European Travel Booking with Omio
Y’all, it’s MAY. Summer is just around the corner, which means our September trip is just a few months away so I am mentally counting down until our fun little summer getaways and major autumnal escape.
A couple of months ago, I gushed a bit about our upcoming trip to Central Europe this fall. We’ll be journeying from Austria to Croatia then on to Slovenia and Northern Italy for the month of September. Planning each little leg has already had us daydreaming about everything from cycling through Salzburg to truffle hunting in Istria and boating around the Dalmatian islands.
If there’s anything you’ve probably learned about me over the past few years, it’s that I constantly resolve to be more spontaneous but that I fail miserably every year. I’ve finally accepted that I really can’t help it. I love planning; it’s half the fun for me and while I value spontaneity in others, it’s not a quality that I really possess for things like this.
I also quickly become kind of obsessive when I’m planning (in a good way, mostly), and Scott doesn’t help the matter. We’ll get on a bit of a kick and can’t help but run with it. As soon as I’ve locked on to an idea, I’m on a mission to get it completed. A couple of nights ago, it was sorting out transportation from Salzburg to Vienna.
We’re beginning the month of September in Austria to kickstart our trip and will have a couple of days in each of the two cities. When dealing with shorter travel distances in Europe, I generally prefer train travel to flying or driving. A flight would be quick, but dealing with airports is a pain (and requires tacking on 1 – 2 hours ahead of time) and I generally love the ease, beauty, and simplicity of train travel when the option exists. If you didn’t read about our train journey on the Blue Train in South Africa last fall, check it out for major train inspo.
Using the Omio App for Quick Booking
To book trains this go around, I tested out Omio (formerly GoEuro), a mobile booking site for flights, trains and buses that quickly brings all relevant schedules to your fingertips. If you’re an on-the-go planner, it’s a quick option with a simple interface (no need to overcomplicate things, am I right?) and it makes booking a breeze.
As the name implies, the app is European focused but includes destinations from the US and Asia as well. A quick search brings up all available options, with number of changes required (if any) and the price for the total number of passengers. From our booking experience, the price you see is the price you get. None of those fees during the final step that make you regret having made it to the payment screen.
Choose the selected time that works for you and it’ll display the cost in your home currency for reference. Our final tally – what we actually paid – was in euro, and I’ve seen some displayed in GBP as well. Keep that in mind and try to use a credit card that keeps foreign exchange fees at bay so you’re getting a clean exchange rate. {If you’re debating on getting travel credit cards, check out my holy trinity of travel credit cards – the secret to how we can travel as much as we do!}
The check out process was easy enough; a quick tap of my selected payment method (Chase Sapphire Visa, natch), and we were all settled up. Tickets were available for download instantly, and an email with an attached PDF of the tickets was sent simultaneously. Within minutes, I had found, selected and purchased tickets, which is exactly how I like things to work when I’m in that mission-focused mood.
Fellow Europe lovers, what’s your preferred method of transportation when you’re traveling in the region?
