Sunny climate Holiday question.

On 09/07/2010 09:17, PetrolHead wrote:
On Thu, 8 Jul 2010 23:27:40 +0100, Derek F wrote:

I used to use the two coach train service from Wimbledon to West Croydon. It
quite often did not run because of flooding n the line. We arrived at Malaga
after a thunderstorm and the two coach train was not running to Malaga due
to flooding.

any elderly couple seeking the easiest route to the beach should opt for a
taxi transfer, its obvious.

Rubbish! Elderly does not mean not being able to get around on ones own.
In the past four years we have independently by bus and train done New
Zealand, Portugal twice, Australia and Florida. Mostly finding
accommodation ourselves from the Rough Guide after arriving. As for
Taxis, hardly ever.
We tend to avoid Tourist Offices as they will send you to their out of
the way favourites.
Derek (76)

Derek F wrote:

[]
We tend to avoid Tourist Offices as they will send you to their out of
the way favourites.
Derek (76)

No. In Europe they tend to be quite helpful.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"[Do you think the world learned anything from the first
world war?] No. They never learn." -Harry Patch (1898-2009)

On 10/07/10 8:57, in article ,
"David Horne, _the_ chancellor *" wrote:

We tend to avoid Tourist Offices as they will send you to their out of
the way favourites.
Derek (76)

No. In Europe they tend to be quite helpful.


A French Tourist office will list more hotels in town than say,
Michelin. In all price categories. One place I know has
a board-mop it their window, and hotels still having space
are lit up.

N-years ago we got off the ship SS France, in Le Havre to find
that our favorite hotel, at which I thought we had a reservation
had changed managements and never heard of us, and the place
was full. There was no rooms available in town so we headed for the
train station, but the next train to Paris was in the morning.

We were standing there lost when a more experienced European
said "no problem, we go to the police station". So we went
and they qlso could not get us a room, so they called the mayor
(a communist mayor) who called around the region and got
rooms for us in a small coastal town to the north reachable
by taxi. So we did not have to spend the night in the train
station.

"Derek F" wrote in message
...
On 09/07/2010 09:17, PetrolHead wrote:
On Thu, 8 Jul 2010 23:27:40 +0100, Derek F wrote:

I used to use the two coach train service from Wimbledon to West
Croydon. It
quite often did not run because of flooding n the line. We arrived at
Malaga
after a thunderstorm and the two coach train was not running to Malaga
due
to flooding.

any elderly couple seeking the easiest route to the beach should opt for
a
taxi transfer, its obvious.

Rubbish! Elderly does not mean not being able to get around on ones own.
In the past four years we have independently by bus and train done New
Zealand, Portugal twice, Australia and Florida. Mostly finding
accommodation ourselves from the Rough Guide after arriving. As for Taxis,
hardly ever.
We tend to avoid Tourist Offices as they will send you to their out of the
way favourites.

In the UK they are not allowed to have favourites or "non favourites" so
they will drop subtle little hints about the rubbish places.

On the subject of location, if you want somewhere within walking distance of
the office then say so. I have never been anywhere that would ignore such a
request

tim

On 10/07/2010 07:57, David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
Derek wrote:

[]
We tend to avoid Tourist Offices as they will send you to their out of
the way favourites

I found a very helpful one in Stockholm Station. They got us such a good
deal for three nights with one night free that we only ended paying for
one night.
Almost as good as the ****ed off receptionist in a five star Swiss hotel
who told me she hated the hotel. She showed us rooms each one better
than the other before asking how little I would like to pay:-)
Derek

On 10/07/2010 08:32, Earl Evleth wrote:
On 10/07/10 8:57, in article ,
"David Horne, _the_ chancellor wrote:

We tend to avoid Tourist Offices as they will send you to their out of
the way favourites.
Derek (76)

No. In Europe they tend to be quite helpful.


A French Tourist office will list more hotels in town than say,
Michelin. In all price categories. One place I know has
a board-mop it their window, and hotels still having space
are lit up.

