Sooner or later, most things come back around. Vinyl and aviator sunglasses; bum bags and bucket hats; IPA and Hornsea pottery.
In the world of travel and adventure, the 1970s trend for Interrailing has been having a bit of a moment lately, and we’re all on board with that.
The Interrail Pass was introduced in 1972 – initially as a one-off thing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Union of Railways (UIC). If you were 21 or under, you could get a month's unlimited train travel across 21 countries for a flat rate of £27.50.
And so began an iconic rite of passage for school leavers and students, toting battered duffels across Europe and reading dog-eared Frederick Forsyth novels as they passed cheerfully through the constipated workings of Yugoslavian border control.
As the decades rolled on, budget package holidays came on the scene, flights got cheaper and the world got smaller. Come the turn of a new century, the gappies who would once have been picking up their Interrail passes at the train station were now popping down STA Travel to buy their round-the-world airline tickets instead. Interrailing never went away, but somehow it just seemed to drop down the travel wishlist a bit. Why tour Switzerland and Slovakia when you could do Thailand and Tasmania?
Next stop, the 2020s – and Interrailing seems to be back on the cards, big-time. Is it a climate-conscious new generation searching for lower-carbon adventures? Perhaps it’s those original 1970s trailblazers looking to relive their reckless youth now they’ve retired? Or maybe it’s that the clipped wings of the COVID era prompted many of us to re-assess what we wanted out of travel?
As flying becomes ever more of an ordeal, trains (outside the UK at least) are comfortable, relaxed, and relatively inexpensive. At time of writing, a 1-month Interrail pass for an adult costs around £430, which seems like exceptionally good value for unlimited train travel across 33 countries. (Well, mostly unlimited – seat reservations, high-speed services and sleepers can sometimes cost extra.) No last-minute price gouging or complicated fare structures – you can just wake up on a morning and decide where you want to go next.
Of course, a lot of things have changed since those first Interrailers set out in the early 1970s. Border crossings, for example, are significantly less hassle since the Schengen Agreement and the end of the Soviet Union. The introduction of the Euro and the electronic bank card have greatly simplified currency issues, and you no longer run the risk of sleeping on a park bench because you rolled up on a Sunday and nowhere was open to change your travellers’ cheques into Portuguese escudos.
Above all, the internet has completely revolutionised the business of finding and booking accommodation – and 21st-century travellers are more likely to be clutching a smartphone with the Rail Planner app than a battered copy of Europe by Train or The Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe.
So apart from your phone, passport and Interrail pass, what else do you need to keep your European tour on track? Read on for our top tips…
Train travel with your 70-litre hiking rucksack will be unnecessarily stressful. The same structured design and thick padding that makes it so comfortable to carry for 20 miles a day also makes it extremely awkward to fit into luggage racks – and you can guarantee those useful compression straps and lash points will snag the specs off the weather-beaten visage of an old Spanish gent as you squeeze past him down the gangway.
For life on the rails, you can’t go wrong with an old-school duffle bag. Simple and streamlined, it was the carry-all of choice for the early Interrailers, and we’ve got a huge range to choose from on WildBounds. Available in a few different sizes, the Patagonia Black Hole is a classic, unfussy pick. Alternatively you could opt for a wheeled one like the Cargo Hauler XT from Eagle Creek, or one of Ortlieb’s travel duffles.
Travel backpacks have also come a long way in recent times, and many boast the build quality and comfort of hiking rucksacks, only with cleaner lines and more organised storage. Our top picks might include the GlobeRider 45 from Matador or the fantastic Peak Design Dufflepack. We also really like the expandable, customisable travel packs from Tropicfeel– especially their Hive and Shellmodels for shorter tours.
The faster and further you roam, the more you’re going to be packing and unpacking in poky hotel rooms – and the more chance there is that you’ll leave a string of lost belongings stretching from Bern to Bucharest.
Make life easier with a decent quiver of packing accessories, including packing cubes, tech pouches and washbags. You can even get little pouches for soap, toiletries and toothbrushes, helping you keep things clean and dispense with those wasteful single-use travel miniatures.
For the ultimate in organisation, the Matador SEG Travel Pack lets you compartmentalise your stuff meticulously like a giant Filofax using a series of segmented zip pockets. It’s not for everyone, but a particular sort of Interrailer will adore it.
If there’s one big downside to long-range rail travel, it’s that it is rather too easy to swipe a bag from a luggage rack and hop off at the next stop. You can mitigate this risk by stashing your big bag where you can see it – and investing in a good lock to prevent pilfering – but sneak thieves are old hands and a beady eye is no substitute for robust travel insurance.
Fortunately, you can lose pretty much everything and still be basically fine, so long as you’ve got a few key things about your person – those being phone, travel documents, bank cards and a bit of actual cash. Which is where a bum bag can come in really handy. You can keep it on when you nip to the toilet or the buffet car, and if you nod off, your essentials are tied around you rather than laid out neatly on the table for opportunists to help themselves. Get a slightly larger one (we like the eight-litre Mystery Ranch Hip Monkey) and it’ll do double-duty for roaming around new cities without the faff and weight of a daypack.
If you prefer to squirrel your valuables away in your pockets, you might consider a little pouch to keep things organised. Bellroy does a beautiful line in luxury travel accessories – including travel wallets, folios and phone pockets. Alternatively, the Matador Speed Stash is ideal for attaching to a backpack strap.
For those covering big distances, there are likely to be some night trains along the way. If you’re lucky (and flush), you might bag your own little compartment where you can pretend you’re on the Orient Express, without the murder. More likely, you’ll end up in a shared sleeper or couchette with a selection of pea-sized bladders, phone-addicted insomniacs and epic snorers. You can increase your odds of a decent night’s kip considerably by investing in a blackout mask and a set of earplugs (like these ones that go in a little silicone holder on your keychain).
At the real budget end of the scale, you might even be sleeping in your seat – in which case, keeping warm and comfortable is even trickier. A packable travel pillow will stop your head juddering against the window, while a lightweight blanket might come in handy too. Have a look at the Voited Travel Blankets, which pack down small and can be used as a pillow, poncho or snuggly blanket.
For added comfort on long overnighters, you could also switch your shoes for a pair of Skinners. These barefoot-style shoes feel like socks, but have grippy polymer soles that mean you can pad around the train without stepping in anything icky.
Unlike many other kinds of trips, getting laundry done is comparatively quick and easy when you’re Interrailing. So why not make the most of this by travelling light with a limited but versatile wardrobe?
By which we do not mean joyless polyamide cruise ship wear. We’re talking about good-looking cuts and clever fabrics – stuff that’s practical and comfortable enough to spend all day walking around a city in, but smart enough to wear out to bars and restaurants later on. Long-time favourites include DUER’s Performance Jeans and No-Sweat Pants, along with the relaxed Gramicci G-Pants and the unisex Mojaves from PrAna.
As you shuttle between the central stations of continental Europe, you’ll notice some cities are wetter than others. Copenhagen, for example, gets an average of 170 rainy days a year – so when it comes to dependable wet weather jackets, we’re putting our money on a classic Danish rubberised slicker from RAINS. While we’re about it, we might also chuck in a nice insulating layer from Snow Peak or Patagonia to keep warm on those long overnight train rides.
So, there you are. All that remains is to bag a window seat, stick School’s Out on the ear buds, whack on a pair of these Sunski Shorelines and make like it’s 1972…
