Hello all STWr's me and mrs trusslebabes have been having a lovely holiday in the north of Lake Como. 8) We have had our return flight cancelled and are now having to wait until tomorrow 1pm for news of when the next flights will/if be leaving.

We are now looking at other options in case this carries on until middle to end of the week.

Is there anyone who is travelling from here or near here to the UK that would have two spare seats??

Long shot i know but stranger things have happened especially on here 😀

We drove from Rome. 17hr to Calais

You need a hire car registered in the country you intend to leave it, otherwise a BIG charge may apply. Ask specifically for this at the hire places. (our basic was 400 euros for 48hr hire dropping off in france but they said an italian car left in france would be at least another 700-800 eu)

If you go to an airport or big city hire place and are lucky enough to find a Fr or UK car I reckon you could find passengers quite easily (or go there to become passengers). These cars will sell as soon as they become available so you'll have to be persistent/lucky

If changing countries, DO NOT believe anyone who tells you a big charge won't apply for the "wrong" registered car, get this in writing instead (or record on a phone?). We were told no charge under the circumstances to leave a Fr car in UK, confirmed this again, took supervisor's name and then were asked for a massive extra payment when we arrived (still sorting this out & making slow progress)

Ferries weren't taking foot passengers when we tried to cross (WTF ??) though I heard Sea France are now doing so on stand-by basis. If you don't get a UK hire car, maybe someone could ferry across to france and then bring you back – prob 2 separate 1-way bookings?

He`s thinking of thumbing a lift,scare.

He`s thinking of thumbing a lift

well then I retract and, instead, go with "good luck with that one mate"

We do have a hire car but they have said that we cannot leave Italy with it, same applies for all hire cars i think. Good idea about getting someone from the UK to ocme over with a car then we meet them at French port and get in.

Anybody else got anything?

Train to France and plenty of options-Ferry/Eurotunnel etc.

As above, just get the train to Paris.

Anyone in mainland Europe is not "stuck" just because there are no planes.

thanks for ideas, respectfully i would say we are a little bit stuck as ferries have said they won't take foot passengers, have looked at trains to Paris and other ports it's what we do when we get there that seems to be a problem. Just considering whether i can get a friend to drive over on a ferry and we get in with them on the return journey?? Anyone know if that actually is allowed or not?

dunno about now, but there were no places available on trtains from central italy to eastern france on Thursday evening or any of friday (as far as the geezer at the desk was concerned anyway)

Due to overwhelming demand, SeaFrance will be offering a limited foot passenger service on a first-come first-served basis between 06:40 and 20:00 hours over this weekend. Foot passenger bookings will only be available at the port and not through our website or reservations department. Passengers arriving without a prebooked vehicle cannot be accepted as footpassengers.

SeaFrance still has limited availability for passengers looking to travel with vehicles to the continent this weekend.

It can't be illegal to take a british cit in your car into the UK but I think maybe it'd be two single tickets rather than a return

again, ask the hire car co if they have any french registered cars – you can leave that at calais with no penalty (if they happen to have a UK car, you're laughing)

have looked at trains to Paris and other ports it's what we do when we get there that seems to be a problem

Get the train to London?

What we need is to get all the stranded Brits back to France and then have a Dunkirk style evacuation

All the little ships could bring our people home, nice calm seas too for such an adventure.

Oh and – WTF??!! why can't/won't they accept foot passengers ?

Ferry we got back was about half full of cars so presumably had plenty of weight/displacement available. It certainly wasn't heaving with people so I doubt they were anywhere near maximum capacity for bodies

What we need is to get all the stranded Brits back to France and then have a Dunkirk style evacuation

Dan Snow, off of the TV, is organising one; he was on the TV this morning talking about. Thinks they can get about 400 people back, but you need to contact with names in advance, for UK border regs.

Half of our Moto2 team got stuck in Mugello, Italy. They took a train to Geneva this morning and are currently travelling on another train from Geneva to Calais, where they are hoping to stowaway on a cross channel ferry by hiding in the lifeboats.

I will let you know if their plan was successful!

I'm assuming Miketually you're not having to try to get back into the UK at present, i have already been looking at that option too. 🙄

The re-run of Dunkirk has been mentioned earlier today too and i think it would be a great idea, thanks for the tip with Seafrance ferries Scaredypants, will keep it in mind 🙂

Thanks wheelz sounds very exciting and also cunning, good plan 😉

I think the Ferries have a maximum allowance for people on board due to emergency arrangements e.g.there are only so many lifejackets, places in lifeboats, staff to act as marshalls etc etc. Not to mention pints and pies to sell. Therefore they are maximising their earnings by only taking people that have cars with them and can be charged a lot more.

if i was at lake como, i wouldn't be rushing to make it back to the UK. kick back, enjoy a few extra days, accept that shit happens, shrug and have fun….. why all the panic? i'm sure jobs will wait given the circumstances….

iDave

+1

The Italian Lakes isn't too bad a place to be 'stuck'.

and they've relaxed the restriction after 8 at night so it's not that bad…

Why dont you just stay there and enjoy yourselves, there is jack you can really do thats not going to cost and arm and a leg, and if its work, well its an act of god and anyone overseas is in the same boat.

