River Cruising Water Cooler

[sharkster77]

I asked the board a couple of weeks ago about Swiss vs. EU plug adapters.  Just got back home.

The verdict:

 

We stayed at 5 different hotels and our EU adapters worked just fine at 4/5..  Only at the last hotel (Radisson Blu Lucerne) did the adapters NOT fit.  Our EU adapters have square-ish corners, the Swiss have rounded, so they just barely did not fit.  Borrowed a couple from the front desk, no problems.

 

Interestingly, looked at adapters at a Zurich electronics store, and they sold Swiss/EU adapters, but no exclusively Swiss ones.

 

This ends this fascinating discussion of outlet adapters  😉

Edited May 23, 2023 by sharkster77

[CPT Trips]

@sharkster77 Does any topic on here ever end?🙄

[CPT Trips]

Not new news, but it’s now here. Might be another reason to avoid CDG for EU entry. 
 

From Morning Brew newsletter citing https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65687665?utm_campaign=mb&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew

 

Stat: You know those flights where you take off, chug one ginger ale, and then prepare for landing? France is outlawing them. A rule that bans short-haul domestic flights on routes that would take less than 2.5 hours to travel by train went into effect yesterday. The goal is to reduce CO2 emissions from aircraft (which account for 2% of all global emissions), though critics call the move mostly symbolic. By our estimates, here in the US, a similar law would essentially ban flights between NYC and Philly (and probably a few more).

[Canal archive]

It will be interesting to see if this idea spreads across Europe and beyond but how will the rail and road systems cope. I can see the benefit of short haul flights across major continents and I suspect the emissions saving will work eventually but it will take some considerable time.

[notamermaid]

It works in France as that country has excellent high-speed connections. Mind you, it works in some parts of Germany as well. Yes, we may catch on. Flying from Frankfurt to Cologne is basically pointless and the journey quite possibly faster by ICE train depending on connection.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

I actually wouldn't mind taking the train instead of sitting in an airport waiting for 3 hours for a connecting short flight. It would cut down on travel time, and also be more relaxing.  

 

I wonder if we can get the lines booking flights to work with this - combined flight & train tickets.

[jpalbny]

3 hours ago, Daisi said:

I actually wouldn't mind taking the train instead of sitting in an airport waiting for 3 hours for a connecting short flight. It would cut down on travel time, and also be more relaxing.  

 

I wonder if we can get the lines booking flights to work with this - combined flight & train tickets.

 

I've done it myself a number of times. Have flown to Frankfurt and taken the train to Nuremburg once and to Wurzburg another time. Have flown to CDG then taken the train to Lyon. And once we caught the Eurostar from London to Paris, stayed overnight, then took a flight from CDG to Copenhagen.

 

Especially out of Frankfurt, it was so easy to do this. There are a ton of handy trains right out of the airport. Fewer directly from CDG, IME.

 

A seamless connection from one vendor might make this easier, as I've had to figure out all of my connections on my own for these scenarios, and buy all of the tickets separately. And it would help with the inevitable missed connections. But this can be done now. 

[Kristelle]

when we were in China (huge country compared to France obviously) we went on a bullet train.

took 4 hours when the equivalent flight would of taken 3/4 hour - but by the time you factor in waiting at the airport beforehand, and transport from the airport into the city before and after (train leaves/arrives in center of CBD's) the total time was probably about the same.

 

We are taking train from London to Paris and then Paris to Amsterdam prior to our cruise in September

Travel agent recomended this rather than flying.

[Canal archive]

Eurostar from London to Paris less than three hours from arrival at St Pancras to arrival at Gar du Nor, comfortable no fuss. Once Eurostar completely gets back on line after ‘C’ then it would be just possible to leave London, Eurostar to Marsalis for an excellent French lunch then Eurostar back to London all in one day. Not good for the climate maybe but what fun.

We were told that the TVR has enabled people to move out of Paris and live as far away as Lyon to commute. 

[Kristelle]

canal archive - we are staying at the Strand Palace hotel in London which the travel agent tells us is a short trip by taxi to the international train station.

 

[Canal archive]

No problem just ask your concierge for a cab, so a short trip in an iconic London black cab who will drop you off at St Pancras it depends on your ticket as to how soon before the off you get there, standard and standard premier you have to check in at least half an hour before departure, premier only ten minutes would you believe. I’d leave longer whichever ticket so you get the ambiance listen to the piano players and watch the world go by. Have a great cruise, which one are you doing?

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, Kristelle said:

canal archive - we are staying at the Strand Palace hotel in London which the travel agent tells us is a short trip by taxi to the international train station.

