Bratislava to Amsterdam

Bratislava to Amsterdam

On this leg of our trip, we traveled via train from Bratislava to Amsterdam with our Eurail Passes. It was a long day of travel with 4 train changes over a 15+ hour period.

Bratislava, Slovakia

We woke up at 5 AM to catch the streetcar at 5:50 AM. This should give us plenty of time to change to a bus and then reach the train station by 6:30 AM.  Our train to Vienna was scheduled for around 6:45 AM and would take approximately 30-45 minutes to get there. We boarded the train on time and we were set to arrive in Vienna in time for the pastries and snacks we missed on the way to Bratislava. The long trip from Bratislava to Amsterdam had begun. Luckily, the section we were sitting in was empty.

Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into the ride the train stopped. Apparently, there were some issues on the line between Bratislava and Vienna. They said it would be a 15-minute delay. Luckily, we would still have over an hour to spare in Vienna before our train to Passau. After approximately 15 minutes, the delay was extended for another 20-30 minutes. At this point, we would be cutting it close to get food if the lines were long. Oddly, just before we started moving again, the train that left Bratislava 20 minutes after us went by.

Vienna, Austria

The delay ended up being almost an hour and we would have to rush to get food and make the train. Due to meeting our son in Passau at noon, we had to be on that train. Therefore, no snacks for us in Vienna, we had to board the train without food.

Finally, we were on our way to Passau to meet up with our son, we were still on schedule. It was a good thing we left early from Bratislava. However, after we started moving we realized the train only went to Schardenberg, not Passau. Due to line construction at the Austria-Germany border, we would have to switch to a bus to get to Passau.

Schardenberg, Austria

As expected, OBB and DB had a plan; there were buses at the station to take us to Passau. It was a 30 or 40-minute ride and we would still be on time, so no need to stress. However, we let our son know that we would be arriving by bus and to wait for us.

Passau, Germany

We arrived with 5 minutes to spare and found him easily on the platform. Due to the construction, there was a 10-minute delay leaving Passau. This was to give everyone time to be on the train as there were 6 or more buses transporting people between the stations. At last, we boarded and were on our way to Frankfurt.

Frankfurt, Germany

Since we arrived in Frankfurt on time, we were able to grab some food at the station. I walked outside to get some fresh air and to look around. Since I lived in Frankfurt for about 5 years, it brought back great memories. There was a festival or street party going on across from the station. Therefore; I was tempted to go check it out since we did not have a specific time to be in Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, it had been a long day and we decided to keep moving towards Amsterdam. I checked in at the station on Facebook and then headed to the train platform. Just as we boarded and started to move, I received a notification from FB.  An old friend that I had not seen in 27 years was near the Frankfurt station. Sadly I had missed her by 5 minutes as we were already on the way to Amsterdam.

Hot Mess

Fast forward 20 minutes and we realized that the train was still warm inside. As we looked around everyone was sweating and there was no cold air coming out of the vents. Due to being the middle of summer and the train may have been sitting for a while, not too much to worry about, yet.

The train staff was walking around handing out water due to the AC being out in our car. Unfortunately, we were on a 4-hour train ride without AC in the middle of the summer. At this point, the festival in Frankfurt was sounding like a better option. This was peak travel time in Europe; so all of the seats were taken.

Other cars had working AC and were packed like sardines. We decided to stick it out in our car and grab some air when we stopped at stations or a quick sneak into another car to cool off. It was a long and hot 4-hour ride, but we survived and have a story to tell.

The thought of jumping off to catch another train was on my mind for most of the trip. However, we had been traveling for over 12+ hours and it was time to relax.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

We arrived in Amsterdam at our originally scheduled time Therefore; the delays did not impact the overall trip. We grabbed our backpacks, bought a 2-day local pass and then headed to the streetcar for our ride to the hotel. Luckily, our daughter had checked in earlier with a friend and we just needed to grab a key and drop our bags.

Finally, our trip from Bratislava to Amsterdam was over. We knew it would be a long day and there could be some challenges, but it all worked out in the end. This trip required us to take 2 streetcars, 2 buses, and 4 trains and we crossed 4 different countries. Luckily, with our Eurail Passes, we could have made on-the-spot changes if needed without costing us money. However, on this long day of travel, changes were not needed.