Thanks to all of you who post information and answer questions on these forums! I was successful not only in buying train tickets from CDG to Avignon, but also getting return tickets from Avignon to Paris, where DH and I will spend a couple of days.

Now the question. I couldn't print from my laptop and by the time I logged on to the mainframe, the PREM tickets for the train at the time and price I found on the laptop were gone! So back to the laptop to order - but with a pickup. Now, one confirmation states "collection from automatic ticket machine," and another "pick up at a Boutique Rail Europe."

Where do I found these "boutiques?" and where are the "SNCF boutiques" that others have written about?

You can pick tickets up from any train station in France or from one of the SNCF "boutiques," which are just small stores in metropolitan areas owned and operated by the SNCF.

To locate boutiques go to the bottom of this page - http://www.voyages-sncf.com/services...guide-voyageur - and select the city. But the two times I've tried a boutique (Paris and Nice) it's been packed - you may do better to go to a station.

Make sure you take the credit card you used to pay for the tickets!

http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/flash/#/CH0004/BR0315/

This may be such a silly question, but...will there be automatic ticket machines at the TGV station at Avignon?

Hi KG,

You can get all of your tickets at the same time, in one place.

Yes, there are automated ticket machines at just about every station, but if you're using an American credit card, you may not be able to get them to work. Just get all your tickets at your first stop.

There are even SNCF ticket machines in shopping malls and Monoprix stores.