Paris to Prague or Brno

"I cannot figure out a train schedule from Paris to Brno at all" . . . . . . . ¶ Maybe you haven't tried very hard. German Rail, http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, has schedules. German Rail offers great fares (as low as €39) for connections starting or ending in Germany, but Paris to Brno does not match that criterion. Find the schedule as Paris to Brno, but find the fares as Paris to Frankfurt or Nürnberg and Frankfurt or Nürnberg to Praque, then Prague to Brno on the Czech Rail website. You can take as much luggage on the train as you can carry.

To eliminate the need for him to carry a year's worth of clothing with him, you might check into the cost of shipping directly to Brno. He could travel with his electronics and an initial wardrobe, and you could ship the sweaters, shoes & jackets that take up so much room. Several years ago, when my daughter spent a semester in England, we were able to use a corporate FedEx rate through my employer to ship to her at very reasonable rates.

One option would be as Charlene suggests: send his luggage and then you can use Tim's advice and fly from Paris to Prague by budget airlines. I am afraid that it would be prohibitively expensive with his two pieces of luggage. Budget airlines charge a lot for extra weight or extra luggage. To check second luggage cost me $50 (not on budget airline). That was Seattle to Prague via Amsterdam (June 2010). Check his luggage all the way to Prague (or Brno) via Paris. He can then take Student Agency bus from the Prague Airport to Brno. Or he can fly all the way to Brno with change in Prague. If option of going by train is substantially cheaper then the best seems to be Paris-Frankfurt-Dresden-Brno or Paris-Frankfurt-Vienna-Brno. All other options would require more than two train changes. Good travel agent should be able to help with logistics.

The fastest train route from Paris to Brno takes nearly 15 hours and requires multiple changes. I suggest that your son fly on a budget airline (either easyJet or Smart Wings) from CDG to Prague and take a train from there to Brno. The airline Web sites should list baggage charges and weight limits. Budget airlines have strict check-in deadlines. If your son misses the deadline, his ticket will be worthless and he'll have to buy a new one for a later flight at full fare. Allow three hours at CDG between scheduled arrival and scheduled departure.

You don't say how long he has to get fom Paris to Brno. If he has the time, taking the train would be a good adventure for him. He can maybe stop overnight in a couple of places where he'd have to change trains anyway. There are lots of trains/routes that can get him to Prague and from there he can easily catch numerous trains to Brno. Flying is the quickest way for him to get to Prague. I'd try to find him a connection on the same airline he's flying to Paris so his bags are checked all the way through. That part of the trip will be far cheaper than what you're saving with the free ticket to Paris. Once in Prague, he can catch a cheap quick train to Brno.

There's also the overnight train from Paris to Vienna. Brno is only a 2 hour train ride from Vienna.

Thanks everyone!!! Your comments helped tremendously!! We've got him set on Smart Wings to Prague and the yellow bus to Brno and are paying a lot in excess baggage fees, but it's cheaper than shipping and he has too much stuff to negotiate the train options we could find.