Europe is scary! For those of you considering a summer romp through the continental continent, Caitlyn Levin, an Actual European, details her journey through Europe and describes the workings of the mysterious Eurail system.

If you’re thinking about traveling around Europe this summer, you’ve probably already heard the term “Eurail” thrown around, and if you’re anything like me, you have no idea what it means, because (being fairly ignorant of how train travel works) the concept is completely new. I was in a similar situation this past Spring Break, when I decided to embrace my Junior year abroad and travel forth into the great unknown of Europe–scary, I know. Friends told me that if you’re making the great train trip, a Eurail pass is the way to go. There’s an abundance of information on the Internet about Eurail passes, but most of it is confusing who have never traveled anywhere in Europe by train before.

Thrown into deep confusion, my research into these multi-faceted passes began.

Basically, a Eurail pass is a train ticket that enables you to take multiple trains through multiple cities on multiple days. Simple, right? They’re often recommended to people, especially young people, who want to travel via train through Europe with the flexibility to plan their course as they move. It sounds easy—and for the most part, it is—but it’s important to do research beforehand to figure out whether or not you actually need one.

The passes are produced by Eurail Group, a non-profit organization, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Firstly, they’re broken down into four categories:

• One-country passes get you anywhere you want within the country you choose
• Regional passes get you through two countries
• Select passes allow you to “select” three to five countries
• Global passes give you virtually free reign to run wild and free through the continent

These passes vary in price depending on which countries you choose, and how many “travel days” you want to have. “What is a travel day?!” you shout. Read on to find out.

What are your travel plans for the summer? All proud of the money you saved to travel to the country/continent of your dreams? Well, Ryan Johns CC ’09 will see your trip and raise you: he’s traveling across Europe, and staying in shape!

Yes, Johns, a former cross country team member, is running across Europe.”I intend to average about 20 miles a day,” he says on the trip’s website. “As a collegiate runner, I find myself frequently running around a hundred miles a week…yet every morning I wake up in the same place. I want to try running something other than loops for a while. I like to travel, why not put this free transportation to some good?” A wonderfully logical answer.

Johns will return to hitting the books (grad school in architecture) next year; in the meantime, you can follow his trip on his blog, which appears to be updated almost daily, and covers such important topics as shin splints and trespassing brewery grounds (photo from Johns’s Flickr photostream).

- JCD