As the days become longer, the birds louder and the sky more blue, things are starting to remind me of the best summer of my life. Let me take you back with me five years ago, during the 3 warmest months of the year, when I had the unbelievable opportunity to travel around Europe thanks to my Interrail Pass.
But what’s an Interrail Pass and what all this Interrail thing is?
The Interrail internship is a program that allows young people between the ages of 18 and 30 to travel around Europe for free or for a very reduced cost using the Interrail Pass, which gives them access to traveling by train around every country of Europe. It is aimed at young Europeans who want to discover Europe and meet new cultures and people. The main objective of the internship is to promote youth mobility, social inclusion and intercultural dialogue among young Europeans.
To apply for the Interrail scholarship, young people who are 18 years old, must submit an application through the initiative’s official website (https://youth.europa.eu/discovereu_en). The application should include a short personal introduction and an explanation of why you wish to participate in the program, what we can also call a “motivation letter”, explain also how are you planning to use the Interrail Pass, for how long you would like to travel, if you are planning to bring some friends also and what impact they expect it to have on their personal and professional lives.
The selection of the beneficiaries is made by an evaluation committee, which evaluates the applications on the basis of a number of criteria, such as motivation, social commitment and interest in European culture. In my case I also filed a little form with different questions about Europe.
In addition, the scholarship can be requested to make an interrail nationally or in Europe, I recommend the second, in my case I traveled from Spain to Frankfurt, Germany by plane, important to know, specially if you are planning to start your interrail journey on a different country of yours: The plane tickets are on you, same for accommodation, food or extras. The scholarship only covers the trains.
Moreover, depending on the days you plan to travel you have a certain number of trains you can take with your Interrail Pass. For example, I took 7 trains in approximately a month of travel. Once in Frankfurt, we traveled to Amsterdam, our first train, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia and Italy, in which we visited Venecia, Verona and Milan. Also trains stop a lot and sometimes you have to switch trains, so you are able to spend the day in some different cities which is very cool. This was the route I took, but another good thing that Interrail has is that you can design your trip as you want, so what are you waiting for?
Would I recommend this trip?
100% recommended experience if you are an adventurous soul, love to travel, and meet people from different parts of the world, this is surely something the best thing for you and your personal growth. I definitely describe this trip as one of the best of my life, in which I meet more people and learn about myself, countries and cultures.
Do not hesitate and go deep into these opportunities that the European Union offers to youngsters, take the advantage of being a European citizen and discover the world! Stay tuned for the next blog posts and don’t miss anything!
Read you soon!
