Travel/holiday thread

[briantrumpet]

It might be an Ouigo train, but I don't really know. I was just trying to get a ticket and was surprised that it wasn't trivial, and that I was supposed to take the connection risk.

Ah, sounds more like Ouigo. I used to look for tickets from them particularly, as I've had some crazy bargains travelling light (e.g 10€ for Valence to Paris), but the last few times I've looked, the regular TGVs have been very good value, particularly if they offer a 1st Class upgrade with single seat for very little extra. Plus you get more flexibility of train times/routes as well, obviously.

I don't think there are any connection guarantees with Eurostar, whoever you book through... one reason at the moment I'm splitting my journey overnight at Lille for the next booked journeys.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Ah, sounds more like Ouigo. I used to look for tickets from them particularly, as I've had some crazy bargains travelling light (e.g 10€ for Valence to Paris), but the last few times I've looked, the regular TGVs have been very good value, particularly if they offer a 1st Class upgrade with single seat for very little extra. Plus you get more flexibility of train times/routes as well, obviously.

I don't think there are any connection guarantees with Eurostar, whoever you book through... one reason at the moment I'm splitting my journey overnight at Lille for the next booked journeys.

I think if you book with Eurostar, they will put you on the next French train although they won't accommodate you overnight if the train is not until the next day. And in terms of the different trains, they're all trains to me. I don't know the difference. I just can't imagine a system in the UK, where luggage tickets are also being checked simply because there are so many people and so many trains, but that has always been the big difference for me between the UK system and the French system - the French trains may be quicker, but they're not frequent.

 

[briantrumpet]

I think if you book with Eurostar, they will put you on the next French train although they won't accommodate you overnight if the train is not until the next day. And in terms of the different trains, they're all trains to me. I don't know the difference. I just can't imagine a system in the UK, where luggage tickets are also being checked simply because there are so many people and so many trains, but that has always been the big difference for me between the UK system and the French system - the French trains may be quicker, but they're not frequent.

I think the TVG system is viewed somewhat differently because of the size of the trains and the distances they cover, and also that some of them go direct to airports (e.g. the one from Valence to Lille stops at Paris CDG, as well as Eurodisney, has 1100 seats, and covers the 400 miles of Valence to Lille in about 3h45). But SNCF is a law unto itself, and not the easiest system to navigate.

Eurostar will compensate you if they screw up: they paid 100% of my overnight hotel cost in Lille when they cancelled my train a few days in advance – the last one of the day – back to London. (I'd been booked into a hotel in London.)

 

[Ian H]

Interrail includes Eurostar I believe.

 

[briantrumpet]

Interrail includes Eurostar I believe.

It does, though the booking fee isn't tiny, and there aren't that many available on each train. But it can be well worth it, I've been told.

 

[laurentian]

Interrail includes Eurostar I believe.

It does. I recently had a conversation with a friend who is going to watch Saints v Montpelier (Rugby). He bought a "4 journeys in one month" ticket and is travelling First Class all the way from Rugby to Montpelier for £300. This includes the Eurostar and, as his Eurostar ticket is First Class, gets a meal on the Eurostar. I believe there were some booking fees associated with booking seats for each journey but it seemed great value.

 

[icowden]

It does. I recently had a conversation with a friend who is going to watch Saints v Montpelier (Rugby). He bought a "4 journeys in one month" ticket and is travelling First Class all the way from Rugby to Montpelier for £300. This includes the Eurostar and, as his Eurostar ticket is First Class, gets a meal on the Eurostar. I believe there were some booking fees associated with booking seats for each journey but it seemed great value.

It depends what you want. From my local rail station (close to London) Google reckons it's an 8.5 hour journey. A flight on the other hand is 1 hour and 50 and about £100 more (probably less if you book in advance). OK - you have to get to the airport and spend a couple of hours there before the flight, but it's still half the time.

 

[Psamathe]

A flight on the other hand is 1 hour and 50 and about £100 more

Although when making such comparisons people often omit time to travel to airport/station (stations often easier), ignore how early you have to get to airport to get through security and not miss your flight, overlook that you arrive some distance out from anywhere you actually want to be (costing time and money in taxis or local trains/buses), etc.

