Using RS Travel Consultants?

If you questions are relatively simple, it would be cheaper to ask them here. We are free. Train travel in Europe is not very complicated. If you don't get satisfactory answers here then try Steves' people.

I used RS travel consultants for one previous trip and for my next trip starting in a few weeks.

For me, I already booked my tickets, same as you, and wanted help to figure out the best way to divide up my time among the places along the way, and they were very helpful in figuring that out. If you already know the general plan, I'm not sure how much value they will provide, but for me, it was invaluable. I find that when I post questions here, I get a ton of conflicting advice, partly because everyone has a different opinion, and partly because so much depends on you and your personal travel style. Sitting down with a professional travel consultant who can get to know me a bit and learn about what I like to do when I'm traveling gives me a lot of confidence in the advice they provide, and they love to share their favorite places and ideas as time allows. (Last time, she went overtime because she really wanted to tell me about some particular place where I could see something she thought I'd enjoy.) For $50, I think it was money well invested in a $5000 vacation.

We used one of the RS travel consultants to help with creating before and after tour logistics and plans when we took our children and grandchildren on one of the Family tours way back when. Our meeting was productive, enjoyable and immensely helpful. I really felt it was a small investment for a huge return for our fantastic family trip.

So posting questions here gives you conflicting advice because you get to hear about the preferences of various travelers. Going to a RS consultant and paying $50 removes the conflicting advice because...you only have to hear 1 set of preferences - that of your consultant. If it makes you feel better spending $50 then by all means spend it, but there are some travelers here who have even more experience than the RS people (believe it or not).

Especially if you are just down the street, why not?

But - I hope that the whole session doesn't consist of them twisting your arm to buy one of their rail passes regardless of how much better it might be to do other.

There is absolutely tons of experience here on the Forums, and there is a whole gang of us collectively highly experienced with every one of the places you have listed (and getting up and out of Interlaken into the mountains and all around) that can be easily accessed.

And the conflict between opinions here can give you different angles on places instead of just one person's experienced input. Then you can choose depending on what you prefer.

As far as using the trains in Europe there are many of us who live, breathe and love trains, and who know them in our sleep. We regularly use them, and understand ways to save money and time; and we can balance money and speed.

If you prefer to be face to face rather than in faceless computers by all means use them.. We won't be offended. You'll probably be back here anyway for more questions between now and the end of summer.

You can also go to one or more of monthly group meetings. See if you can find one near you.

Happy planning.

It does seem silly, Tim, I agree, but it's true. And here's why: Say I'm waffling about two or three options on my itinerary. If I post here, I get lots of advice, but rarely do I get consensus. Meeting with an RS travel consultant, I can explain my options, and she can ask me specific questions to help get a sense of what she thinks makes the most sense for me.

I find the help I get on this forum to be invaluable when it comes to concrete issues. (E.g. will I have time between __ and __ to go to __ ? Has anyone had this experience, and if so, do you recommend it? Do they have storage lockers at _____ train station?)

I also love getting general ideas from people on this forum. People here have helped me consider going to places or trying things that might not otherwise have made it into my itinerary. It was a poster on here who talked about how much fun they had renting scooters and riding around Hvar that led me to do that.

But, just to give you a specific example, I'm going to Belgium on my next trip, and I was struggling to decide how to divide my time: stay the entire time in one location and make day trips, or divide my time among 2 or more destinations, and if so, which ones? I read the posts on this forum about that topic, and there are such a wide range of opinions on this subject, I couldn't decide. The RS consultant asked me about my favorite places I've been. She asked me about my favorite activities. She asked me about the kinds of sights and attractions that are most appealing to me. And she made a recommendation based on that. I think she would have made a different recommendation if I'd given her different answers to her questions. That's what I got from her, and it was worth the time and money to me.

But by all means, don't do it if it doesn't makes sense to you. And feel free to conclude that I've been duped. I don't mind.

Oh, and Nigel, they have never made any effort to sell me a rail pass or anything else.

"So posting questions here gives you conflicting advice because you get to hear about the preferences of various travelers. Going to a RS consultant and paying $50 removes the conflicting advice because...you only have to hear 1 set of preferences - that of your consultant."

A former boss used to say, "A man who has a watch knows what time it is. A man who has two is never quite sure."

Using the trains is not difficult, and even with instructions on the forum or from a RS travel consultant, it won't become entirely clear until you've done it a few times.