N-years ago we got off the ship SS France, in Le Havre to find
that our favorite hotel, at which I thought we had a reservation
had changed managements and never heard of us, and the place
was full. There was no rooms available in town so we headed for the
train station, but the next train to Paris was in the morning.

We were standing there lost when a more experienced European
said "no problem, we go to the police station". So we went
and they qlso could not get us a room, so they called the mayor
(a communist mayor) who called around the region and got
rooms for us in a small coastal town to the north reachable
by taxi. So we did not have to spend the night in the train
station.

One of our near sleep in the street nights was when we unknowingly
arrived in Nice late in the evening before the Monaco Grand Prix.
We walked for miles looking in vain for a vacancy. We decided to go to
the station and take a train to Marseilles well away from the Grand
Prix. However just by the station was the Hotel Moderne where
surprisingly they had rooms to spare.
For an encore the next week we went to Cannes in the middle of the Film
Festival. There we were ripped off for a tiny room in a scruffy hotel,
the second worst we ever stayed in.
The winner in that category was in Salinas, California the scene of many
of Steinbeck's gritty novels of the Depression. There Greyhound told us
that we had missed their last connecting bus to Monterey. Only the next
day did I discover that the local bus company had a service to there as
well.
Derek

On 10/07/2010 12:32, PetrolHead wrote:
On Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:40:45 +0100, Derek F wrote:

Rubbish! Elderly does not mean not being able to get around on ones own.

They asked for "easy transport at the destination end", taxi is simpler
than foreign PT any day, whatever age you are.
Travel is an adventure. We travel on a Budget so travel with the locals.
First time we went to New York we got from JFK to 42nd Street for a Buck.
Free bus to Kew Gardens in Queens, 50c on bus to the Subway and 50c on
the Subway to Manhattan. Now it costs $4.50 compared to $35 for a cab.
Derek

"Derek F" wrote in message
...

One of our near sleep in the street nights was when we unknowingly
arrived in Nice late in the evening before the Monaco Grand Prix.

Call me old-fashioned, but I can't imagine ever, ever going anywhere without
having a reservation at somewhere to stay.

Is it just me?

Ian

"Ian F." wrote in message
...
"Derek F" wrote in message
...

One of our near sleep in the street nights was when we unknowingly
arrived in Nice late in the evening before the Monaco Grand Prix.

Call me old-fashioned, but I can't imagine ever, ever going anywhere
without having a reservation at somewhere to stay.

Is it just me?

Ian

No, it isn't just you, Ian...especially when traveling in another country.
If driving in the US, we might take a chance and drive on to the next city,
but I would never do it otherwise...old fashioned, maybe, or just not that
young to take the risk anymore! ;-)

--Jean

On 10/07/2010 20:00, Ian F. wrote:
"Derek F" wrote in message
...

One of our near sleep in the street nights was when we unknowingly
arrived in Nice late in the evening before the Monaco Grand Prix.

Call me old-fashioned, but I can't imagine ever, ever going anywhere
without having a reservation at somewhere to stay.

Is it just me?

Ian
We went to Eastern Sicily one February and traveled around for three
weeks by bus and train finding accommodation as we went. When we headed
for the Aeolian Islands of Vulcano and Stromboli everything was closed
for the winter.
On Vulcano we mimed sleeping to a woman in the street and she took us to
her friend who had a bungalow to rent.
On the Hydrofoil to Stromboli we fortunately met an architect who had a
beach house that he rented to us.
New York is probably the worst place to arrive in unbooked.One time it
took sixteen phone calls to find a place.
We once booked in advance in New Orleans for the Mardi Gras. The Holiday
Inn booking office assured me that their hotel on South Bank Express Way
was just over the river from Downtown by Ferry. They did not say that it
also entailed a bus journey. The Ferry was intermittent at night and the
bus stopped running in the evening so it was around $40 to get back by
taxi. When the Mardi Gras was over we moved to the LaSalle on Canal Street.
Derek