Travel in France:
I usually travel in France from Bangkok every two years with wife and daughter to visit my father and other family members. The previous years we flew with Emirate and after a transfer in Dubai arrived in Paris. This year, I decided to fly with KLM to Amsterdam and then connect to Lyon instead of the capital.
This worked really well, except that the flight was during the day instead of night, which made it difficult for my baby daughter of 2 years and a half to stay quiet all the time. The service on board was excellent and the food was OK. Unfortunately my Entertainment system crashed and I had to wait a while to get hold of an hostess. It took 15 minutes to restart, displaying lines of Linux codes on my screen…
The transfer in Amsterdam went smoothly. It is where we entered the Schengen area and then we walked to the departure gate where we had the last flight. This was a smaller plane and a quite enjoyable one as baby decided to take a nap… This flight was full and overbooked, as the first one by the way.
In Saint Exupery airport in Lyon (photo above), we got our luggage very quickly and the baby stroller much needed. We then walked ten minutes following the tramway red sign that will transport us to the city center to Lyon La Part Dieu. We got lucky to get one departing immediately and we arrived 30 minutes later at destination welcomed by the rain.
Travel in France – Where the tramway arrives in Lyon La Part Dieu
Travel in France
The Campanile Hotel I booked was just 50 meters away from the tramway stop which made it easy to reach with all our luggage. The room was small but the bed very comfortable and we immediately fell asleep exhausted.
With the jet lag we woke up very early and waited for the day to show. We then went to La Part Dieu train station to survey our next journey by train to Riom – Châtel-Guyon our next destination. Our departure was mid-afternoon with plenty of time for breakfast, lunch and a walk in the area.
After waiting a couple of hours in the waiting room inside the train station, the departure entrance C was announced. All passengers then rushed upstairs with their luggage to wait for the train next to the tracks. Five minutes before the train arrived, another announcement informed us that the train would arrive on Way A.
We all had to rush back downstairs, to take the entrance A and get back upstairs with all our luggage. That was not fun!
Hopefully the 2 hours trip by train went well and we met my father waiting for us at the station. Another 20 minutes journey by car and we arrived in Le Bournet, a small village in the mountain, freezing…
This Travel in France Bangkok – Amsterdam – Lyon was much more convenient than going to Paris and I will do it this way again next time.