I know tics are less purchased in Prague, and much less than that purchased in Poland. But pre-trip I can research the schedules on bahn.de, and pick the best time of day for my journey and go ahead and buy my ticket. I buy a seat reservation, even though I have never needed one in hindsight. Some reservations can only be made about 30 days out on non ICE type trains. Tics are available I think 90 days out.

Dbahn mails the tics no extra charge, I get them in Florida in 5 to 7 days. I find having a hard copy tic in my pocket before I go makes the trip a easier. One less thing to buy, and its already paid for. At the station just go to your train and get on. Don't be late, in Europe the trains run On Time.

I find a rail trip to be one of the few times I can get away from the choking clouds of smoke in Europe. I cannot imagine a 6 hour train trip in a second class smoking car.

I end up booking a first class non smoking, which is usually a six seat compartment, and on my three long segments in a compartment, all off peak midweek, every time I was the only occupant! ^ No noise, no talking, you control the shades, AC, and lights, its like having a private rail car. ^ Pull out your bottle of wine, your cheese and your bread, take your shoes off and prop your feet up, and enjoy the scenery out the hugh window. Enjoyable travel!! The only way it could be any better was if they gave FF miles.

well, this fare card is only valid for trips within the Czech Republic. As Berlin is in Germany, this farecard would only be apropriate until Sch�na Border Station. There are usually discounts only for return trips but often it is cheaper to buy a return when the discount is higher than 50 %, which is often the case when more than one person is travelling. Savers when starting the journey in Berlin (Sparpreis 50 was mentioned) do require taking this special train. If you decide to take a different train you will be charged the difference. From the czech republic there are "City Star Tickets". Check www.cdrail.cz for more info.
If you are travelling on a weekend, you can take regional trains and end up paying less if you only buy a ticket to the border and then use a "Sch�nes Wochenend ticket" for 30 euro within Germany. It will take longer than 5 hours, then though,..