Trip report / summary, May into June 2026

Home to Copenhagen, 8th to 18th May, met up with cousin Jennifer and her husband Steve in Amsterdam and we travelled onwards together. Home to Austria and northern Italy, 25th May to 10th June, with Lisa who can step in and out of trains and manage a few stairs, but has a mobility device to help with distances most of us can walk.

My ticket app tells me I have travelled on 80 trains (3 on UK^▸ legs and 77 in mainland Europe) and visited 50 places since I activated my Interrail pass a month ago. In that time, one train in mainland Europe has been cancelled when I turned up for it (Hengelo to Osnabrouek) but there was another an hour later and the day was just pushed back, one train has been delayed to the extent that a planned connection was missed, and one train turned into a bus along the way. One train was diverted while we were on it, bypassing Antwerp Central to Antwerp Berchem,and I had to get another train a couple of miles back, and a train into Hamburg was diverted (and planned on the app) into Altona, so I had to connect on the S-Bahn. here have been some none-consequential delays - the worst being a 16:59 arrival just yesterday 23 minutes late at 17:22.

One (UK) train was declared as cancelled - the 14:34 on 25th May from Melksham and I caught the bus to Chippenham, though my logging tells me that it ran, 40 minutes late. The 15:56 from Chippenham into Paddington left 10 minutes late and got there at there at 17:50 (rather that at 17:05), and the train from Liverpool Street, due Harwich at 21:00, left 5 minutes late and got there 25 minutes late. No consequences as I wasn't on the ferry until the next morning - Lisa travelling with me and we stopped at the Premier Inn.

Two train managers have challenge my ticket, one asking me to move to 2nd class even though I hold a 1st class pass. And one telling me that I had not "toggled" my ticket on to make it a valid journey because he misread my app. At two stations, we found the lift from the platform to the main concourse out of order - in one case there was another way around (a combination of three lifts, not intuitive) and in the other we changed plans, got an alternative train to another station in the same city.

Hotel receptionists when they see us roll up tend to panic; we don't book "upper floors accessible by lifts only" accommodation - just need a flat access or lift; a couple of steps is OK. Two occasions on this trip, the hotel receptionist has known "better than us" and and has made a needless room change - in one case with a long and complex show of frustration. I always indicate on booking that we cannot manage lots of stairs but that does not always reach the check-in dest. Good receptionists ask / check.

On busy trains (everywhere) there is a survival of the fittest mentality, but at the same time people when they note tend to be extremely helpful. THANK YOU. One sad exception yesterday - Lisa got a green labelled (unreserved seat) in the ICE from Germany to the Netherlands, seated airline stile on the aisle beside a lady in a reserved seat. But turned out it was not her preservation, and another lady came along and requested her booked seat. Lisa got up, moved clear to let the wrongly seated woman out, then the rightful owner took her seat - and the woman turfed out grabbed the seat Lisa had been in. "My seat" I think she muttered. Nothing around marked as priority seats and on one hand we want to be treated like everyone else - but yet I do question this woman's action. We found Lisa the last reserved seat that hadn't been taken; I stood from Dusseldorf to Utrecht but - must admit - the app did say "reservations recommended" and we had made a call as the train came in to get on - we had a fallback option taking an hour longer via Venlo.

We are on the night ferry tonight - a leisurely day planned in Utrecht and Rotterdam ... and an opportunity for me to look at the stats and write up before a late breakfast.