CD Traveller » Eurostar

Ryanair gets rid of loos

kaye — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:07:57 +0000

The low budget airline that everyone loves to loathe is to get rid of a number of loos in each and every one of their aircrafts. Going forward, Ryanair planes will have only one loo on board, in a bid to make room for six extra seats.

While Michael O Leary’s latest money making move (it follows the introduction of its own prepaid card) does irritate, I can’t help but admire the man’s business acumen.

Sure I might now have to forgo my obligatory cup of coffee before boarding, but O’Leary knows that while his airline can continue to fly me abroad for less than it costs to take the train to Aberdeen and other parts of the UK, he’s got my custom.

What do you think of Ryanair getting rid of its loos? Would the added discomfort deter you from flying with Ryanair or is it a sacrifice you’re prepared to make?

New Look for King’s Cross

Editor — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:04:48 +0000

The CD-Traveller team typically heads to St Pancras and the area that surrounds King’s Cross to catch the Eurostar but a recent visit to N1, revealed that the area has become something of a destination in its own right.

Kings Cross Redevelopment (image courtesy John McAslan + Partners)

The St Pancras champagne bar and St Pancras hotel (which is being hailed as London’s most romantic building) have been joined by an exciting array of bars and restaurants on the brand new Kings Boulevard. The tree lined street which links the station with Granary Square (home to Central St Martins as of a few weeks ago), boasts old favourites like Lucky Chip and Big Apple in addition to newcomers such as Stewed and Baked, Yum Bun, Tongue ‘n’ Cheek and co.

Factor in four food traders who will rotate every Thursday and Friday for variety and the gorgeous ground floor, canalside cocktail bar in Kings Place (The Guardian’s swanky new headquarters), and it’s clear that there’s more to King’s Cross than first meets the eye.

For the full low-down on the new look King’s Cross, visit http://www.eat.st/kings-cross/

Easter Travel Beckons

Editor — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 06:51:26 +0000

At this time of the year, there are lots of organisations telling us where we are holidaying over Easter. Are we staying at home or going abroad? Will we be affected by strikes, road engineering works or ferry terminal blockades?
This Easter seems a little odd. No strikes on the horizon; no air traffic control disputes, no ferry problems. All we have are road works to contend.
So on that cheery note, where are we off to?
ABTA says that 2 million of us will go abroad, and by taking 3 days leave and adding it to the weekends and the public holidays, we can have an 11 day break. 600,000 will leave from Heathrow and a further 250,000 from Gatwick. 150,000 will leave from the three main Scottish airports, 160,000 from Stansted and 125,000 from Manchester. Eurostar says it will be carrying 65,000, about the same number that will fly from Birmingham and Cardiff estimates 51,000 will fly up until the end of the first May bank holiday.
But to where? Abta says Spain with the Canaries and the Costa del Sol as this year’s hot spots. Florida has families flocking to it they say which will certainly please the state tourist board since visitor numbers have been down over the last couple of years. And city breaks rate highly, the top five being Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rome and New York.
Last year ABTA forecast that about the same number would get away but then it was Egypt and Turkey that were doing well after Spain. This year there remain bargain priced places there and in Tunisia
Closer to home, they estimate that Blackpool, Bournemouth and Brighton should have a bumper time and that there are strong bookings for the Isle of Wight and the Channel Isles. Edinburgh and Manchester lead the way for city breaks and bookings for cottages in Cornwall, East Anglia and the North of England are good.
That fits in with the high estimate from the AA of those who may stay at home. The results of the latest AA/Populus survey say that 85% of us remain at home this year. Experian, the credit rating company, also says that many of us would forgo foreign holidays. 10 million of us will hit the roads for the Easter holiday weekend and another 8 million over the royal wedding long weekend. On top of that they think there will be 6 million day trips made over that weekend so road congestion might be possible. For drivers though, the AA offers some comfort. Because school holidays have been under way there may be less traffic trying to get away tomorrow,( Thursday evening) and Good Friday. On both weekends drivers from Northern Ireland are most likely to get behind the wheel. On the other hand the AA research was conducted almost a month ago so people may have changed their minds since then.
Wherever you go and whatever you do, have an enjoyable Easter from all of us here at CD-Traveller.

