train travel after a TA cruise

From either Copenhagen or Stockholm, you can fly back on IcelandAir. They offer reasonably-priced one-way flights to North America, with one stop in Iceland. I just checked and for mid-July, the one-way flights from Copenhagen to New York are as low as $600 per person. (You could also fly into Toronto or St. Paul. Assuming your Westerville is in Ohio, one of those should work for you. If you are working your way from Barcelona north, through France and Germany, then Poland, up to Scandivavia, you can take the train the whole way. The trains in Europe are great and if you've never done, there is not better time than now.

We have found Frankfurt to be a fairly inexpensive city to fly from as well.

My thought is it is not so much the city, but the airline you choose. (Or maybe it is a combo of both, since choice of city determines in part the airplines) Iceland Air is one of the few that doesn't charge excessive prices for one-way tickets. $600 is what it should be-about half the cost of RT. Yet many airlines (British, Delta, and others) charge as much (or more) for one-way as for RT. From Frankfurt, there are some decent prices one-way to New York on Singapore, Air Berlin, and Aer Lingus, but all are over $700 compared to Iceland Air's $600 from Copenhagen. If it were I, that Singapore flight looks pretty attractive, since it is a top-rated airline. But they did say they might end up in Copenhagen or Stockholm, which is why I started looking there. They would benefit from flying out of there instead of traveling 9at some expense) somewhere else to fly home.

Check with your cruise line. I thought they offered deals on one-way flights in conjunction with a trans-Atlantic cruise (I've never taken one and don't have first hand experience). Look at Cruise Critic dot com and sign up for the Roll Call for your sailing. I'm sure you'll get lots of information there on options. There is no consistency in air fares. Recently, people have been finding some low fares from Istanbul, but that's only useful if you want to go to Turkey (I had a wonderful time there). Icelandair and Aer Lingus often have reasonable one-way fares, but again, they only fly to limited places in the US, so they may not work for you. For general information about European travel, get Rick Steves Europe Through The Back Door. This will help you greatly with the "nuts and bolts" of travel (trains, etc). The "best way" of getting between destinations depends on the destinations. In addition to trains, you can take buses or fly. If you're looking for ideas, start reading guide books and looking at travel videos to see what interests you. Rick's videos are available on Hulu and YouTube.

For just about all you need to know about trains in Europe, go to www.seat61.com. Trains in Europe are wonderful, easy to book, and so relaxing. to get the cheapest fares, also nonrefundable, you need to book at 90 or 120 days prior to travel in most countries. On short hops of less than a couple hours, you can just buy your tickets at the window on the day you want to travel and they aren't that costly. Do your homework and in no time you will become adept at traveling all over the continent by train.

If you have any Frequent Flyer miles you could see if it would work to use them. You would only need half the miles you would use for round trip.

If you decide to end in Poland (great country, really enjoyed my visit), Lot Air also does reasonable one way flights.

I just saw a travel article the other day that listed Frankfurt and Amsterdam as the cheapest. Heathrow is the most expensive.