Ricey Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Me and Carla have decided after our fortnight in the Cuban prisoner of war camp last year we'd jib off the Jeremy Kyle package holidays and go for a trip to the Black Forest in Germany.......if for no other reason it sounds like its should have all manner of hobbits fighting over bits of gateux. Carla booked the flights the other day for £250 for both of us (which we would have to cancel - cost unknown until tomorrow). Looking at car hire prices its going to be around £250 for something 'soil yourself exciting' like a diesel Passat! Maybe £100 fuel for the week and go knows whatever extra on the insurance. So I jokingly said - we could drive the Zed there for less (or at least 6 tanks of fuel worth)!!!...............to which we both kind of perked up and started to seriously consider it. Without stating the obvious this trip as a few perils attatched to it - I'll be driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time, I'll be driving onto a ferry for the first time ever, I'll be driving for 12 hours So I suppose the question is - is it just a load of hassle or it is a great opportunity to have an amazing drive accross europe maybe taking in a night in France or Belgium on the way (so the its not a full 12 hours). We've got 18 clear days off work so plenty of time to recover if it does become a stress fest and we wouldn't be working to any flight time or car drop off deadlines if we did get lost ETC. Downside is the likely event that I'll end up taking a catastrophic wrong turn, end up getting car jacked in Bratislava and having to live a feral existance in the hills. Discuss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Husky Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 you have to at least do the driving thing once mate, even if you fly every other time after you will have some memories fromt he drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacky Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Actually been discusiing similar thing with the missus. Think 12hr drive would be ok, its surprising how quick you get used to driving on the wrong side. GO FOR IT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATTAK Z Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I'm thinking Italian lakes sometime in May/June Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 Tinterweb information doesn't bode very well for cancelling flights.......bugger. Seems to be a big fat hairy get stuffed unless you've died or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racinggreen Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Go for the drive it is amazing how little traffic there can be especially in France. I have found driving there to be great fun. Just take care at junctions and roundabouts as it can be confusing at first. I would have a stop off on the way also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSet Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I've done this six times, ex Brother in Law lived in Brussels for a few years and I also drove down to see The Monaco GP once. It's a long drive from here down to Dover or Folkestone so your best bet is to stay overnight around the Dover area, plenty of B&B's. I say this because you don't want to arrive in France in the dark if you've never driven on the right before and you'll be fresher and more relaxed. It's also a lot easier to find your way out of the docks by daylight . One thing you should keep in mind is that while French, Belgian and German roads are good the driving standards are diabolical. Remind me to tell you the story about The French Nuns someday Coming back is another thing too, don't be tempted to save a bit of money by getting an overnight ferry, the only time I did this I had a few micro sleeps on the M1 at 80 mph, not good . Another thing is that once you get away from the coast of France then not a lot of English is spoken (that caused a few problems when my Mini broke down slap bang in the middle of France ). Not so bad in Germany and Belgium though where most people under the age of 25 speak good English. BTW, The first time I drove on the Continent I had a Mini. Ignoring my above advice, we got straight on the ferry and arrived in Calais in the dark....did I mention the Storm Force 10 that was blowing in the channel? Couldn't even sail from Folkestone, everyone on the boat, even some of the crew, were sick as dogs, journey took twice as long, absolute nightmare for everyone...lucky that I never suffer from motion sickness . Then of course, we couldn't get the tent up in the howling gale, we had to find large lumps of concrete to keep it from flying away. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankeesiter Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Well, Ricey, if you can cancel the booking I'd say go for it. We're going to Italy from Le Mans this year. If you've not been driving on the Continent before, you do need to drive defensively until you get familiar with each country's customs. Particulary in Belgium where they still have "priorite a droite" in the towns, which means that even though you are on what appears to be a main road, drivers coming from your right at an intersection have the right of way and can go straight through in front of you. Last year we drove 3300 miles to Portugal and back and the only time I nearly got nailed was when some jerk pulled out of a slip road and nearly squeezed me between himself and a car overtaking me in the middle lane on the M20. Finally, I spent 15 years working at least 6 months of the year in Europe and I can honestly say that I found the standard of driving no better or worse than here. Go for it and enjoy. P.S. We go to Brussels fairly often and can easily make that in a day from Cromer, Norfolk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbs Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 If you are seriously thinking about it, forget Dover etc thats a long way round, get on the M62 to Hull, overnight on the ferry to Zeebruge, all nice and fresh for a great drive through Belgium into Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK350Z Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Driving on the wrong side is tricky until it "clicks". I've found by far the biggest mistakes made by people is not looking left at junctions (for the oncoming traffic), and road/lane positioning i.e. driving to far to the right as thats where you are used to sitting in the lane in the uk - also a major risk of kerbed alloys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Doh.....bloody airline won't refund. Still gives some food for thought for a little journey in the summer maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Micro thread revival..........just found out that when Carla made the booking e-bookers didn't add baggage or seats together - which apparently is going to cost another 70 squid Looking at it in more detail it would appear we can't get a refund on the flights but we could get a refund on the taxes - £154 quid of a £267 fare. So I need to work out the financials; - £154 refund on flights minus an admin fee (Christ knows how much that will be). - £220 refund on car hire (full refund with no fee) - Save additional £70 by not having to shell on the baggage/seats together. - cost to get to airport or parking at airport - £40 quid if we're lucky (forgot all about this until today!) - Fuel for hire car back and to from airport/driving while we're there. £100 maybe? (1.4 petrol Polo) By my reckoning (lets assume 35 quid admin fee) thats about £500ish back or avoided - roughly 5 tanks of fuel in the Zed (motorway cruising - maybe 300 a tank - giving 1200 miles driving) - total distance there and back with no driving accounted for while we're there is about 1500 miles. Guessing we'll need around 6 tanks in total. Plus £60-80 for the ferry. Admiral very kindly cover us for free in Europe so no hidden costs there. Couple of toll roads no doubt in France but nothing major. So its; 1. Cattle class flight at 7 in the morning meaning we need to be up around 4am.........arriving in Germany at 10.15am. 2. Spend several hours negotiating with an Avis representative Steve Martin style until she agrees to give us an inspiring 1.4 Polo. 3. Drive 2 hours to Black Forest. 