What is a "travel day"? Notes for new travelers

Paul, thanks for actually documenting this.

What, no chocolate for the train ride?

11:45 - eat cheese and bread, drink wine

Wine before noon ... nice.

Different strokes for different folks…
Shower, shave, pack the night before.
6:45 Rise, shine, pack remaining items.
7:00 Breakfast (optional if available at that time or have a café and cornetto on the way to the train)
8:00 Arrive train station, buy sandwich and beverage for lunch
8:30 Board train
13:22 Arrive Pisa
13:45 Check in to lodging
14:30 Hit the town

If really ambitious, I would have boarded the 7:30 train.
Can’t understand why it would take an hour and twenty minutes to find the B&B???

I have been Phillip and am now Paul. I count my travel day as an activity, just like wandering a museum. Some people get up and hit a museum early and some start a little more slowly.

Also, DQ, #wineforlunch - whatever time that is. Lol!

Phillip, that's more our style. We always get everything ready the evening before. And because we travel light, it doesn't take long.

Even after flying overnight, we usually manage to at least explore the neighbourhood for a few hours.

I was in Pisa in June for the Saint Rainerius’s Luminara festival.

From the time I exited the train, walked the short distance to my hotel near the river and left off my suitcase in my room, I was easily out exploring within 30 minutes. So, from your timeline, I would have saved two hours just by lodging location, enjoying Pisa by 3pm.

I really appreciate you sharing your timeline because it gives actual amounts of how long it can take a traveler to switch locations. People sometimes think I’m crazy to switch hotels so often on my trips - the 20 days in June were at 11 cities. But, that is very doable because I am extremely efficient with my time - packing takes me 10 minutes max, and because I go short distances between cities - average two hours on a train. So, I am out enjoying the new city by 10:30-11:00am. From the example above, that is when the traveler was boarding the train.

I stayed one night at Pisa, and was able to watch the teams of workers assembling the 100,000 wax candles in the glass jars along the Arno River, have a leisurely lunch at a cafe along the river that specialized in “customize-your-salad”, spend the afternoon in the Piazza dei Miracoli (I didn’t climb the Leaning Tower), and thoroughly enjoyed the local crowd celebrating the night festival.

We mix between an early travel day and a leisurely one, but as we get older, we find not to rush it. For example, today, we traveled from Nerja, Spain to Madrid, so...

Up at 7:00 AM

7-8:30: Breakfast at the apartment, clean up, pack

8:30 Walk to bus station, sit and have coffee

9:30 Bus to Malaga

11:00 Arrive Malaga

12:00 Train to Madrid

2:30 Arrive Madrid and take Metro to Hotel

Arrive Hotel ~3:15

We could have caught and earlier bus an train, but no sense rushing in the morning.

Interesting stuff thanks.

Generally speaking, when I'm planning daily itineraries on Europe trips I try to work out travel that takes half a day. It's off in the case that we are arriving at new destinations an hour or two before hotel check-in times. Of course 90% of the time your rooms are ready, but anyway they can take the bags and hold them for you if need be.

Sometimes we end up with longer travel days, particularly if we are making a transition from one country to another to start a different part of the trip. Or if there's a place we really want to go and see, and the only way is to burn basically a whole day transitioning and traveling.

But generally I plan so that we arrive in a place for lunch or in the early afternoon. Since we've been sitting and relaxing on the train trip (hopefully! - there's a spectrum of experience to be had on the train), we feel energized to go do a couple things that we would like to do in the given location.

The tension for me and my planning is usually how early do we want to get up, and how quickly do we want to get out the door. I always involve my family in these decisions so they have some buy-in if they choose to get up early. Usually it's not at all bad getting out of bed to make, say, and 8:00 a.m. train. If one does one's self the favor of seeing planning as an holistic future reality, not just cells on an Excel spreadsheet, then one ends up selecting accommodations that make earlier trains easier, planning the previous night and day to feel satisfied with a bit of an earlier turn in, etc.

I think the greater point of the op is well taken. Travel is not just travel, it is also transitionary time. So a 4-Hour train journey can effectively take nearly the whole day. As such give yourself a bit more time at destinations that might be impacted by travel days.

Whenever we are switching locations, we'll be pretty much organized and set the night before except for the items that have to be packed that morning (toothbrush, night cloths, electronics, etc...) ... then either breakfast at the hotel if the train is not too early or stopping for a few things for breakfast on the train so we can get to the next place and check-in (either going to the room if ready or leaving bags at the front desk), then out the door to start exploring ... this plan makes us feel we are not losing a day just getting from point A to point B ... example from our planned trip to Spain at the end of October:

6:15 Get up, wash face / brush teeth, change, final packing, check-out
6:45 Walk to Atocha (10 min), grab coffee/juice/pastry at station
7:30 Train to Granada (change in Cordoba ... 45 minutes between trains, time for second breakfast)
11:45 Arrive Granada
12:00 Bus to hotel near Cathedral
12:45 Check-in
1:00 Sightsee and lunch

Rinse and repeat a few days later for Seville, 2 days later for Cordoba then 2 days later for return to Madrid.

