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Half term drive down - live journey chit chat !

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@Gazzza, all in all, we had a good week, and I have even been on booking.com this morning sorting out various accommodation options for next Feb half term (nothing like starting early!!!!)

I have sent a couple of emails to the recovery agency to find out about my truck, but just like last week, it has been like tumbleweed!!!

will call them later today, to see if I can get a better response.

not sure what the procedure is, if it happened earlier en route or even on the way back home, i did ask them, but they could not answer me. lesson learnt for me is to go with a more established provider, am with the AA and will use them next time, though double the premium of the existing insurer, but their T&C's seem to be more generous!

when we left early Saturday morning, it was raining quite heavy, I am sure the family was quite happy they were not skiing and on their way home. I am off work for a couple of days, so am on laundry duty!!!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Well here I am reflecting on my first half term drive down. It's been good reading about others experiences.

On the whole I'd conclude it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. On the way down I put this down to changing our tunnel booking from Friday night to Friday morning (which we only did as my wife had just had some surgery and we wanted to de-stress the journey), it made the whole journey down relatively stress free, and the 6am departure from Lyon up to resort I think was wise. I think if we do the half term drive down again getting an early Friday train is the way forward, and with that in mind I'd book my overnight hotel in Albertville. Had we taken the Friday afternoon train, it looks (judging by others experience) like we'd have had delays and not got to Lyon until maybe 2am, at which point rising at 5.30am for a 6am on-journey would not have been fun.

It would be nice if our head threw an inset day on the day before half term. In one of my sons classes there were 6 kids off school on that Friday for ski trips. Despite this the head wrote a thank you in the weekly newsletter thanking parents for taking there kids during half term despite the huge extra cost & hassle as opposed to taking a whole week out to go. In my mind the 1 day Friday off is a reasonable compromise.

Journey back was very much like Easter, and skiing the last day and departing around 4pm makes for an easy journey out of the valley. To be fair the attrocious weather put alot people off so I think many French and Belgians packed up and left resort Friday night or first thing Saturday. At Easter, on the journey home, we tend to drive just as far as Lyon or Macon, arriving at 7pm ish and have a nice meal before over-nighting and continuing Sunday but we usually hit a busy period on the tunnel Sunday afternooon getting around a 4-5pm train. Being half term we wanted to avoid what we expected to be worse, so we drove 5.5 hours Saturday evening to Troyes (I never knew it was pronounced similar to trois!). Had picnic in the car to avoid stopping and kids slept for last bit of journey and we put them straight in bed at the hotel, arriving around 10pm. The nice thing was we had a leisurely 9am departure (breakfast picnic in the car - juice, fruit, cereal bars, and saucisson sec sticks Very Happy ) and only 3.5 hours to Calais, but by midday the tunnel was already busy. I think in a future half term I'd similarly aim to stay at Troyes on the Saturday night but go with a 7am departure, aiming for a train around 11 - 11.30am, just before the tunnel starts getting too busy.

For what it's worth here were our final costs for a Feb half term drive down :

Apartment and local tax, EUR 1k (this was only 1 bedded, so we had a sofa bed whilst the kids took the twin, not normally my preference but it was mega close to the lift and bakery and actually worked out well)
Tolls return EUR 178 (plus 6 quid for the monthly sanef doofer fee)
Fuel return EUR 273 (xc90)
Outbound hotel EUR 58 (2 twin rooms in a very basic Premier Classe)
Return hotel EUR 118.70 (2 twin rooms in Ibis budget)
Tunnel return GBP 207 (including a couple of changes, without this it would have been 166)

So total base holiday cost, incl travel and 9 nights accommodation = approx GBP 1,690 = approx GBP 422 per person. I doubt I'd get a half term package for less than double that ?

That gave us 7 full days skiing. We actually got to Courchevel by 9-10am, but we faffed the morning then had a nice lunch once we got the apartment at midday, and finally did an hour on the free lift to warm the kids up. Actually with a bit more planning we could have had another full day skiing that day too making it 8 days.

7 day 3v lift pass for a family of 4 = EUR 1111
2 kids ski & boot and 1 kids board and boot hire = EUR 189

Bringing the total including skiing to GBP 2871.
Plus food shopping, meals out, and misc spending of GBP 879.
All inclusive = GBP 3,750.
I also ended up back at home with some post trip plunder from excess shopping: most of a case of beer, 12 abbey beers, 8 bottles of wine, a bottle of vodka and a few other food bits (saucisson, cassoulet etc)
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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?
terrygasson wrote:
@Gazzza, all in all, we had a good week, and I have even been on booking.com this morning sorting out various accommodation options for next Feb half term (nothing like starting early!!!!)


Good effort. Booking the next one is the only thing that beats the blues of returning from a ski hol Toofy Grin

I need to do the same ! .... and book this Easter !
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snowdave wrote:
@Orange200, just noticed you're in Lisbon - I was going to be very impressed that you'd made Madrid to the UK in 9hrs...


