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Today/tomorrow: northern Sweden to Norfolk

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jamesontheroad

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Hello / hej to all.

I’m starting a new thread to share a new trip that might be of interest to other RF users who like to travel internationally.

In a couple of hours I’m starting my latest trip from Umeå in northern Sweden to King’s Lynn in the west of Norfolk. I’ve done variations of this trip three times before, once in this direction and twice in the opposite, but never this exact route.

I probably won’t write a trip report afterwards, but I will be on Twitter @jbenedictbrown and using the hashtag #NorrlandtoNorfolk. Previous trips got more engagement (like, retweets, follows) than anything I’ve done on social media before, so to try and promote this way of travel I’m going to tweet the trip again.

I think the trip is worth sharing because it’s an absolute bargain. €59,90 (plus a few seat reservation fees in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands) and then €82,30 for Rail and Sail overnight from Hoek to Harwich. A hotel in Copenhagen adds another €60-70. I estimate it’s around 3,000km.

If you’re not on Twitter, you’re very welcome to ask me anything here. Or you can ignore it completely.;)
 
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paul_munich

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Sounds like a great trip, even through I think everything will be pretty messed up in S, DK, D and NL this weekend...
DB has just announced that all tickets valid for 09.02-11.02 are valid now until 18.02 and you can just take the next train of your choice...
 

jon0844

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But trains don't get stopped for bad weather around the world! So I read on Twitter....
 

jamesontheroad

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Eeek. Oh well. We’ll see what happens. Maybe my ferry crossing on Monday night will be a little choppy. o_O

Now comfortably installed on the first train of the trip. 715km to Stockholm and then 638km to Copenhagen for a night stop.

EQUhXaKWoAAOXvJ
 

duesselmartin

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But trains don't get stopped for bad weather around the world! So I read on Twitter....
Major cancelations are expected from this evening. Damage to power lines falling trees ect.
DB advices not to travel.
From experience I expect thatethr system will shut this evening well into monday, possibly tuesday.
Flights at Düsseldorf are already disrupted.
Government agency advices not to leave the house.
 
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duesselmartin

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Eeek. Oh well. We’ll see what happens. Maybe my ferry crossing on Monday night will be a little choppy. o_O

Now comfortably installed on the first train of the trip. 715km to Stockholm and then 638km to Copenhagen for a night stop.

EQUhXaKWoAAOXvJ
Is that an Alsthom product? The nose resembles a LINT.
 

jamesontheroad

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Nothing wrong with that in itself. Pity about the weather tho...:'(

It is always raining in Denmark when I visit. :lol:

DB emailed around 22:00 to say that tomorrow’s 07:26 IC393 from Copenhagen to Hamburg is definitively cancelled, but offered an alternative leaving half an hour earlier and travelling via Fredericia and Flensburg on domestic trains. If it goes to plan I should catch up with my itinerary in Osnabrück, where I can get the two-hourly Berlin-Amsterdam train.

Goodnight from Copenhagen. Today’s trip can be read on Twitter starting from here.
 

jamesontheroad

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Thanks for the kind comments - both up-thread here and on Twitter, if that's your thing.

I arrived a couple of hours ago, and just did the maths.

2,814km: 13 trains, 1 metro, 1 ferry.

51 hours 17 minutes travel time.

€59,90 Umeå C (SE) - Schiedam C (NL)
€4,00 seat reservation
€90,40 (676DKK) hotel
€4,00 metro (RET)
€82,30 ferry ticket/cabin (Stena)
€8,90 (GBP7.50) train Ely - King's Lynn
====
€249,50

If I can persuade just one more person that long-distance travel like this is not only possible, but also enjoyable (and it is), then it will have been worth the almost incessant tweeting (and searching for power plugs on trains... note NS in the Netherlands is a black hole in this regard!).
 

popeter45

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Just so happens I just booked the first leg of a very similar trip im doing in July to Malmö
Only real difference is instead of the ferry I'm taking the Eurostar to Amsterdam and having the layover there
 

JonasB

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If I can persuade just one more person that long-distance travel like this is not only possible, but also enjoyable (and it is), then it will have been worth the almost incessant tweeting (and searching for power plugs on trains... note NS in the Netherlands is a black hole in this regard!).

It certainly is, my first volontary longer train trip, Scotland to Sweden, was really enjoyable. And I'm glad I managed to book a trip with the night train to Copenhagen before it disappeared.
 

scarby

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Thanks for the kind comments - both up-thread here and on Twitter, if that's your thing.

I arrived a couple of hours ago, and just did the maths.

2,814km: 13 trains, 1 metro, 1 ferry.

