As we passed under the English Channel on a train from England to Belgium, I started to read about the Eurail passes we previously purchased. Though our research about traveling in Europe, many different resources led to the same conclusion: a Eurail pass is the best way to get around. The pass allows us to ride almost any long distance train in Europe (excluding England, Scotland and Albania) for usually no additional cost. There are many different options for passes, but Sara and I chose a three month unlimited pass. The writer at Seat 61 has a great description of the different passes and was helpful with our decision making. The unlimited Eurail Global Pass was our best option because we’ll travel in Europe for three months and we don’t want to be limited in the number travel days. For us, the hardest part was coordinating receipt of the passes. We purchased them back in May and had them shipped to Sara’s parents who received the certified package. Then Sara’s mom brought the passes to us when we saw her in Africa.

Through reading the documents, I learned that the first step was to get them activated. Once we arrived in Brussels, we found a ticket office and requested to have the passes activated. The agent took our envelope, wrote in the date and stamped the tickets stapled on the inside. We then asked about confirming a seat for a train the following day. The agent said we didn’t need a reservation and to just hop on then show our pass to the conductor – can it really be that easy?

We were not going to waste any time with our Eurail pass. We had about ten days to get all the way to Bergen, Norway to meet my parents for a week long cruise. Along the way, we planned stops in Brussels, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen. After the cruise, we were flying to Warsaw, Poland to explore Eastern Europe where the prices are a bit more reasonable. Our last planned event in Europe would be Oktoberfest in Munich.

Making our way out of the Brussels train station, we were both famished. We found a nice little cafe to grab lunch and used their wifi to find a hotel for the night. We had visited Brussels for a quick 26 hours of sightseeing back in January 2014, so this visit we were only interested in one thing; drink good beer. Out of everywhere we have been so far, Belgium is a top contender for excellent beer. We like that their style is so different and unique than what we can find elsewhere in the world.

Walking around Brussels felt completely different then our previous visit because there were people and tourists everywhere! I had forgotten that summer in Europe is incredibly popular because we’ve previously only visited in the winter. With so many people around, I was impressed we had found a hotel room so close to city center. After checking in to Hotel Aris, we made our way to a bar we enjoyed previously, Moeder Lambic. After a pint or two, we meandered to another bar Sara found called la Porte Noire. This one was a bit hard to find down in a cellar and I really enjoyed being free from most of the tourists briefly.

To save money, we just grabbed a burger and fries from a corner shop. With the money we saved on dinner, we allowed ourselves to go back to Moeder Lambic. I don’t know what the breweries in America do to their Belgium beer, but it is terrible compared to real Belgium beer. For some reason, American breweries make it overly fruity which is not the case in Belgium.

All through the day, I kept trying to message people on Couchsurfing looking for a place to stay in Amsterdam. One way to meet interesting people and save money is to “couch surf” where people let you stay on a couch or extra bed in their home. There is an online community to help connect people, and I think it would be great to use in Europe to reduce our lodging expenses and live more like a local. All day, I kept receiving declines so eventually gave up and had to book a hotel. Most hotels in Amsterdam were also sold out, but I eventually found something.

Before catching a train in the morning, we had to get a Belgium waffle! While wandering around the night before, it seemed like waffle stands were everywhere, but now with our heavy packs, we couldn’t find any waffles! Eventually, we found a shop and had a very satisfying brunch. The main train station was only a couple blocks away and we arrived almost 30 minutes before our train which was way too much time. Being only accustomed to air travel, traveling by train was very different. We’ve already found that the train stations are very convenient and there is no reason to arrive early because you can board up until the moment it leaves! As the countryside rushed past, I was ecstatic to be traveling by train on our way to Amsterdam.