I made a reservation on a TGV train a month ago but didn't write down my coach and seat assignment. I have the confirmation but I have to pick up the ticket at a SCNF boutique.Will the seat assignment be on the ticket or am I missing something on the confirmation?
Nancy,
Yes, the Car and Seat No. will be listed on the ticket. I'm not as proficient with French as with Italian, but if I my interpretation is correct, this is what to look for:
On the top right portion of one of my (reserved) tickets, it indicated "Classe 1 / 2, Voit xx, Place No xx, 01 Assis, Non Fum". The "xx" indicates a number and the last part refers to "No Smoking". The words "Salle" and "01Isolee" were also shown, but I'm not sure what those mean.
Happy travels!
Ken, Thanks for the help. Does that mean voit refers to the car and place no refers to the seat? Also will the outside of the car have the number on it? As you can tell this will be my first experience riding the rails in Europe.
Nancy,
As this will be your first experience with trains in Europe, you might find it very helpful to download the free PDF Rail guide from this website. Click the Railpasses tab at the top of the page and then Free Rail Guide on the lower right side of the page.
Yes, the car will have a number. There should also be a number "1" or "2" which indicates a first or second class car. If the car has compartments, rather than open seating, the number will be indicated. I can't remember the details in France, but with compartments in Italy, there are usually paper tags on each compartment to indicate how many of the seats in that compartment are reserved.
According to the trusty French dictionary in my IPod Touch, "Voit" refers to car/carriage/coach.
You might also have a look at This site for info. One last tip - get used to using the 24-hour time system, as that's the system used exclusively for European trains.
Cheers!