Tat

Hi everyone, I am new here, but love this place for usefull conversations.
I've just got tickets to Germany, Hamburg for still $399 Luftghansa. April 1 to 12th.
Myself, my Husband and my Daughter (9y/old) are visiting my friend (her Husband and her Son 8y/old).
I've been to Germany twice before and loved it. But all of us wants to visit Paris.
We want to get most out of our trip ofcourse.
So, we need to travel in Europe in the most time economic way like night trains etc.
I do not know what is available. Just found out about night trains and 90 days window to order tickets.
Can someone suggest what is the best to do between Hamburg - Paris on Easter break ?
And how to do it with kids ?

Thanks a lot

rex

There are several very low-cost "new" airlines in Europe, and one of them might serve your intended route(s). Perhaps hlx.com or eurowings.com and probably one or two others that I am not thinking of. Ben Haines is likely to know. Hopefully he will add info from his files.

Best wishes,

Rex

Tat

Thanks,
but don't you think flying to Hamburg and back is enough flying for one trip ???
I would preffer overnight trains to anything. I am a poor flyer (sigh)...

I will check those sites out anyway,
Thanks much

GregPCM

Tat,

Your best NT to Paris from Hamburg is the non-stop that leaves the Hbf at about 8:30PM and arrive in Gard Nord at 9:15AM. You should be able to make reservation through the DB Website when you get closer to your departure date. If you want to learn more about NT travel, I like The Man in Seat Sixty-one Website (seat61.com). Lots of interesting and useful information. Another way to approch your trip would be to splite it in two. Maybe stop at a small town in France on your way to Paris. That way you could see more than just big cities. Just an idea.

Have a good trip.

Greg

rex

I also meant to add that you will do much better getting the answers you seek if the message "header" indicates what you are actually asking about.

Nothing about "First time to Europe" conveys that you are "Seeking info on travel options between Hamburg and Paris". That would serve you much better.

As for flying versus trains - - it would be about a one hour flight, versus a twelve hour train ride (admittedly while you are sleeping). Would you choose a twelve hour train trip "back home" over a one hour flight?

JonJon

Most berths on night trains can only be booked 60 days ahead...you can find out by calling one of the pass agencies such as RailEurope but if you arrive a few days ahead of time and it isn't the height of the tourist season you can probably get by with making your reservations in Europe. You can do it before you leave but you'll pay shipping charges and a premium for that added "convenience."
As GregPCM has indicated, there is one direct (no changes) night train but in April it leaves Hamburg at10:48 and arrives Paris Nord the next morning at 9:14. It is train #236.

Good luck.

ben_haines_london

I am grateful to Rex for marking this for me: I would have missed it.
I am afraid I have found no no-frills flight from Hamburg or anywhere in Germany to Paris, so I agree you want to think of night trains. The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas Cook European Timetable. Table 20 has your trains. Then Hamburg Altona 2233, Hamburg main station 2248, Paris Nord 0914. Then Paris Nord 2046, Hamburg main station 0651, Hamburg Altona (further into the old city) 0705. (There are three stops in Hamburg, I think, and you should ask your friend which you should use). The train is marked as Special Fares Apply. I have just phoned German Rail UK: www.deutsche-bahn.co.uk/ Phone : 00 44 870 243 53 63. Fax : 00 44 208 339 4700. E-mail : [email protected]. Their software does not yet include Easter, but a sample return fare for the three of you in a 3-berth sleeper in early February, Hamburg, Paris, Hamburg, is 490 pounds or 833 US dollars. They routinely work with Americans.
I suggest you phone also Euraide in Florida, to find their offer: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...e/homepage.htm, telephone 1 941-480-1555 fax 1 941-480-1522 [email protected]/. They take a small service charge, whereas DER and other outlets of RailEurope take thirty percent, and do not know the trains well. Travelling as you are over Easter you will find trains and hotels busy, so should book long before travel: German Rail UK say three months ahead. If you seek other estimates you can e-mail to two British agents that avoid RailEurope.
Trainseurope Ltd, of Cambridgeshire and London, take credit card bookings by phone and mail tickets to any address. Have the widest access in Britain to rail systems and tickets. http://www.trainseurope.co.uk/ - E-mail [email protected]. Phone 00 44 900 195 0101 - calls from Britain cost 60p per minute, maximum 5, but if the enquiry results in a booking, the cost of the call is deducted from the final invoice. Phone Mon to Fri 10 to 5 British time

Ffestiniog Travel, site http://www.festtravel.co.uk, e-mail [email protected], phone 00 44 176 651 2400

