I've just done a ticket count.

[vernon]

Next Monday I'm off on my summer tour with a pal. I did a final ticket check and I have a grand total of forty three tickets for rail travel on East Coast trains, Eurostar and DBB and not all of the rail journeys are covered. Budapest to Vienna will have to wait until we reach Vienna as I couldn't locate a source of tickets for the Hungarian railways - their Internet site wasn't e-commerce enabled and carrying bikes on their trains seems to be a minefield of rules and regulations of varying clarity.

Can't wait for the off.

 

[vernon]

Wow....that takes some working out.....

I had two tickets for my LEJOGLE - London to Penzance on 31 May; Penzance to London on 2 July....simple, in fact so simple, even I could cope

The Germans are the worst offenders. The journey from Vienna to Paris accounts for thirteen tickets as there's a combination of bike tickets, overall journey ticket, regional discount tickets, non regional discount tickets and sleeper tickets. I'm so glad that my wife is fluent in German as unraveling the combinations would have been a nightmare. Buying them was a protracted transaction - thirty five minutes on the phone as I had to supply my details several times then go through the process again with my pal's details. This was a repeat of the outward journey transaction time - couldn't do the two together because of the booking window not covering both dates when I booked the outward journey, I might have lost the will to live had I tried to complete both legs in one phone call.

Eastcoast trains took a couple of minutes. Eurostar was equally fast until I had to indulge in some 'Angry of Meanwood' assertiveness to get the bikes onto a Eurostar service on 10th August thus busting their bike embargo from late July until 13th August. Got my bike reservations no-one else did...

 

[dellzeqq]

Vernon - think of the tickets as little cardboard blessings. Have a great trip!

And you'd better keep us informed!

 

[vernon]

Vernon - think of the tickets as little cardboard blessings. Have a great trip!

And you'd better keep us informed!

Now that the European phone tariffs have been capped I might even post pictures. The ride should keep me in trim just in case I journey south for the Brighton FNRttC - I'm sorely tempted.

I'm looking forward to the adventure. It will be my pal's first major cycle camping tour. He's very excited by the prospect.

 

[slowmotion]

If you consider an easier jaunt later, the pies in Brighton on a FNRttC may not meet your high standards but the company will be beyond compare.

Have a lot of fun.