Archive for October, 2009
Unfortunately there is no direct flight from Dover to Calais. The nearest airport to Dover on UK soil is Kent International from which there are no scheduled flights to northern France. Similarly, the nearest airport to Calais on French soil is Calais – Dunkerque Airport which is used for small aircraft only.
If you want to travel by air across the channel to visit Calais, the best and cheapest way is to take a plane from London to Paris and travel by rail from Paris to Dover.
The main airports in London and the South East that service regular flights to Paris are Heathrow Airport in west London and Gatwick Airport in Sussex, south of London. From both airports, flights to Paris arrive at Charles De Gaulle Airport which is 17 miles North East from the centre of Paris in Roissy-En-France. The flight takes about 2 hours.
On arrival at Charles De Gaulle you need to take a train on the TGV Interconnexion line to Lille Europe which takes about 1 hour. At Lille Europe you have to change trains and have two options.
The first option is to take a TGV Interconnexion train from Lille Europe to Calais Frethun which takes 30 minutes. The second option is to change stations to Lille Flandres and take a TER train to Calais Ville which takes 1 hour 30 minutes. It is worth bearing in the mind the second option in case of unexpected delays or cancellations. The total journey time is at least 4 hours.
Posted in 
The do it yourself ski holidays took another blow with the announcement from British Airways that they are now charging you for the privilege of carrying your skis. British Airways have been the choice of skiers who made independent arrangements for their ski holiday, particularly since the low cost carriers had been charging for ski carriage for some years now. The charge that is being imposed by British Airways is no “small beer” you will be charged £58 if you pay for these when you book your flight online, if you do not, but wait until you get to the airport, this charge becomes a staggering £70!
It seems to most that these charges cannot be justified and makes it more important that you talk to a ski holiday specialist when considering your holiday. You will find that the deals that are available are considerably cheaper than individually booking a flight, accommodation and transferring to the resort. Tour operators get the best accommodation deals and contract hire coaches for the ski season for airport to resort transfers, usually much cheaper than you can do it yourself, although most charge for ski carriage which can make hiring equipment in the resort an option to consider. Again your ski holiday specialist can help here.
One way round the ski carriage problem is to use “snow train” which is Eurostar and travels from St Pancras to the French Alps each week on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. You still have to get to your resort, which is usually a short transfer, but you can take as much luggage as you want, including skis, free of charge. All in ski holidays by snow train are available through ski holiday specialists, and your transfer to the resort will be taken care of, this option is great for families and groups of like minded people. As no “snow train” exist to take us across the Atlantic to the North American ski resorts, we still have to rely on the aeroplane, but you will get free ski carriage on some Airlines