Natural Peaceful Provence

Anthony Lydekker — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:12:52 +0000

Fast trains to slow havens.

The lingering smell of lavender in my bags means I’ve been to Provence again. Apart from all the green and carbon reduction benefits it’s a real stress buster to sit back and travel on the TGV, via Eurostar to the South of France. After 6 hours or so all the cares of London diminish. No worry about staying awake on whilst hammering down the Autoroute. Just sleep easy. Forget check in excess baggage charges, Icelandic ash and all that. www.raileurope.co.uk

The lovely Luberon

We transferred straight from Avignon to the Luberon and started with what racehorse trainers call a “pipe opener”: a brisk bicycle ride. The Luberon lies to the east of Avignon and Aix en Provence and most of the Region is bordered by two autoroutes the A7 to the West and A51 to the East, so the area is autoroute and trunk road free. Most of the large Natural Regional Park is in this area. Fully protected, the Park supports (translated from the French) “all forms of non-motorised touring”. This includes fishing, riding and golf but walking and above all cycling seem to predominate. Velo Loisirs en Luberon has a 236 Km marked loop www.veloLoisirsluberon.com within the 1500 km of marked trails in the whole of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azure.

Gentle travel over peaceful Provence

A less strenuous option to hiking and all that pedalling is to take a balloon trip. A gentle way to travel, champagne glass in hand, with spectacular views in the early morning mist of the woods and Durance River and, at the right time of year, vast fields of lavender in bloom. www.franceballoons.com

Meanwhile, firmly on the ground, we went to the Mérindol bird-watching observatory by the Durance. Fabrice, our guide, lined up his telescope for us to see, among others: crested grebes, raptors, three different types of heron, mallards and fresh water turtles sunning themselves on logs. We heard a nightingale and Fabrice whistled back. Out of sight, somewhere in the Park is a pair of the 7 remaining Golden Eagles in France. All around was busy with butterflies, bees and dragonflies. Details at: www.cavaillon-luberon.com

Durance river from Meridol observatory

Forcalquier an ideal base.

This was my first visit to the Luberon. Next time I’ll definitely stay in or near Forcalquier . The visitors’ literature for Forcalquier has about 35 “things to see”. With origins from 800 BC it was at it’s peak in the 12^th Century. There many fine Romanesque buildings and it lies beneath a citadel, from which there are magnificent views of the town and the surrounding plains as far as the Alps.

Carillon above Forcalquier

There is a Roman influence in Provence and Forcalquier is a good example. It’s on two great routes: the Via Domitian 118 BC and the later pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostela, both from Rome to Spain.

The Roman thread prevails as the (bicycle) véloroutes have many Roman bridges. When we got off the TGV, our bike ride was along the Calavon véloroute over the Roman Pont Julien in Bonnieux. There’s a fee booklet about Caesar in Provence from the local tourist offices.

12th Cent. St. Michel fountain Forcalquier

Generations of artists have loved the light in Provence and rave about the natural colours including the ochre cliffs at Rousillon. The traditional manufacturing process of ochre has been restored at Conservatoire des Ocres et Pigments Appliques. The Conservatoire also has sought- after courses and workshops in many applications of ochre and other natural pigments for decoration. There’s an extensive display of applications including distemper, patinas and lime putty.

