I’ve been riding trains across Europe for 15 years. I love it, but I often watch people make the same 4 mistakes.

• I’ve been riding trains all around Europe for the past 15 years.
• There are usually great deals on tickets if you look early and dig around for them.
• Bringing too much luggage makes things more difficult for you and the others on the train.

I’m American but also have citizenship in Poland and Portugal, so I travel to Europe frequently.

Taking the train is my favorite way to get around the continent. After all, it’s home to some of the largest train networks in the world. As demand grows, new high-speed lines seem to pop up every year.

But I’ll admit that there is a bit of a learning curve to making rail trips go as smoothly as possible.

Here are the most common mistakes I see people making on European trains — and what to do instead.