DQ you and I are on the same wavelength 😁

we are not losing a day just getting from point A to point B

To this point, some train stations are worthy of sightseeing time. I like to add time to my travel day plan to look around the stations, admiring the artwork, ironworks, historical markers, and (e.g., in my upcoming trip to Portugal) the tilework.

I've always tried to keep it simple. Check-out time is usually 10 or 11am, and the check-in time for the new hotel is usually 1pm to 3pm. So I coordinate train travel between check-out and check-in -- with packing and laundry finished the night before so I can enjoy a lazy morning.

A full travel day means getting myself out of the hotel (breakfast and all that) for the day's activities by 10 AM to be out and about, doing a day trip, and returning by 7 or 8 PM, roughly. True, it takes disciplined planning.

If I arrive in a city on a night train, I choose the arrival to be no later than 9-10 AM; within one hour or so, I arrive at the reserved hotel or Pension, and after freeing myself from the luggage, taking a pause, it's time for lunch by noon or so. After that tracking down the sights , getting to the museum, etc.

Reflecting the vibe of some of the posts above, I wholeheartedly agree that riding the train and transitioning through train stations can be quite enjoyable and interesting. Sitting on the train watching landscapes and cityscapes go by is not overrated.

Paul, I think this is a great illustration of the limitations a travel day takes on your time. Yes, there are many ways to travel, and I like hearing the ways some of you experienced travelers make the most of your time! But for those who are new, it's great advice about reality for many.
We're headed to Spain soon and opted for several early trains, and don't know how that's gonna work out with the late Spanish nights! Definitely will be sneaking a few siestas in there.

Paul, I hope the Camposanto is on your list for tomorrow. We’ve been in Pisa for four nights with two more to go and have seen a LOT of Romanesque architecture and late medieval/early Renaissance art because it’s what I love, but the Camposanto has been my husband’s #1 favorite thing here even though he just went to keep me company. Even better than the naval museum! The frescoes that include the Last Judgement are just wickedly funny.

To this point, some train stations are worthy of sightseeing time

Exactly right ... when that happens, I will build in extra time before departure or after arrival ... haven't really seen Atocha yet, but will do that during our last day in Madrid (so we're not dragging any bags) ... Keleti in Budapest was one where I gave myself plenty of time between arrival at the station and departure for Timisoara so I could look around, admire the architecture, take pictures and have a bite and drink since I wasn't sure what to expect on the 6+ hour train ride ... and Sao Bento in Porto is my favorite train station.

Paul, you must be retired. I can see traveling as you did in the future, when 6-8 week trips become possible. A leisurely move makes more sense when one has more time and could serve as a “rest day” within a longer trip.

Husband & I are not there yet and our trips range in duration from 14 to 16 nights. Losing one full day to travel would constitute 6-7% of our total vacation. If we move three times that would add up to 20% of our vacation! Our typical travel days are similar to some others who posted and we generally have lunch in our new location and see one to two sites before dinner.

My travel day advice to new travelers with shorter trips:

• Avoid/limit four hour train/bus rides

• Use packing cubes-I use two med/large ones for my clothing and only take out what I need for any given day (I never unpack all of my clothing), so packing for moves takes almost no time at all

• Everything (almost everything!) should be packed the day before a travel day; sleepwear and toiletries get packed in outside pockets of my suitcase the morning of the move

• Try to leave early in the morning; if you are leaving too early for the hotel breakfast, the day before your departure ask for a breakfast to go for the next day

• Alternatively, plan for some sightseeing in the current place for the morning/early afternoon and depart for the next location later in the day

• Arrange for luggage storage with your next lodging if you arrival will be prior to check in and your room is not ready

• Research the closing times of sites in the next location and plan to visit those sites that have later closing times

We are seasoned travelers who try to schedule our transfers for the late afternoon/evening outside of prime touring time. We take a picnic on the train for dinner and generally arrive at our new place with time to settle in and get ready for the next day. Then we head out bright and early to start touring the new place. Obviously this won’t work for all transfers, but we do it that way whenever we can.

So interesting to read all of the perspectives and styles. We typically either:

Leave bags at hotel, go sightsee in town we are leaving, then transfer to new place around dinner

Leave early am and drop bags around lunch at new lodging, have afternoon of exploring

Have a leisurely breakfast/morning walk, head to train around lunch time so as to arrive at check-in time of new place then enjoy a nice dinner and walk, use day to soak in atmosphere and walk but not be busy “doing”.

As to the time to find the B&B, it was about 1 hour. The walk was not long - 1K, but the street was very short - 50M. The sign was very bad. Even tradesmen in the area did not know where the street was. Finally a guy at a bakery pointed us to it. We had a map, also.

