Summer 2009

After a rest since America we are getting ready for a short trip to France with Pam and Chris.
We have had a planning meeting and booked the first stage. We are going by Eurostar and T.G.V. to Avignon where we will collect a hire car. Our first thoughts were to leave from St Pancras, traveling from Gillingham by train to London, but the return fare was over £80 each. The quoted fee for parking at Ebsfleet was £69 a week so it was a no-brainer to drive up and park.
The next stage was to book the trains, a quick look at the web site produced varying prices but we settled on a train leaving Ebsfleet at 07.15 that arrived in Lille at about 09.30 where we catch the T.G.V.at 10.30 to arrive at Avignon at 14.39. The round trip costing £99 each. this compares quite favourably with Flybe flights to and from Exeter for about £70, and we wanted to use the tunnel.
We booked the parking in advance and this brought the price down to £45. So we now have the travel arrangements in place, including a Citroen C4 to be collected when we arrive in Avignon, and rooms in the Saint Roch Hotel for the first night before we set off to explore.