Hi Everyone-
My husband and I are going on the Rick Steves Germany-Austria-Switzerland trip this summer. The tour starts in Trier, and we are flying into Frankfurt a day early and spending the extra evening in Bacharach. I think we know what we need to do in terms of travel from Frankfurt to Bacharach to Trier, but would appreciate confirmation! Since we are hooking up with the tour in Trier, these are the only trips we have to take care of on our own, so I didn't think a more inclusive rail pass made sense in our situation.
Our plan is to buy the tickets for the Frankfurt to Bacharach leg at the Frankfurt Airport station, since the RS Guidebook says that that trip is entirely within the bounds of a regional transport network and have to be bought on the day of travel. I'm not worried about that piece as we'll be at the airport and I'm sure there will be plenty of staff around if we had any questions. For the trip the next day from Bacharach to Trier, we'd like to buy ahead of time, as I understand the Bacharach station isn't staffed and I would like the peace of mind to know that we aren't going to have any finicky ticket machine issues or the like. I think we can go ahead and buy two Rheinland-Pfalz-Tickets online for that date and print them off here at home to take with us. Is that right? And then we can choose whatever time/combination of trains works best for us to get to Trier in time to meet the tour group.
Assuming I have that right, is there anything special we need to do with the tickets when we board the train? Do I need to activate it or validate it somehow in advance, or just have it ready to show the conductor?
Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Best,
Peggy
