Punctuality : The trains depart on time so make sure you give yourself sufficient travel time to the

Prior to my Italy trip, I was doing some research to decide if having a Rail Pass is an excellent idea in Italy as we will be visiting at least 3 places during our 8 days stay. I was met with many roadblocks and feels that the information available online are either outdated or vague. It got me really worried as I do not want to spend extra money on transport if there are ways to cut down on expenses. So I kept trying to dig for more information to ensure that I found the advice! I came to a conclusion before the trip; it is fine to buy the tickets at the train station and I do not have much to worry about. hampton inn williamsburg I realised, it is not entirely hampton inn williamsburg true.
I've encountered Regionale , Regionale Veloce , Eurostar and Specialty hampton inn williamsburg trains (such as Malpensa Express, Cinque Terre Line, etc). Regionale stops at almost every station (skips a couple hampton inn williamsburg of stops), Regionale Veloce stops at lesser hampton inn williamsburg stations (Does this remind you of train travel in Tokyo ?) and Eurostar has specific stops that travels across different regions in Italy (For example from Milan to Florence to Rome).
Malpensa Express: It is easy to commute from Milan Airport to the City Centre but not to other parts of Italy. That... you'll need to travel from Milano Centrale station. There are various ways to get to Milano Centrale and other airports around the area. We took the bus shuttle to Milano Centrale and a train from Milano Centrale to the airport. Verdict: hampton inn williamsburg The train is faster albeit some stops and it can be slow moving at times. It is easy to find the train station and buying the ticket is rather easy. Frequency is 3 times per hour and takes around 43 minutes. There are many bus companies that offer the transfers too. It takes around 1 hour (non-peak hours).
Cinque Terre Line : This line only stops at 6 stations. The first stop's La Spezia followed by the 5 villages (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso Al Mare). They have a Cinque Terre Pass (5euros) and a Cinque Terre Pass with Rail (10euros) that gives you unlimited journeys for that day. I will try to do an article on Cinque Terre. :) It has lesser frequencies but you can ask the ticket office to provide you with a copy of the timetable.
There are trains with different classes and some even come with dining hampton inn williamsburg cars (mostly Eurostar). There are two classes of travel; 1st and 2nd class. The cabins are marked hampton inn williamsburg distinctly outside the train. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get snap a picture of how it looks like but it is usually written as "1" or "2" along the blue line as seen in the picture.
Probably the best way to do it is to queue up at the ticket office as the staff will be doing the work. However, being the inquisitive person I am, I tried my hands at the ticket machine and it is rather user friendly! So most of the tickets we bought, are from the ticket machine instead of the ticket office.
You got to be aware of the ticket machines too. Some does not come with any language options, so if you are not fluent with Italian, go to the ticket office. The train stations in Milan, Florence, Pisa and Venice has ticket machines with english options; I had some difficulty with the one in Montevarchi as it is in Italian but somehow, I managed to get it done. *phew
When using the ticket machine to buy Eurostar tickets hampton inn williamsburg or trains that require seat reservations, beware that you may not get the seats you selected as you can't see the seat availability, they will just ask you to select the seats without telling you if it is available; so you may end up with a surprise when you board the train and realised that you have been punked. Therefore, at the final page before payment, please check that the seats you have selected are the same ones as those that are reflected. If you chose to seat together, it should most likely be 14A-14B or 12C-12D not 12C-13A (thats different aisle, different side). We almost got separated to different cabins and different seats!
If you plan to get on any Eurostar or any trains that requires seat reservations, I strongly suggest that you buy your tickets online or at any ticket machine prior to your trip (at least 2 days in advance). Trenitalia allows ticketless tickets; all you need is the email and show it to the conductor hampton inn williamsburg when he/she comes onboard to check your ticket. The good thing with buying it online is you can select the seats you want as you will see the layout of the train and probably the direction it is going. Another thing about buying it online, hampton inn williamsburg you can get cheaper deals too!
Another thing on the train tickets; for normal hampton inn williamsburg trains such as the regionale hampton inn williamsburg and regionale veloce, the date, time of departure and train number will not be reflected on the ticket (since it has 2 months validity) so please take note of all these information yourself. Snap a pic of the time and train number you are taking when u buy ur ticket either on the ticket machine or online.
