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Polish public transport, tickets and dogs
There are generally good bus and tram services in Polish towns and cities. Trains run fairly reliably between many of them. Krakow was the main place Railway Dog used local public transport. Tickets are from machines at the main stops and on the more modern buses and trams. These take cash or cards and tickets…
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Krakow with a dog, and Auschwitz without
In Poland dogs often aren’t allowed in restaurants and cafes. However, vegan and veggie places Worldwide are often pet friendly, and Krakow was no exception. Veganico loved him, and one of the staff even kindly agreed to look after Baspie Dog while I visited Auschwitz (obviously I reimbursed him for this). Krakow has a few…
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Sleeping on a seat overnight from Budapest to Krakow
This was one of the times when travelling with a dog too big to put in a case was a problem. There are lovely sleeping cars from Budapest to Prague, Berlin, Krakow and Warsaw. However a pet without a box can’t be booked into them. So I had to book an ordinary seat and a…
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Cluj-Napoca, a little known gem of Romania
We chose Cluj-Napoca for our last overnight in Romania as it has a good train connections to Budapest and Vienna. There is a delightful sleeper train in which dogs can travel in the sleeping car if you book a whole compartment. See below. Cluj turns out to be a lovely gently European city full of…
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Romania with my cousin, and a hire car
Romania is different to the rest of Europe, particularly in the South and Bucharest. Sighisoara is stunning, and the Torda Gorge gorgeous. We got rained out of Piatra Crailui National Park, so I will have to go back there someday. There’s a concerningly extensive infestation of Japanese knotweed in many places, I hope they can…
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Interrailing phone dependence: coping with phone loss, theft and breakdown
Phone dependence while traveling is a recent yet pervasive phenomenon. Here I talk about when my phone died and when someone had their phone stolen while Interrailing, as well as basic phone requirements. Interrailing on an open start date ticket is only possible with a phone app, Rail Planner. It’s a well thought out app…
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Romanian time warp
Traveling to Romania is time travel. From many young people smoking cigarettes, to hay stooks, to human train signals, to 3 ticket inspectors per 5/6ths empty train, to cash only small shops, to dilapidated brutalist architecture juxtaposed to 19th century ruins. My initial exposure to all this was in Baile Herculane, a spa town on…
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The intrepid Railway Dog goes to Romania, with some learning along the way
Budapest Kelati train station has a small number of long distance trains to Romania daily, to several main cities, particularly Timisoara, Arad and Cluj Napoca. Some go on as far as Bucharest. Several are sleepers (some described by the man at seat 61, as well as one from Cluj Napoca to Budapest not mentioned there).…
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Drop scones and pancakes
Easy travel food, especially as you will often find flour and sometimes oil left behind by previous guests in a hostel or apartment kitchen with a hob. Even better if there is cinnamon and/or ginger. You can even take them on a hike to eat cold (ginger/fruit ones work especially well for this). Mix (the…
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Budapest underwhelms dog and human
For a dog, the Pest side of the river Danube has few parks, dirty pavements, and many oblivious legs. (When we returned a week later we discovered Buda is much nicer for dogs, full of greenery, paths and parks). The human found many things to look at, but the experience on the street is mostly…