need help with train schedule/tickets

Nancy,

For that particular trip, I'd probably consider using a budget flight from Rome to Paris and then train to Metz. There are flights available both from FCO and CIA to either ORY or CDG (Air Berlin or Vueling). Travel by train from Rome to Metz is a minimum of about 18 hours with as many as four changes.

At the end of your Son's visit to Metz, it's an easy trip from there to Paris / Gare du Nord and then via EuroStar to London.

Good luck!

Vueling has four flights/day from Fiumicino to Orly. Book ASAP to get the best fare.

Book Paris-Metz and Metz-Paris ASAP at www.tgv-europe.com to get a discount fare. Choose Great Britain as your country of residence to keep the site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site.

Allow three hours between your scheduled arrival at Orly and your scheduled departure from Gare de l'Est to Metz. Take the free airport shuttle bus to the Pont de Rungis RER C station. Take the RER C to Gare d'Austerlitz. Transfer to Metro line 5 and take it to Gare de l'Est.

It's less than a ten-minute walk from Gare de l'Est to Gare du Nord, but there is a mandatory 30-minute check-in deadline for the Eurostar. If your son leaves Metz at 06:56 and arrives in Paris at 09:45, he could catch the 11:13 Eurostar. If he leaves at 08:49 and arrives at 10:19, he could catch the 12:13 Eurostar.

Book the Paris-London Eurostar ASAP at www.eurostar.com. Register as a resident of the UK to get the cheapest fare.

Thank you for all the suggestions...very helpful! One more question. What happens if his flight is delayed (or he gets lost!) and he misses the train he has a reservation for? Will they let him on the next train with that ticket?

Prem's fare tickets for Paris-Metz are non-exchangeable and non-refundable. If he misses his train, he is out the price of the ticket. Loisir fare tickets are exchangeable up to the time of departure, but that won't do him any good if his plane is late and he misses his train. Again, he'll be out the price of the ticket. Standard fare tickets are fully exchangeable even after the train has departed--for a fee.

If he wants to play it really safe, he could book a discount fare ticket for a train that leaves Gare de l'Est even more than three hours after he is scheduled to arrive at Orly. Or he could buy a standard fare ticket when he gets to Gare de l'Est.

I don't know exactly how long the shuttle bus ride takes from Orly to the Pont de Rungis RER C station, but I'm guessing that it's no more than 10-15 minutes. According to the Journey Planner on the RATP site, it's about a 45-minute ride (including connecting time at Gare d'Austerlitz) from Pont de Rungis to Gare de l'Est. The fare is 3.70 EUR.

Tim, I appreciate all your helpful information, but I am finding it very confusing. In describing how to get from Orly to Metz you say to take the free airport shuttle bus to the Pont de Rungis RER C Station. Is that a train station? I don't know what RER C means? It seems like it might be much easier for him to just get a cab from Orly to where ever he needs to go to get the train to Metz. All that shuffling around seems overwhelming to me. We are not very familiar with public transportation. Your thoughts? Also, Gare de l"Est and Gare du Nord are both train stations?

Gare de l'Est and Gare du Nord are mainline train stations north of the Seine River and are only a few blocks apart. Trains to Metz depart from Gare de l'Est. Eurostar trains to London depart from Gare du Nord.

The RER is the suburban train system. The lines run underground where they pass through central Paris. The Metro is the Paris subway system. Go here for a zoomable map of the Metro and RER systems.

Orly is south of Paris proper and appears on the map. The black dotted line shows the route of the airport shuttle bus from the Orly Sud terminal to the Orly Ouest terminal and on to the Pont de Rungis RER station. Do not confuse the shuttle bus with the Orlybus which goes into Paris.

Vueling flights arrive at the Ouest terminal. The pickup point for the shuttle bus is at entrance G on the Arrivals level. According to the Aeroports de Paris site, the bus ride takes 10 minutes and costs €2.50 so apparently it isn't free after all.

Follow the yellow RER C line to the east and then to the north to Gare d'Austerlitz. You'll see that you can connect there to the orange Metro line 5 which goes north to Gare de l'Est. Your son will need to follow the correspondances (connections) signs and walk through the tunnels from the RER station to the Metro station. At any station the direction RER and Metro trains are running is indicated by the name of the station at the end of the line. Your son would take the RER C (Direction: Montigny-Beauchamp) to Gare d'Austerlitz and transfer to Metro line 5 (Direction: Bobigny-Pablo-Picasso) and take it to Gare de l'Est. Everything is clearly marked and it isn't as complicated as it sounds. He should keep his ticket until he exits the system.

Yes, your son certainly could take a taxi from Orly to Gare de l'Est, but the fare will be around €35 (more if traffic is heavy because the meter will be running).

Tim, I booked his train travel on the TGV-Europe site as you suggested and chose Great Britain/English as the country. Had to go with the option of getting the tickets from a machine in France. It doesn't cause a problem saying your country is Great Britain when it is really USA? So does he just insert his card into a machine and it prints out his tickets? Hope using an American Visa debit card isn't a problem.

Tim,
Thank you so much...that is just the kind of detailed explanation we needed! I think he can follow those directions.

You're welcome, Nancy.

One more thing. When your son arrives at the Gare de l'Est Metro station, he will need to follow the Sortie (Exit) signs to get to street level and enter the mainline station.

As I said in a previous post, the reason to choose Great Britain as your country of residence is to keep the site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site which doesn't offer discount fares.

Since you don't actually want the tickets to be mailed to Great Britain, picking the option of retrieving them from a ticket machine was the right thing to do. However, the ticket machines at French stations only accept cards with embedded chips. Your son will have to go to a ticket window and present the card used when booking, along with the confirmation number you either have received, or soon will receive, by e-mail. The agent will swipe your son's card and print his tickets.

Perfect! That's what I thought but good to have it confirmed. I appreciate all your help. Such a learning experience!