Eurailing.com

'Riding the rails'

Eurail – a web of rails as rich as the mix of people who use them. Several thousands of people have Eurailed across Europe since Eurails were placed on the market. Over the years, the profile of people has changed, but the spirit and enthusiasm of Eurailing remains the same. Let’s get to know more about the people and their enthusiasm for traveling and Europe that makes Eurailing such an exciting and interesting experience.

The Eurail tradition started in the late 1950s with the introduction of the Eurailpass. College graduates, especially the younger brother of the World War Two and Korean War vets were eager to Eurail across Europe and explore the continent that their siblings had defended.

With air travel becoming more common, more and more college students were enthused about exploring France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and England. In the 1970s college grads were pondering time off before joining the work force. A new breed of budget travelers was born, many of whom slept in big groups of people on the trains (but not in reserved berths) and in the train stations.

By then, a variety of new Eurail products were on offer, including the first of a series of reduced-price, second-class passes for people under the age of 26. Amsterdam, Brussels, and Luxembourg were added to the list of must-see stops for the backpacking set.

According to anecdotal information, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw a slight drop-off in American rail travel in Europe. Many of that generation apparently chose to stay home and focus on getting jobs right out of school.

There were, however, also many others of this same generation either less interested in the mainstream pursuit of a steady salary or suddenly left without an obvious path into the future. These young people did decide to go to Europe. Their more limited material means meant a more modest approach to a sometimes costly European market and a continuation of the approach adopted in the 1970s: hitchhiking and hostelling.

Then again the early 1990s was a time when many Americans chose to stay home for other reasons: Political instability and highly publicized fighting in Eastern Europe.

The economic optimism of the mid to late 1990s prompted a resurgence of travel to Europe, and backpacking across the continent began to appeal to a wider audience.

The 1980s and 1990s also saw increased travel by much younger (high school age) Americans on exchange programs, educational tours, and social involvement workshops. These kids helped to build a new generation of savvy Euro-ready travelers, eager to return to old haunts, but this time without the heavy hand of a chaperone.

Now, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, European trips are as common as they have ever been.