Attention college students, rail-lovers, and European travelers with a fear of flying. Eurail has just announced that starting in 2012 the national railway of Slovakia will be included in the oft-purchased Eurail Global Pass, thereby linking Slovakia with 22 other nations in what has historically been many traveler's favorite means of scouring the European continent.

When I last took a train into Slovakia it was before the country was even a member of the European Union, much less part of Eurail. There were guns, and soldiers, and a hailstorm of passports being thrown about the cabin from all angles. It was also New Years Eve, the streets were full of liquored up Germans, and there was a tight-wearing archer shooting flaming arrows across the Danube. That's another story for another time, however.

With the addition of Slovakia into the Eurail network, it's now possible to connect the Slovakian capital of Bratislava with virtually anywhere else in Europe for the low 15-day price of €345, if, of course, you're under 26 years old. The rest of us, per Eurail standard rates, are still forced to shell out considerably more.

Regardless, for those lucky European travelers holding a fancy new 23 country Eurail Global Pass for 2012, you are now stuck with 3,616 more km of rail to further complicate your decision on how to get from Athens-Zurich, all the while attempting to fill in towns that start with the remaining 24 letters of the alphabet while you're at it.

Photo: Flickr/Chris Yunker

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