Very Happy

Winston Wolf: "That's thirty minutes away..... I'll be there in ten."
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
So this year we only clashed with France zone A and the Belgian school holidays.

Next year it looks like our half term coincides with France zone A and zone B, and the Netherlands North, so it could be a busier experience.
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@terrygasson, we were with the RAC,through our vehicle warranty when we had our incident, and they were equally hopeless. It is still likely to be a local recovery truck that deals with it, although you would hope the the central call centre of a larger organisation. would be more clued up. Best policy we had was the cheapest, which I think we had throught Quoteline Direct. We didn't need repatriation then though.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Just looked up the AA European breakdown cover - £122 a year for the full cover. I guess you get what you pay for. Mine is free with my bank account! Did get me started when I'd flattened my battery, leaving lights on for a week in the freezing cold at Chambery airport. rolling eyes
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@pam w, I now have mine through my bank account, although unfortunately it is still RAC, although cover seems to be better than that provided with our car warranty.
AXA cover is not cheap, their website suggests £124 a year, although it may cost less if it is through a car insurance policy.
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@Hells Bells, I have been looking at comparisons of T&C's since the incident happened, and it does look like the AA would be better, but saying that I need to call them with regards my UK breakdown policy renewal, so will try and speak to them about their policy details.

probably like most people, I did not think about it until i needed to Sad Sad

@Gazzza, must admit, I was pleasantly surprised with the lack of major lift queues all week in the 3v's, apart from the odd one or 2 throughout the week.

our half term next year is a week later, have not looked at other countries, so could be a lot busier. saying that, when we were driving out last Friday/Saturday, it looked like all of Brussels/Ghent and Bruges were going the same way.

if you were a burglar in those towns you would have had a field day Toofy Grin Toofy Grin

doing rough calculations, your costs look similar to ours as well, though we had 2 kids at ski school at a total cost of 460 euros, though we saved on the return fuel/tolls/hotel costs (we were due to stay in Troyes as well, ibis budget est)
not to bad in my opinion, for a feb half term ski holiday in the 3v's!!
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When changing my car recently the European rescue was quite an eye opener with the likes of BMW not even offering it!
Land Rover seemed confused by the question - fairly standard for our local dealer.
Jaguar who have recovered me from the motorway at Laon nr Calais but lost the car for 6 weeks do still offer free EU recovery for their cars whilst under warranty.
Mercedes who have recovered us back to the UK from Albertville but got the car back in 3 weeks offer free full EU recovery for all their cars as long as it is Main Dealer serviced annually.
Kia offer free EU recovery year one but charge £40 a year there after.
Volvo offer free EU recovery for 3 years on new vehicles and you can pay €119 thereafter
Ford and Nissan full EU recovery if you have a main dealer service every year
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
www.defaqto.com is a good place to start looking at the best cover.
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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.
thanks @Hells Bells, I will look into it, though will not need it for at least a few months, so plenty of research time!!!

@boredsurfin, sounds like you have had more than your fair share of experience in these situations.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Quote:

Jaguar who have recovered me from the motorway at Laon nr Calais but lost the car for 6 weeks

Laughing glad I never bothered with a Jag then, @boredsurfin.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@NickyJ, It was very busy all last week on the roads so I thought I would check and yes the Birmingham schools are on half term. I'm looking forward to a week of better journey times Smile

@Gazzza, Thanks for posting your costs it is always good to see how much others are paying (and I expect gloat that we paid less for this and that and ignoring that we paid more for the other).

I'll be driving down at Easter and for a change will drive down during the day rather than overnight. If we set off at 6:00 we should get to the resort about 22:0 or 23:00, but I suspect the drive will be much more stressful. I am sort of use to hours on cruise control without another vehicle in sight.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Quote:

I suspect the drive will be much more stressful.

Shouldn't be too busy at Easter.
ski holidays
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
boredsurfin wrote:

Land Rover seemed confused by the question - fairly standard for our local dealer.
Jaguar who have recovered me from the motorway at Laon nr Calais but lost the car for 6 weeks do still offer free EU recovery for their cars whilst under warranty.
Mercedes who have recovered us back to the UK from Albertville but got the car back in 3 weeks offer free full EU recovery for all their cars as long as it is Main Dealer serviced annually.


