(Link to next Entry – Bordeaux!)

Update – April 30-May 1

We’re on the way – here we are on the plane, I’m updating this in the Amsterdam airport as we wait for our flight to Bordeaux. The strike is definitely off, and all looks good for the flight, we just have to wait another 5 hours or so to board. A little confusing to make our way through the passport control – actually not difficult other than FINDING the passport control when we didn’t know which gate our flight would be using yet. Everyone we talked to was comfortable with english, and in the long run it was not difficult to make it through.

Of course, we’ve gotten spoiled by always having TSA PreCheck in the US – so taking all the computers and liquids out of the bags and taking off jackets was a big “first world problem”. But, somehow we managed! Next interesting thing, assuming we don’t get confused between where we are now and our gate (D59) will be customs in Bordeaux, and then getting to the hotel. Actually, I need to research that because we’ve been focusing our research on the train route instead. Which reminds me – I need to cancel those tickets! (Update, June 7: – Was not actually able to cancel them after all – you can cancel them, but you have to do it IN the railroad station that you are scheduled to travel from. Oh well, it was not all that much really, good insurance that we didn’t need.)

Dave

(Link to next Entry – Bordeaux!)

Update – April 24, 2015:

The strike for April 30-May 2 has been officially called off by the air traffic controllers! So, we should be able to stick to our original agenda and fly from Amsterdam to Bordeaux. That means we will have a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam, so we may be able to take the short metro ride in to town to explore between flights!

We are holding on to the train tickets, just in case, but can cancel them for a full refund on the day of travel.

dave

April 15:

We head out on April 30, and our adventure starts with a potential travel kerfuffle. The French air traffic controllers have scheduled a strike for April 30 – May 2. Naturally, our flight to Bordeaux leaves on April 30, and we must be in Bordeaux to board our Viking River Cruise on May 2 by about noon.

We know the flight from Seattle to Amsterdam will be fine – but Amsterdam to Bordeaux is highly likely to be cancelled. So, we’ve purchased train tickets from Amsterdam to Bordeaux just in case – and the adventure will be that we land at 8:20am, and need to catch the train by 11:17am. It all looks do-able, customs in Amsterdam should not be difficult, and it’s a 15 minute metro ride from the airport to Amsterdam Centraal rail station where we pick up our Thalys train to Paris. Assuming that all works (and there are later trains just in case it doesn’t), we arrive in Paris Nord station at 14:38 (2:38pm), and leave Paris Montmartre station for Bordeaux at 15:28 (3:28pm)! 50 minutes, assuming the trains are on time – there is a 17 minute metro ride between stations, and a long walk at the Montmartre end to get to the platform. Again, two more trains later in the day if we miss the connection – but if we make it, we’ll actually be in Bordeaux just two hours later than our original plane schedule.

Maybe the strike won’t happen, or the flight won’t be cancelled – in that case, we will actually have nearly 6 hours in Amsterdam, and we may take the metro into town to explore a bit anyway. Fortunately, the train tickets are fully refundable if we don’t need to use them, right up to 2 hours after departure time.

(Link to next Entry – Bordeaux!)