 Poster: A snowHead
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There is something of a dichotomy at the heart of transit locations. The cheerfully bright cafes and stalls attempting to separate traveller from their cash nestled in carefully partitioned bunkers of concrete and stainless steelstainless as austere as any fortification. The way the afluence of those travelling contrasts with the near invisible cleaning staff whose grey uniforms seem specially chosen to match the concrete. And the way excitement of the journey clashes head-on with crushing boredom.clashe of waiting. Yes, once again I do battle with the Snowtrain, my implacable foe, yet my enabler. My gateway to the mountains, yet, my Nemesis...
This year, the journey holds new fears and cruelties. We take the Night Train to Bourg St Maurice from London. I write to you from St Pancras station, nestled between concrete and glass buttresses in a happly twee cafe soothing nerves jangled with hauling 2 boys and a overfull snowboard beneth the unsuspecting capital. Tickets safely stowed bear forebodeing words though... No Alcohol... yes, this night train will be a dry train.
Oh...
The humanity...
Two hours until our train. I wait, pensive. Strange sould abound and I note we are attracting odd looks from the nature of our baggage and our attire. No signs yet of the likeminded who seek their pleasures at altitude. Without our herd we may be vulnerable. I seek solace in cake and try not to think too hard about what may be ahead.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Go to shop. Buy vodka and mineral water. Discard water and decant vodka into empty bottle.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@telford_mike, one does not so easily sneak booze aboard the Night Train - sealed containers only.
Confusion reigns. A brief soujourn arou d the corner from the Bunker cafe reveals a prodigious queue twice the length of the concourse which prompts quick action. A rapid flight to the end and we discover that the sudden change in state from calm to frenetic movement is unwarranted as the queue of queues is actually for the flat loamlands of Paris. We do however uncover likeminded souls are also waiting for the BSM train and we circle the waggons. Now we once again play The Waiting Game.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You've been on the Night Train before, yet you go again. Maschoist.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Standing outside perfume boutique i wonder about the ABV of abottle of Chanel #5
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@Richard_Sideways, we'll see what sort of zombied husks of humanity will greet us tomorrow morning in Les Brev!
The answer, as always, is get a Skoda estate & a roof box 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@jd_evans, the answer is travel anyway you like, except the Night Train. For train travelling, TGV during the day is very pleasant, providing that the French are not on strike, of course.
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
| Standing outside perfume boutique i wonder about the ABV of abottle of Chanel #5 |
Well, it may have a decent floral bouquet but the finish leaves a little to be desired 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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A dry train? Do they not want any customers?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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2hrs until train? Hit the champagne bar 
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@Richard_Sideways, reading your first post, I felt ones self contemplating weather there will be a second instalment to your journal?
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You know it makes sense.
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En reposte. I survive the queuing process but my crisps may have taken critical damage. Alas poor maple bacon flavour, i barely knew thee.
We leave. As blue/grey hues consume these early spring skies over the capital we take up traction. The children decide that a game of rummikub will occupy the first stint of the journey. I have front loaded a beer, 2 gin and tonics and a pint of lager as fortification for the trip during the queuing process. No wonder that the British are regarded as the queue masters of the world.
We act as mere observers though as a schism breaks out opposite our dominion. A double booking has occurrd and intense negotiations akin to the Paris peace accords are drawn up... Let us hope the arrival at Ashford does not result in an upset of the status quo...
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Richard_Sideways, sweet dreams 😂😂
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Richard_Sideways, lovely G&T then bottle of wine, now tucked up in lovely big bed.
Enjoy the train
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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An unscheduled hour-long stop to deal with a medical emergency. Obviously the deprivation of the dry train became too much for some poor souls constitution and they succumbed to some malady requiring the medicinal restorative powers of sweet liquor. The journey now finds us somewhere east of Lille, with the carriage lapsing into a gentle torpa as midnight approaches.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Sleep soundly as the train rolls through France!
Even without the sleep, I still think I'd rather drive.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Our train skulks through Dijon like its up to no good. Our carriage is strewn with sleeping bodies stretched out seeking some semblance of a prone position and the detritus of courtesy blankets and inflatable pillows. The children have taken up residence under the tables or built fortresses between seats and surrendered to sleep, if fitfully.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Richard_Sideways, loving your work. 
Hope you have a great holiday(despite the travel woes). But remember it could be worse - at least you're not on an overnight bus.
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Love it
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@Richard_Sideways, are the seats those hard plastic ones that they have introduced to the Eurostars to Paris? Because they are barely tolerable for two and a half hours let alone an overnight trip. They used to have softish material seats which were okay even if they were getting a bit scruffy.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Richard_Sideways, have toyed with the use of the train.... you are selling it so well. Cost wise what doe it work out for family of 4?
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Sleeper train without beds?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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and you pay for this??
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
at least you're not on an overnight bus
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Second that - I just had a text from eldest daughter @AnnaJ to say that they are only just at Lyon - they left Marlborough at 5.30 yesterday afternoon and were due to take a ferry at around 10.30. 
2 coachloads of teenagers... I feel for the teachers!
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You know it makes sense.
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@NickyJ, think very carefully- it’ll be the longest night of your life👎🏻👎🏻
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| RUGBY PETER wrote: |
| @NickyJ, think very carefully- it’ll be the longest night of your life👎🏻👎🏻 |
+1.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Doorstep (Whitby) to doorstep (Tignes les Brev) cost me ~£340 on the train vs ~£360 flying , the train is uncomfortable & nigh impossible to sleep on but you do get 2 extra days skiing
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've never tried the tain that requires a change in Paris, I've had to get fro KC to Victoria by tube with ski gear once, never again!!!!!!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
@telford_mike, one does not so easily sneak booze aboard the Night Train - sealed containers only.
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Buy two identical bottles of mineral water. Remove lid from one, empty and remove 'security ring' from around neck and fill to normal level with vodka. Leaving the lid etc screwed on, cut the other bottle in half. Heat up a saucepan of water to close to boiling point. Immerse cap plus about an inch of the neck of cut bottle in hot water for a minute or so. Remove from water and cap and security ring can then be removed intact. While still hot, screw onto bottle containing vodka.
You now have a sealed water bottle full of vodka.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Is no one here at all worried?
That train gets in at about 7am.
Last post from our intrepid traveller was 00:54.
Then nothing. Zilch.
What happened 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Jonpim, not in the slightest as saw a photo at around 7am ish appear on Facebook from Always29, so all good
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thank you @NickyJ, I'll tell Special Branch to stand down
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@Jonpim, went skiing, finished early and now probably in bed vowing ‘never again’!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@sequoiaborg, you missed out the bit where you cut the teeth off the security ring with a craft knife. You can then screw the intact cap on and off as many times as you like and it becomes a refillable sealed bottle.
It's how I used to smuggle booze into Kuwait when I lived there. 😉
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We vowed no more ski train after a family from Jeremy Kyle were next to us there and back (ironically, en route to Tignes too!)
They were so awful that two years later a woman stopped me at the Snow Centre three years later and said "hey, weren't you that poor family stuck next to those awful people on the snow train that time? We still talk about it even now, nobody can believe they were truly that awful!" and we spent a good amount of time reminiscing..
That said, I've also had a fairly mundane experience before too!
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FAQ
