 Poster: A snowHead
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TheManOnTheBus, yes, we've made earlier trains on occasions, and also later ones (too much time in the hypermarché). I've also called them in advance to change the crossing times, and on only one occasion were they unable to do so. On that occasion we needed to return home early (hubby had an accident ) , and they couldn't change the time (it was just after New Year). Insurance covered it all though.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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TheManOnTheBus, if you haven't got a Flexi fare and you miss your train/arrive early then they will be as helpful as poss. This has usually worked well for us if we have arrived early but don't depend on it because at busy times you could be there a while if it's busy ie at half term 
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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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They have a 2 hour window. If you arrive up to 2 hours early or late they put you on the first available crossing. Even on a non-flex fare.
I will be driving from Maidenhead to Tignes in January. Plan to leave home about 0530 and expect to be in Tignes around 2000. Will drive straight through with a couple of half hour stops and one longer one. If my 18 year old son has passed his test by then I will have a spare driver, otherwise it's just me. It's a long old drive but perfectly doable.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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TheManOnTheBus, In addition to all the above very good advice, if the children are at all prone to car-sickness (and even if they haven't demonstrated this, thus far ), you may want to get either Joy-Rides or Kwells, dependent on their ages (travel sickness medications). Our younger son can throw up within the first mile, if of a mind to, and since discovering Joy-Rides when he was 8, we have not had any more such displays. Also have a complete change of clothes, very handy, in the car. Nothing much worse than rummaging through your luggage at the side of a road, frantically trying to find clean clothes for a vomit-covered child (I speak from experience....)
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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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| Anniepen wrote: |
| TheManOnTheBus, you may want to get either Joy-Rides or Kwells, dependent on their ages (travel sickness medications). .... . Also have a complete change of clothes, very handy, in the car. Nothing much worse than rummaging through your luggage at the side of a road, frantically trying to find clean clothes for a vomit-covered child (I speak from experience....) |
Will do!
Excellent report. Just how busy/bad is the trip likely to be (Reims - Lyon - Resort) during the saturday afternoon before half term. Any idea if its better to try and beat a "rush hour" or wait until later?
Thanks both and all.
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TheManOnTheBus, I assume as you are going half term you or your wife is a teacher, your kids are doing exams or you are loaded? Sorry don't know the half term question as we take our 3 kids out of school first week of January every year and save ourselves a fortune and ski empty slopes. 
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| thefatcontroller wrote: |
| TheManOnTheBus, I assume as you are going half term you or your wife is a teacher, your kids are doing exams or you are loaded? Sorry don't know the half term question as we take our 3 kids out of school first week of January every year and save ourselves a fortune and ski empty slopes. |
We are driving and self-catering - so not the latter!! Oh hum - I suspect we will do the same as you next year (as we have done before this!).
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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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thefatcontroller, not everyone is fortunate enough to get permission to do this. TheManOnTheBus, I drive the same route as you three times each year, as we go to Serre Chevalier (we have an apartment there) thefatcontroller, goes to Les Arcs, it's another route altogether once you get to Lyon. Traffic to Bourg d'Oisans (for Vaujany) is far lighter IMO than when we drove to La Plagne.
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the problem with this discussion is that driving to the Alps, generally speaking, is not any kind of problem. I do it a lot, last week I drove it in one, crossing at 1pm and getting into bed around 1.30am the following morning. I drove all but one hour. Empty roads, good weather, very few roadworks (that Calais - Reims section, though still deadly boring, is now blessed with a lovely new road surface). Quiet aires. I quite enjoyed it. And had I felt tired and needed to stop we could have walked into practically any hotel en route, at any time of the day or night, and got a bed.
But half term is different.....
People who regularly drive at other times and make airy comments about how easy it is to drive it in 12 hours, or to walk into a Formule 1 on spec can be a bit misleading in their advice.
I'd echo the advice to go nowhere near Lyon - or the A6. And if you can't drive all night and arrive really early, getting in resort for about 8 pm is probably second best.
And yes, practice the snowchains.....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Mrs Gordy and I find it much easier to swap drivers every couple of hours - you don't get so tired that way. If you go to Austria via Strasbourg, the peage is v good, empty of traffic and the Formule1 in Strasbourg has a pub next door for steak-frites.
And practise the snow-chains.
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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: |
If you go to Austria via Strasbourg, the peage is v good, empty of traffic and the Formule1 in Strasbourg has a pub next door for steak-frites.
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Gordyjh, sounds good. Is it like that even at half term?
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I don't know, but that was Easter weekend 2003 on the way to Lech.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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thefatcontroller, it's pointless for one trip, you may as well use the credit card lane.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Helen Beaumont, 1/2 term and he plans to drive again next year. IMO a worthwhile investment
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
I don't know, but that was Easter weekend 2003 on the way to Lech.
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Ah! Easter is a whole different ballgame. By Easter, many Europeans seem to have given up on skiing.
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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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only used the tunnel 3 times but each time they've let me on early as I've allowed extra time and then not needed it, not sure if they'd be so gracious about you being lat, esp if busy....
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| thefatcontroller wrote: |
| Helen Beaumont, 1/2 term and he plans to drive again next year. IMO a worthwhile investment |
Wot Helen Beaumont says NOT worth it for one trip a year. The credit card lanes are just as quick if you have a front seat passenger.
