not my problem if you cannot read the QR. We can go to the central station and discuss with customer service).

It finished in an impasse. She went to continue doing her round and I stayed until the last station.

But my question is: if this escalated and I am pushed to the wall, what are my rights? What is my escalation path?

Radios - are they useful?

I got my ham license not long ago. I got a couple of VHF/UHF walkie and I have been playing with them.

I heard that walkies are an essential in all SHTF and bugout bags.

But when I have used my radios what I found is silence.

Impossible to find people on individual frequencies, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

And repeaters are 90% of the time unmonitored.

I completely understand the power of groups, and that there is a lot of advice about finding a local community/group and then you can setup a communication network with them.

But I am an individual.

Maybe in my case it is more important for me to get a short wave radio to be able to hear international news in case of disaster?

Just read the Handsmaid Tale, because it was in my ToRead pile and I have time during the holidays, and noticed that it was described briefly a link between digital currency and raise of totalitarianism. I guess because assets can be frozen or corralled or directly grabbed.

That made me think: maybe having cash at home is advisable?

But cash operations are capped to a limit in Europe.

In fact, Europe is pushing to cashless - maybe because is more controllable? Maybe we are already in some kind of soft totalitarianism

And cash is dirty, cumbersome and risky.

What do the people do?

Keep accounts in different geographies?

Keep different currencies at home?

I think I read on this same group that people look for last minute accommodation on booking and similar webs when it is the end of the train day or when deviation or delays in Interrail stranded us in unexpected places.

Ive done the same (take advantage of the experience of the seniors - that was always a good advice) but my experience is not good. I have found that that booking.com and similar webs prices are always higher than reserving directly.

Now, what I do is to look in booking but reserve directly when I can.

This confuses me. Maybe I misunderstood. Why is people recommending these accomodation websites when doing Interrail?

Is there something I missed?

In our last leg, coming back to Paris from Spain (Hendaya)

Thinking about giving the kids a day in an amusement park if it is not a big deviation.

Is this route impacted by the fires?

EDIT: to add some more details. I will start from Irún on the 9th August afternoon. I have to be in Paris on the 13th morning. I have 3-4 days to cross France from South to North and I am wondering if I can deviate and invest one day in an amusement park.

I am in Western Andalusia. I was planning to cross to France.

Trains to Madrid via Seville are difficult to reserve.

I was thinking, maybe I could go through Portugal, a pit stop in Lisbon, Galicia and cross through the north?

Is it a better idea? Or am I going to be stuck with the same reservation situation than in Spain?

Google says I don't need a reservation and I can just hop in.

Interrail app says I need a mandatory reservation and it is impossible to get a seat.

Can somebody with more experience shed light on this?

I am in Seville heading to Cadiz and all trains show full, which is kind of ridiculous as there is a high frequency of regional trains and today is Monday morning.

I heard somewhere that trains are free for Spaniards with a pass and that is why it shows as complete (because they do the reservation even if they don't use it).

Is there any way to circumvent this?

How probable is it that I should be able to board if I show up in Santa Justa?

Would the ticket office in Santa Justa apply correctly my interrail discount or would they argue ignorance in Spanish?

Travelling. I got them esims with 15 GB's in order to be able to communicate (WhatsApp), to have them located if they are lost (maps), etc.

They have eaten all data in one week watching reels of YouTube and podcasts... :(

Before I buy them a new set of data, how can I control and limit which apps are consuming the data?

I don't care if they want to watch videos at the hotel, but not while roaming.

Mmmm... All is in the title.

I was planning Barcelona, but just going in the general direction works for me.

Currently on the RJ81 Innsbruck to Venezia.

My plan was to Connect with RE3467 in Verone to Bolonia.

And FR9639 Bolonia to Rome (I have 4 seats reserved).

Our train accumulates 35 mins of delay, so i will miss the Verona-Bolonia connection.

Not sure what to do from here? Look for another transfer. Keep travelling to Venezia and look for another connection there? Down in Verone and go to the Trenitalia office? I can waste time there.

BTW what happens with the money paid for the reservation on the Bolonia-Rome train? Lost? Would they allocate me on another train with reserved seats?

I know I am late in the game. Impossible to get reservations on the long routes, so I will be hopping.

The planner gives me different options: through Wien, through Linz, back to Germany (Munich) and Zurich.

It might happen I will get stuck somewhere for the night, (because life is as it is).

So I am looking for recommendations on the best route, the one where we could get more options if we need to reroute in the last minute.

Ok, interesting situation.

Last night, we were planning on going from Cologne to Praha - there were 4 train connections, each reservation was 8 euros, we are 4 passengers, so it was 8 x 4 x 4 = 128 euros if i remember correctly.

We decided not to reserve seats because some of the transfers were too short. We might miss them.

Just woke up and found out that the first leg, Köln to Frankfurt is cancelled. WTH! :O

ICE 519 Köln to Frankfurt.

Not sure if I should feel lucky about not having taken the reservation and having to fight for reimbursement or not.

I can reroute through Berlin, only one short transfer. Again debating if taking the reservation or not. Trains might be packed.

Advice?

Actually, what happens if I don't find a seat once boarded? I travel standing?

Thanks, DB, I am about to lose my hotel reservation in Cologne. I might need to make night somewhere around here instead.

How to claim the cost?

So, in France, in a RER between Amiens and Lille, "le chef de train" has found a guy two rows in front of me: no ticket, no cash, no ID, no French address...

He has written him a ticket (a very long one - not sure to the name of who?) and I was expecting him to be expelled in the next stop, but no. On y va! We continue to Lille all together, like a happy family.

"Le chef de train" keeps his round looking for people and we keep our journey into Northern France.

That makes me think: why the hell do I pay the ticket? Ticket or no ticket, we all arrive at our destination at the same time, no?

3 hours from London to Paris, it would be perfect to take advantage and do laundry!!!

My backpack starts to smell, time to do laundry in Paris. I am importing sweaty underwear and smelly socks to the most romantic city on earth (or that is what is said).