 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sean Newsom, thanks for the heads-up.
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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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Ski train on sale from July 24th. I wonder when I'll get the e-mail from them telling me the same news and giving me the first chance to book. 
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That's going to be very tempting to jump on a train straight from work on a Friday evening - I'll be able to see the trains leaving from my office window 
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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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Has anyone done the overnight Eurostar service (not the sleeper service via Paris)? Is it possible to sleep?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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rob@rar, yup I have twice and although it is possible it isnt the most comfortable as the seats dont recline (at least not in cattle class) however i got plenty of sleep and im 6'4" your bags are next to you on the carriage, only a 30 minute check in and passports are checked onboard so no wait at the other end.
best way to get to the alps IMO and now even quicker with the high speed uk bit open from st pancras.
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| Has anyone done the overnight Eurostar service (not the sleeper service via Paris)? Is it possible to sleep? |
Yes. It is good. Nice views. Cool train.
But don't count on getting much sleep. They leave the lights full on all night.
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| Whitegold wrote: |
| But don't count on getting much sleep. They leave the lights full on all night. |
Doesn't that kind of defeat the point of an overnight service?
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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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Whitegold, i found that eye shades worked just fine. Oh and ear plugs are a good idea as well.....
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| Whitegold wrote: |
| But don't count on getting much sleep. They leave the lights full on all night. |
Doesn't that kind of defeat the point of an overnight service? |
You have to balance the nostalgia of a cool train ride and perhaps an extra skiday against the inconvenience of poor sleep and overexcited passengers.
Wearing eyeshades and earplugs makes little or no difference.
Booking businessclass helps to make things easier.
Or you can go on the smash and pull an allnighter.
I would recommend the overnight service. But don't expect luxury.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
Wearing eyeshades and earplugs makes little or no difference
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perhaps to you they dont but they work wonders for me....
And if you really struggle to sleep on trains you can always take the day service 
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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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| Whitegold wrote: |
| rob@rar wrote: |
| Whitegold wrote: |
| But don't count on getting much sleep. They leave the lights full on all night. |
Doesn't that kind of defeat the point of an overnight service? |
You have to balance the nostalgia of a cool train ride and perhaps an extra skiday against the inconvenience of poor sleep and overexcited passengers.
Wearing eyeshades and earplugs makes little or no difference.
Booking businessclass helps to make things easier.
Or you can go on the smash and pull an allnighter.
I would recommend the overnight service. But don't expect luxury. |
Price and the ability to get some sleep are be important factors for me. Sadly the days when I would willingly opt for an all-nighter are behind me 
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Eurostar no beds! I'll be opting for one of the other Friday night (couchette) services then. Probably via Paris. Cheaper too so why go Eurostar.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
Cheaper too so why go Eurostar.
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The Direct Eurostar leaves London at 8PM while, to get to Paris in time for the Sleeper connection, you need to leave London by 5PM.
(These times may be a little later this coming season with the reduced journey time from Kings Cross)
The direct arrives in Moutiers or BSM an hour or two earlier than the sleeper trains too.
It's of marginal benefit from my point of view but will obviously make the difference to some.
For example, someone living outside London who can't take a short day at work on Friday.
Some folk may be afraid of changing trains in a foreign country too 
Actually, from a tour operator's POV, the train change in Paris is quite an undesirable element in the journey: much easier to package your punters up in London and let them out within a spit of their final destination.
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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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| skimottaret wrote: |
| Quote: |
Wearing eyeshades and earplugs makes little or no difference
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perhaps to you they dont but they work wonders for me....
And if you really struggle to sleep on trains you can always take the day service |
They leave the carriage lights blazing away all night. Kids and adults are excited about their vacation. It is near-impossible to block all that out for 6 - 8 hrs of solid kip.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| rob@rar wrote: |
Price and the ability to get some sleep are be important factors for me. Sadly the days when I would willingly opt for an all-nighter are behind me |
Fair dinkum. But I would still urge anyone to try it once. It is a great piece of engineering and a pleasant ride down. Worth it even if you get a bit sleepy.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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admin, the 8pm sounds great, that makes it possible to leave work at 3:30pm on Friday, get home at 4pm, extreme leg down to Guiseley station for the 16:24 to Leeds, get the 17:05 (I think) to KC , get in about 19:00, leg it to St P and then get 8pm. Almost makes a Friday to Monday trip possible by train. (I thought I could leave at 4:30 from work but had to do the maths again) But who cares it the summer and we can all dream!
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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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I take your point but I am self employed, so free to leave on a Friday afternoon. Dinner in Paris, then a bed for the night and arriving, I think. about 7.30am - and all for about £55 less (if you book early) minus a shared taxi in Paris - I'm afraid I can't be bothered to lug my bags through the (good) metro connection. Sounds like the works for me. I don't know the Ski Train prices yet.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Fri 13-07-07 12:09; edited 1 time in total
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stevew, relying on our trains being on time ...
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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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snowball, I quite agree. It's by far the most civilised route.
Lunch in London, Dinner in Paris, Breakfast in the Mountains! 
I should also point out that the First Class couchettes are substantially more comfortable than the normal ones and often little or occassionally no extra cost.
I tend to find that on the way out I'm too excited to sleep much in the normal couchette while I get a decent night in the first class.
On the way back I could pretty well sleep standing up so it's of far less importance.