For international tickets, berths and seats Trainseurope are ten percent cheaper than German Rail UK or Ffestiniog Travel. For domestic Italian trains they are cheaper again. German Rail UK are cheaper than Trainseurope or Ffestiniog Travel for domestic trains within Germany and may be competitive with them for international trips with a big proportion of miles in Germany. Trainseurope take Visa and MasterCard, but not Amex or Diners.
There is a note on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm/. I should put a nine year old on the top berth of the three, where she will be undisturbed if you pop along to the bathroom (toilet) during the night, and can go to bed up a ladder. There are straps, so she will not fall out. I am afraid she will wake early and find it impossible to get back to sleep, so you might show her the private light at her bedhead, hand her a torch (flashlight) and a good book for reading or colouring (but colouring is hard: crayons keep dropping into corners), and forbid her upon pain of loss of ice cream privileges in Paris to wake either of you. The purpose of the torch is to put it under her pillow (like a lost tooth at a younger age) so she can feel for it in the dark and thus use it for light to find the button for her bedhead light. She does not want to ring for the steward at six in the morning by mistake. I am not sure about agreeing beforehand that she can put a pullover over her pyjamas, leave quietly and go to stand in the corridor and watch the fair fields of France pass by in the early sun. I remember it as a kind of magic when I was a boy, and I think you should ell her she may, but only after daylight starts. What she must not do (at pain of loss of Eiffel Tower privileges) is open the curtain or blind inside the compartment and so stop you sleeping.
She will learn please and thank you in French, of course, and I bet her accent becomes better than yours. She is a lucky child: the two nights will be special, and will entertain her schoolfriends. Think of the first essay of summer term: what I did in my holidays.
Tom this note I am attaching a poem that you can read her in Hamburg. It is from T S Elliot s Practical Cats.
She and you will find the free breakfast a bit thin, and I suggest you take the advice of the son of your friend on a good cheese to buy the day you leave Hamburg, to improve breakfast. Then of course you can have a second breakfast in the station square at Gare du Nord in Paris. A proper breakfast, with omlettes.
I have on disc a long note of what Fodors forum parents have said since 2000 their children have liked in Paris, and can gladly e mail it to you if you e mail me to ask me to.

I know a small and cheap family hotel by the Gare du Nord, the Magenta, and can give you detail if you like. In fact, that area is well supplied with such hotels. But perhaps you travel with more grandeur. I think you need to book the Paris hotel, too, a month ahead, by e mail or on the phone. The trouble us, the city is full of visiting English: Paris at Easter is legendary for us. The light sunshine, the bustle, the parks.
How lucky you are to have a friend in Hamburg to render your daughter s first time abroad homely and unalarming. Of course you will have told her already that she is headed for the first home of the hamburger.
Please write for the disc note, or otherwise if I can help further. Welcome to Europe.
Ben Haines

ben_haines_london

There?s whisper down the line at 11:39
When the Night Mail?s ready to depart,
Saying ?Skimble where is Skimble has he gone to hunt the thimble?
We must find him or the train can?t start.?
All the guards and all the porters and the stationmaster?s daughters
They are searching high and low,
Saying ?Skimble where is Skimble for unless he?s very nimble
Then the Night Mail just can?t go.?
At 11:42 then the signal?s nearly due
And the passengers are frantic to a man---
Then Skimble will appear and he?ll saunter to the rear:
He?s been busy in the luggage van!
He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes
And the signal goes ?All Clear!?
And we?re off at last for the northern part
Of the Northern Hemisphere!
You may say that by and large it is Skimble who?s in charge
Of the Sleeping Car Express.
From the driver and the guards to the bagmen playing cards
He will supervise them all more or less.
Down the corridor he paces and examines all the faces
Of the travellers in the First and in the Third;
He establishes control by a regular patrol
And he?d know at once if anything occurred.
He will watch you without winking and he sees what you are thinking
And it?s certain the he doesn?t approve
Of hilarity and riot, so the folks are very quiet
When Skimble is about and on the move.
You can play no pranks with Skimbleshanks!
He?s a Cat that can not be ignored;
So nothing goes wrong on the Northern Mail
When Skimbleshanks is aboard.
Oh it?s very pleasant when you found your little den
With your name written up on the door.
And the berth was very neat with a newly folded sheet
And there?s not a speck of dust on the floor.
There is every sort of light---you can make it dark or bright;
There?s a button that you can turn to make a breeze.
There?s a funny little basin you?re supposed to wash your face in
And a crank to shut the window if you sneeze.
Then the guard looks in politely and will ask you very brightly
?Do you like your morning tea weak or strong??
But Skimble?s just behind him and was ready to remind him,
For Skimble won?t let anything go wrong.
And when you creep into your cosy berth
And pull up the counterpane,
You are bound to admit that it?s very nice
To know that you won?t be bothered by mice---
You can leave all that to the Railway Cat,
The Cat of the Railway Train!
In the middle of the night he is always fresh and bright;
Every now and then he has a cup of tea
With perhaps a drop of Scotch while he?s keeping on the watch,
Only stopping here and there to catch a flea.
You were fast asleep at Crewe and so you never knew
That he was walking up and down the station;
You were sleeping all the while he was busy at Carlisle,
Where he greets the stationmaster with elation.
But you saw him at Dumfries, where he summons the police
If there?s anything they ought to know about:
When you get to Gallowgate there you do not have to wait---
For Skimbleshanks will help you to get out!
He gives you a wave of his long brown tail
Which says: ?I?ll see you again!
You?ll meet without fail on the Midnight Mail
The Cat of the Railway Train.

Tat

Many thanks for all of you, I have time until April, so, I'll be back with questions.
Ben Haines, I am not sure about posting email on public site, is there way to do it privately ? Thanks a million for your post.

ira

Hmmm,

"Skimble" sounds like Kipling, but it was written by one Thomas Stearns Eliot.

ben_haines_london

I am sorry: I usually add my e-mail address to any note, but this time the pleasures of Skimbleshanks (even with those pesky question marks) carried me away. Please use [email protected]

Ben Haines