My mother who has always been a long time Rick Steves admirer and has taken all of her grandchildren on a great European adventure sadly just had a heart attack while she was in switzerland. She ended up being helicoptered to bern and has been in the hospital a few days. We're sending my 25-year-old niece to go and help her as soon as she is discharged from the hospital. Additionally she had a terrible fall. True to my mother's adventurous traveling spirit she is eager to get back on the tour that she is on currently. I of course think she is crazy but I have to let her do her. What I'm hoping for help with is we had to make a decision about where the niece was going to fly in not knowing when she will actually be discharged from the hospital. Mom and 20 yo nephew are currently in Bern and the tour has moved on to Paris. My niece is flying into Paris early tomorrow morning and hoping that my mom and nephew have already been able to get there however if she is not my niece needs to go from the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to Bern on train. My sister is worried bc she says the trains are showing as full. Can anyone advise us? If niece goes to the counter when she arrives is it possible that there will still be space on the train or is what my sister seen online the final word? If you have any other great advice on my niece just getting from the airport to the train station as quickly and easily as possible please give me any advice you can. Thank you so much
Posted by
London
2641 posts
Taking it easy in Switzerland and then flying home sounds like a better idea to me. I had a heart attack four weeks ago and a stent put in and I wouldn't be continuing on the tour. I didn't fall either, I'm 30 years younger and I'm feeling fine, but I would try to convince her to do something a little less taxing.
Posted by
Green Bay
23665 posts
Trying to figure out exactly what date this will happen. If niece is leaving today, she will be in Paris tomorrow morning. From what I can see, all the TGV-Lyria trains from Paris (Gare de Lyon) to Basel from Thursday through Saturday have seats available and there are 6 TGV-Lyria trains every day. At Basel you change to Bern and they are like every 30 minutes throughout the day and they are almost never full.
So I don't think she will have any problems getting from Paris to Bern in the near future.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
18309 posts
I wonder how continuing on would affect her travel health insurance, especially if she has another health-related episode while abroad? What do her doctors in Bern recommend (and I'm sure it's NOT that she go bopping about on the rest of a tour but what do I know)?
Sorry to hear about your mom's health difficulties. :O(
Posted by
Freedonia
19200 posts
First, Gerry M, sorry to hear about your health issues. I hope all is well from today onward.
Have your mother and niece stay in Bern. Forget the tour. It's over for her. They probably wouldn't let her back on anyway. Have your niece fly into Zurich. From the Zurich airport she can get a direct train to Bern. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes.
If she does fly into Paris, it's easy to get a flight to Zurich if necessary. It will also be faster. As above, take a train from zurich airport direct to Bern.
Posted by
Lake District, England
12024 posts
It looks as if there is only 1 train a day from CDG direct to Basel (for Bern) at 7am which is sold out, but plenty from Paris Gare de Lyon, all of which have seats available.
So what your niece needs to do is to take a taxi from the airport to Gare de Lyon in central Paris and there buy a ticket to Bern. All trains are a change at Basel anyway, so any difficulty get a ticket from Paris to Basel (direct train).
At Basel she is in Switzerland where trains don't sell out, so then just buy a ticket from Basel to Bern and take the first train on to Bern. The ticket clerk will tell your niece the time of the next train, and what platform/track it is leaving from.
Posted by
London
2641 posts
First, Gerry M, sorry to hear about your health issues. I hope all is well from today onward.
Thanks Frank. I'm actually feeling better now than I have done for years. Having to get the procedure done in an emegency did take me by surprise somewhat though!
It's quite a bit of responsibility to put on Rick Steves Europe and the guide on the ground to think about continuing the tour imho. I know I've had some concerns in the last few weeks about having another cardiac episode at this quite risky time.
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
4185 posts
It is unclear if your mom is on an organized tour or on her own. If with a tour company (RS or otherwise) they may offer some limited help with logistics. I certainly hope your mom has travel insurance - they should have a contact number to get support in this situation. I had a tourmate fall on a tour and her travel insurance was very good with arranging transport for her within the country as well as back home. If she doesn't have travel insurance at a minimum make sure your niece and nephew get paper copies of every medical bill to help with getting reimbursed by her insurance here.
Best of luck and wishing your mom a speedy and safe recovery.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
6704 posts
she is eager to get back on the tour that she is on currently.
If she is on an organized tour, they may not allow her to return and continue. Has she asked the tour company?
Honestly, It would make more sense to relax in Switzerland until she is ready to fly home and to change her flight reservation to fly home from Switzerland.
My niece is flying into Paris early tomorrow morning and hoping that my mom and nephew have already been able to get there however if she is not my niece needs to go from the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to Bern on train.
My suggestion would be that your niece just stay in a hotel in Paris the first night that she arrives. This will give her time to talk to her mother to get the latest information and if necessary, sort out travel arrangements for the following day.