Now I understand why people say they don't recommend one night stays. If I traveled this way, I wouldn't want one night stays as well. But I understand I am different from others. I would be up at 5:00 and hopefully on the train by 7:00. Different strokes for different folks

I think people are losing the point by quibbling over the details. Note the reference in the thread title to New Travelers. Regardless of how well you personally can manage your own time, many people just do not take into account how much time it takes to make these moves. Its worse when you are traveling with others whose needs, desires and skills are different, especially with children. Too many people come on the forum with a itinerary that clearly underestimates those details of logistics, and plan around a one hour flight or train ride, assuming the rest of the day is free. Whether its a whole day, 3/4s, or half, is not the point.

I like trains and train stations too, but after a while, they all kind of look the same.

I like your travel style Paul. Since we are retired, as are our travel companions, we never stay less the. 3 nights in a place. Therefore, there is no need to get up at the crack of dawn to rush our breakfast to get an early train. Since we always have two full days, we can easily see what sights we earmarked. I have booked evening walking tours after a long train journey to get us moving again and to get a lay of the land.

re the post above, walking and cycling from place to place are really my favorite. It makes the travel the trip.

My last solo cyclying trip I was often in full decide in the moment mode. Woke up one morning and hopped on a train for Utrecht where I was going to start touring. But hopped off at Arnhem and diverted up to Zwolle after chatting for a minute with a man on the train. Intending to stay in Nijmegen, started town hopping by bike south from Zwolle. Halfway down noticed that I was brushing up against some national parks that I had been interested in, so diverted to riding 30 miles or so of winding forest tracks through these national parks. Noticed that that had put me farther west than I intended, and realize that I was half starving to death, so started to head towards Utrecht again. By the time I got to Amersfoort it was getting to be late afternoon and I had about 85 miles of excellent cycling behind me.

So I hunted up a room in Amersfoort, which along with Delft and Den Bosch is now in my top three places to stay in the Netherlands. It's a beautiful town with nice locals and fine amenities.

It felt good to bounce around without an agenda - had been a long time since I traveled like that in Europe. The downside is that you can waste time with uncertainty and indecision, and that you have to dedicate headspace to planning while you're traveling, whether you are up for it or not. Easier solo for sure, and nice if you have the time and/or travel a lot and need to freshen up your experience.

This is a hotter topic than tipping.

I am a very early riser yet I hate to rush in the morning, so we treat a travel day as you do, Paul-otFN. Benefit of retirement and longer trips.

8.15 pm. Ordering Guinness at the bar.
10.30 pm Curled up in a cosy bed.

This popped out immediately ... only 1 Guinness that took 2 hours 15 minutes to drink? ... I'm hoping you forgot to add the 'es' at the end of Guinness :-)

Paul, it was so interesting to see your travel day laid out in print. Amazing how much time it can take to get from one place to another. I enjoyed reading this with a smile!

Some of my most enjoyable travel are inn to inn walking holidays during the spring to fall season and hut to hut ski touring during the winter season. Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Its the not the Destination, It's the journey.”

I think this also points out to New Travelers how far behind in the day you can get by scheduling a mid-morning train.

I'm not against that at all.
Just saying this was meant as an illustration for New Travelers and they might not realize that getting a leisurely breakfast, finishing packing and heading off for the 10:40am train will put them wherever-thery're-going later than they might have estimated.
Some people just don't understand how much a change of location can take, and I think this is a fine illustration.

My first time to Europe, I tended toward later trains... I was on vacation, I wanna sleep in. Since then - and it's VERY difficult for me to do it - I look for 07:30 and 08:00 trains.

I am amazed at the response to this pedestrian (intended) post.

We took a "midmorning train" because we had a friend to eat breakfast with, and wished to spend a bit more time with him.

We enjoyed the Camposanto. We enjoyed the Museo of the Sinoplie because it showed us what the frescoes really looked like in 1730.

We did manage to get to the Field of Miracles at the photo "golden hour". Great pix.

Thanks Paul, this is a great realistic look at how much more time everything takes than you think when traveling. I always back into the day on travel days. If I want to be boots on the ground by 2PM in the next destination what does that mean as far as train times, night before and day of.
We do shower, hair and pack the night before, clean the apartment, take out trash etc if needed, order a taxi if needed, so we just have a 30 min wake up and out the door on our travel day. I always like to see what food offerings are at the train station and make sure we have enough time to grab something savory and sweet for the journey and coffee. We do not plan any activities in our departure city that day, just excited to get to the next destination.

I think I'm going to have a bit of a different take here. I don't necessarily see these as so much travel day notes for new travelers, but rather notes for those unaccustomed to travel by public transport or worst the procrastinator.

Thank for you plan. I really like your travel style!

If I"m taking a 3-4 train trip, I like mid-day. Leave before check out time, eat a picnic lunch on the train, arrive after check in time. I don't feel a need to do much more on a travel day.