Mike ๐ฌ๐ง ๐ช๐บI've mashed the finances for our French trip this morning.
Almost exactly on budget!
The accommodation was under budget due to self-catering rather than hotels with meals.
The travel was over budget mainly due to SNCF reservation charges and the more expensive ferry crossing.
Here's my condensed summary blog post of our recent rail & ferry trip to the south of France (complete with a few photos)
https://gaylers.me/travel/2025/05/francemay25
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#interrail #railways #France #CoteBleuBlog #Martigues #Marseille #Lyon #Railway #SNCF #blog #blogging
The final installment of our holiday journey to the south of france and back to the UK.
We got back home as expected without any drama on the return journey - in fact it was a very relaxing day's travelling.
Thanks Eurostar & East Midlands Railway
The daily blog posts I've been putting up will be condensed into a single post for my main travel blog (with photos) - and I'll try to include some of our learning points from this trip too.
Here's today's blog post:
https://mikefromlfe.mataroa.blog/blog/to-home-sweet-home/
#interrail #CoteBleuBlog #travel #railways #holidays #eurostar
Sigh.
Eurostar still think they are operating an airport not a railway station platform.
Today will be spent travelling west and north towards home.
We're currently in Lille, France.
First destination - by rail - will be London St Pancras. Then on to Leicester.
But first - once we're up - is to fuel up on the hotel breakfast.
Once our bags are repacked then saunter across the road to wait for the Eurostar in Lille Europe station.
I've got reserved seats for the EMR service out of St Pancras but the flexibility of the Interrail pass means we aren't tied to any specific train (unlike in France).
I've got mixed feelings about heading home, and about this whole holiday. I think I need to process these thoughts & feelings before saying any more.
Au revoir France!
This hotel room has a bath.
I don't often have the opportunity to have a bath as we've only got a shower at home.
It's the tiniest bath I've ever tried to get in - at least there was no danger of drowning!!
(FFS - If you're designing a hotel room, don't put a short, narrow bath in - just make it a shower area)
Todays travelling blog - as we head back towards the north of France courtesy of SNCF and we go home tomorrow with Eurostar.
We seem to have been caught up in some incident on the TGV lines.
Most of the trains are currently delayed by between 30 & 90 minutes although the screens indicate that services are getting back to normal.
#sncf #railways #interrail #CoteBleuBlog
I'm expecting our 3:15 service not to be on time!
I should have taken a photo, but didn't - there was a stall on the market today with two ladies offering minor clothing repairs while you waited.
What a great idea, and how very French!
Yesterday's beach scene.
I wasn't happy with this when I did it, but it's grown on me.
Plage de Carro near Martigues
#travelsketch #sketchbook #carnetdevoyage #sketch #drawing #france #Martigues #CoteBleuBlog