Food and Wine

Dinner on our first night started with Brandade de Morue, the unique taste of cooked dried cod pounded with tepid whole milk, olive oil and garlic – described by Elizabeth David “as a triumph of Provençal Cooking”. To taste many other classics the members of Bistro de Pays are well worth knowing about. With menus from € 8 to € 25 they are all small local country places that tend to be cafés and the local mini-convenience store. www.bistrodepays.com It’s good to have menus with cheese included (artisanal, naturally!). In June the cherry trees are dripping with fruit so clafoutis de cerise was on the menus. Two particularly good bistros are Le Café des Poulivets and Bistro 9. www.le9-forcalquier.fr

The vineyard at Château La Canorgue pioneered organic production in the Luberon over 30 years ago. Another first is that it’s now run by the youngest woman wine maker, 21 year old Nathalie Margan. Production remains strictly organic with no nitrites, chemical fertilisers or pesticides used. The wines have won many awards including two recent Golds from Guide Hachette. Another thread from the area continues; the grapes pass through a ‘ Roman’ gravity feed system and much of the water (you’ve guessed it) is from Roman springs !

Nathalie, the youngest lady vintner

Acorns to einkorn. A dream comes true.

Acorns to what ? Einkorn is the English word for pétit épeautre which means literally little spelt, a form of wheat cultivated 9,000 years ago and, more recently, a staple of the Roman garrisons. At their farm, Saveurs de Truques, Thierry and Veronique Baurrain’s dream came true as they now produce pétit épeautre, which is gluten free and has never been genetically modified. Thierry gave up a successful local government career to farm at Saveurs de Truques, which also produces olive oil and chickpeas.

A dream comes true Thierry & Veronique

And the acorns ? They’re part of a plan to cultivate truffles, the world’s the most expensive kitchen ingredient by weight. Thierry has planted groups of oak trees. After 8 years or so there may be truffles below – signs to the human eye are a particular burnt soil appearance under the trees – but only the trained nose of a dog can find them. Visitors are welcome by appointment and the tour is usually a rocky old ride in the trailer behind Thierry’s quad bike. www.saveursdestruques.com

Lavender and Garden Science

La Rotonde at Simiane

The restored castle keep at Simiane-la-Rotonde, also 12^th Century, has an impressive Romanesque rotunda with 10 alcoves – best photographed on one’s back. In the same complex is the Laboratoire Sainte Victoire which is associated with the largest lavender and lavendine Cooperative in France. The Laboratoire has an excellent gift shop and historical and technical displays of all the processes of lavender and its many benefits beyond fragrance. www.laboratoiresaintevictoire.com

Le Prieure de Salagon is a well maintained 12^th Century Abbey and a paradise for technically minded gardeners. Worth a visit for fragrance, ambience and nice spots to sit down. But as it’s described as the “Ethnological Botanical Centre of Haute Provence” one can get too much ethnological information if you take the full tour.

Two places to stay

Le Mas des Gres, Lagnes is popular and usually fully booked – no wonder. As well asdelightful grounds and rooms it has a suberb kitchen and Thierry the chef owner also gives cookery lessons. Just outside Forcalquier is La Fare 1789 Mas and no guesses for when the original manor house was built. Opened this year, the house has been beautifully converted by Laurent and Ketty Baussan. www.masdesgres.com

A quiet corner at La Fare

Both have places abundant leafy shade, pools of course and are ideal for rest and de-stress and for a complete break with time to read a few books. Or even write one. A bonus at La Fare is the goody bag of La Clarée organic beauty products which is Laurent’s other business – and it just so happens that Laurent’s father founded L’Occitane the multi-million pound skin care brand.

La Fare Ketty relaxes after serving breakfast

www.lafare1789.com

Finally, just forget the car

To keep your break completely stress-free, forget driving. In recent years, France has really taken to the bike. As well as many excellent and detailed routes, of every sort of grade, “Velo” availability is abundant and many local firms will collect and deliver bikes anywhere one wants. Transfers from Avignon or Aix to Forcalquier or Apt or thereabouts cost less than 6 days’ car hire with the extras. Local minibus tours are available. I recommend Provence Rêverie www.provencereverie.com who supplied us with a suberb picnic that ended with the regional Peach Liqueur, Rinquinquin. So not having to drive means one can have several Rinquinquin’s or something similar.

