Carrying my bike on trains and a bus!

Over the long weekend, I traveled from M’s house in the Pyrenees (France) all the way to Berlin (Germany), on the train with my bike. Or at least, that was the original plan which ended up going very wrong.

The original plan #

18h over 2 days, Interrail ticket + 20 EUR reservation fee

The plan was to cycle 25km from M’s house to the train station, and take the train to Toulouse - Paris - Strasbourg using my Interrail ticket. Then using my 9 Euro ticket*, travel from Strasbourg - Karlsruhe - Stuttgart. (*9 Euro ticket is this amazing flat-rate ticket that lets you travel on any public transport except ICE anywhere in Germany.) I would spend the night at my friend’s in Stuttgart and leave the next morning to take an ICE train back to Berlin. The reason why I had to use the 9 Euro ticket instead of using the Interrail ticket was that Interrail ticket only allows you to travel one inbound and outbound journey each. This meant that I had to save my last and longest leg of travel in Germany to the last day (Stuttgart to Berlin).

What actually happened #

30h over 4 days, Interrail ticket + 30 EUR reservation fee + 80 EUR overnight bus fee

It went smoothly until Toulouse. Then the train from Toulouse to Paris was delayed 30 minutes and I missed my connection to Strasbourg. I also missed the next train to Strasbourg because I was eating a sandwich and I couldn’t reserve a seat in time. I ended up crashing at M’s brother’s place in Paris and decided to continue my travels the next day. (The beauty of the interrail ticket and its flexibility.) The next morning, I took a train from Paris to Strasbourg and then to Offenburg where I missed my connection to Berlin this time. I decided to take a detour to check out Freiburg which was 40 minutes away on the regional train. Then in Freiburg, as I tried to onboard the ICE train, they asked me whether I made a bike reservation in advance. I said no and they said I couldn’t board the train. (In Germany, it’s not even allowed to pack your bike in a bag and bring it on to the train.) The tricky thing though was that you could only book your bike reservation together with your ticket online. With an interrail ticket, the only way to reserve a bike spot was at the ticket counter in major train stations IN Germany. I was coming from France and there wasn’t a way for me to buy a ticket from France. Since it was Friday before the long weekend, there was a big queue at the ticket counter where I had to wait for 1h only to find out that there were no bike spots available for all the trains going out that day, or the next few days, even weeks. Great. I asked around and a friend of a friend offered me a couch to stay on for the night in Freiburg. I took up on the offer. I booked a night bus (Flixbus) for the next day.

It was exhausting, expensive and ridiculous but kind of worth it. Here’s why!

Was this all worth it? It would’ve been easier, cheaper, and faster to take a 4h flight from Berlin to Toulouse. But I did learn a few things and had a few nice memories.

I saw Paris in a new light #

I had visited Paris before but I’d never cycled through it.

In Paris, my train from Toulouse arrived in Paris Montparnasse and the next train to Strasbourg left from Paris de l’Est. Then once I missed my train, I went to stay in an area called Aubervilliers.

As I cycled from one of the richest to one of the poorest areas in central Paris, it was interesting to see how the city and people changed.

I also passed nearby a wall that they had built between Paris and Pantin after the evacuation of crack consumers from rue Riquet (Ecole Gardens) to Auguste Baron just outside of Paris, which I think sounded crazy when I first learned about it afterward. ( a video) But what do I know?

I was curious to see what the annual median revenue for each area in Paris looked like so I created a map of in and around Paris. You can read the details on the numbers and statistics in the report here.

Strasbourg: Most bike-friendly city in France #

One of the best things about traveling with your bike is that you can just hop off a station and do a quick tour around a city. I did just that in Strasbourg.

According to Statista, Strasbourg was the most bike-friendly city in France according to its residents. Of course, depending on what you type in Google, there are many other bike-friendly cities in France so I’d say “one of the most bike-friendly”.

When I first moved to Berlin, I was really impressed by all the bike lanes in Berlin and couldn’t understand what people were complaining about. Now I know why. There are cities that do better at accommodating bikes into people’s lives.

Exploring Freiburg #

When I got stranded in Freiburg, I was frustrated. I had waited for 2h for my ICE train to Berlin only to be denied boarding when the train arrived. I then had to wait another hour to find out that my interrail ticket was going to waste and my only options were:

1. taking a regional train with a 9 euro ticket the next day which would take 12 hours with 6 transfers with no guarantee I will be able to board the train (it was the first weekend - a long weekend I must add - where the 9 euro ticket could be used!)
2. taking the night bus which costs 50-100 euros and 12 hours.

I chose the second option. As much as I wanted to try carrying my bike on various regional trains throughout Germany, I was already a little exhausted by this point.

A friend of mine told me that I could crash at one of the student accommodations he used to live in. I’ve never seen inside a student dorm in Germany so I was curious. The location was amazing (near a beautiful park and lake) and they had a 12m2 size bedroom each with a spacious shared common area, kitchen, and a bathroom. There was even a beachball court, a basketball court, and a workout area outside, and all for 280 EUR/month! (even for internationals!) If only I knew this option existed when I was in college in Japan when money was the source of all my problems.

I walked and cycled around the city. There was a big market in front of the Freiburger Münster on Saturday morning and bought a box of cherries which I ate while strolling around and up der Schlossberg (a little hill overlooking the entire city)

I then went for a little cycling trip in the afternoon to the east of the city towards the black forest. I searched for a good route on Komoot and decided to cycle along the Dreisam Radweg along the river towards Kirchzarten and stopped by at Lilli’s cafe. There were donkeys, lamas, horses, chickens … the tart and the ice tea were just amazing!

I then cycled uphill towards Sankt Peter and its Baroque style church which was very pretty. I met a Franco-German couple in their 60s(?) and they treated me to some drinks and cakes and a lovely conversation. They were running a real estate business in Paris and were visiting their holiday houses in Freiburg and somewhere in Alsace.

The bus ride back was long and I didn’t get much sleep but easy. (Note to self: Always reserve your seat when booking. It’s only +3 euros and you won’t have to worry about getting woken up at every bus stop to change seats).

What did I learn? #

The trip back became unnecessarily expensive, long and exhausting. But I also learned so much about traveling with bikes around Europe on the plane, the trains and the bus. I met some lovely new people and got to explore new cities. I learned a lot about myself, how I deal with unexpected events and change of plans. How much I like the mountains and the hills. It motivated me to learn German and French more so I can access the information needed to follow the rules. I learned that city affects the people living in it and the people also shape the city they live in and why I should choose wisely where I want to live and who I surround myself with. It made me want to travel with my bike more and learn more about urban planning and city designs. Learn more about the future of mobility. It made me want to travel more in Europe. It made me appreciate that I have a healthy body and the opportunity to live where I live and do what I do.