frankburrows

We are planning to arrive at CDG, spend a night in Paris and then take
the TGV to the south and spend a week on a boat on the Canal du Midi.
Then return and spend a few days in Paris. The cost of a Rail Pass vs
individual tickets is almost the same. We did a similar trip two
years ago and it took an hour in line to get our Rail Passes verified
by presenting our passports.

My question is that since the price is the same, which would be less
hassle? If we get the individual tickets and reservation before we
leave can we just walk on the train?

thanks

Frank

[email protected]

On Aug 2, 3:27 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> If we get the individual tickets and reservation before we
> leave can we just walk on the train?

It worked for me. I researched my itinerary (Roissy-Arles-
Carcassonne--Toulouse-Paris) on the SNCF site. I called SNCF at their
English language number. The helpful agent told me that I was
eligible for a reduced excursion fare (not obvious on the English
version of the SNCF site). I gave her my address and CC number, and
the tickets showed up in my mailbox in California about a week later.
When I got to CDG, I just boarded the train, took my seat, and showed
my ticket to the conductor when he was making his rounds. My phone
call took about 30 minutes, so make sure you use a cheap long distance
service.

Terry Richards

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ups.com...

> If we get the individual tickets and reservation before we
> leave can we just walk on the train?

Almost. You have to "compost" (stamp) your ticket before getting on the
train. This takes about 2 seconds.

A ticket is not valid until stamped and, once stamped, is only valid for use
the same day. Stamping just involves putting either end of the ticket into
one of the many machines and then checking that it actually did stamp it -
sometimes they are out of ink!

Terry.

Hatunen

On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:27:10 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

>We are planning to arrive at CDG, spend a night in Paris and then take
>the TGV to the south and spend a week on a boat on the Canal du Midi.
>Then return and spend a few days in Paris. The cost of a Rail Pass vs
>individual tickets is almost the same.

That rather surprises me. How did you degtermine the price of the
individual tickets?



--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

frankburrows

Terry and Jfeng thanks for the replies. This is exactly what I was
trying to figure out.

Using Rail Europe you can price the individual tickets and compare
this to the Rail Pass. Remember we are only traveling 2 days and the
RailPass allows for 3 days travel.

Frank


On Aug 3, 3:20 am, Hatunen <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:27:10 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
> >We are planning to arrive at CDG, spend a night in Paris and then take
> >the TGV to the south and spend a week on a boat on the Canal du Midi.
> >Then return and spend a few days in Paris. The cost of a Rail Pass vs
> >individual tickets is almost the same.
>
> That rather surprises me. How did you degtermine the price of the
> individual tickets?
>
> --
> ************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
> * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
> * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Alan Harrison

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ups.com...
> Terry and Jfeng thanks for the replies. This is exactly what I was
> trying to figure out.
>
> Using Rail Europe you can price the individual tickets and compare
> this to the Rail Pass. Remember we are only traveling 2 days and the
> RailPass allows for 3 days travel.
>
> Frank
>
>
> On Aug 3, 3:20 am, Hatunen <[email protected]> wrote:
>> That rather surprises me. How did you degtermine the price of the
>> individual tickets?

The answer to David Hatunen's question seems to be "from Rail Europe". I
suggest that Frank has a look directly at the SNCF web site for the relevant
fares, since Rail Europe (in its transatlantic incarnation) seems to have
something of a reputation for separating Americans from dollars. Frank may
also find the Man in Seat Sixty-One web site useful: http://www.seat61.com/
and especially this page:
http://www.seat61.com/Railpass.htm#W...do%20I%20start

Alan Harrison

-Rog

<[email protected]> wrote:
> Terry and Jfeng thanks for the replies. This is exactly what
> I was trying to figure out.
> Using Rail Europe you can price the individual tickets...

This is not the correct way to do that, as Rail-Europe's reason
d'etre is to sell passes and over-prices indy-tickets deliberately.
Instead, check the English-version of the SNCF web site:
http://tinyurl.com/ydcwka -- an abbreviated link.

frankburrows

Thanks for the great info.

As far as I can figure out if you go the SNCF site and select that you
want the tickets picked up in France you get a better deal. If I
select USA I get automatically referred to the Rail Europe site and
higher prices. I will call SNCF and attempt to get them to mail me the
tickets here but get the better price. If that does not work I will
select pick them up in France and use the print them out option.

thanks

Frank

Hatunen

On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 11:01:25 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

>Thanks for the great info.
>
>As far as I can figure out if you go the SNCF site and select that you
>want the tickets picked up in France you get a better deal. If I
>select USA I get automatically referred to the Rail Europe site and
>higher prices.

Give that man sixty-four silver dollars and a box of Mars Bars!

>I will call SNCF and attempt to get them to mail me the
>tickets here but get the better price. If that does not work I will
>select pick them up in France and use the print them out option.

That's been the method used by most of the posters here who have
tried it.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *