Reserve your seat ... maybe

You scurried through the station and made it onto the packed train just before the doors closed. Overheated and frazzled, you just want to collapse by the window and enjoy the passing scenery—except you can't, because you didn't reserve a seat. Don't let this happen to you. Train tickets and seat reservations are two different things. A ticket allows you to board a train, and a reservation guarantees you a seat on a specific train. Sometimes both will be bined into one document, and other times they will be separate. And, as if that weren't hard enough to follow, you may or may not need a seat reservation, depending on which train you booked and which type of ticket or rail pass you have. Before you depart, make sure you understand whether your train requires, r mends, or doesn't accept seat reservations.

There might be a certain romance to a nighttime train ride, but the love affair quickly fades if you have to crunch yourself up into a ball and use your handbag as a pillow. As with seats, overnight a modations must be reserved in advance. And, as always with booking trains, there are multiple options: In this case, sleepers private cabins, couchettes shared cabins with up to six beds, and reclining seats, all in various fort classes. Taking the overnight train can save you the expense of a hotel night and buy you extra sightseeing time at your destination, but to ensure that you sleep safe and sound, consider these bits of advice: Beware of the 7 p.m. rule, which states that direct trains departing after 7 p.m. only count for one travel day on a flexi pass, while trains leaving beforehand take up two days. Avoid booking a connection in the middle of the night; not only will it disturb your sleep, it might also cost you an extra travel day. And, above all, keep your valuables close, especially if you are in seat or a cabin without locked doors.

Your train journey could be the best of times or the worst of times. Years ago, while traveling from Switzerland to Italy, I became a tragic character in a tale of two stations. Although I disembarked after hearing the conductor announce what I thought was, "Next stop, Basel!" in German and French, I likely missed a word or two and didn't realize it was the wrong Basel.