Toulouse to Bordeaux: thoughts on French train travel and AirBnB
Monday saw me leaving for Bordeaux. The check out time was a bit earlier than would have been ideal, but I decided I didn't have the enthusiasm to mess around. Instead I went to the bus station that is outside the front of the station and asked about a ticket to the airport. It turns out that you have to buy it at the ticket office and then cancel it on the bus. I didn't take advantage of doing so then, with the result that on Thursday I ended up just missing the next bus and having to wait 20 minutes...
A remarkable map on the wall of the station at Toulouse shows the railway network in south west France.
The train was on time and notable for having a messed up entry system; far too soon before the train was due to leave FIVE ticket collectors started to check our tickets. In practice we did all get through the queue and into our coaches - though a jam of those trying to get into the lower coach did require me to suggest that we who were going into the upper space should get on with it.
A painless run ensued, and we appeared to get to Bordeaux. It was then things went down hill. Having not asked my AirBnB host which buzzer on the door to press, and not having a phone that could receive all the messages he was sending, communication broke down. I walked from the station to the location of the flat - to get no reply. A text suggested he would be late, so I tried again at 1530 to no effect; there was a knocker on the door which I resorted to, to no effect. So I retreated to cafe round the corner, and had just about arranged a logon there when my landlord phoned me. I handed the phone, in desperation, to a waiter, whose English was excellent, and all was sorted. But it was a deeply scary moment, once more revealing my propensity to panic. In the end the interaction cost me the price of an expensive coffee - at €3.50 for what seemed to me to be the usual stuff, I wasn't enthused. But there are worse problems in life.
Rail travel
Overall my experience of rail travel has been excellent. Barcelona's failure to run long distance local trains fast for the first part of their journey is irritating, and I therefore spent more time on such trains than I should have. But there are worse problems. Buying tickets using the Voyages-SNCF app is painless, with the option of either leaving the ticket on the screen or printing it at a machine when you present the credit card. I choose to do that each time...
The trains were comfortable and punctual. The TGV gave you an hour of free Internet usage on the basis of your ticket details, and it seemed to work OK. I merely used it for brief interactions; I don't know if they start charging when the hour is over.
Pricewise the various journeys were good value, though not outstanding. Totally inflexible tickets booked a couple of days early allowed me to do the 75 miles between Toulouse and Bordeaux for €15, so something under 20p a mile, the equivalent of paying £40 for a London ticket from Manchester, which is likely to be far less available. (Writing this on Tuesday evening, London tickets at £38 are available for Thursday morning...) in probably similar levels of comfort. Certainly this has given me confidence in the French rail system for the future...
AirBnB
Caveat Emptor! The theory is great, the reality for me was mildly problematic. In both cases for me the facilities were legalistically accurate, but stretched the definitions somewhat. But they served my needs adequately. I was impressed at a human at AirBnB phoning me when my Toulouse booking was cancelled by my host even if I'd lost the enthusiasm to pursue the option by then. Given the stupid amounts you can pay for accomodation and the profits that hotels are reporting, AirBnB is a good response. Sadly on this occasion it didn't achieve contact with real people; one of the disappointments of the trip was a lack of such contact. Yet the fact that I was largely comfortable with my own company, chatting to a few friends online but nothing else, is a reflection of who I am.
Using French
I have 'schoolboy French' from my O level over 40 years ago. It's very rusty, but gave me the confidence to engage with written material and make a reasonable fist of it. it's certainly far easier for me to travel in France than Spain, and my memories of my trip to Russia was one of feeling totally out of it; the language has minimal relationship with English AND is written in a foreign alphabet. Whilst a lot of museum exhibits offer an English version, many did not, though this was seldom an issue for a painting, and the date, which is often the important thing, is usually obvious.