Needing to Know

adrian — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:33:07 +0000

Some people were trapped on Eurostar trains for 12 hours and claim they were told nothing. It has been said that one driver even locked himself in his engine cab. Allbury Travel went into liquidation yesterday (they own Libra and Argos Holidays) and passengers claim they were kept in the dark. On Thursday when flyGlobespan went into liquidation I was at Glasgow Airport and there was no information at their desk in the airport. When there was the terminal 5 debacle earlier this year, one major complaint was the delay of both British Airways and BAA to come and talk to passengers.

What is clear in that each of these cases information was not given to the passengers quickly enough for them to feel that that they were kept up to date. It seems sometimes that travel providers adopt an almost bunker mentality hoping that the issue will go away. It doesn’t happen. Telling passengers quickly is important for them so they don’t get too concerned. For the company, quick information helps protect the company’s image.

On the two flights I made last week both were delayed by human error. Both issues were explained to the passengers (and in the case of one pilot, it was obvious from his voice that he was unhappy) and nobody complained. Mistakes do and will happen and the traveller will expect that, provided they are told.

This morning the Chief Executive of Eurostar, Richard Brown, has been giving rather nervous TV interviews trying to explain their position. It was probably about 24 hours too late because by then, the media had latched onto single cases of problems. Training is given to staff to be able to respond to passengers. But why does it seem to be used so infrequently? In the case of Allbury or Globespan, staff on the ground should be used immediately by the company or the liquidator to tell passengers what their options are and to explain what has happened. Posting a notice on a website or a desk is insufficient. In the case of Eurostar, train crews could have walked through the trains every 15 minutes or so letting passengers know what was happening. Maybe they did but that hasn’t been reported.

The whole issue of how companies respond to problems and deal with passengers is still one that seems at worst badly handled and at best, badly reported.

Wrong Sort of Air?

adrian — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:19:00 +0000

We’ve had lots of different reasons given over the years for transport breakdowns; leaves on the railway lines, a swan on the line at Peterborough, wrong sort of snow but now, from Eurostar, we seem to have the wrong sort of air.

Four trains yesterday evening broke down in the tunnel. One of the possible reasons, (or excuses depending on your cynicism,) is that when the engines of the trains met the warm air in the tunnel after the cold air in France something had to give and so the engines packed up. A couple of thousand people were affected in the trains themselves and even more have been delayed.

Is their some conspiracy afoot that makes the two busiest times of the year for travel, Christmas and the start of the summer holidays a time when things go wrong? And it isn’t just us. In the US they are expecting a humdinger of a snow storm to hit the north east so Washington DC may get up to 20 inches of snow and New York 14 inches this weekend. France and Spain are having very cold weather and snow.

But it isn’t just the weather. Airlines and tour operators go bust, strikes always are mooted and sometimes happen.(today it is British immigration officials in Calais so that port is closed.)

It all seems to make going away that much more difficult. Or is it that when we finally get there we are so thankful we’ll just put up with anything such as relatives we aren’t fond of and sprouts cooked to pulp.

The Significance of 15

adrian — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:07:34 +0000

This weekend two events are taking place, neither of which will probably affect the train passenger. The significance may only be transitory but significant it is. One is the end of National Express on the east coast line up to Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland and the other is the birthday of Eurostar.

I use the east coast line a lot. According to my National Express account records, I have made 18 return trips so far this year to places both for business and pleasure. On Saturday, it becomes Directly Operated Railways as the government takes back the franchise so, for the first time in 15 years, we have, in effect, a nationalised railway line. Will the passenger notice any difference? Probably not. The staff will just transfer across as will the rolling stock. The fares won’t reduce. All it probably means is that all the profits will accrue to the treasury.

Unlike Eurostar who also have a 15^th to celebrate but theirs is the fifteenth anniversary of linking London with Paris and Brussels. And unlike National Express east coast line, this has been a success. Eurostar now has 80% of all the London/home counties passenger traffic going to Paris with the airlines holding just 20%. From an environmental point of view that has saved a lot of carbon emissions. From a practical standpoint, it has freed up slots for the airlines to link London with another more distant locations where train travel is impractical. From the passenger standpoint, it has meant a city centre to city centre journey saving time and hassle.

