Planes, Trains and Automobiles

With all the tact and customer service sensitivity of a Parisian waiter, the powers that be at Bergerac airport have decided to close it for over two months early next year. Seriously. Between the 9th of January and 23rd of March, they’ll be resurfacing the runways.  Up to a point, fair enough. I don’t want my ‘plane hitting a pot hole on landing and I guess there are bits of the runway that need patching, but even so…

72 days. 1728 hours.

Leaving aside the lost income for the airport itself, it’s a major headache for all of us who use it - and  there isn’t even any mention of it on their website home page, let alone any hint of apology or explanation.
And you can bet that it won’t be a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week operation – mais non. It’ll be the standard 35 hour, 5 day week. On this basis, they reckon it’ll take 10 weeks. 350 hours. Or put another way, 2 full weeks of night & day work. So the airport unnecessarily loses  8 weeks worth of revenue, while its staff take two and a half months fully paid holiday. Naturally, whoever signed off this fiasco (having failed to organise serious imbibing of alcohol in the local beer manufacturing facility) won’t give a monkeys as it’s almost impossible to fire anyone in France.

Anyway, rant over – what are the alternatives?

Trains – if you’re London, Lille or Paris based, the TGV to Liborne (East of Bergerac) is a real option (less so if you’ve got to travel into town first). At first glance, it can look expensive – but there’s no baggage charges or airport taxes nor, in most instances, daft hikes in ticket prices if you happen to be later in booking. And it’s a damn site more civilised than hanging around bleak airport lounges for what seems like (& sometimes is) an eternity.

Planes – excepting my last point, it’s still the quickest way to get here. Limoges, Bordeaux and Toulouse are all within easy reach and between them take services from various UK airlines and airports. And for those from further afield, American, Australian and Middle East flights come into Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham or Prestwick - most of which have direct transit links to either Toulouse or Bordeaux.
…and Automobiles – if there’s four or more of you and you’re travelling in mid to high season, it’s still probably the cheapest way to get here – either from Northern mainland Europe or the UK. A diesel car’s best – and remember to avoid the Peripherique at peak times – your 25 minute scoot around Paris can easily turn into a 3 hour marathon if you don’t.

So bon voyage & bon courage – it’ll be worth the effort.