Any thoughts on how to get back yet? The other halves family are stuck in Tuscany and driving and ferry seemed the obvious choice to me!

'stuck'=longer holiday. I doubt their gonna spend much more money in staying vs travelling via hire car and ferry/train..

and if its work, well its an act of god

What if your boss is an atheist? 😀

Really if your sitting at home writing replies not having gone through this from overseas then you need to know it ain't fun.

I'm stuck in southern Spain, earliest flight assuming that there is no knock on effect (chances of that are slim) is Saturday. BA are effectively washing their hands of us as of tomorrow.

Hire car to Paris 1400 euros; can't get train to calais as there is a threat of french industrial action and renfe will not book passed the border.
Next santander ferry for foot passenger is 29th, Bilbao www site is too busy to cope.

So you sit down and find a route from sunny Malaga (cause that's where we're stuck) price it and give details. Lets see how easy it is.

It's easy from behind your desk at home to tell others to dry their eyes. If it's so good i'll happily swap.

What we need is to get all the stranded Brits back to France and then have a Dunkirk style evacuation

All the little ships could bring our people home, nice calm seas too for such an adventure.
I've got a double sea kayak and a cockpit cover. Anybody want a lift back who knows how to paddle?

I'm 'stuck' in the UK; I should have gone to Poland on Saturday.

Brilliant news. I'm off to Cwmcarn instead today.

Still thinking about options but Eurostar are now charging £460 to London so that pretty much rules that out, i might have another option of going to Zeebrugge and upto Hull on a ferry, need to see a travel agent apparently to book onto the sleeper train from Milan.

One of my motivating factors to get home sooner rather than later is because i'm self-employed and sitting here for another week would make life very difficult and leave no time for riding for at least another two weeks 😥 when i get back.

If sitting tight is an option I would probably do that. You could be there a while but you may find you spend a load of money getting as far as Paris then get stuck there.

Do whatever is going to cause you the least stress. The joke is wearing thin for a lot of folk now……

I got back from Sweden (to Belgium) late yesterday.
Was hanging around the rental car companies & found a german registered car that someone had gone one-way with. Avis waived the one way for me to return it to Germany. (Europcar refused even though they had a german car in the same situation).
Managed to get a train from Koln > Brussels late yesterday.

Hi Mark been wondering how you've been getting on. On BBC breakfast news this morning some people had chartered coaches some had found some public spirited taxi drivers to take them to Calais. Looks like you're stuck unless you want so spend some serious money mate! I'd sit tight and load your credit card up if I were you :-). Make sure you don't miss wednesdays ride tho!!!

Not sure if this is going to be way too late, but if you can get to Brussels or Calais by Thursday (Brussels lunchtime, Calais afternoon), I'm coming back to the UK on the Eurotunnel with plenty of space in the car.

Paul

can you get to Dunkirk?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8628878.stm

One of my motivating factors to get home sooner rather than later is because i'm self-employed and sitting here for another week would make life very difficult and leave no time for riding for at least another two weeks when i get back.

Personally I'd swap 2 weeks worth of riding for a few extra stress-free days in Italy.

Hi Paul, We are currently trying to get a train from Milan to Calais. At this moment we will say YES to the offer on Thursday-thats great and will try and find our way there whether its Calais of Brussels. Do you have a contact number that we could keep in touch with? Ours is 07834839491. Once we have managed to get tickets we will let you know.

Hello – just tried to call you, rather than publish my cellphone on the internet. Hopefully the number got stored. Otherwise, my e-mail address is in my profile.

Calais is marginally better for me if possible – smaller city. I'm going anyway, so no worries about inconveniencing me.

Paul

Hello Jon, good to hear from you, we have an option at the minute with CheshireCat which is great as long as we can get to Calais/Brussels for Thursday. I've already tried this morning to get a train ticket from Milan and the won't answer the phone, so going to another place this afternoon (they finish lunch at 2:30) and will camp in there until i can get a ticket 😉 If we can do that it shouldn't cost the earth!! Would very mucjh like to be back for wed night ride have been missing it esp as some lovely looking trails here 8) catch up soon mush

See my thread about offer of help in Grenoble area if that's any good to anyone.