Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2024 9:53:53 GMT
6am crossing booked for a Saturday morning, with allowance of using sailings 4 hours either side. We're planning on leaving here about 2am.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jul 19, 2024 10:00:22 GMT
Crikey, has it got that bad? I hope the rest of the holiday makes up for the travel ordeal!
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bpg
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Holidays!
Jul 19, 2024 13:47:09 GMT
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Post by bpg on Jul 19, 2024 13:47:09 GMT
bon voyage !
Once on the ferry a hearty breakfast and you're holiday really begins.
I booked an overnight stay at the North end of the Gottard tunnel for our journey South this year. Talking with the locals they reckoned late morning/lunchtime was when the traffic started backing up. We left just before 8am, sat in 3kms Stau, took about 20 minutes to get to the tunnel and be on our way. Nothing like the two hours last year though enough at the start of a four hour run.
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Holidays!
Jul 19, 2024 14:11:48 GMT
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Post by Humph on Jul 19, 2024 14:11:48 GMT
Last time we used a ferry from Dover early on a Saturday morning in the school holidays we queued for 13 hours to get into the port.
We’ve used the tunnel ever since and sucked up the cost, or we’ve travelled on a weekday, or avoiding school holidays. Of course it may well be fine…
😉
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bpg
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Holidays!
Jul 19, 2024 14:21:44 GMT
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Post by bpg on Jul 19, 2024 14:21:44 GMT
The tunnel is no guarantee to avoid the queues now. The cars can be backed up from arrival, snaking through the car park, all the way to the border controls. 3 hour queue for us last time on the French side. Better than 13 hours granted but no picnic.
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Holidays!
Jul 19, 2024 14:37:42 GMT
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Post by Humph on Jul 19, 2024 14:37:42 GMT
Ah well, at least we’ve taken back control eh?
🙄
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bpg
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Jul 19, 2024 14:59:10 GMT
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Post by bpg on Jul 19, 2024 14:59:10 GMT
It's like the Mexico/US border crossing now.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Jul 19, 2024 18:06:39 GMT
And if there's any IT issues because of that security update... who knows what might be. I hope you have a safe and on-time journey!
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WDB
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Holidays!
Jul 19, 2024 20:09:14 GMT
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Post by WDB on Jul 19, 2024 20:09:14 GMT
6am crossing booked for a Saturday morning… Don’t think he meant this Saturday, Rob. A week or two should let things get back to whatever passes for normal these days. |
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Jul 19, 2024 21:30:18 GMT
I only skimmed the thread. But I think these days we need to account for the unexpected.
Although I did wonder if schools had finished down there with Al - they have here.
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Holidays!
Jul 20, 2024 21:51:12 GMT
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Post by EspadaIII on Jul 20, 2024 21:51:12 GMT
My FD flew yesterday. No delay getting onto the plane but then the pilot announced a two hour delay sitting on the tarmac at Liverpool. With a three and five year old and an incompetent husband she wasn't happy.
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Post by bromptonaut on Jul 21, 2024 7:30:19 GMT
My FD flew yesterday. No delay getting onto the plane but then the pilot announced a two hour delay sitting on the tarmac at Liverpool. With a three and five year old and an incompetent husband she wasn't happy. Reading of a lot of those kind of delays; slot issues I think. If they've got the passengers on board and are ready to go they might be lucky in a fluid situation |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2024 7:28:33 GMT
Not travelling for a couple of weeks yet. Looking at the available crossings on DFDS, there's a constant stream of them 24 hours a day. I'm hoping the queues to check in won't be too bad but as there seem to be as many night sailings as day sailings I don't see how time of day will make much difference, unless of course the night sailings are emptier. This was the traffic situation on Friday afternoon last week at 3pm.  |
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Holidays!
Jul 22, 2024 9:05:21 GMT
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Post by Humph on Jul 22, 2024 9:05:21 GMT
I suppose it seems like a good plan to a lot of people to get over the water early on a Saturday morning (especially with the hour time difference) so that they have all day to get to wherever they are going. Downside being that it suits a lot of people at the same time hence the pinch point it can create.
We’ve got into a habit of travelling on a Friday evening, getting a midnight-ish crossing and driving through the night. If we arrive early somewhere then we just go to the beach or something for a few hours until our accommodation is available.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2024 9:12:07 GMT
Yeah, as I said I've got a ticket which can be used between 2am and 10am departures, and there are about a dozen sailings in that time. Departure time from home is dependant on return of eldest from a residential job he's finishing on the Friday evening, so plausible we could be on a 2/3am ferry. Just going to have to go with the flow, there's no hard dependency on arrival, we've got a villa booked and the key pick up is just from a locked box at the property with a code. So can turn up any time. Might even decide to stay overnight somewhere in France on Saturday and arrive on the Sunday morning. So whatever happens I'm pretty relaxed about it, que sera sera.
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