And maybe in another fifteen years, there will be fast links to other European centres from further afield than just London. And maybe the government will realise that handing out train franchisees to the highest bidder is not necessarily the right way to do it. Maybe they’ll realise, just as businesses often do, that a smaller upfront sum and a greater cut of the profits is a better way to go.

Going Skiing this Winter?

Editor — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:26:56 +0000

According to the Ski Club of Great Britain, some 76,000 fewer of us went on snowsports holidays last winter compared to the previous year. The number dropped to about 1.27 million holidaymakers.

Is this a downward trend? Are fewer of us interested? Given that we were in the depths of the economic malaise last winter and that the average snowsports holiday cost was at its highest for 8 years, economic reasons seem more likely to be the answer to the drop rather than a declining interest.

Interestingly, the number of people who book via a tour operator or who buy a package rose and now stands at 78.5% of the market. Again this may be due to economics as the Ski Club says that the tour operators have enough clout to buy better rates than if you put together the flight/rail fare and accommodation plus ski passes yourself. And they expect the trend to continue this coming winter. They also expect holiday prices to increase again.

Train, by which I mean Eurostar, has picked up market share at the expense of airlines and it looks as though they will gain more passengers this winter. And as Eurostar takes skiers to France yet again it is France that will be the biggest destination.

Happy New Year

adrian — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:59:00 +0000

A new year starts and probably everybody wishes it was a great deal better than the last one, me included.
As holidaymakers, we face an interesting year where the pound has devalued against a lot of currencies. The euro is probably the most important currency to us since it is in countries who use the euro that we holiday.
And, as of today, another country has joined the euro. Slovakia has replaced the crown with the euro but both are interchangeable up until the 16th of January. So if you have any Slovakian crowns you haven’t got a lot of time to swap them.
As I have mentioned before in this blog, holidays in euro currency countries will probably drop as holidaymakers seek better deals but there are some countries who are not using the euro. The list includes Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Switzerland and North Cyprus. Some however, have relationships where the currencies are almost pegged against a range like Bulgaria so the rates may not be as good as you might expect.
It may be that we holidaymakers will decide still to go to Europe on the basis that we can trade down slightly and still get a holiday that we already know will deliver what we want. The holiday companies are certainly pushing their offers on the television and in the newspapers, much more than the tourist authorities but so far interest seems muted. Maybe this weekend will see the push.
Whatever you decide, all of us at CD-Traveller wish you a happy new year and good hunting for that holiday you want

Planes versus Rail

adrian — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:40:00 +0000

Since Eurostar began operating, the demand for flights to Brussels and Paris has decreased. This year 9 million people will travel on Eurostar (less than half of what was estimated they could take) and it has lots of advantages. At least from London, it takes you from the middle of a city straight to the middle of another. You can carry more baggage. You don’t have the issue with what do you take as hand baggage and it takes roughly the same time or even less once you take into account queuing at airports, getting through immigration and passport control at both ends. Why does it only service Paris and Brussels when a number of other cities are easily within reach or a comparable time to flying?
“The Times” reports today that Deutsche Bahn (DB) the German state owned railway seems to be thinking the same. In conjunction with other state railways it operates a large number of long distance services. Over here, it owns Chiltern Rail, 50% of London Overground and EWS (the large goods service railway company.) Now it has it’s eye on buying the 33% stake that our government has in the holding company for Eurostar.
It plans, if successful, to operate new services direct to Amsterdam, Cologne and Frankfurt. But there are many cities within Europe that could be linked. Swiss ski resorts (taking skis on planes can be challenging which might be why the winter Eurostar services into the Alps are so popular), Luxembourg (very pretty but not considered as a tourist destination), Northern Italy and Denmark to name a few.
Any rail route where journey times are about the same time as it takes a flight must be welcome competition and a benefit to holidaymakers and tourists. So it will be interesting to see whether our government will sell its stake, and if it does, what will happen.