What is an outbound or inbound journey?

Your Global Pass (valid in 33 countries) is your ticket to freedom and flexibility outside your country of residence. If you're travelling with a Global Pass and live in a country that is part of our Pass Network, your Pass usually includes one outbound journey and one inbound journey (with multiple train transfers included) to account for any travel needed to leave and return to your country of residence.

Though many travellers use their inbound and outbound journeys at the start and end of their trip, you are free to use them as you like, at any point during the overall validity period of your Pass. When adding a journey to your Pass to travel in your country of residence, you’ll be prompted to use an outbound or inbound journey. You need to be online to add these journeys to your Pass. 

If you need more than the allocated outbound and inbound journeys, you can always buy additional point-to-point tickets directly from the relevant rail carrier.

Do you live in a country outside our Pass Network? If so, these rules do not apply to you.

Additional tips:

• You can use your outbound or inbound rule to reach an airport or ferry port in your country of residence, if you want to start Interrailing far away from home.
• You’re not obliged to use your inbound or outbound trips — you can use them on your terms based on your plans and budget.
• You can return to your country of residence before you’ve used all your travel days. However, once you've returned and the respective travel day ends, you'll need to buy a regular ticket to cross the border again.
• Stopovers are allowed on your last travel day, but be sure to add your final destination in the Rail Planner app — especially if you have a connection in your country of residence.
• You can leave your country of residence by night train, but you cannot use your Interrail Pass to board a night train to return home on the last day of its validity, as the Pass expires at 23:59. Information explaining how such a return journey would be possible can be found here.