eurorail pass or point A to B?

There is no definite answer to your question. Historical rail passes were a "no brainer" good deal. Not necessarily true today. With deep discounts for advance purchases and surcharges for using a rail pass, you have to do your homework. You have to lay out your schedule, go to the train sites for prices, and then compare with the price for the pass.

"Now I'm confused do I buy train tickets from eurorail, or from the train station when I'm there? "

Maybe neither. You may do best with a pass, or you may do best with advance purchase tickets, which are MUCH cheaper on many routes than last minute tickets or a pass. The only thing you should use Rail Europe, Eurorail, or Eurail for is buying passes, once you've determined that you indeed want to do this. If you want to buy individual tickets, you should always buy them from the entity where the train originates. For instance, for a train from Venice to Austria, you would start with Trenitalia; for Czech Republic to Amsterdam, start with Czech Rail. Note that the advance purchase discount tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable, or will have significant restrictions on these actions. So, a pass can give more flexibility - sometimes. However, any train that goes through France is quite difficult with a pass, as it requires a reservation and the reservations for pass-holders are limited in number; once those are gone, even though there may be plenty of seats left, you have to buy a full price ticket.

Before you think of buying a pass, read this: http://tinyurl.com/bkw4u6c. Then read it again.

To find schedules for all of Europe, and prices for trains starting or ending in Germany, use the Bahn (German Rail) site, following Ricks's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/db_tips.htm. Once you do this, you'll see that some of your trips (such as Barcelona to Florence) will be VERY long by train, so you may want to use a cheap flight instead. Use Skyscanner to find flights: http://www.skyscanner.com/

To find out which website will have the inexpensive tickets for a particular train, use this guide: http://tinyurl.com/bo8x6o6

Whether a pass will work better for you depends on how flexible or inflexible you need to be, and how long your trip will be. If you tell us this, others can help you more.

Take a look at the cost AND TIME to take the train from Barcelona to Florence. Compare that to a discount plane flight.

Whatever you do, do not use RailEurope for schedules and prices. Read this link for the most helpful advice:

http://www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurail-pass-guide.htm#Should%20you%20buy%20a%20railpass%20or%20pay-as-you-go

''Take a look at the cost AND TIME to take the train from Barcelona to Florence. Compare that to a discount plane flight."

Likewise, do the same for the trip from the Czech Republic (I assume you mean Prague) to Amserdam.

Also, be aware that the main rail link from Amsterdam through Brussels to Paris is operated by the multinational firm Thalys. They use airline-style pricing, and charge a huge supplement to pass holders.

As the others noted, you need to crunch the numbers yourself from the national rail websites (not 3rd party resellers like RailEurope or EUrail). There is no one best solution for everyone, but taking into account advanced purchase 2nd class discounts and the supplements many of the national rail companies levy on pass holders, rail passes today are almost always one of the most expensive ways to travel.

We recommend flying from Barcelona to Rome, then heading north by train. Thalys trains running Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris require expensive seat reservations with a pass, and there are not other very attractive train options. Paris to London by Eurostar train always requires a separate ticket, not covered by passes. Booking ahead for Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris-London is recommended with or without a pass.

Get an overview of regular train ticket prices at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/cost-maps. Unless you wanted to lock in each travel date before leaving home, you would not count on the advance-discount prices you will also read about.

If you're considering a Eurail Global pass, then options depend on the length of the trip, e.g., from departing Rome to arriving in Amsterdam or Paris. The cheapest version is for 15 consecutive days at $700 per person in 1st class. Or a flexipass allows you to spread out 10 travel days during a 2-month period for $825. There is no discount for "students," only for youths aged under 26 on the date of pass activation in Europe. However, the travel together discount in 1st class is a better deal, if you will always travel together. A Eurail Select pass for only four countries offers cheaper versions.

This website is in the business of selling rail passes, so take their advice of buying one with a grain of salt. Also, please don't use the pricing map on this website referred to above for a sense of costs - it is inflated and out of date as well as not in line with the discount fares that are easy to obtain in advance. Again, please read the Man in Seat 61 link above for an unbiased overview of the pros and cons of a rail pass. Finally, flying is so cheap out of Barcelona (think less than 50 Euro to Florence) as well as other cities. Low cost airlines are really the way to get around these days; rail travel and passes are so 1993.

Guess I am still living in 1993, but I find the hassles of airport security, getting to and from the airports - often at some distance - the extra fees for check-in, checked luggage, sardine seats, etc, etc., for the discount airlines, just not worth it over the convenience of rail travel especially if the total train travel time is less than five or six hours.