I won't make this longer than it needs to : I made it home safely at 5:30 Sunday morning. Basically, when we arrived at Calais, it was heavily snowing and the highway was terrible !!! What should have taken us 2 and a half hours took us 3 and a half hours. Could have been worse as the snow stopped at some point and the roads were being cleared by the special machine. So we drove, didn't stop until we got home and god, wasn't I happy to be home ?! We are now going to go to the Eurostar centre point in the Central Train Station and ask about refunds and everything. I did get someone on the phone today and they said I would get total refund and a free ticket at least, we are going to ask about my train ticket to Dover and the ferry fares (I mean, 300€ is a lot !!). Though, for the way I (and all the other passengers) were treated in London, they better pay !!! (We saw on the news today that Eurostar was going to refund all their customers and also repay all of their expenses, so that's not too bad, pretty good I may say).
I think my blog, during the christmas break, will probably be about what is said on the belgian news, haha. I have to say, I'd like to get more information about the Auschwitz sign stolen (who would want to steal a "arbeit macht frei" sign ? I know I wouldn't !!) and also maybe Copenhagen, what happened there was quite a disgrace. So ... well ... I guess you'll have to continue reading me (who am I talking to, anyway ? I know Chris reads my blog, but that must be the extent of my audience haha —no offense Chris !) even throughout the break.
Have a merry Christmas if I don't post anything until then.
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est cancellation. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est cancellation. Afficher tous les articles
mardi 12 janvier 2010
Journey Home II (written on the 19/12/2009)
Last time I wrote a post, I was abandoning the Eurostar in favour of my dad picking me up. Well … because of the snow in Dover, my dad could not come to London to pick me up in time. The situation being what it was, I went to see a member of staff and asked about the trains leaving in the evening, by luck there was still a couple of seats for the Brussels train of 17:04. So I ran to check-in, got a blue sticker (they had to result into putting coloured stickers on our tickets, indicating which train we were going to board on. The situation seemed to have been resolved until, 15 minutes after the train should have left the station, we were announced that no train would leave London this evening as the weather was so bad, EuroTunnel closed the tunnel. Thankfully my mum called me at that exact time. I burst into tears for a couple of minutes before recovering my common sense. My dad was still in Calais (bless him for not going home, I mean is that fatherly love or what ?!) and was able to get a ticket to cross over. My mum also informed me that my grandmother had put some money on my account on Monday, so I was not moneyless as I had thought. I got a ticket to Dover Priory and am now writing on the train to Dover. This message will not go on my blog until I get wifi, so god knows what will have happened in between, but a message will probably follow this one, giving you an update on the situation. This is like some kind of mini series haha.
So, for the moment, everything seems resolved : I have money on me (I took £40 out) and my dad is meeting me in Diver in an hour. I can tell you, though, that the snow we got in Winchester is nothing compared to what I can see here (I don't know where here is exactly, but it's down somewhere haha … *edit: Here was near Folkestone*) I know understand why the trains have been cancelled and the tunnel closed, it would be taking too many risks in these conditions. I am very happy that there is a Dover train service departing from Saint Pancras and frankly, this is a pleasant journey and the train is actually quite warm, nice change from the freezing cold station (my hands were blue from the cold and I could barely feel my body it was so numb).
This series is probably the most boring one you have ever read … but I need a way of passing time and it is pretty therapeutical to be writing what happened, gives me an opportunity to calm down. I will probably write a sequel to this when going back, but hopefully the journey back will go smoothly and without any interruption like today. I have learned a couple of things today and I am going to share my wisdom with you.
First of all, be aware that Eurostar has very poor communication skills and you won't be informed unless you ask yourself to a member of staff (and even they won't know for sure). Snow is lovely as long as it doesn't interrupt train services (and plane services and boats and other ways of going home !). Always always always have money on your phone (and a full battery !!) and money on you (I'd say £50 so if you have to book a hotel/buy a train ticket/feed yourself you can actually do it). And don't cry in the middle of a crowd : people will mock you instead of trying to help you !! And also, trains to Dover rock !!!
So, for the moment, everything seems resolved : I have money on me (I took £40 out) and my dad is meeting me in Diver in an hour. I can tell you, though, that the snow we got in Winchester is nothing compared to what I can see here (I don't know where here is exactly, but it's down somewhere haha … *edit: Here was near Folkestone*) I know understand why the trains have been cancelled and the tunnel closed, it would be taking too many risks in these conditions. I am very happy that there is a Dover train service departing from Saint Pancras and frankly, this is a pleasant journey and the train is actually quite warm, nice change from the freezing cold station (my hands were blue from the cold and I could barely feel my body it was so numb).
This series is probably the most boring one you have ever read … but I need a way of passing time and it is pretty therapeutical to be writing what happened, gives me an opportunity to calm down. I will probably write a sequel to this when going back, but hopefully the journey back will go smoothly and without any interruption like today. I have learned a couple of things today and I am going to share my wisdom with you.
First of all, be aware that Eurostar has very poor communication skills and you won't be informed unless you ask yourself to a member of staff (and even they won't know for sure). Snow is lovely as long as it doesn't interrupt train services (and plane services and boats and other ways of going home !). Always always always have money on your phone (and a full battery !!) and money on you (I'd say £50 so if you have to book a hotel/buy a train ticket/feed yourself you can actually do it). And don't cry in the middle of a crowd : people will mock you instead of trying to help you !! And also, trains to Dover rock !!!
