We love taking the Eurotunnel—it’s fast and comfortable, no seasickness, no need to get out of the car. When I booked our tickets to cross the channel, I used my Tesco points, which pretty much paid for the whole thing, all I had left was about $12 to pay. Sweet deal!
It turned out to be not such a sweet deal, but more of an adventurous deal. As we arrived to Calais Eurotunnel terminal at about 17:30 (our train was for 18:00 or so), we discovered very long queues of cars waiting to be checked in. In fact, we were actually lucky to be coming from Normandy and not Paris side as those lines were way worse than ours. At this point we patiently waited in line, moving slowly and trying to figure out what in the world was going on. Meter by meter we were directed into overflow parking area (that took about an HOUR!) and were told what the current situation was.
Basically, earlier that day (it was July 7th), the tunnel experienced a sudden power failure, first time in twenty years of its existence. So the train inside the tunnel had to stop, evacuate all its passengers, vehicles, etc. get them to Calais, France. In the meantime, the repairs needed to be done. On a regular day there are two trains going in opposite direction simultaneously, four times an hour. But because of the incident, they had to go down to one train using the existing repaired track and going back and forward (that’s what we found out later). Here is an article about Eurotunnel delays that day.
So back to that first point when we were able to speak with an overflow traffic controller. We were told—a wait till 4 or 5 in the morning. Once our initial shock wore off, and we started driving slowly following the line of cars…the realization of the severity of the situation settled in.
We were also told that Eurotunnel workers were walking around offering stand-by tickets for very late ferries (for 11 pm ferry, then for the added midnight ferry). But we were sure by the time they’d get to us, there would be no ferry spots left.
So we had no choice but wait. It was a nice July day, still light and warm outside. We had some dinner—French pastries, whatever we had in the car and Red Cross dinners. Katya was not a fan of those. Such a great actress.
We were excited as the departure time seemed to have come at least two hours earlier than we expected. And then…the monitor info changed and our big line of cars, all ready to get on the train was stopped and made to wait for another hour….That was very frustrating. We were so close! Some people expressed their anger in a very rude way to the workers who directed the cars. Everyone was just tired and ready to get to England…After all, we’d been waiting for seven hours by that point.
Finally, around 1:40 am we got on the train, trying to get a quick power nap while inside the train. We still had to drive for 2.5 hours up to our house. The whole drive home I was keeping Robert awake. The roads were empty-it was 3 am. The sun started to show its face even, and that was beautiful. We barely made it. Seriously. Robert could have benefited from matchsticks for his eyelids-hehe. We got home around 3:30 am. Got the kids to bed and fell into our beds relieved to be home.
What a crazy adventure! I must admit (besides the tiredness part) it was still exciting to go through this “drama”. I guess our kids are at the right age that it’s possible to enjoy now these unusual fun times too.
Good night for now.
Lyana.
It turned out to be not such a sweet deal, but more of an adventurous deal. As we arrived to Calais Eurotunnel terminal at about 17:30 (our train was for 18:00 or so), we discovered very long queues of cars waiting to be checked in. In fact, we were actually lucky to be coming from Normandy and not Paris side as those lines were way worse than ours. At this point we patiently waited in line, moving slowly and trying to figure out what in the world was going on. Meter by meter we were directed into overflow parking area (that took about an HOUR!) and were told what the current situation was.
Basically, earlier that day (it was July 7th), the tunnel experienced a sudden power failure, first time in twenty years of its existence. So the train inside the tunnel had to stop, evacuate all its passengers, vehicles, etc. get them to Calais, France. In the meantime, the repairs needed to be done. On a regular day there are two trains going in opposite direction simultaneously, four times an hour. But because of the incident, they had to go down to one train using the existing repaired track and going back and forward (that’s what we found out later). Here is an article about Eurotunnel delays that day.
So back to that first point when we were able to speak with an overflow traffic controller. We were told—a wait till 4 or 5 in the morning. Once our initial shock wore off, and we started driving slowly following the line of cars…the realization of the severity of the situation settled in.
Oh, so that’s why we saw people walking from Lidl (supermarket nearby) carrying food and bags with blankets. Oh, that’s why so many people were out on the grass picnicking and playing games…everyone has been waiting for hours…and there was no end in sight for our problem.
We were directed to park in a designated spot and told that the delay is…undetermined. We could go and drive 20 min or so to Calais port and see if there is room on a ferry..but another thousand of cars was probably already doing that….
So we had no choice but wait. It was a nice July day, still light and warm outside. We had some dinner—French pastries, whatever we had in the car and Red Cross dinners. Katya was not a fan of those. Such a great actress.
No, really, it was not bad. It was an adventure!
And endless queue of cars…still coming into our parking lot.
We, and many other families, made the most of it. Good thing we had badminton, Frisbee and football in the car.
Oh yeah, and since hundreds of cars were returning from the famous LeMons classic car show held that weekend in France, we got to see all sorts of cool cars too, free of charge!
I think around 10 pm, we were directed to another big parking lot that was right next to the terminal with food and shops. At the check point we were given a letter (“Z”) for our train, and that’s what we were going to wait for… “Z” train, departure unknown. Maybe midnight, maybe 4 am.
While I was waiting to find out more info about our departure, one woman in line said she was getting vouchers for free sandwiches and drinks. I was lucky enough to be there at the right time and got those vouchers. They were clearly not well advertised as many people didn’t know about them. Kids were so excited to pick out whatever sandwiches (and even drinks!) they wanted-haha.
Yes, we had fun.
After our strange dinner, we settled into the backseat of our van to watch “Frozen”. It was going to be a long night. The kids were LOVING it. They kept telling us, “We are fine! We love drama!”.
And so we waited and waited. Finally, around midnight, we saw that we could move to the next station where we were actually checked-in onto the train.
Finally, around 1:40 am we got on the train, trying to get a quick power nap while inside the train. We still had to drive for 2.5 hours up to our house. The whole drive home I was keeping Robert awake. The roads were empty-it was 3 am. The sun started to show its face even, and that was beautiful. We barely made it. Seriously. Robert could have benefited from matchsticks for his eyelids-hehe. We got home around 3:30 am. Got the kids to bed and fell into our beds relieved to be home.
What a crazy adventure! I must admit (besides the tiredness part) it was still exciting to go through this “drama”. I guess our kids are at the right age that it’s possible to enjoy now these unusual fun times too.
Good night for now.
Lyana.
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