French train (TVG) tickets?

chasandre · Post by **chasandre** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:39 pm

Hi,

I was on the TVG website trying to buy train tickets for an upcoming trip to France, but without luck. From the U.S. I could buy them and they would mail me paper tickets (no e-tickets-- sacre bleu!). But now that I am in Finland, the website is telling me I must go to a local agent. I have been to several travel agencies, but they haven't a clue about where to get these tickets. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!

Chas

**Sponsor:**

superiorinferior · Post by **superiorinferior** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:09 pm

http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/lansi/lansi.htm

For tickets, passes and additional information, please contact tel. 0600 41 906 (M-F 8.30-16.30), price of call in Finland €1 + local network charge or major VR stations or travel agencies.

Scribe · Post by **Scribe** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:37 pm

chasandre, last time I purchased TGV tickets from Finland (last september) it worked nicely. Got an electronic ticket - actually by PDF to print and fold.

Since then they have introduced the new system there were perhaps changes. But here is another possibility... I booked my tickets from :

http://www.voyages-sncf.com

You may have booked yours from the international frontend, in English :

http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/home/

I just checked this latter and it couldn't even find a train in two weeks that goes 5 times a day between Paris and my hometown. Seems to me this website is pretty much upside down... the legendary English service from France is again at work

If someone you know who speaks French could assist you for buying those tickets from the first link, I'm pretty sure you could get them in PDF form smoothly and quickly.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:01 am

Yes I looked at the TGV website (the French one) but gave up. It was just too.... pretty. Lots of looooverly photographs and video-clips of people buying cheese in sunny markets in the Dordogne but 3 minutes later the page I wanted was still loading and NOWHERE could I find basic T&Cs for purchasing tickets. So much for progress....

I remember..... 1976 I was a fille au-pair in Morez in the Jura (capitale de la lunetterie, before China was discovered) and I decided I would go back to the UK for a short holiday. Not having the cash to fly I decided to go by train/boat. So I walked into the local railway station (one platform by the side of a single track about 900m above sea level) and asked for a return ticket to London. Eyebrows raised. But I got my ticket. In fact I probably made his day. He had never sold a ticket to London before.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:11 am

Yes, madame, you just need to use ze minitel terminal...

Hrmpf.. a few years back I got organized a Paris-London ticket online quite easily.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:42 am

Oh yeah.... ze Minitel was great for making ticket reservations: 3615 SNCF.

I think the Minitel has finally bitten the dust but it lived for a loooong time, longer than most people predicted after the Internet was born.

I was working at DEC when I heard about the internet. We had some "Brain" give us a talk about "les autoroutes de la communication". Real sci.fi stuff at the time. He told it would be "just like the Minitel, only better".

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:52 am

Dust is good, truffles live in it http://www.minitel.fr/

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:04 am

Can't believe you can still buy these:

Amazing. BTW didn't the Minitel "invent" the peritel (SCART) plug?

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:20 pm

penelope wrote:BTW didn't the Minitel "invent" the peritel (SCART) plug?

I tried to find out about the history of the connector some time ago, but there are many conflicting stories. One of them is that the connector was made mandatory for French televisions in order to stifle foreign competition and to protect the domestic tv manufacturing industry... but I haven’t been able to source a definite answer as to whether the original reasoning behind SCART/Péritel really was Minitel, or something else, such as home computers and video games of the time... or the proliferation of VCRs, perhaps. (Of course, “Péritel” and “Minitel” sound similar enough, as names, that they might well be connected.)

chasandre · Post by **chasandre** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:52 pm

Scribe,

Merci Beucoups! Je parle un peu de Francais, and it was pas de problem to navigate the French web site (although, annoyingly, it didn't work with Firefox and I had to switch to Internet Exploder). Got my e-tickets all reserved and I just need to print them out at a Kiosk at the station. My favorite thing is the warning to show up early so so don't miss the train YOU MUST be there at LEAST 2 minutes (!!!) before the train leaves-- so much nicer than flying!!
Thanks again, you saved me a trip to the Helsingin rautatieasema and all the riff-raff there

Chas

Scribe · Post by **Scribe** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:07 pm

Glad I could be helpful, Chasandre.

I believe you can print your tickets whereever you want. Also these are not the kind of tickets you "composte" (no idea what's the name in English), i.e. no need to put the ticket in those weird machines that make holes in it before jumping in the train

Have a nice trip.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:20 pm

Scribe wrote:
I believe you can print your tickets whereever you want. Also these are not the kind of tickets you "composte" (no idea what's the name in English), i.e. no need to put the ticket in those weird machines that make holes in it before jumping in the train Have a nice trip.

You don't have to "punch" your ticket.

Scribe · Post by **Scribe** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:52 pm

penelope wrote:You don't have to "punch" your ticket.

.. only my head for not knowing this word

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:55 pm

Imagine you asking "where can I compost this" from someone with a ticket in the hand, they taking you to a a paper shredder.

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