Changing Ships Midstream

Well yesterday was a day of change. We both woke up bright and bushytailed at 4:00 am courtesy of maladjusted body clocks.  After watching the changing situation on CNN, we decided that we could sit around in Zurich until Tuesday and have probably a  40% chance that our plane would actually leave or we could look at alternative transport. We did some research over the web looking at train and ferry options and found that we could get a ferry to Ireland from Cherbourg so it would just be a matter of getting to Cherbourg.

Checking the French rail website, we found that there were trains available from Paris to Cherbourg.  So then I checked the Swiss rail network and found that there appeared to be trains available from Zurich to Paris via Geneva or Basel or Strasbourg.  But I could not book any of these online due to the date being too close.  We had also heard at the airport yesterday that it was possible to change airline flights for train journeys to the Swiss border, so we decided to check that option out.  So we went down to an early breakfast and caught the hotel shuttle to the airport early to see what we could do.

At the airport we saw that there was already a long queue at the Swiss Air desk, so we went to the information desk and asked re changing flights to trains and were told that that option was no longer available and that we would need to book trains ourselves.  We went downstairs and joined the queue at the train ticket window.  Halfway down that queue we realised it was for domestic tickets only and that the international tickets were around the corner, so we moved around to the next office and found ourselves in another queue.  When we finally reached the front of the queue we sat down and told the lady where we wanted to go and she said, “Yes I have tickets all the way through to Cherbourg. The train leaves the airport at 10:05”

I looked at my watch and realised that it was 9:40, and there was no way to get a taxi back to the hotel, get our bags, check out and get back to the airport in 25 mins.  So then we asked her for options for today.  She found a train from Paris to Cherbourg quite easily.  Then she found us a train from Zurich to Basel.  The Basel to Paris leg was the hardest and we eventually said that we would go first class if necessary and she then was able to  find us a train and booked that.  Then when she went back to book the Paris-Cherbourg train, the second class seats had all gone, so we had to go first class for that as well.  The Zurich-Basel train we got as 2nd class.

So we had our Zurich to Cherbourg train organised, booked and paid for.  It was then a case of trying to book the ferry.  We grabbed a seat in the airport coffee shop [which btw made the best coffee we had had since leaving Canberra] and started trying to book a ferry.  The Irish Ferries web site was sufferring from meltdown and was taking forever to change between pages.  I finally managed to make a booking, but then had major trouble trying to pay for it. I kept being told that my userid and password didn’t match.  I was able to reset my password numerous times through their reset password option, but the problem seemed to be in their payment part of the website.  Finally, after three beers worth of trying, I finally managed to get through their system all the way and now we have an overnight ferry booked and paid for leaving Cherbourg to Rosslare at 8:00 pm on the 20th.

At this stage we have no accommodation booked at Cherbourg but are leaving that till we get there, just in case we don’t get there.  Just to make matters worse, there is a railway strike in France that, at this stage, is not affecting our currently booked trains, but if it escalates, we may find ourselves in Basel, Paris or somewhere else for the night.

Our other concern was that Rosslare is quite some way from Dublin where we had planned to pick up our hire car.  We had this problem sorted when we rang the cottage owner to tell them when we were turning up.  Heather and David Lawson own the cottage and when we explained our predicament to Heather, she told us we could catch the train from Rosslare to Rathdrum and she would pick us up and take us to the cottage for the night.  Her husband works in Dublin and will take us to Dublin in the morning so we can pick up our car.

As I write this, we are having breakfast at the hotel.  We have a taxi booked at 7:45 to take us into Zurich for our 8:25 train.

Glenda and Chris’s excellent adventure continues…

Well that didn’t go to plan

As Robert Burns so aptly noted:

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley [Often go ugly]

After a long and tiring 13 hour flight from Hong Kong to Zurich which at times seemed to be a rather convoluted loop through China, Khazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, over the Caspian Sea over Azerbaijan and then along the Black Sea probably designed to avoid Iraqi and Russian airspace, we found ourselves looking slightly dishevelled and in desperate need of sleep in an almost deserted Zurich airport.  Looking to find the transfer station, we checked the departure boards and noticed our Zurich – Dublin flight had a strange red German word next to it. A couple of seconds later that word changed to the equivalent English word.  “Cancelled”.  Our hearts sank.

There then ensued some almost frantic discussions with a couple of airport staff where we discovered that a rampant Icelandic volcano was doing its best to thwart our [and thousands of others] travel plans.  All flights in and out of Ireland, the UK and Scandinavia had been cancelled.

When we got to the transfer station we worked out where everyone had got to.  The queue at the transfer station rivalled the best that Sydney airport could ever hope to throw up.  There was nothing for us to do but join another 2 hour queue to finally get a new flight to Dublin [via Frankfurt] tomorrow.  So Swiss Air have put us up in the Park Inn near the airport for the night,  including vouchers for lunch and dinner [breakfast was included in the room charge].  This was very decent of them considering that the volcano had nothing to do with the airline.  For those that have ever stayed in Formula1 hotels, the Park Inn is a slightly upmarket version.

So what this all means is that we will be arriving in Dublin at 10:30 pm on Friday rather than at 9:20 am on Thursday.