Return tickets are sold at various discounts from the full rates, generally about twenty-five per cent. less than the double fare. They are sometimes good only for the day of issue, but are usually available for two days, and in some countries for four or five. On some lines they do not issue return tickets for express trains, or for trains exclusively first-class. The holder of a return ticket (first-class) often feels that he is harshly treated when refused a place on a train of first-class coaches only, and if he cannot speak the language, it is impossible to make him comprehend the rules of the company.
Circular tickets are issued at a great reduction from the single fares, but they are subject to certain restrictions that go far toward counterbalancing the saving in money. A circular ticket is limited in time, according to the localities it covers; it may be available for only one week from the date, or it may be good for three months, or even longer. The journey can commence at any point of the route, but once begun it must be continued in the same direction, and on the route indicated, and if it is not completed within the time specified, no money will be returned for unused coupons. If the traveler halts at any intermediate station not indicated on the itinerary, he must pay his fare to the next indicated station on resuming his journey, and he is also required to have his ticket stamped by the proper official when he arrives at a station where he is to stop.
These circular tickets are highly popular, and have been the means of creating a great deal of travel by reason of their cheapness. A tourist who selects his route and finds a circular ticket that covers it will make a large saving over the single fares from one place to another. To illustrate: the writer once bought for one hundred francs a circular ticket (first-class) with the following itinerary: Paris, Vichy, Lyons, Grenoble, Aix-les-Bains, Culoz, Besançon, Dijon, Paris, with the option of returning from Grenoble by way of Lyons, Macon, and Dijon to Paris, instead of passing by Besançon and Dijon. The single fares from place to place would have aggregated something over two hundred francs for the journey. In many instances the saving by a circular ticket is considerably more than one-half.
The circular tickets issued by the railway companies should not be confounded with those sold by private individuals in London, Paris, New York, and other cities. The railway companies sell their own tickets at their own offices or agencies; it frequently happens that the most direct of the lines will have nothing to do with the "tourist agencies," so that those who patronize the latter establishments find that they are sent by roundabout ways from one great city to another.
At all the principal ticket-offices on the railway lines there is a table of fares near the window; it is printed in large letters and figures so that there is little chance of a mistake. And in most countries there is an additional security to the traveler; the fare is printed on the ticket in plain figures, so that the most laudable intentions of the seller to cheat the stranger may be frustrated, provided the latter knows enough to count his money.
In Northern Europe, especially in Russia, the carriages are warmed by stoves, though sometimes the first-class passengers are the only ones having the benefits of heat. In Central and Southern Europe long cylinders of sheet iron containing hot water are thrust into the compartments at intervals more or less regular; by means of these cylinders the traveler can keep his feet comfortable, and if the weather is not too frosty, they give all the heat to be desired in the compartment. In cold weather the railway traveler should be well provided with wraps, as the night air has a penetrating familiarity, especially when the wind is blowing.
Eating-rooms, or "buffets," are abundant, and generally good. The best are on the long lines where there is a large amount of through travel, so that a good patronage is secured, and the trains halt there at convenient hours for meals. The table d'hote system prevails, but there are always plenty of small tables where those who do not want a "square meal" can be accommodated. The price of a table d'hote breakfast varies from two francs, fifty centimes, to four francs, and that of a dinner from three francs to five francs, wine included. On most of the lines the keepers of the restaurants are required to post a notice in a conspicuous place, showing the prices of meals, so as to prevent any possible cheating; any complaint addressed to the management of the road is pretty certain to receive attention, as the companies are desirous of having the best possible service.
A table d'hote breakfast or dinner on the great lines, especially on the Paris, Lyon & Mediterranee, is the perfection of railway feeding, and the most rapid eater the world ever saw cannot complain of the dilatoriness of the waiters. The conductor generally telegraphs the number of passengers on the train, so that the restaurateur knows pretty nearly how many will patronize him; as the train rolls into the station, the first dish of the course is placed on the table, and you have only to drop into a chair and begin eating. Before you are through with the first course the second is at your side, and the third is there before you can possibly finish with the second. Thus the meal is served, and when it is near its end the cashier passes around and collects the stipulated money. The time allowed is from fifteen to thirty minutes; five minutes before the moment of starting, a bell rings or a gong is struck, or perhaps a horn in blown, and the signal is repeated four minutes later, and when you hear the second signal there is no more chance for delay, as the train, like time and tide, will wait for no man. The form of the signal, and also the period of giving it, are not the same in all countries, and the verdant traveler will do well to watch the motions of his neighbors, and be governed accordingly. The buffets are divided into the first, second, and third class at the great stations, and there are waiting-rooms with the same distinctions. In France the smaller stations are known as "stations," and the larger ones, especially at terminal points, are called "gares." "Bahnhof" in Germany, and "stazione" in Italy means the same as "station" in England and "depot" in the United States.
On some of the roads meals are served in baskets, so that they can be eaten while the train is in motion. An hour or more before you arrive at the restaurant station, the conductor, or some other employé of the company, takes your order for a breakfast or dinner according to a bill of fare which he presents. The order is telegraphed forward, and you are told to ask for a certain number, by which it has been indicated. When the train reaches the station a basket containing what you have ordered is handed in through the door of the compartment, and the train moves on. The baskets are specially made for the business, and contain compartments for everything needed in the meal, together with the inevitable bottle of wine. You eat at your leisure, and at a stopping place an hour further on the basket is removed and sent back to the place whence it came. The plan has certain merits, and likewise certain defects; to eat without hurry and without delay is certainly a great advantage, but it is not altogether comfortable to breakfast or dine from a wicker basket that rests on your knees, and it frequently happens that the pepper, salt, or some other necessary trifle, has been overlooked.
A private lunch-basket is as desirable on a European railway as on an American one, and may be stocked to suit the owner's taste. On a long journey provide yourself with a bottle of water, as there is no water-cooler on the train, and you might suffer from thirst without the means of alleviating it. The advocates of principles opposed to the total abstinence theories of Father Mathew will not forget their pocket-flasks with stimulating contents.