Good lord! What do you do to these cars?
In 15 years of continental driving I must consider ourselves tremendously lucky to have only suffered 2 blown tyres and a dodgy DPF, which a local dealer was happy to sort for us.
Currently all our cars are EU breakdown covered by Admiral’s provider. Fingers crossed that it won’t be needed. However, as am ticking over the 100 tonne in one car, I feel slightly compelled to sell it for fear of tempting fate. This borne in mind due to multiple overseas driving trips a year.
Re. this half term’s trip to Austria, it was like a flash there and back, no motorway hotels or similar. Eurotunnel taken care of via a frequent traveller account, thus costs further controlled. Austrian motorways require a reasonably nominal sum of cca €13/10 days. Rest of the M’ways through Germany and Belgium/ France. Diesel cars make cantering without stopping a breeze. Lord only knows what we’ll do in future when forced to stop for a Tesla style electricity bump charge every 150/180 motorway miles ( I understand their 250 mile claims are poppycock in the real world).
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Old Skool, @terrygasson, Those breakdowns are in 40 years of driving to and from the Alps in both summer and winter (several times a season over the last 15 years) The Jag was a viscous coupling failure in the awd system. The Merc was a total electric failure - we suspect that the battery had become frozen - it was the year that alpine diesel had been freezing and the car had been outside for a couple of weeks - the diesel was Ok tho!
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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?
Quote:

I am sort of use to hours on cruise control without another vehicle in sight.

That's been my experience of driving down to the French Alps at Easter. Last year we had a bit of a queue on the tolls near Lyon, at 5pm on a Friday afternoon, but that was all. I dread to think what the comparable experience might have been on the M25 at that time!
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boredsurfin wrote:
Ford and Nissan full EU recovery if you have a main dealer service every year


My Ford dealer no longer offers EU recovery, only UK, very disappointed. Sad Only found out last week so have to check out the alternative via my insurance co. before my March trip.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Good Friday is not a public holiday in France, so traffic during the day is about the same as any other working day.
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@Hells Bells, My experience of driving overnight Maunday Thursday is that the whole of Belgium is on the motorway heading south. I'm used to driving overnight on the Thursday and Friday nights. Friday night is usualy very light with little in the way of lorry traffic. I have a feeling that most HGV traffic is not allowed in France over the weekend.
@tomj, Though I have never actaully queued at a toll booth I have noticed the traffic picking up around Lyon airport to Chambery from about 7 in the morning. I like to get to Les Arcs after 9, largely because the road is cleared by that time in the morning.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@johnE, ah, but I never drive overnight. Too far to the Alps from Durham to try that one.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@Hells Bells, I was raised in Burnhope so understand the extra journey time over by Birmingham start
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@johnE, @johnE, small world, as I'm from Annfield Plain.
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johnE wrote:
Friday night is usualy very light with little in the way of lorry traffic. I have a feeling that most HGV traffic is not allowed in France over the weekend.


HGVs over 7.5 tonnes are banned from the road and motorway network from 10PM on Saturday to 10PM on Sunday with some exceptions. It's longer in the summer with a ban on Saturdays as well. I think there is also a ban on public holidays. Sunday is always a nicer drive Smile
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
We use the Eurotunnel breakdown annual policy. Service supplied by the AA but cheaper to buy off Eurotunnel than direct, even as UK AA member - go figure! Been towed from Aire d'Urvillers in an R Class Mercedes under Mercedes worldwide cover. Alright phone support - great local tow guy - Mercedes not very helpful when I said my +70 year old mother could not hoof it on the trains back home. They did roust a very dodgy AVIS depot nearby that is normally closed on a Sunday, and we were given the worst hire car I have ever driven. Hubby had to deliver it back to them a week later when he collected the now repaired Mercedes - ABS sensor fault led to it being undrivable - not impressed. Stopped paying for dealership service not long after this, as it was getting old and so purchased the Eurotunnel cover. Same car broke down 2 years later in the South of France. AA ca me to try and fix it but could not so towed it. Nightmare to try and get a replacement hire car as it was the last weekend in August...so not much available. AA could have been better as it took more than 24hrs to locate a car that we could drive up to Calais, where it was swapped for a UK registered hire car. Mercedes and AA co-ordination on the repairs not good. Hubby had to step in on a number of occasions. They finally agreed to cover the cost of it coming back on a transporter after it was repaired, but that took 3 weeks! Mind you as we'd purchased the parts cover as well, it didn't cost us much. Now in an older BMW X5 with Eurotunnel AA cover. So watch this space!
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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.
@Hells Bells, I went to Annfield Plain Boys Modern School. I do not recognise the place any more
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@johnE, very different now. Was that was along at New Kyo? I went to St. Bede's at Lanchester.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

Service supplied by the AA but cheaper to buy off Eurotunnel than direct, even as UK AA member - go figure!

My breakdown service was provided by AA (in the UK), though not bought from them. Yes, it was cheaper than the AA's own 5* service, but also the cover was lower, IIRC. There's a lot of variation in the small print with these policies - as we tend to discover only when we've broken down....
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
My journey down to Waidring and back was uneventful. We had a stop over in Ghent on the way and Ypres returning, ideal for stocking up on Belgian chocolate. We took the Eastern route via Nuremberg this time rather than Luxembourg and Stuttgart, travel time from Belgium was 10hrs 40mins instead of the usual 11hrs. I think I preferred it, Autobahns all the way, less fiddly. You also meet the Munich ring road further round, cutting down queuing time.

We got to Eurotunnel at 10:30 Sunday morning and were put on an earlier train, even though we had a standard ticket, and got to Folkestone an hour early.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
We had originally planned to ski on the Saturday and leave late but the weather put an end to that idea so after we left Les Arcs at 9.30am headed down to the Super U in Bourg to sort out some supplies for lunch then headed out of the town straight into a traffic jam hardly a surprise but we had nothing else to do and we only had to get to Beaune where we had booked the Novotel. Anyway hours later and driving almost all the way through pouring rain we made it, quick MaccyD's and then an early night. Next day we were up at 7 and on the road by 7.30 and what a lovely day it was, not a cloud in the sky and the roads were nice and quiet. I set the cruise control to 138 Kmph and we headed north, we obviously weren't going fast enough as every UK and Belgian registered car overtook us. As we got north of Troyes every valley the road went through was full of fog, it was a bit scary as the few cars that were on the road headed into fairly thick fog without easing off on the accelerator, but I suppose as long as you keep going you'll be fine (providing there isn't a car broken down on the carriageway Confused). We made it to the ferry terminal and had a picnic on the quayside as we waited for our crossing. We messed up booking our crossings, we always use the euro tunnel but got round to booking it too late and it was sold out for the Sunday so we got the P&O. No offence to ferry lovers but we won't be using it again, it took ages. Once we got back to the UK the traffic was bloody awful, anyway we made it home by late evening. Its a long way but worth it.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@CH1975, Sounds similar to our experience on the way home: Setting off from Troyes on the Sunday morning, we too were overtaken many times in those foggy conditions! Scary stuff.

We tried the ferry this year too - and decided we prefer the tunnel, which is quicker and much easier to escape from! Maybe we had bad luck but a second ferry disgorging its load of lorries at the same time as ours made the disembarkation pretty entertaining - especially as it was a bit of a free-for-all oonce clear of the ferry. Signposting also not too clear - ended up missing the M20 exit and had to head up to Canterbury/M2 instead Sad

Road works (none encountered in France!) on the A14 + busy roads + idiot drivers = unpleasant UK driving.
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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?
@Hells Bells, Yes, opposite a steel works and IIRC a road called Woodbine Terrace nearby. Was St Bede's the catholic school?
@CH1975, I tend to do about 50/50 tunnel/ferry and find the overall crosssing time about the same. (I am afraid the tunnel always has at least 1/2 and often a 2 hours delay) I tend to go with which ever is the cheepest.
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We have used the Euro tunnel for our summer and winter trips to France for the last few years and have only had delays of around 30 mins. Maybe we’ve been lucky.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
When the tunnel opened I did start to use it but then realised that the advantage of the ferry was the ability to get a decent meal in the Langan's Brasserie on board (as then was) so no time was really lost.

Now I'm living a bit further north and I'm a bit older (and retired, so in less of a rush) I no longer try to do the journey in one day but expect to overnight somewhere in France. I'm happy with the P&O 'Season Ticket' at £36 each way.
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We're driving from Caen to Les Gets in a couple of weeks for the first time, with two three year olds in the back.

We've got the usual activity packs, dvd players and music etc, but looking for where to stop en-route.

Looking at the map I think it's going to be on A6 somewhere between Auxerre and Beaune. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks, Steve
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@snowsteve, We stopped at the Novotel in Beaune when driving from Caen to the Alps. It is one of the better Novotels and I'd definitely recommend it. There are plenty of other chain hotels in the vicinity.

If you are driving round Paris that is the bit to plan carefully ensuring you avoid rush hour!
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@Alastair, we found a similar situation with the tunnel if we were doing the journey in one day. I remember arriving in Kent, starving, bad tempered and trying to find somewhere to eat! We tended to then revert to always using P&O and eating in the Brasserie and it was a good use of time and a bit of a rest. Nowadays we rarely do the journey in one hit so after an overnight stop take the tunnel around 1 o’clock, or use the ferry, but tend to go into the lounge nowadays and find that a bit more relaxing, read the papers and we can buy some sort of light lunch there. I couldn’t contemplate the ferry if I was travelling with the Great British Public though, a sure sign of my age.
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If we're travelling home, we usually have luch in Calais before getting our train. It's worth a later crossing to not have to find somewhere in Kent, although we did find a couple of pubs just off the M20 that did good Sunday lunch.
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@snowymum, thanks for that. I guess I should have said we're just looking for a rest/lunch stop, hopefully somewhere with a play area etc.

Our ferry gets to Caen at 06:45, so hoping to drive until 12:00ish and stop to let the kids have a run around.
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