51 hours 17 minutes travel time.

€59,90 Umeå C (SE) - Schiedam C (NL)
€4,00 seat reservation
€90,40 (676DKK) hotel
€4,00 metro (RET)
€82,30 ferry ticket/cabin (Stena)
€8,90 (GBP7.50) train Ely - King's Lynn
====
€249,50

If I can persuade just one more person that long-distance travel like this is not only possible, but also enjoyable (and it is), then it will have been worth the almost incessant tweeting (and searching for power plugs on trains... note NS in the Netherlands is a black hole in this regard!).

Very interesting, thanks for this.

Have you considered using the Malmö-Travemünde ferry operated by Finnlines? There are around 3 departures daily, so for example you could take the 22.00 from Malmö, skip the hotel night in Copenhagen and be in Lübeck probably at around 8.00 to continue your journey - or use it the other way around. It's table 2395 in the European Rail Timetable.
 

jamesontheroad

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Very interesting, thanks for this.

Have you considered using the Malmö-Travemünde ferry operated by Finnlines? There are around 3 departures daily, so for example you could take the 22.00 from Malmö, skip the hotel night in Copenhagen and be in Lübeck probably at around 8.00 to continue your journey - or use it the other way around. It's table 2395 in the European Rail Timetable.

I had not... and with the Winter 2020 ERT by my side I'm already looking at it.

The reason I chose this route is mainly that it's possible to get this incredible DB Super Sparpreis Europa fare, all the way from Umeå to Schiedam for less than €60. If it broke the trip with a ferry in the middle, that economic advantage would go. But it would certainly make the trip more interesting and bring some variety to my route, which I'll probably take 2-4 times a year. Thanks for the tip!
 

scarby

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I had not... and with the Winter 2020 ERT by my side I'm already looking at it.

The reason I chose this route is mainly that it's possible to get this incredible DB Super Sparpreis Europa fare, all the way from Umeå to Schiedam for less than €60. If it broke the trip with a ferry in the middle, that economic advantage would go. But it would certainly make the trip more interesting and bring some variety to my route, which I'll probably take 2-4 times a year. Thanks for the tip!

Yes, indeed, that really is a terrific value ticket.

Though if you did the Malmö-Travemünde ferry, then one should be able to get from Lübeck to King's Lynn by train in a day, even allowing sensible time to disembark at Travemünde and get to Lübeck HBF. Thus you could cut out the Hook-Harwich ferry.
 

jamesontheroad

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Yes, indeed, that really is a terrific value ticket.

When SJ is running a promotion, it is possible to buy a ticket from Umeå to Malmö for as little as 195kr (about £15.75)... Leave at 06:10 and you can be in Malmö at 17:43. So combining a good SJ price and with a good Sparpreis from Lübeck to Brussels would be attractive.

(I had never looked at Travemünde before today... it's a shame the rail/ferry interchange is so cr@p, given the railway line passes right by the terminal.)
 

JonasB

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(I had never looked at Travemünde before today... it's a shame the rail/ferry interchange is so cr@p, given the railway line passes right by the terminal.)

Unfortunately I think the ferries focus on those travelling by car as well as coach tours nowadays. But in addition to the mentioned ferry, there are several other ferries between Sweden and Germany you could use for a bit of variety. Like Gothenburg-Kiel, Trelleborg-Rostock or Trelleborg-Travemünde.
 

scarby

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(I had never looked at Travemünde before today... it's a shame the rail/ferry interchange is so cr@p, given the railway line passes right by the terminal.)

Yes, I nearly got badly caught out by that a few years ago - got off the train at Skandinavienkai, wrongly assuming (though hardly surprising, given its name) that it would be a short walk to the ship.
 

30907

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Yes, I nearly got badly caught out by that a few years ago - got off the train at Skandinavienkai, wrongly assuming (though hardly surprising, given its name) that it would be a short walk to the ship.
Stayed nearby in September: definitely use the bus - a building site between the terminal building and Skandinavienkai station ATM too, not even sure you could walk it. Luebeck Bus Station is, naturally, by the Hbf.
 

jamesontheroad

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Have you considered using the Malmö-Travemünde ferry operated by Finnlines? There are around 3 departures daily, so for example you could take the 22.00 from Malmö, skip the hotel night in Copenhagen and be in Lübeck probably at around 8.00 to continue your journey - or use it the other way around. It's table 2395 in the European Rail Timetable.

Though if you did the Malmö-Travemünde ferry, then one should be able to get from Lübeck to King's Lynn by train in a day, even allowing sensible time to disembark at Travemünde and get to Lübeck HBF. Thus you could cut out the Hook-Harwich ferry.

