Planning for our first big “adventure” to Europe, my husband and I expected to find an easy way to jump to and from the seven countries we wanted to visit with ease. Not “planners” by nature [smile] we of course waited until our flight date was two weeks out to even start laying our plan.

But after one night on the computer, we were quickly overwhelmed with so many options that we wanted to give up and “just figure it out when we got there.” What ever happened to travel agents and choose-from-a-five-option-menu?

But then we found Eurail. If you go to their website, they have several (but not too many) travel options between most European countries by train. We found a route we liked, pre-chose all our departure times (you need reservations) and went for it — done, easy. Choosing backpacks over suitcases so we wouldn’t be lugging rolling bags (my pet peeve is their dysfunctional wheels), we got the tickets in the mail, booked a few hotels and airbnb’s five days prior, and flew over the ocean.