Previously if making good time you could phone up the tunnel and book yourself on an earlier train, which was especially good for the return trip but now they tell you that you will be put on an earlier train only when you get there. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Yes the credit card lanes are incredibly zippy, no PIN required which is helpful if passenger has just woken up.
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| Boredsurfing wrote: |
| thefatcontroller wrote: |
| Helen Beaumont, 1/2 term and he plans to drive again next year. IMO a worthwhile investment |
Wot Helen Beaumont says NOT worth it for one trip a year. The credit card lanes are just as quick if you have a front seat passenger. |
As I said, in my opinion, it is worth it even if only for one trip a year
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thefatcontroller, might depend on whether he can get the car through the barriers or not. Might be too tall.
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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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| Lou wrote: |
| Yes the credit card lanes are incredibly zippy, no PIN required which is helpful if passenger has just woken up. |
and with the credit card lanes the amount usually gets taken off your card in the same month and there are more credit card (or CB) lanes than any other. Plus if you have a tesco credit card you are adding points to pay for your next holiday 
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Helen Beaumont, Boredsurfing, Jesus you 2 do like to keep the telepeage lanes for yourself. It is still worth it in my opinion.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And if for some reason your credit card doesn't work then you just use another card and you don't have to back out of the lane which by now has at least 30 cars behind you
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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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You know it makes sense.
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Absolutely worth the 2 euro fee for whichever months you use it. And you can still get the Tesco points, just depends which credit card you have connected with the Telepeage thing doesn't it.
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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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BMF_Skier, Pamski, Ignore bloatedsurfin he just wants all the lanes to himself and his Suzuki Vitara 
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Poster: A snowHead
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We have done the drive several times with kids . It can be enjoyable - what we do is
- take kids off the Friday and leave London around 07.00 - 08.00
- drive as far as you reasonably can and stay some where OK - eg Logis as thefatccontroller said , so you end up say 1 - 2 hours from resort
- ski-ing by lunchtime.
On the way back either leave late Sat or ( and I started doing this having got so fed up with Sat return jams ) leave on the Fri night , and drive for a few hours .
I would at that time always book the accomodation . And avoid the main service stations - give the kids a run about in the Aires as another forumite said - much better , and no shops/slot machines/quques etc.
Good luck !
John
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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 think the TP is worth having if it saves waking a passenger at 2 am and having him drop the credit card out of the window etc. But on the really busy times, ALL lanes leading to the gates will be clogged up. No good trying to fly past the queue several miles out from the toll gates, waving your badge and demanding to be let through. It can save you little delays, but not the big ones.
I did notice driving down a few days ago that several of the exclusively TP lanes - on the lefthand side - were closed off. that was the case at the gates south of Calais and the next one north of Reims. There was zero traffic, so it didn't matter in the slightest, and was maybe just a coincidence.
The cost of a TP badge is fairly marginal, and the advantage it gives you is fairly marginal. It's not a big deal either way and the credit card lanes work fine. It's the folk who queue up to pay in coins that I fail to understand. 
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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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alltnaha, Good advice !
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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pam w, pam w, I would disagree with you there. On several occasions in the summer we have escaped the large queues of Dutch at both the cash and credit card lanes at both sides of Lyon, we'd gone to visit Beaune so couldn't avoid the A6. I reckon we saved at least 20 minutes. But only in the summer, we've rarely had exceptional queues in winter , just smaller ones.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
I think the TP is worth having if it saves waking a passenger at 2 am and having him drop the credit card out of the window etc. But on the really busy times, ALL lanes leading to the gates will be clogged up. No good trying to fly past the queue several miles out from the toll gates, waving your badge and demanding to be let through. It can save you little delays, but not the big ones.
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I did exactly that last summer, there was no queue on the far outside of the TP lanes, but huge queues for the standard pay lanes. Reckon it saved us alot of time.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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RHD car with kiosk on the left (and vice versa) must get annoying? or does the CC terminal have a really long extension for the driver to punch in PIN?
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andy, No pin required for CC booths in France which is why they are so fast. The check is so little that it will accept an out of date CC Card.The booths near Calais have LH and RH machines.
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andy, No PIN required on any of the french autoroutes - just stick the card in, and a few seconds later it comes back out and gate goes up and off you go.
No PIN needed on the M6Toll near here either. I understand they photograph the front of the car for if there is any query.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Boredsurfing, RobW, useful to know. I've always got passenger to pay on M6 Toll, and then been generous when splitting fuel costs. The auto kiosks with a bucket are handy if it's a fixed 1 quid type - just open window and make sure you have a good aim.
Only ever been passenger at French tolls, and there's no tolls on the only bit I drive (Calais-Belgium). Prefer the take a ticket and pay to exit type.
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Here're ten tips.
1. Don't ever attempt to do this on a French public holiday.
2. Don't ever attempt to do this without a co-driver.
3. Actually, take a plane instead and appreciate the beauty of the T.O. transfer.
If ignoring 1 and 2 above be ready to discover that ...
4. It's a very, very, very long way.
5. The French have huge traffic jams too.
6. 'I spy' gets really, really grating after 18 hours.
7. French motorway service stations are an even nastier rip-off than British ones.
8. Your car can drive for thousands of miles on British roads and never have a puncture but get it on a busy French motorway, in the dark and rain ...
9. Your children can sit for thousands of miles on long journeys on British roads and never need the loo but take them on French roads during public holidays ...
10. You've got to do it all in reverse a week or so later while thinking 'I wish we'd had a T.O. transfer to the airport'.
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FAQ