It seems that scarby's suggestion was timely.

For the return journey this week, I left Norwich at 20:00 on Monday night and was safely tucked up in bed on the Stena Britannica by 22:00. I made it to Osnabrück on time but then things fell apart, with ICE1020 towards Kiel running almost an hour late. IC392 left Hamburg spot on time at 16:53 and I missed the last direct connection to Copenhagen. DB offered to give me a hotel voucher for Hamburg, or to re-route me via Flensburg and Fredericia. If I had done that I wouldn't been scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen until almost 01:30. I was due to leave Copenhagen on SJ 530 to Stockholm at 08:20 the next morning, so that really wasn't appealing. Also - I later discovered that there was disruption on the line to Flensburg which could have scuppered the plan completely.

So with your suggestion in mind (and also the suggestions of a couple of people following me on Twitter) I bought a ticket to Lübeck-Travemünde Skandinavienkai and a cabin on the 21:45 MS Finntrader from Travemünde to Malmö. RE8 took me to Lübeck Hbf in about 45 minutes, and then RB86 took me to Skandinavienkai in about 15 minutes.

The local bus (#30) from Skandinavienkai towards Lübeck ZOB only runs hourly in the evening, but it was five minutes after the train arrived from Lübeck Hbf. The driver refused my small change and dropped me off one stop later at the terminal for free. There were just three foot passengers, and we boarded via a minibus from the terminal. It was a great crossing - I had a dietary request that I expected would render the dinner buffet (€17) off-limits, but the wait staff and chef immediately suggested an alternative and cooked something just for me. Breakfast (€8,50) was equally good. We were on time into Malmö, with a little anxious waiting while the car and truck decks were cleared, and then another minibus took us off the boat to the bus stop by the terminal. Malmö city buses run every ten minutes from the terminal in the weekday morning rush hour and I made it to Malmö Central with almost an hour until I caught my originally booked train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. I made it home on time that night. :E

Photos and trip summary in Swedish here on the Facebook Tågsemester group or in English on this thread on Twitter.
 

scarby

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It seems that scarby's suggestion was timely.

For the return journey this week, I left Norwich at 20:00 on Monday night and was safely tucked up in bed on the Stena Britannica by 22:00. I made it to Osnabrück on time but then things fell apart, with ICE1020 towards Kiel running almost an hour late. IC392 left Hamburg spot on time at 16:53 and I missed the last direct connection to Copenhagen. DB offered to give me a hotel voucher for Hamburg, or to re-route me via Flensburg and Fredericia. If I had done that I wouldn't been scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen until almost 01:30. I was due to leave Copenhagen on SJ 530 to Stockholm at 08:20 the next morning, so that really wasn't appealing. Also - I later discovered that there was disruption on the line to Flensburg which could have scuppered the plan completely.

So with your suggestion in mind (and also the suggestions of a couple of people following me on Twitter) I bought a ticket to Lübeck-Travemünde Skandinavienkai and a cabin on the 21:45 MS Finntrader from Travemünde to Malmö. RE8 took me to Lübeck Hbf in about 45 minutes, and then RB86 took me to Skandinavienkai in about 15 minutes.

The local bus (#30) from Skandinavienkai towards Lübeck ZOB only runs hourly in the evening, but it was five minutes after the train arrived from Lübeck Hbf. The driver refused my small change and dropped me off one stop later at the terminal for free. There were just three foot passengers, and we boarded via a minibus from the terminal. It was a great crossing - I had a dietary request that I expected would render the dinner buffet (€17) off-limits, but the wait staff and chef immediately suggested an alternative and cooked something just for me. Breakfast (€8,50) was equally good. We were on time into Malmö, with a little anxious waiting while the car and truck decks were cleared, and then another minibus took us off the boat to the bus stop by the terminal. Malmö city buses run every ten minutes from the terminal in the weekday morning rush hour and I made it to Malmö Central with almost an hour until I caught my originally booked train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. I made it home on time that night. :E

Photos and trip summary in Swedish here on the Facebook Tågsemester group or in English on this thread on Twitter.

Good that the ship suggestion came in handy! Very interesting report on that - useful info on the ports.

Those connections at Osnabrück seem to have some potential to go wrong. Most of the trains have covered a long distance by then - often the 6 hours from Stuttgart, so there's potential for delays. I changed there on an Interrail a couple of summers ago and my intended ICE train to Hamburg simply 'vanished' from the schedules. My destination was Lübeck, and I wasn't in a rush to get there so it didn't matter so much, but I undertook an pretty arduous journey by stopping trains with a change at Bremen instead.
 
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