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You would purchase it by mail and wait. It arrived a few months to a few weeks before your trip to Europe and EurRail pass - you would get your guide.
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And the world (or at least some 12 or so countries) would be laid out before you. It was the best. You might never do it, but you found how you could spend 4 weeks in Europe and never once have to stay in a hotel. You could get on a train at night in Munich and wake up in Barcelona! Of course, you first overnight in the train, trying to sleep with 4 other people as border guards checked passports 6 times overnight (this was pre-Masichtrait) you found it wasn't practical. But it was possible!
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It was the gateway to dreams.
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Well, it is on its last leg. Apparently Thomas Cook's main focus is no longer travel agency and so this is being stopped. 2013/14 will be it's last published time.
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Sad