Taking Skis on Eurostar and TGV???

Has anyone done this - looked on the website and it says if you drop them off at St Pancras the day before they will ship them to your ski resort - as I live up north that aint gonna happen tomorrow as we go on Friday. Have rung them and they seemed to think it is ok but no definitive answer.

Also I remember Ally saying that TGV tickets have to be validated at the French Station (Lille)- anyone know about this too?

Hi PSC. Can't help with the skis, but we've just returned from trip to France, TGV from Paris, so the ticket validation is easy. You will see little machines on the platform, just stick your ticket in and it will mark it with a date and time stamp. There will be signs saying something like "Il faut composter les billets" and you'll see other people doing it. I don't know why they have this system, as the trains have guards who check tickets anyway. Apparently they can get a bit sticky if you don't do it.

Allie

PSC,
I've seen plenty of people taking their skis and snowboards on the Eurostar and the TGV - there doesn't seem to be a problem with it at all :D

And, they put those 'compost' machines in different places - sometimes they're in the middle of the station concourse, sometimes by the door onto the platform, and sometimes actually on the platform. As I said before, I think they're yellow and they look a bit like parking meters.

Ally

AllyG wrote:PSC,
I've seen plenty of people taking their skis and snowboards on the Eurostar and the TGV - there doesn't seem to be a problem with it at all :D

And, they put those 'compost' machines in different places - sometimes they're in the middle of the station concourse, sometimes by the door onto the platform, and sometimes actually on the platform. As I said before, I think they're yellow and they look a bit like parking meters.

Ally

All these years I have been putting compost on the garden instead of the station,no wonder im getting a poor crop year on year . :)

I did it last year. No probs taking skis on the TGV, but just be aware of the trip across from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyons. I had a wheely bag and a ski bags with 2 skis in last year. Had 40 mins from Eurostar arrival to TGV departure. Made it by the skin of my teeth. Get a map of the Metro and directions for as the metro concourse is huge under each station and there are no helpful signposts. Managed to throw self and skis on train with 30 secs to spare!

I think PSC is already there now.

However, I thought I'd mention another helpful tip for those changing stations in Paris. You can buy a carnet of 10 single metro/RER tickets at St Pancras from the Eurostar office. The ones I bought lasted a year (I used them for 2 ski holidays) and were ridiculously cheap - I've forgotten exactly how much they cost - but somewhere around 1/5th of the price of London underground tickets.

Buying the tickets ahead of time saves queueing at a machine in Paris, and struggling to use it.

I try and leave an hour and a half between my Eurostar train arriving at the Gare du Nord and the TGV leaving from the Gare de Lyon for Moutiers etc., even though it is only 2 stops on the RER and could in theory be done much quicker. The Eurostar could be late, or I could get confused and go the wrong way on the RER, and I hate having to rush - especially with loads of luggage.

Ally

Good point about the carnet of 10 metro tickets, Ally. We bought ours from Raileurope when we were buying our train tickets. Saved lots of time.
Allie

What a difference two weeks makes to the relevance of this thread :lol: (that's an ironic lol btw) The 1821 eruptions lasted thirteen months. Might make for a great snow season though.