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admin, is the sclep across paris on the underground much hassle if you dont have skis with you? I am debating between the direct service and the 1st class couchette with my 13 year in tow.
also, looks to me as though you can only book 3 months in advance with rail europe, do the half term weeks fill up as quickly as on the direct service?
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| Has anyone done the overnight Eurostar service (not the sleeper service via Paris)? Is it possible to sleep? |
I find it incredibly difficult to sleep on trains, so ended up drinking far more than was good for me. It's OK going out but coming back can be a real drag. I take the sleeper every time now.
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i love trains and if i ha dloads of spare time would love to poodle down there by rail (ok 200 mph poodling!) but as i can jump in a cab at 4.00 am and be on the slopes in austria at midday its good old ryan air for me..
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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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skimottaret, it's 9 stops direct on Ligne 5.
It's all escalators at Gare du Nord but about 50-60 stairs at Gare d'Austerlitz. On the way out the stairs are down though.
I've done it with 2 kids of 6yo and skis but that might actually be a little mad.
With a 13yo and no skis it'd be a sinch!
Gare d'Austerlitz has a left luggage office just outside the Metro so it's quite cool to dump the bags and head across the road to one of the row of restaurants.
Last half term Gregory and I were on a fairly tight schedule so we picked up a Sushi takeaway and sat on the top bunk eating it - a particularly perfect experience
I have often found that Rail Europe don't quite give the best price so I usually book the Eurostar from their own site and the French bit from the SNCF site. When u do book Eurostar tickets, please use a link form here as we get a commission at no cost to you.
We also get a commission from Rail Europe if you use that link but as I say, check out SNCF's own site first as RE don't always offer all the discounted tickets for some reason.
CANV CANVINGTON, but why get up at 4AM and miss a morning's skiing? You can jump on a train >5PM, sleep your way down and be on the first lift! OK, it doesn't quite work for Austria but to France it's surely the most efficient route.
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admin, Thanks, that is GREAT info. You may even want to post that on the WIKI
I am tempted to give the Eurostar overnight direct a miss this year and go with your siggestion. For me the overnight gets in too early into Moutier and you just end up hanging around waiting for breakfast. I like the idea of the couchette getting in at a more reasonable time. and, if i can get some sushi in paris so much the better!!
by myself I tend to take the direct day train out and the overnighter back, very civilized....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Swirly, aye there's the rub 
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| admin wrote: |
CANV CANVINGTON, but why get up at 4AM and miss a morning's skiing? You can jump on a train >5PM, sleep your way down and be on the first lift! OK, it doesn't quite work for Austria but to France it's surely the most efficient route. |
great idea unfortunatly sitting and sleeping isnt something im great at.. excited kids running around is 5-10 years ago for me , especially other peoples.. i'd sooner nick 6 hours in my own bed .. and if im going on a chaps trip the 12 hour drinkathon on the train will leave no one in any state to ski anything .. ..
on aslightly less fllipnat note i can also leave the resort at six and get a late flight at 9 and be home just after midnight and back to work the next day.. wheras on the train i'd have to go in from the staion the next morning.. ouch
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You know it makes sense.
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so one is say a 3 nighter with 3.5 days on the slopes and the other is a 4 nighter with 3 days on the slopes
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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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and everyone knows when you sellnig a chaps trip to your wife each night is expotentially more expensive 
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Poster: A snowHead
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CANV CANVINGTON, oh so true...
But I'm still pushing the couchette lark - did the change last year on the "boys weekend" to SNCF non -couchette, and realized that you can't continue to behave like a 19yr old student forever more.
But the 1st class couchettes went down very well with one of out party who had to fly back from Paris to Montreal, so came back overnight to catch a 10 am flight. He has converted me to giving it a try this year.
Meanwhile en-famile, the daytime direct is IMHO the best option - again, with a party of 11 we did the daytime change this year, and while not bad, wasn't quite the same as previous straight through trips.
But with 11 of us, considerably cheaper...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Snow train available today : £199.
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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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just got off the phone with Eurostar for the direct service to moutier at feb half term. The best price on the pre release pre booking they had was £269. I gave it a miss as last year i didnt pay more than 199.
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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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| admin wrote: |
Gare d'Austerlitz has a left luggage office just outside the Metro so it's quite cool to dump the bags and head across the road to one of the row of restaurants.
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admin, is it in the main station? Does it take skis? Is it automatic (self-service lockers) or manned? Is it expensive for just a couple of hours?
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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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snowball, it's just outside the main station but you walk past it on the way from the metro.
Yes
Yes and yes
It depends on how much you want to be rid of your bags while you go and eat.
There are lockers of various sizes. The bigger are more expensive. I think we put the whole family's bags in one large one for about 7€.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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snowball,
We left golf bags at Montpanasse - in the office, which was manned on a saturday, and our suitcases went in the lockers. I think it was 4-5 eu but can't be too sure now. I would think that other main gateways stations like Gare d Nord etc would have the same facility.
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Gare du Nord does not have a left luggage facility.
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Thanks admin,
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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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Direct Saturday Eurostar from London always seemed the best option to me.
Ski Club members can get seats for £120 now.
Rather unhelpful of the rail people to switch from Waterloo though. It means a tube journey across the capital now for some of us.
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Latchigo, the 120 quid price you mention is that for any time of the year including peak half term times?
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FAQ