In terms of "places to stay", stop by the RS headquarters during business hours and use their free Library of guidebooks. There are LOTS of reliable hotels in the books in various price ranges, and they're checked each year. Maps are included which show the location of the hotels in relation to rail stations and other landmarks in each city, so you can choose which area you want to stay in. Especially for Italy, it would probably be a good idea to pack the RS Italy book along on the trip. If you haven't booked a hotel for the Cinque Terre yet, you need to get on that NOW!

I can't remember other questions that you may have asked here, but are you clear on the "caveats" with using public transit in Italy?

I can relate to the OPs comments about receiving multiple perspectives and sometimes conflicting information here. I think having a one on one with a good travel consultant must be akin to an interaction with a good reference librarian. In a one on one, a question is asked and the consultant/librarian asks a clarifying or narrowing question back. It goes back and forth like this as the root of the question gets fleshed out along with a lot of accompanying sidebars that we don't often get here.

Often times on this forum, the OP throws out a question and then 5-10 people jump in trying to help the person with a lot of all over the place information. Sometimes the OP comes back with some clarification but often they just clam up. Just this weekend a person posted a question about frustration with particular train route that several people tried to answer. Eventually the OP said she had a Multi country flex pass and needed help with the reservations. Two very different things.

I think a $50 session with a knowledgable professional might be a great idea for a lot of people if they have questions.

I, too live not far from RS Headquarters in Edmonds, WA - about a 30 minute drive. I go up there often for a variety of reasons. I have taken 13 RS tours in the last 14 years - #14 Portugal in June. We almost always have gone up there for a consultation before our trip since we get a 50% discount since we are signed up for an upcoming tour. Would we be going up for the consultation if we had to pay full price? Not sure. Before we go for a consultation, I always post any unusual questions here on this web site and usually get satisfactory answers remembering that one persons' favorite place is not what we would want at all.

A Huge thank you to everyone who has offered some advice. I am leaning towards the small investment of my time and money to go talk with someone only b/c I do live nearby and it is our first trip-- I do value the information I find on this forum as well as all the other parts of this RS website/videos, books, etc.. I first try to figure out our train plans using this site and others (do my research before I talk with a consultant..) I was just hoping that most people who have used a consultant found their information useful (not generic). I am hoping that we will not mess up and find that the only train available to get us to our destination is in the middle of the day--(while planning how many days in each place, we are "assuming" we can take a train early in the AM- anytime-- so now I need to figure out which type train is available/best for heading to each destination.) It just seems very daunting as this is all new to me.. Thank you!

Ken, I am not sure I understand the caveats to train travel in Italy.. can you direct me to where I can start learning about this? Also, I am shopping for a place to stay in CT.. we are not getting a car (walking) and for this part of our trip want to stay in Vernazza. I really want to stay at Francamaria but if I try to book from a travelocity type place, it looks like rooms are full-- I e-mailed the hotel as I've heard sometimes they'll have rooms. I haven't heard back from them and don't know how assertive I should be about trying to get a reply (do I Call, even though I don't speak Italian??). If I can't stay there, I would love a suggestion (4 of us) for another town or hotel. We are hoping to use airbnb for much of our travels... thanks!!!

I am hoping that we will not mess up and find that the only train
available to get us to our destination is in the middle of the
day--(while planning how many days in each place, we are "assuming" we
can take a train early in the AM- anytime-- so now I need to figure
out which type train is available/best for heading to each
destination.)

OK, just for fun, can you list out the trains that currently (I know they may well change) you hope to take?

I, after I wake up tomorrow - it is go to bed time in the UK - will look at them, give you a few ideas (if somebody hasn't beaten me to it - looking at you Ken, or David) times and prices for early trains.

It would help a lot if you define early. For me, I'm used to trains at 4:30 or 5:00 as reasonably early, by 7am much of the early feeling is gone.

Just for fun, you understand.

All of the train routes in your initial question have a good selection of service every day. In the case of Paris to Interlaken, some departures require more connections than others. Booking a direct TGV from Paris to Basel is usually the starting point, available for sale now through the end of August. (If traveling with a rail pass, then the TGV reservation fee to Strasbourg is cheaper than direct to Switzerland.) From the Interlaken area to Venice is a longer distance, so there will be fewer options to get you all the way there in one day, but still several.

How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. Regional train schedules in Italy (e.g., to and from a Cinque Terre town) are not yet published past June 11, so look at a date in that time frame.

For train travel try this websiteTrain Travel. For more visual help just go to youtube and type in how to take a train in italy? There will be lots of references, watch a few of them.