Bad for the Blood Pressure

[Gardian]

Well, the big day has arrived. The first one on which you can make Christmas bookings with SNCF.

So, on to the internet 1st thing this morning to make our 'return to the UK for Xmas' booking. Not good news: prices sky high, but needs must. Rather than do it online though, thought that I'd trundle in to our local town and see whether the SNCF boutique could come up with a better price (they have before). Sadly not, so deed done.

Good: now I can fix our UK domestic tickets for our return from the E Mids down to St Pancras to connect with our return journey. I had looked at the fares online a week or so ago and there was a £17 advance purchase single available - pretty reasonable. However, you've guessed it - that fare availability expired on Saturday. Best fare now is £60.  Grrrrrrrrr !!  I didn't dare book that first in case there was no availability on the Eurostar / TGV legs, but by the time I'd booked them ............. [:'(] 

So, after a quick call to our hosts, the best option is a drive to Birmingham Intl, then down to Euston. Advance purchase available at £17.50.  Oh well, book it then.  Sorry, website down for maintenance: try again in an hour.  Spent most of the day on this: about to pop an extra pill.

By the way, anybody thinking of booking their return journey should be careful to at least check both the SNCF and Rail Europe sites. In our case, the comparable fares for SNCF & RE were €280 & £400+ respectively - somewhat of a difference.  Oh, and try to stay calm!  

[woolybanana]

How old are you gardian? Do you qualify for the old folks railcard in France? It might help.

[Gardian]

Old enough Wooly!

They're quite expensive over here actually - €55-ish last time I looked and you really need to make at least a couple of significant journeys p.a. in France to make it worthwhile.  The reason that I qualify the 'in France' bit is because Eurostar don't discount their sector for Carte Seniors.  So, you might get the Avignon - Lille sector for a bit less, but Lille - London stays at the same price.

You might think that with the distances involved, that would be advantageous.  Err ....... no.   Fare Av - Lon €280, Lille - Lon €190, so the Eurostar bit is by far the bigger element.

Rail travel here (as opposed to the UK) is amazingly cheap, particularly if you're able to book well in advance.  But I'm sure you know that.

Anyway, went back to book the Brum - Euston tkt.  Nightmare of cr card verification process, with card #1 kicked in to touch because of the 2nd level verification process (all the details were correct & no credit availability issue), then card #2 the same lark, eventually sorted out with a phone call to the UK. 

That's it - I'm emotionally drained.  Time for a drink - well actually I'm on my 3rd glass [:)] 

[woolybanana]

I suggest you empty the bottle and perhaps another!!

[Gardian]

[quote user="Gardian"]

Nightmare of cr card verification process, with card #1 kicked in to touch because of the 2nd level verification process (all the details were correct & no credit availability issue)[/quote]

Thought that I'd ring them to try to find out why.  Eventually established that it was because they didn't have our postcode in the postcode box.

Then off to the doc for a repeat prescription session.  Blood pressure lower than usual. [8-)]  Must be the old CdR - it has numerous medicinal properties! [:-))]