Getting to the boat

[Guest]

If you keep your boat in ahot country like i do you will know that travelling to the boat can sometimes be expensive.I fly down with easyjet mostly for around £100 cheapest but i don't no any cheaper way anyone else. P.S-Has anyone has ever tryed driving down to there boat.

 

[Guest]

Yes, every week!.

But I keep her in GB, as I like to use her most weekends.

 

[Guest]

Re: driving to the boat, cheap and quick

The boat's in Cannes, we're in kent. We have a "property owners abroad" deal from the eurotunnel for 120 quid return for five or more trips in a year. A bertholder's summink in French will do,so long as it proves you ain't commercial or very valuable and ripoffable business passenger.

With a reasonably quick car, get early night a few days before, then have an early night snooze at 7, then get kicked up at 11.30pm, etunnel by12.30, in France by 2ish, past Paris by 4pm, past Lyons by 6.30, Cannes for Mckiddies breakfast around 10, unpack, nice lunch. It's quicker to jump out of the car to pay peages, but quieter to reverse thru if passengers all asleep, unless you have left hooker vehicle. The trip done straight thru to dawn is better than tendency to fall asleep as it gets darker and darker. Only Mercs can do this trip many times over. You need radar detector, xenons, and 42 psi all round. An inconspicuous E55 or E430 estate car avoids attention.

Otherwise it's up at 7, prat about in Gatwick for a 10ish flight, arrive at 2ish, miss lunch, get dinner. Or, the day before, go to gatwick for 1pm, fly at 5, arrive 8, rush dinner, and again lose a day before. Driving sneaks a day. Don't forget to run on the spot whilst filling up 80litres to avoid the deep-vein thrombosis.

 

[Guest]

I have it really tough in Florida (hot country?). I walk <5 min to my boat and perspire a lot in the process in summer. If I had to go through the hassle some of you do I wouldn't bother with boating. I admire you.

 

[Guest]

How do you find Easyjet? The TV programme that features them seems to portray nothing but problems. One of my clients had a similar experience and said never again with Easyjet. How reliable do you find them?

 

[Guest]

Sorry, does that mean that delays on easyjet are less fun than the delays on Go? Or are the delays on Go, bigger and better than the delays on easyjet which just tend to be small and not up for much?

I think that the best delay I have had was with the now thankfully defunct Pan Am. That was a delay to remember, got put up at a five star hotel in the center of Frankfurt and had a great nite out! now that was a long delay but a great delay, if you see what I mean.

After spending seemingly days in delays on the M5, I now judge delays by the quality, not the Quantity. Did you get a good ice cream at the services, or wer you stuck to far away for a timely break? Were you entertained by the blonde in the M3 in the center lane, or were you bombarded by the brats in the Baleno? Was the cause of the delay something entertaining such as a caravan turning itself into a collection of mini curtains, soft furnishing, and Balsa wood in the center lane, or just a collection of cones on convention?

Travel is a adventure, and I have given up expecting to get anywere on time or at the price originally envisaged.

 

[Guest]

The problem with all these cheap airlines is that, in order to keep prices low, the planes are always in the air and the scheduling is very tight. There is generally a planned turnaround of only 30mins in each airport and you can imagine that, if there's any delay anywhere, it builds up very quickly. Quite when they carry out any maintenance is something I'd prefer not to think about! I've flown Easyjet,Ryanair and Go and, of the three, I would rate Easyjet as the worst for delays and Go as the best. Ryanair always seem to have massive check-in queues. As far as service goes, you get what you pay for ie very little. So, when you're sitting in the terminal, your flight's 2 hours late and nobody's told you why, just think about how much money you've saved compared with a business class fare!

 

[Guest]

Re: driving to the boat, cheap and quick

Since I got 6 points 18 months ago, I put cruise on when I'm at the speed limit to take no risks and my radar detector just picks up CBs and supermarket scanners.

But when I was in France last year, I reverted to my traditional driving pattern believing that the French could not add any more points to my licence and if things got serious I was prepared to surrender my Florida driving licence.

But when I got back, I can remember reading a newspaper article describing some quite draconian French police action for speeders although I hardly saw any police cars there last year.

What's the current situation, MattS?

 

[Guest]

You could collect airmiles, and fly BA from Gatwick to Nice for 1300 miles + £23.10 "taxes and charges", or Gatwick to Malaga for 2050 miles + £19.30, per adult.

See http://www.airmiles.co.uk/ for collection opportunities. Shopping at Sainsburys seems to be the best, though you have to look out for Extra Reward Points offers and buy in bulk if you want to buy several flight a year. Having a credit card which awards airmiles for use also seems to be a popular way to collect.

However, the number of airmile seats on each flight are limited, so this may only be useful for trips planned well in advance.