Normal : This train ticket has two months validity and the dates are indicated at the top of the ticket next to the QR code. Therefore there's a need for you to validate your ticket before you board the train else, you will risk being fine. The train conductors hampton inn williamsburg are really hardworking as we have encountered them on all our rides.
Reserved : This is usually used for long distance train travels hampton inn williamsburg where seat reservations are mandatory (read: eurostar). They do not have validity dates like those of the normal train tickets thus they do not need validation at the train station before your departure. However, you have to stick to your class of travel as the conductors come around to check that. Seats are reserved but they aren't too bothered if you are not seating at the right seat number if the train is not full.
We've encountered 4 forms of tickets during the trip. One is ticketless where your ticket will be sent to the email you provide during the booking. The other three are printed copies. Here's how the printed ones look like.
The one on the left is most commonly used. It is usually printed from the ticket machine and ticket office. It indicates the type of train, validity dates, no. of travelers, departure and arrival station, class of travel, travel distance, price, mode of payment and where the ticket is purchased from. It has to be validated before you board the train. hampton inn williamsburg For those with reserved seats, other indications hampton inn williamsburg include hampton inn williamsburg type of Eurostar, departure date and time, arrival date and time, coach number and seat numbers. It also includes if you can change your trains or if the ticket is refundable.
hampton inn williamsburg The one on the right is a printed copy from the one we bought at the travel agency (which we thought that it's a ticket office). This will be the same copy as the one you bought it online. You will find this ticket as an attached PDF in the email sent to you. It is not necessary to print it out you don't have to validate it at the station and the conductor will check your name and the ticket's PNR with his device.
The one at the bottom right is one that I bought from Montevarchi station back to Florence. This is the one where the ticket machine has no english option and somehow I fiddled to get the right ticket. Thank God! The information on this ticket is much more basic. The price of the ticket is on top and it tells you the departure and arrival station. It also has to be validated before you board the train.
Train ticket price are reflected clearly on the ticket machine and when you book online. Read the restrictions before purchasing it. In most cases, it is best if you can buy the cheapest fare as you can get 1st class seats with the fare of a full 2nd class ticket (if you buy early). The price types include: Super Economy (Cheapest), Economy (Cheaper) and Base (Standard Fare).
We bought an Economy fare ticket on the Eurostar from Florence to Milan at 58euros. The train had a 70 minutes delay and we are getting rather restless as it is really warm in Florence that afternoon but we decided to hang in there. hampton inn williamsburg When the delay extended to 80 minutes, I decided to go to the ticket office to change the train (There is one scheduled to leave every hour). We managed to, however because hampton inn williamsburg our ticket was bought under the Economy fare, we had to top up another 42euros as that's the base price of the ticket. Even though it is 42euros, we took it as the train depart on time to Milan and the other one that's delayed for 80 minutes got extended to 100 minutes. We are not sure if it got cancelled eventually or how long it took to arrive. During the chat with the lady at the ticket office, she explained to me that on circumstances when there's a delay over 60 minutes, there will be some form of compensation or refunds on the ticket. However, it is only applicable to the Base fare tickets.
It is important to validate the tickets. I am not sure how much the fine is or how you will be fined but I've been reading and hearing about it before and during hampton inn williamsburg the trip. It got us rather trippy when we bought hampton inn williamsburg the tickets. We wanted to validate it immediately before we forget. It is rather easy to validate hampton inn williamsburg the ticket. Just feed it in towards the left side and it will click and print. The location, date and time where you validate the ticket will be seen on the left hand side of the ticket in grey dots. There are usually more than one machines around as some are inoperative or are spoilt.
Types of Cabin: Certain Regionale and Regionale Veloce trains have smoking cabins hampton inn williamsburg and they do not come with air-conditioning; it can get rather stuffy in the cabin if the window next to your seat or the windows in the cabin is not opened.
Seating: Mostly 2 seaters and an aisle. Most seats faces each other and comes with a trash bin on the side below the window. You'll find single seaters hampton inn williamsburg towards the end of the cabin where the flap door is to go towards the next cabin.
Punctuality : The trains depart on time so make sure you give yourself sufficient travel time to the station as it is a looooooooong train platform and you really don't wish to miss your train. The frequ