jonesy
Guru
Well that wasn't how I expected to spend the weekend! Two days to get back from Copenhagen overland. I was completely stuck because all the trains out of Denmark were fully booked for days ahead, but by a stroke of luck I and another delegate from the meeting I was at were offered a lift to Germany from two chaps who had managed to get a hire car to drive back to Spain. So a long drive to Koln, then slow trains to Calais as the fast ones and Eurostar were all fully booked. Late ferry, which missed the last train at Dover, so shared taxis and a night coach to get home in the early hours. On the way we bumped into all sorts of lost people trying to get somewhere, many of whom were in serious difficulties. We were very fortunate in that we were travelling on business so most of our additional expenses should be covered by work. There are families stuck on airport benches for days, or having to pay for expensive hotels, people needing to get back for exams, trying to get back from a family funeral etc. We heard of a family travelling from South Africa via Spain, where the husband didn't have a visa for overland travel in Europe so had to stay in the airport while his wife and child had to get a coach to the UK. etc etc I do find the media coverage that focuses so much on the losses suffered by the airlines rather frustrating- the costs are being felt far more widely than the airline industry, and while the latter will no doubt have their hands out for compensation there will be lots of small businesses and individuals who won't be.
One impression that stands out from the journey is the helpfulness we were given all the way across Europe: the hotels who were flexible about changing bookigns and departure times at short notice, the Deutche Bann staff who helped find alternatives to getting into Britain by Eurostar, the SNCF guard who made a point of speaking to anyone who looked like they were heading to the ferries to make sure they had the best information, and the extra buses SNCF laid on to get people to the ferry port. Sadly that helpfulness ended at the P&O terminal, where it was pretty clear that foot passengers are a lower form of life. No information at all on display, just a long queue before you could find out which ferry had space- would it have been so hard to put up a whiteboard with departure times and prices? And no thought whatsover to the onward travel needs of foot passengers. No information on connections to London. The ferry was late into port, but no announcements made about that, then they took foot passengers off via the vehicle deck, which meant a further delay while the car deck was emptied. This meant that everyone missed the last train from Dover, by about 5 minutes, which probably could have been avoided with a bit of planning, but that clearly wasn't their problem, so tough. And of course it is far too difficult in this country to coordinate rail and ferry operators to ensure connections are held... Fortunately I could share a taxi to London, others wouldn't have been able to do that. Just another example of how un joined up transport is here, compared with elsewhere.
One impression that stands out from the journey is the helpfulness we were given all the way across Europe: the hotels who were flexible about changing bookigns and departure times at short notice, the Deutche Bann staff who helped find alternatives to getting into Britain by Eurostar, the SNCF guard who made a point of speaking to anyone who looked like they were heading to the ferries to make sure they had the best information, and the extra buses SNCF laid on to get people to the ferry port. Sadly that helpfulness ended at the P&O terminal, where it was pretty clear that foot passengers are a lower form of life. No information at all on display, just a long queue before you could find out which ferry had space- would it have been so hard to put up a whiteboard with departure times and prices? And no thought whatsover to the onward travel needs of foot passengers. No information on connections to London. The ferry was late into port, but no announcements made about that, then they took foot passengers off via the vehicle deck, which meant a further delay while the car deck was emptied. This meant that everyone missed the last train from Dover, by about 5 minutes, which probably could have been avoided with a bit of planning, but that clearly wasn't their problem, so tough. And of course it is far too difficult in this country to coordinate rail and ferry operators to ensure connections are held... Fortunately I could share a taxi to London, others wouldn't have been able to do that. Just another example of how un joined up transport is here, compared with elsewhere.
) although I was pleased my work was being recognised.