Journey Home (written on the 19/12/2009)
So, I have four hours to kill and I thought, why not a blogpost ? I now this doesn't have a direct link to our course or any work at all, but I needed to write, otherwise my fingers were going to fall off because of the cold.
Today I was supposed to be going home. Supposed because Eurostar has decided to not let me leave England. Indeed, I am sitting in Saint Pancras International station, which is freezing may I add, next to an ice sculpture, not helping with the temperature, unable to tell you exactly what the situation is. Everyone by now must be aware of the fact that one of the unions is on strike, which is already a pretty bad thing, but add up the bad weather and you get the current situation. I arrived in the train station about 2 hours ago now and not much has been happening. When I left this morning, I checked the eurostar website and they had an announcement telling all passengers morning trains had been cancelled and the services would all be delayed until Sunday midday. Well, on my arrival at the station, I was told that there was no delay as there were no trains whatsoever. Information is apparently not Eurostar's strongest point as I still don't know what exactly is happening and keep on getting different information each time I ask.
Some passengers have been waiting since early this morning and have now been put on a special list that give them priority sitting on the next train that will be leaving. Unfortunately, I won't be getting on a train before tomorrow morning, 9 o'clock. So, instead of waiting a whole night in a freezing station, my dad is coming to pick me up FROM BELGIUM. I will be getting a refund and sincere apologies from Eurostar ... well ... at least I'll get money out of this.
The problem with the situation is : no one knows what will happen for sure. Apparently the last train that left yesterday was stuck in the tunnel for 15 hours (this is one of the informations I got from a member of staff ...) and trains cannot leave because of the risks. Though there will be two trains leaving for Brussels and two trains leaving for Paris this evening, But the people that will get seats are the ones that have been waiting the longest.... I understand this but at the same time : I am an 18 year old student traveling alone with no money on my phone or on me for that matter. I don't know anyone in London and am scared (there, I said it ... I am FREAKING out). So even though I have a lot of empathy for the people that have been waiting all day ... they should do something for freaked out lonely girls !!!!
Now something that pissed me out about the passengers is the constant commentary about the strike. I understand people are not happy about the strike, but I am pretty sure the conductors have a good reason to do it and even if they don't, I see striking as a natural right. And people are always happy when they have this right ... so even though it bugs us, we should try to understand their reasons and I hope they get what they want ... It is a money issue although I don't have much information about it) and in this time of economic crisis, I understand that everyone wants a bit more. And frankly driving a train (do you drive a train ? What verb should I use ?) must not be a very happy clappy funny job.
Anyway ... I still have a lot of time on my hands .... maybe I'll look at the shops and buy myself another cup of coffee (with the £2 that I have left). I am stressed and my dad isn't too happy about having to pick me up in London (he HATES London with a passion) so I am very grateful of him to do so. My hands are now numb and I am bored out of my mind ... there may be another post to follow this one in a couple of hours ... let's take advantage of the free wifi !!!
Have a nice day.
Today I was supposed to be going home. Supposed because Eurostar has decided to not let me leave England. Indeed, I am sitting in Saint Pancras International station, which is freezing may I add, next to an ice sculpture, not helping with the temperature, unable to tell you exactly what the situation is. Everyone by now must be aware of the fact that one of the unions is on strike, which is already a pretty bad thing, but add up the bad weather and you get the current situation. I arrived in the train station about 2 hours ago now and not much has been happening. When I left this morning, I checked the eurostar website and they had an announcement telling all passengers morning trains had been cancelled and the services would all be delayed until Sunday midday. Well, on my arrival at the station, I was told that there was no delay as there were no trains whatsoever. Information is apparently not Eurostar's strongest point as I still don't know what exactly is happening and keep on getting different information each time I ask.
Some passengers have been waiting since early this morning and have now been put on a special list that give them priority sitting on the next train that will be leaving. Unfortunately, I won't be getting on a train before tomorrow morning, 9 o'clock. So, instead of waiting a whole night in a freezing station, my dad is coming to pick me up FROM BELGIUM. I will be getting a refund and sincere apologies from Eurostar ... well ... at least I'll get money out of this.
The problem with the situation is : no one knows what will happen for sure. Apparently the last train that left yesterday was stuck in the tunnel for 15 hours (this is one of the informations I got from a member of staff ...) and trains cannot leave because of the risks. Though there will be two trains leaving for Brussels and two trains leaving for Paris this evening, But the people that will get seats are the ones that have been waiting the longest.... I understand this but at the same time : I am an 18 year old student traveling alone with no money on my phone or on me for that matter. I don't know anyone in London and am scared (there, I said it ... I am FREAKING out). So even though I have a lot of empathy for the people that have been waiting all day ... they should do something for freaked out lonely girls !!!!
Now something that pissed me out about the passengers is the constant commentary about the strike. I understand people are not happy about the strike, but I am pretty sure the conductors have a good reason to do it and even if they don't, I see striking as a natural right. And people are always happy when they have this right ... so even though it bugs us, we should try to understand their reasons and I hope they get what they want ... It is a money issue although I don't have much information about it) and in this time of economic crisis, I understand that everyone wants a bit more. And frankly driving a train (do you drive a train ? What verb should I use ?) must not be a very happy clappy funny job.
Anyway ... I still have a lot of time on my hands .... maybe I'll look at the shops and buy myself another cup of coffee (with the £2 that I have left). I am stressed and my dad isn't too happy about having to pick me up in London (he HATES London with a passion) so I am very grateful of him to do so. My hands are now numb and I am bored out of my mind ... there may be another post to follow this one in a couple of hours ... let's take advantage of the free wifi !!!
Have a nice day.
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