 

[briantrumpet]

Although when making such comparisons people often omit time to travel to airport/station (stations often easier), ignore how early you have to get to airport to get through security and not miss your flight, overlook that you arrive some distance out from anywhere you actually want to be (costing time and money in taxis or local trains/buses), etc.

When I could do Exeter-Paris with Flybe, it was a no-brainer: I could be in CDG in 2.5 hours from leaving my front door on the bike, and on the TGV 30 minutes from arriving in CDG.

Once that ended, and going via Bristol Airport added about 5 hours faffing, it's much less clear-cut, and being able to book Eurostar tickets 6 months ahead means they are about the same as a flight to CDG. And with my Really-Old-Person's railcards in the UK and France, trains are a relative bargain.

That's before you get to the environmental impact of regular flying, which I'd been making excuses about. I don't miss the airport experience one jot. I'm booked up as far as July 2027 now for Eurostar.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Although when making such comparisons people often omit time to travel to airport/station (stations often easier), ignore how early you have to get to airport to get through security and not miss your flight, overlook that you arrive some distance out from anywhere you actually want to be (costing time and money in taxis or local trains/buses), etc.

There is now a reasonable amount of faff leaving on Eurostar. Still less than flying and none on arrival, but nonetheless it's time consuming and a factor for those that don't have easy access to St Pancras

 

[briantrumpet]

There is now a reasonable amount of faff leaving on Eurostar. Still less than flying and none on arrival, but nonetheless it's time consuming and a factor for those that don't have easy access to St Pancras

I was reading some stuff about how really the only solution would be to evict some of the businesses around the terminal area and enlarge the Eurostar facilities significantly. Given that Virgin are going to be running trains from there as well, I suspect it's going to get worse before it gets better.

On the plus side, as it stands, the queues did seem to be vaguely well managed when I went in July, so that they got queuers in in the right order. I guess it took me about 20 minutes to get into the departures area from when they started the queue.

Side note: I wonder what it will be called if it's not just Eurostar (the business) departing from there.

 

[icowden]

Although when making such comparisons people often omit time to travel to airport/station (stations often easier), ignore how early you have to get to airport to get through security and not miss your flight, overlook that you arrive some distance out from anywhere you actually want to be (costing time and money in taxis or local trains/buses), etc.

Fair point. From where I am it takes me about 30 minutes to get to Heathrow by taxi, or about an hour by bus, but the best part of 2 hours to get to St Pancras via train.

 

[briantrumpet]

Fair point. From where I am it takes me about 30 minutes to get to Heathrow by taxi, or about an hour by bus, but the best part of 2 hours to get to St Pancras via train.

It was an eye opener when, because of storms, a kind friend let me park at their house in St Alban's, and there's a sub-30-minute service every 15 minutes direct into St Pancras.

But from Exeter, it's about as fast to get to St Pancras by train & tube as it is to get to Bristol airport by the regular bus, and distinctly more pleasant. I'd got into the habit of breaking the journey overnight at CdG (which also then involved the faff and expense of a shuttle bus to get to the hotel), but now I can do the same at Lille, which is decidedly nicer than CdG, and I can do it on foot.

 

[icowden]

, but now I can do the same at Lille, which is decidedly nicer than CdG, and I can do it on foot.

On our last visit to CdG we witnessed a lady letting her small dog piss on the duty free and a French worker not being massively bothered about it when we reported it (in French).

I also managed to convince an exhausted Alex Brooker that I was French after I held a door for him to get through with his wife (she was in a wheelchair at the time following an operation). The French member of staff there couldn't be arsed to help, but did thank me for helping, so I replied in French again. Brooker then tried to thank me in French, to which I replied "Oh - I'm not French, but no problem, have a good one!" :-).

I have a very convincing ability at French pronunciation...

 

[briantrumpet]

On our last visit to CdG we witnessed a lady letting her small dog piss on the duty free and a French worker not being massively bothered about it when we reported it (in French).

I also managed to convince an exhausted Alex Brooker that I was French after I held a door for him to get through with his wife (she was in a wheelchair at the time following an operation). The French member of staff there couldn't be arsed to help, but did thank me for helping, so I replied in French again. Brooker then tried to thank me in French, to which I replied "Oh - I'm not French, but no problem, have a good one!" :-).

I have a very convincing ability at French pronunciation...

I don't actually mind CdG for such a huuuuuge airport, but train stations are nicer.