I’m channeling my inner Sheldon Cooper with this train travel obsession 🙂

I’ve always been a big fan of train travel.

It’s cheaper and less stressful than flying, and you get to see more of the countryside you’re exploring.

But there is a lot that you can fuck up in one day trip.

Trust me, I’ve done it all…

Getting on wrong trains, missing trains, not getting the right ticket, tickets being sold out, running late like a crazy person through a station to make a train, not going to the correct train station…

Happens to the best of us! No trip ever goes as planned, and that’s why traveling shapes us into such strong, adaptable, resilient characters.

I just relocated to London a few weeks ago for work, and have been antsy to start exploring my new country by train. (I haven’t driven in 5+ years — never had to in NYC / not starting now, so train travel is critical for my solo trips.)

I’m partnering with Rail Europe to travel to Windsor and York in the next couple weeks, so I wanted to share how I’m preparing for my best train trips yet.

There are ways to avoid common train travel errors (most of which I’ve personally made), so please learn from my mistakes below.

Plan your trip and buy your train tickets in advance. Rail Europemakes this easy for you!

I once showed up to Hua Hin in Thailand thinking I could easily catch the next train to Bangkok, and the tickets were all sold out! I ended up taking the local 5-hour train into Bangkok later that day instead.

Triple check the date, time, and train station that you’re booked for.

Major cities often have a couple train stations, so make sure you’re heading to the right one, on the right day. In my early 20’s I once ran around Paris like a chicken (wearing a huge backpack) with my head cut off trying to get to the right train station.

Prepare your shit the night before.

This is what I’m currently doing (along with laughing at myself about all my crazy train trips over the past decade) so I can enjoy the train travel tomorrow morning. Packing my day-pack, checking the weather, charging portable chargers, checking the train time and how to get there, setting alarms, etc.

Give yourself PLENTY of time to arrive and find what track your train is on.

It’s the worst feeling running late, only having a few minutes to spare, and frantically running around the station trying to find where your train is departing from. Of the many times I’ve been late for trains, the worst was when I so late and confused that I got on the wrong train in Italy, fell asleep (OK, I was hungover), and woke up in the complete opposite direction I was trying to go to (Lucca instead of Venice)!

Shit happens. Keep calm and enjoy whatever the day brings.

Prepare as much as you can, then be flexible and go with the flow. Make sure to keep track of your things on the train, and pay attention to get off a the right stop (I set an alarm 15 minutes before the train is supposed to arrive).