Planning trips is far more enjoyable than actually making them. This is a personal truth. The act of working out trips, without flying, such that all the various legs fit together economically (or decadently), can be engrossing. Yes, you can get the cruise back from Santander in Spain to Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, but if you do then there won't be any coaches to get you home, so it will have to be trains. The trains are more expensive, though. Perhaps staying overnight would be better? Can you spare the night? Hmm. Is it easier to sail into Plymouth? Or stop off in Roscoff? Does changing boats in Roscoff make sense? Ooh, that may be more interesting. Yes, if you want to get lost in a barrel full of timetables, juggling fares and interchanges as you go, then planning a surface trip is the option to take.
The options are endless once you include all of coaches, trains and ships, and all the boisterous combinations that ensue. For example, if you want to go to the South of France, and choose the train, then you are almost certainly condemned to crossing both London and Paris in one day by their respective undergrounds, unless you happen to choose the one direct (well, there is more than one outside of the Winter months) train to Marseille from London each week. However, if you do that, or get a Eurolines coach, then you have to start from London before breakfast, which requires staying over, and then things escalate again. Or, if you're going to Switzerland, you should try to book any journeys crossing Germany only between stations in Germany because the prices will be cheaper. The loopholes and contingencies go on for ever!
Returning to trains for a moment, crossing London and Paris in one day is quite a gruelling experience. It shouldn't be, but it is. I, for one, would do almost anything to avoid it. There are options, and my apologies go out to anyone utterly disinterested in travel talk, and they mostly involve Brussels or the awesomeness of sea travel. Yes, there are legions of ferries that go to France, and an especially lovely cruise ferry that goes to the Hook of Holland from Harwich, if you're interested in all the other parts of Europe. You can get around Paris, although the computers do relentlessly try to force you through Paris, and Barcelona if you go into the Iberian Peninsula. There are other options, but you have to micro-manage, and go step by step. Paris can be beaten!
Yes, travelling is far less fun than the planning. Break out your spreadsheets, and give it a try. Useful websites include www.seat61.com, www.loco2.com, www.directferries.co.uk, www.eurolines.co.uk/ and of course www.quidco.co.uk for getting cashback on all the purchases!
Here endeth the lesson,
O.
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