Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Sat Jan 08, 2011 3:43 pm  

I hope you are wrong about flights.

Ryanair has theatened high costs for years.

I've a fligjht in March LBA - CCF £10 all in one way.

I'm returnig by another mode of transport as I have some thing to bring home

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Sat Jan 08, 2011 4:01 pm  

the canaries wrote:

I hope you are wrong about flights.

Ryanair has theatened high costs for years.

I've a fligjht in March LBA - CCF £10 all in one way.

I'm returnig by another mode of transport as I have some thing to bring home

I am not suggesting it will be this year or even the next couple of years, but it is forseeable in the near future that there will be additional EU control / taxation on co2 emissions made by commercial aircraft and given the amount of co2-per-mile they generate, the costs could be sizeable.

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:39 am  

just booked Ryanair Liverpool to Carcassonne £134 RETURN inc. all the extras which Ryanair charges. Dont think I could have got anything cheaper than that really.

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:45 am  

AdmiralHanson wrote:

I can vouch for there being a rail-replacement-bus-service in place last year, on the Narbonne to Perpignan section which added to the time a little.

It might be possible to pick up a 'Prem', a French railways well-in-advance cheap ticket for the journey, so that might tempt you to book before you go. Bookings become available around 90 days prior to travel. It is also worth considering that some trains require pre-reservation, so the sooner you do it the better.

Rail Europe is essentially the French Railways UK arm, but they do charge a hefty booking fee if you book them over the phone. If you do it online, rather than send you the tickets to your English address, you can go to the ticket machine at any staffed French station (if even it is not connected to where you're travelling to) and collect / print your tickets there.

NB - Some of the long distance TGVs are double-deckers, but the regional trains (which the chances are will be the ones you're on) aren't much different from what you'd find back home in the UK.

Whilst a lot of people scoff at the overland option, it is worth considering that this might be the way to Perpignan in the future. It is forseeable the cheap air travel will go (certainly the days of the Ryanair flights for pence are long gone), once there is an environmental impact levy placed on airlines and many route will either be too expensive or unviable for a commercial service. Thus, the overland option to Southern France might be the only way of seeing this fixture in years to come.

with the exception that the vast majority of french trains actually run on time !!!

[Wheels]

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:29 pm  

the canaries wrote:

I hope you are wrong about flights.

Ryanair has theatened high costs for years.

I've a fligjht in March LBA - CCF £10 all in one way.

I'm returnig by another mode of transport as I have some thing to bring home

Corner flags?

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Mon Jan 10, 2011 2:49 pm  

^ not corner flags, but I'm sure at some stage McF could have a very well educated guess!

[Wheels]

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Mon Jan 10, 2011 3:06 pm  

the canaries wrote:

^ not corner flags, but I'm sure at some stage McF could have a very well educated guess!

Ah, must be cake then. Some sort of French fancy?

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:42 pm  

Im not sure when your trip to Catalan is, but when i went last year with wigan (July), we stopped in callela for a week all inclusive. That, plus transfers, cost us £250. I would also, recommend Callela to anyone who is thinking of going. It is in spain but is about an hour or two on a coach. The place itself is great, nice hotels, lots of clubs for those who want to go out and quite a few very good english bars. The atmosphere in every pub/club is great and i thoroughly enjoyed it, so would recommend it to anyone.

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:49 am  

I wasn't going to go this year but the Liverpool - Carcassone - train to perpignan seems to be working out at a very nice price.

Re: Catalans Away - Help needed : Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:11 am  

Anyone recommend any tried and tested hotels in perpignan?