I will be landing in Frankfurt, picking up a car and driving to Reims, where I have a hotel and will leave my car while I travel to Paris. I am not sure if it would benefit me to buy my train tickets to Paris ahead of time. I found the site, but could not figure out how much the tickets go up if I wait, and not even sure I have the correct website (I don't do trains very often and if I do I usually just purchase on the spur of the moment...but since I know we are going figure I will save money if I can) After Paris we will return to Reims to pick up car and carry on to MSM. Oh... and we leave the 16th (total last minute trip)
of Nov. Thanks.
Posted by
OP
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
Thanks... I must have been in wrong site as I did have the high rate. I will work this out tomorrow and if I can't negotiate it (no I don't read French) I might be back for help...(at least you assumed I was over 60 from my grandkids age...and not from seeing me:)) Actually, just barely... I was a young mom and my son was a young dad... for which I am thankful so I can do lots of stuff with the kids, but I worry about the younger ones (3 and 4 months) that they will be carting me around!
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4088 posts
Hello, neighbour in Ann Arbor. I use www.tgv-europe.com for SNCF tickets in English. A common warning, but worth repeating, is that you should specify any country other than the US or Australia to avoid being bumped to RailEurope. You may be able to print out the tickets; if not, go to any station in France with your confirmation to have an agent print them.
Posted by
OP
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
@Bets or neighbor in Windsor...Here is what I found for the 2 of us..... Nov. 18th leave Reims 9:15 am, Nov 19th leave Paris for Reims 8:58 am...1 Senior, 1 youth $156.00 and that was on the Rail Europe with US as home country. Doing it with UK it ended up being $163 and that 8:58 train was not even listed, so it means leaving earlier... do not know why I am not finding those cheaper seats.... So please clarify...I am supposed to say I am a citizen of UK??? Help....
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5850 posts
Terry Kathryn, Try this: 1) Go to www.tgv.europe.com 2) Click on the UK on the map. This should bring up a choice. Make sure to choose the option where you continue onto tgv-europe and pay in Euros (as opposed to one that takes you to a UK raileurope site). Once I do this, this is what the URL looks like:
www.tgv-europe.com/en/?DISTRIBUTED_COUNTRY=GB I just tried this and saw options as low as 42 EUR round trip (1 adult 2nd class) for your dates of travel.
Posted by
OP
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
Thanks everybody.... I guess I am still clueless as I am still not finding any cheap rates (I found 42 euros for 2 people, but that was one way...then I had to choose the return)... the best I can find for my timing is leaving Reims 9:15 am Nov 18 for Paris and leaving Paris for Reims Nov 19th at 8:58 and the total for 1 Senior and 1 youth is 110 Euros or $142 and that is on the site from Laura and that is putting in GB as home country.... is this legal? Same ticket on RailEurope is $156... at least that is what I found. (no wonder I usually drive or just buy tickets when I am there... thought I could save some money, but don't know if its worth it:)) I need a glass of wine!
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
3050 posts
Whoops, I posted without seeing the exact same advice Laura gave above. Anyway it's TOTALLY legal to list your country as the UK, it doesn't matter at all, they just try to reroute Americans to RailEurope so they can make money. I buy all my tickets listing my "location" as the UK, it doesn't matter at all. In this case EU residents are not entitled to cheaper tickets or anything. Try pricing out your tickets separately instead of round trip to see if that is cheaper, by the way. I don't know why, but DeutscheBahn always has higher prices when I buy round trip tickets together as opposed to buying the legs separately. It's really weird, but that's the way it always works out. So I just price it out for both legs before I make the purchase. Ralph, once again, your advice is not accurate: you save significant money buying tickets in advance through tgv-europe.com as opposed to buying them in person on the day of travel. And when I have used TGV windows I have received great customer service.
Posted by
OP
Ann Arbor, Mi
3696 posts
Thanks again everyone... @Sarah... will try to price it the other way...just like flights, makes no sense
@Bets....I know it's a roundabout way, but that is the first day I land in Frankfurt and did not want to drive too far that day...wanted something easy, plus Reims looked charming and I wanted Matthew (grandson) to have the train experience, but I may rethink this.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5850 posts
Terry Kathryn, I checked again and see the same price you got (55 EUR for one adult on your date/times). When I checked earlier, there was lower fare on one of the trips on the 19th and I don't see it now. I notice that departing on the next day (20th) there are still some of the lower fares... so looks like some of the lower fares may be selling out. I've bought from tgv-europe before, printed ticket at home, and had no problem.