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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To never travel on public transport again

57 replies

lovelybangers · 02/09/2016 18:33

Slightly lighthearted.

Am on a ferry home from a very relaxing, peaceful two weeks in France.

Nice drive up to Calais

Am now in Hell.

There isn't anywhere to sit which doesn't smell (toilets, cafe food), can hear the kids play area all over.

Also there are loads of people sprawled across the seats - shoes up on tables and chairs. Ugh.

Tunnel next time.

OP posts:

eightytwenty · 02/09/2016 23:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Littlecaf · 02/09/2016 23:13

Newhaven - Dieppe is a truckers route. Literally nothing to do on the ferries except realise your DP doesn't want to be with you anymore. can you tell I had a memorable experience?

Loved the Eurostar though. he bought champagne. It was a happier time.

purpleapple1234 · 02/09/2016 23:17

My worst ferry hell was a dublin to Holyhead trip alongside a university college Dublin (ucd ?) booze cruise. If only I had had enough money for a cabin. Worse night of my life. But the right ferry in the right location that is under capacity and ferry travel can be lovely.

Littlecaf · 02/09/2016 23:22

Oh gosh, Holyhead to Dublin booze cruise. I think my best mate won that on a scratch card! Awful. Just awful.

Once did Harwich to Denmark. My parents changed our whole holiday so I could see Oasis at Knebworth and my mum made me sleep on the chair in our cabin as she'd changed the booking so I could go. I thought it worthwhile as a 15year old!

Coming back via Hamburg was good though. Actually rather interesting going along past fields etc.

Littlecaf · 02/09/2016 23:25

Oh and the Scillonian - Penzance to St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Think I threw up a few times. Also nearly got ran over by it while sailing a dingy.

Threw up in Portsmouth harbour on the way back from France also. Got all that way back then blurgh......

liz70 · 02/09/2016 23:31

I've travelled on a bus through the tunnel. Liverpool to Amiens for £56 return. Had to get out of the bus and walk along the sides for the duration of the journey as it was very hot and airless onboard (engine and therefore aircon switched off).

thinkingthingsover · 02/09/2016 23:52

I used to read a lot of romance novels and always thought the real appeal was that the heroine starts off in a normal (aka downtrodden) life and by the end she never has to use public transport again. The rich hero is just the means of facilitating her freedom from buses, nightmare ferries, economy class and trains with sick on the seats. Even Twilight has that story arc.

MagikarpetRide · 02/09/2016 23:58

I never realised eurotunnel was the posh option starts lording around living room talking about only travelling first class

allegretto · 03/09/2016 07:44

My DH won't go through the tunnel as he doesn't like them although he has no trouble driving through massively long tunnels in Switzerland Not all ferries are created equal! The one we got from Calais this year was lovely and new and the fish and chips were delicious!

ForalltheSaints · 03/09/2016 08:09

Tunnel for me, usually by Eurostar.

engineersthumb · 03/09/2016 08:27

We travel by ferry most years Dover Dunkirk and it's usually fine. I used to travel newhaven dieppe on the way to Le Mans (before kids! ) that could be crowded. I remember one trip that was very rough, I pushed myself in a chair and slept, when I woke up I had one foot wedged on a bulkhead and the other on the table leg! I was fine but the ferry was dripping vommit! All in all always preffered the boat to the tunnel, the tunnel was boring and the toilets a bit grubby. Has anyone recently passed through Dunkirk, what's the security situation like now? The press reports growing violence against drivers but I'm not sure I believe the press.

scaryteacher · 03/09/2016 09:35

We always use Dunkirk Dover as Dunkirk is closer to Brussels where we live, we avoid any motorway problems near Calais, and you can get a hour with your head down, as we normally have a drive down to the Devon/Cornwall borders once we hit Dover. The shop normally does good offers on Clinique as well.

scaryteacher · 03/09/2016 09:37

Engineersthumb No issues at Dunkirk that we've heard of. The problems are further towards Calais.

engineersthumb · 03/09/2016 10:15

Many thanks scaryteacher,
Heading that way soon.

GemmaWella81 · 03/09/2016 12:39

Dover-Dunkirk on the ferry or the channel tunnel. We always save up our Tesco vouchers and cash them in and cover the cost of the journey. Every £10 in vouchers gets converted to £30 with dfds ferries or Chunnel.

PatriciaHolm · 03/09/2016 12:43

Flexiplus on the tunnel every time! Grab your free lunch, coffee and paper, drive onto the next train, no waiting. Even have a dedicated passport queue now. ;-)

scaryteacher · 04/09/2016 06:24

I like the flexibility of the ferry from Dunkirk. I can book a sailing, and go two hours either side of that. It's very useful if the Ring is blocked around Brussels and you miss your ferry. Conversely, if the roads are clear, you get an earlier boat.

engineersthumb · 04/09/2016 08:53

On the dunkirk dover leg we usually book for the midday sailing but rock up in the morning. Usually get the earlier sailing for free but this year we paid about £40 extra looking on line it was about the same as we would have paid for the morning sailing so couldn't complain.

idontlikealdi · 04/09/2016 09:30

Flexiplus security wasn't open a couple of weeks ago!

Always tunnel after horrific sailings as a kid - all I can remember is the vomit.

rosesarered9 · 04/09/2016 09:35

Take the Eurotunnel! Either drive to Folkestone and take the train to Calais (vehicles included) or take the Eurostar (no vehicles) from St Pancras to Gare du Nord. Both take half the time. As PP have said, drink before departure; it blocks everything out. Obviously not necessary if taking the Eurotunnel with your own car.

IAmAPaleontologist · 04/09/2016 10:01

We always do Dover to Calais. This year we booked p&o and were on their huge newer ferries and it was great. The deck outside has a bar, the big family lounge has areas with floor cushions for the kids to loll around and they have a kids club so all I had to do was sit and read my book while dd did some beading and colouring in and watched Tom and Jerry.

Branleuse · 04/09/2016 10:32

Tunnel all the way. We are frequent travellers, so it is no more expensive than the ferry, and takes a third of the time

EnquiringMingeWantsToKnow · 04/09/2016 10:36

And this is why I holiday in Dorset/Pembrokeshire/Norfolk

Foslady · 04/09/2016 11:16

Brings back memories of a male German language teacher I once had at school. His tip for travelling in an overnight ferry to Germany was to book a sleeper seat, go straight to the bar and get talking to a Lordy driver as they always have a room to themselves with a spare bunk.

The look of horror when he realised that even though it was a mixed school we were an all girl class.......

paddypants13 · 04/09/2016 11:25

We've never had any issues doing Dover to Calais with or without the children but we always do night/ early hours crossings.

We can't use chunnel because our car runs on LPG and petrol.

I love doing Hull to Rotterdam (we have family in the Netherlands) but it's so bloody expensive it's untrue.

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