A return to Switzerland – land of mountains, museums and moos! COMPLETED 12/4 - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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What an ordeal getting across the channel and then being so late for your reservation. I can't imagine US hotels locking up as early as 9:00. So glad you all did find a place to stay this first night. Hopefully, the trip just gets better from here.
I can't imagine them doing that here either. I suspect the business hotels wouldn't, but the trouble was trying to find a hotel at a reasonable price in a panic on the phone. I found an Ibis and a Holiday Inn and I'm sure they would've still been open, but they were about €180 (c. $240) for the night.
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Sorry it was such an ordeal with finding a place to sleep! Glad you finally did find a place. It is weird to see that receptions lock up so early, as in the US you can check in anytime of night!
Oh no, I hope you didn't get charged for the original hotel you had booked for the evening. I agree, the room you found was better than sleeping in the car. I hope things improve, but the teaser for the next post sounds a little ominous.
Oh no, I hope you didn't get charged for the original hotel you had booked for the evening. I agree, the room you found was better than sleeping in the car. I hope things improve, but the teaser for the next post sounds a little ominous.
Oh no, I hope you didn't get charged for the original hotel you had booked for the evening. I agree, the room you found was better than sleeping in the car. I hope things improve, but the teaser for the next post sounds a little ominous.
Sadly we were charged for the original hotel, as it was a non refundable booking.
Well, it can't get any worse, right? And at least you were sleeping horizontal.
I had forgotten about the delay I had on the eurostar. My friend and I booked on the earliest train out of Waterloo to Paris to make the most out of our time there. Train broke down just after Calais and we watched train after train after train pass us. Ours finally started literally crawling into the first Metro station that could take us. No customs/immigration. Just grab your luggage and get off, transfer to a local Metro and go to Gare du Nord. That was pleasant. The whole ordeal took 5 1/2 hours!! They gave us free vouchers for future use though. Which I sold on eBay. Good times.
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If you could convert the front and back seat of the car to beds, I think they would've been the same size as the hotel room! But better than being in the car!
As others have said, that wouldn't happen here. Lucky too, as on our summer trip we'd planned to drive thru to home the last day, but due to weather, mountain roads and slow service at dinner I had to call it a night two hours from home - at about midnight. Glad we could get a room!
That's too bad about the Chunnel and the hotel problems. Well, at least you had a place to sleep for the night. It could have been worse and to attempt to sllep in the auto, which wouldn't have been pleasant in any way.
No matter how much you plan a trip and with so many elements involved, there is usually something or two that doesn't go according to plan. Most times out of your control and nothing you caused! Just have to make the best of it and be as open minded about these things as possible to make it a bit easier and not get stressed out over it! Remember...you're on holiday!
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Well, it can't get any worse, right? And at least you were sleeping horizontal.
That is true.
Quote:
I had forgotten about the delay I had on the eurostar. My friend and I booked on the earliest train out of Waterloo to Paris to make the most out of our time there. Train broke down just after Calais and we watched train after train after train pass us. Ours finally started literally crawling into the first Metro station that could take us. No customs/immigration. Just grab your luggage and get off, transfer to a local Metro and go to Gare du Nord. That was pleasant. The whole ordeal took 5 1/2 hours!! They gave us free vouchers for future use though. Which I sold on eBay. Good times.
If you could convert the front and back seat of the car to beds, I think they would've been the same size as the hotel room!
That's probably true, especially as our car is quite big. The seats do almost lie down, but I'd definitely rather have a room...
Quote:
But better than being in the car!
As others have said, that wouldn't happen here. Lucky too, as on our summer trip we'd planned to drive thru to home the last day, but due to weather, mountain roads and slow service at dinner I had to call it a night two hours from home - at about midnight. Glad we could get a room!
It does make you think, doesn't it? I still can't believe the hotels in that area weren't open that late at night.
That's too bad about the Chunnel and the hotel problems. Well, at least you had a place to sleep for the night. It could have been worse and to attempt to sllep in the auto, which wouldn't have been pleasant in any way.
No matter how much you plan a trip and with so many elements involved, there is usually something or two that doesn't go according to plan. Most times out of your control and nothing you caused! Just have to make the best of it and be as open minded about these things as possible to make it a bit easier and not get stressed out over it! Remember...you're on holiday!
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Saturday 31 August – part one: what do you mean – it’s not open for breakfast?
I woke up to the sound of people crashing around, and rightly assumed that it was morning. Well, it was morning, but it was 3:50am. Not only were the walls paper thin, but people were also up at an ungodly hour. Not a good combination.
Fortunately I went back to sleep again, and the next time I woke up, it was a much more civilised (well sort of ) 6:35am. Ok, so we’d had nearly eight hours sleep. I guess that’s not too bad, although it certainly wasn’t the best quality night’s sleep. Hopefully the hotels from here on in would be better.
At least the hotel had free Wi-Fi so I quickly checked in on the boards and Facebook, and checked out the weather for the day. So much for the forecast saying that it would be in the mid 70s, not today apparently. We were looking at temperatures in the low 60s. Not the greatest, but at least that’s the decision made – T shirt and not vest top.
We were ready to head out just after 7:00am. I checked, and it would be four hours to our first stop in Nancy, as opposed to the three hours it would’ve been, had we made it to our original destination of Saint Quention last night. Ok, that’s not too bad then.
We finally got our first views of the hotel in daylight, and it was certainly basic and functional from the outside:
The view over to the Campanile
We’d seen a McDonalds on the way in last night, so we figured we’d go and grab a cup of tea there. We didn’t need to worry about food, as I’d bought some croissants from Tesco in the order, so we had those and set off to McDonalds. As we pulled up, we both had the same thought, that it looked as if it was closed. It was about 7:20am, so I figured maybe it opened at 7:30am, but as we walked up, it didn’t open until 11:00am. Wow, have we found the only McDonald’s on the planet that’s not open for breakfast?
We grabbed some water from the boot of the car, and grabbed what we’d need for the day ahead (some drinks basically) and headed out. There was a beautiful sunrise…
We were soon on the toll road…
… and as usual with the toll road, it was pretty deserted, which is why we love using it.
Because it was so quiet, I took the opportunity to get up to date with the trip report again… although Mark kept an eye out for cows for me as well.
The scenery was very basic, but I find the French countryside pretty…
A little way to go to Nancy, although remember these are in kilometres. A kilometre is 1,000 metres, whereas if I’m remembering right, a mile is more like 1,666 metres
We soon came across a very familiar sight – wind turbines. The French have loads of these. In fairness, so do we, but generally they’re out at sea, as we don’t have much room on land. These had lights flashing on them, which was a bit surreal.
We also saw this war memorial…
About an hour after we set off, we were passing Saint Quentin, which is where we should have been staying last night. In fairness though, I think it probably would’ve been too much for us.
As we drove along, it became murkier, and murkier, and nearly every car coming the other way had their headlights on, which is never a good sign.
Just literally seconds after this convertible passed us…
… it started to rain! Honestly, the driver and his passenger looked as if they were freezing when they passed us, and that wouldn’t surprise us, as I’d guess it was in maybe the high 50s at the time. The further we drove, the heavier the rain became. I bet they were having fun in that… not!
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Although the room was tiny , it looks like a good option if you just need a place to stay for such a short time.
Just have to make the best of it and be as open minded about these things as possible to make it a bit easier and not get stressed out over it! 
It was about 7:20am, so I figured maybe it opened at 7:30am, but as we walked up, 
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