4. Be inspired by the awesomeness of the 83bhp Polo 5. Drive 2 hours on a deadline to airport again to catch a 19.50pm flight back to UK 6. Drive home/sit in vomit infested taxi for 30 mins. Or; 1. Leisurely rise at around 10am whatever day we fancy .........have a bit of a scratch. 2. Drive to Dover (4/5 hours - pretty grueling for my back ) 3. Hope ferry avoids Lexx learning to drive 4. Stay over in France or somewhere for a night. 5. Drive on to Germany 6. Be thrilled by the pure awesomeness of the Zed 7. Eat some Gateaux 8. Leisurely drive back to UK. 9. Catch ferry - watch Martinmac beating Lexx with a fish for scuppering their ship. 10. Either stay somewhere daaaaaan saaaaff for a night or drive home (doubt my back will deal with that). 11. Get home relaxed, satisfied and vomit smell free. Hmmmm.......seems like it makes too much sense. What am I missing? (aside from the obvious 'Severance' style crazed ex soviet soldiers who were subjected to experiments and now live in the backwaters of Germany just waiting for an unsuspecting Zed driver to come along to be bummed in the gob). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Motorway cruising you will get 400 miles to a tank easy if it is a UK one (80ish ltrs) I wnt from London to Newcastle on less than a tank and not hanging about either, once that V6 settles down on a run it is soooo lazy effortless You know it makes sense.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will370z Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Useful info here thanks guys, am thinking of doing a little European trip in the summer so it was useful reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK350Z Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Don't know where you are driving from but did you look at the Hull - Ijmuiden (nr Amsterdam) crossing? Saves a hotel down south if you get an overnight crossing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Don't know where you are driving from but did you look at the Hull - Ijmuiden (nr Amsterdam) crossing? Saves a hotel down south if you get an overnight crossing. From Chester mate. I'll look into it - would prob be a little bit quicker than Dover I reckon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankeesiter Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 So its; 1. Cattle class flight at 7 in the morning meaning we need to be up around 4am.........arriving in Germany at 10.15am. 2. Spend several hours negotiating with an Avis representative Steve Martin style until she agrees to give us an inspiring 1.4 Polo. 3. Drive 2 hours to Black Forest. 4. Be inspired by the awesomeness of the 83bhp Polo 5. Drive 2 hours on a deadline to airport again to catch a 19.50pm flight back to UK 6. Drive home/sit in vomit infested taxi for 30 mins. Or; 1. Leisurely rise at around 10am whatever day we fancy .........have a bit of a scratch. 2. Drive to Dover (4/5 hours - pretty grueling for my back ) 3. Hope ferry avoids Lexx learning to drive 4. Stay over in France or somewhere for a night. 5. Drive on to Germany 6. Be thrilled by the pure awesomeness of the Zed 7. Eat some Gateaux 8. Leisurely drive back to UK. 9. Catch ferry - watch Martinmac beating Lexx with a fish for scuppering their ship. 10. Either stay somewhere daaaaaan saaaaff for a night or drive home (doubt my back will deal with that). 11. Get home relaxed, satisfied and vomit smell free. Hmmmm.......seems like it makes too much sense. What am I missing? (aside from the obvious 'Severance' style crazed ex soviet soldiers who were subjected to experiments and now live in the backwaters of Germany just waiting for an unsuspecting Zed driver to come along to be bummed in the gob). Brilliant! Sums up so well the virtues of Zed driving compared to any other form of travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 Recently added to my list of 'Things to abolish when I become world dictator'........low cost airlines. Apparently they charge an administration fee of £25...............per person............per flight............inbound...........and outbound. So allegedly they believe their administration costs are £100 to press the cancel button on 4 flights. Much as it probably still reasonably lose on the financials I just can't seem to justify in my head throwing £200 down the drain. I think one of my special complaint letters might be in order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 I'm so bored of complaining to bloody useless people........ah well here we go. Dear Sirs/Madam, I am writing to express my formal dissatisfaction with the level of administration fees that you apply to cancelled flights. We are unfortunately unable to utilize the flights under booking reference E6QEJ2 - after enquiring with your Customer Call Center I was advised that you would charge an administration fee of £25 per person, per flight, inbound and outbound - therefore totaling £100. I live in the real world - I totally appreciate fares aren't refundable. After all its not your fault we can't attend. Similarly I appreciate administration fees are a fact of the modern world - and correct that they should be - you have to employ someone to cancel our flights. What I completely take offence to and quite honestly am astounded by is profiteering of this nature. You simply cannot justify charging £25 per flight for cancelling 4 flights in the same transaction. I am offering you this opportunity to be reasonable and refund our taxes in respect of this booking minus a (single) administration fee of £25 (which is adequate for the work involved). This will be the difference between sending a customer away satisfied with a genuinely positive experience from your company or to totally alienate a customer who would make a point of never using you again and ensuring that this issue is highlighted publicly. The seats can (and probably will) be resold and your already receiving a profit of £94.64. The only possible reason for charging fees of this amount is to impose a post sale barrier for any customer who needs to cancel. I appreciate that sometimes in companies we try and have a 'one size fits all' approach. In this instance I hope you will agree you cannot reasonable apply this approach. Kind Regards Paul Rice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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