October 10, 2024
Are you a young person aged 18–24 years living in Ireland and interested in sustainable travel? Take part in Eurodesk’s Time to Move competition to find the greenest route from the Aran Islands to Brussels and be in with a chance to win a European Rail Travel Pass allowing you to travel for seven days around Europe by rail!
Eurodesk provides information on European opportunities for young people (13–30 years) such as volunteering, studying, working, and travelling in Europe. In Ireland, Eurodesk is administered by Léargas and aims to empower young people and youth organisations to explore possibilities within Europe. VSI is part of the Eurodesk network.
Each October, during their Europe-wide campaign Time to Move https://timetomove.eurodesk.eu/, Eurodesk runs many activities to help young people discover how they can explore Europe. One of these activities is the AtoB Green travel competition.
To participate in this competition, you will need to plan how you would get from Inishmore Ferry Terminal on the Aran Islands to Grand-Place in Brussels, home of the European Union, making sure you use the criteria below*:
– Get there in 6 days or less
– Spend €400 or less on travel
– Use the GREENEST travel methods that you can (bike, electric bike, walk, ferry, bus, train).
*Bonus points will be given if you can include a travel option that provides accessibility options within your travel route, for example, limited or restricted mobility, additional visual or aural needs, sensory friendly travel needs.
Top tip: Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has additional needs while travelling.
Download your Travel Route Planner to record and submit your proposed travel plan.
Sample Route Planner and Carbon Emissions Calculator
To help you get started, all applicants will use this carbon emission calculator to find the greenest travel options. Please note that walking, bike, and electric bike emissions will be calculated as 0 for the purpose of this competition. View our sample Route Planner (Link to Sample Planner) to get an idea of how to record your route.
Submit your entry to VSI’s Programmes Coordinator, Eimear: eimear@vsi.ie before 31 October 2024.
Terms and Conditions:
- Entrants should be between 18 and 24 years.
- Only one entry per person is permitted.
- Cost of the proposed travel route must be based on one person’s travel costs (excluding accommodation and board).
- Entries must include a link to the timetable for each leg of the journey, where possible, e.g. timetable for bus, ferry, train route.
- Entries with travel costs exceeding €400 won’t be accepted.
- Entries with a route that takes longer than 6 days to complete won’t be accepted.
- Entries with a travel route that does not use green means of transport – that is, walk, bike, bus, train, ferry – won’t be accepted.
- Entries will be judged based on a points system, where points are earned for the least amount of time taken, lowest travel cost, and/or greenest travel option.
- Bonus points will be awarded for accessible travel options, for example, wheelchair accessibility, restricted mobility travel service.
- Entries must be submitted before 31 October 2024 to local Eurodesk multipliers listed on Contact - Eurodesk Ireland, who will select local winners.
- Local winners will be put forward to the national competition, from which four national winners will be selected by Eurodesk Ireland/Léargas. Each national winner will receive a European Interrailing travel pass.
- Prizes cannot be exchanged for monetary value.
- In the event of several entries with the same final score, a draw will be made of these entries to randomly select the final winners.
More Info on the European Rail Travel Pass Prize
The Travel pass is called the Interrail Global Pass Youth 2nd Class and allows 7 travel days any time within 1 month of your start date. Visit https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/global-pass and click on the 7 Days Pass for full details.
Check out the Interrail Railway Travel Map here to see the rail routes covered by the Pass and which routes require reservations. Interrail Passes include access to a number of free and discounted European ferry routes and boats. You can find an overview of the major ferry lines that have a partnership with Interrail here.
For further information or any questions, contact info@vsi.ie.
Best of luck to all entrants!