 

I am not ashamed to say that I am a tad envious. 🙂 Try not to rush through St. Pancras, instead take a few minutes to admire the mix of old and new railway architecture. I have done the trip Koblenz or Cologne to London by train several times in my life, either with ferry in between or in more recent years through the Tunnel. St. Pancras to Cologne is great, from one "railway cathedral" to another. The Thalys in First Class was the best experience. But Eurostar in Second Class is also fine, better than some German ICE's Second Class. One of my worst train journeys in a supposedly "First World modern high speed train" was actually a stretch around Frankfurt on a Friday afternoon coming back from my river cruise on the Danube. It was overcrowded and half the toilets were not working... Much preferred the First Class reception lounge of the Eurostar at Ebbsfleet International. Newspapers, drinks... 🍹

 

Have an amazing time in Europe.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

Don’t forget to check if anyone is playing the piano they often get some seriously superb players at St Pancras.

[jpalbny]

St. Pancras station is indeed beautiful. We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel there a few years ago, before our Eurostar trip. Will have to find some pictures. 

 

ETA. A few pix.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by jpalbny

[Daisi]

@jpalbny, yes, trains are so easy over in Europe. Mind you, we had a real learning curve, as we never used on here either. Avalon announced the other week that for UK travellers, they will book the train instead of flights if desired. I was with my TA when she got the announcement, and we were wondering how we could get them to do that for me...flight to the UK, then train to where ever we would be touring from.

 

We usually fly KLM, and they bus us from the Ottawa train station to Mtl. for our flights. This year, since Air France is now flying from Ottawa, they aren't offering that service, so we are going by train to Mtl. It will be our "new" experience for this trip.

[Canal archive]

Daisi we've done most of the well known trains around the world wonderful experiences but I do recommend the Howe Sound by steam train and of course the Rocky Mountaineer.

[Daisi]

@Canal archive, we've been on many steam trains, and the Rocky Mountaineer is on our bucket list for when we finish touring Europe.  I've driven from one end of the country to the other (and a lot of the northern and eastern US), so wanting to see more of Europe. We've taken trains in the Netherlands, and Germany, and planning on when our overview of touring by river & bus is done to just plan longer holidays by train in Europe. 

[Canal archive]

The Flying Scotsman on its Cathedral tour passing Claverton pumping station near Bath. The canals and rivers of the world made the building of the railways so much quicker and easier but caused the demise of many canal systems.
 

[Daisi]

That's one that we have on our list for when we hit the UK. So much to do, so little time. 🙂

 

[Island2Dweller]

"you have to check in at least half an hour before departure, premier only ten minutes would you believe"

Whoops - sorry - out of date.

Because of Brexit, the Schengen immigration checks (which happen at St Pancras before you take the train) are now taking much more time.  Arrive only a half hour before and you'll likely miss your train.  Arrive 90 minutes ahead is now recommended.

[Canal archive]

Island2Dweller thanks for the heads up yes it’s gates close 30 minutes before departure and the advice is arrive at least 90 minutes before departure sorry wrote it incorrectly before. We were never in the Schengen Agreement so that’s not a challenge I’m not surprised if the divorce is or was. Although it was no problem last year when we took the car over on LeShuttle.

[Host Jazzbeau]

As the self-proclaimed defender of Imperial measures against the Metric onslaught, I was pleased to see this headline in the Wall Street Journal today 🤣

Celsius Names Fahrenheit as Winning Chapter 11 Bidder

[Canal archive]

We had it imposed on us, I now work in both, imperial from choice but talk about measure thrice and cut once I still don’t trust metric measurements. It comes just a little hard to a knitter, crocheter, sewer and quilter. I was told off for providing the dimensions and water quantities of a particular lock in imperial measurements my reply ‘that’s how it was built’ over 200 years ago. Some have no respect for history.

[Kristelle]

12 hours ago, Canal archive said:

No problem just ask your concierge for a cab, so a short trip in an iconic London black cab who will drop you off at St Pancras it depends on your ticket as to how soon before the off you get there, standard and standard premier you have to check in at least half an hour before departure, premier only ten minutes would you believe. I’d leave longer whichever ticket so you get the ambiance listen to the piano players and watch the world go by. Have a great cruise, which one are you doing?

 Thanks for your tips everyone - we are doing Amsterdam to Budapest cruise with Scenic, 14 nights - but we are spending few days in London first for family reasons and then 2 nights in Paris before train to Amsterdam to board cruise.

[Kristelle]

Australia has been metric for half a century, an fully converted to metric now, having grown up with it nearly all my life.

 

and decimal currency - which I believe you have in UK now too?