Rosyth Ferry?

[Rolfe]

Yeah well.  I'm mean.  (On the other hand, maybe I'd better not mention what I paid for the Bayreuth Festival tickets....)

I've done the Hull/Rotterdam route and my main memory (apart from the reclining seats, which nobody slept in, we just got dibs on a bit of floor), is having to get up and organised and breakfasted and off that blasted boat by the crack of bloody dawn.  I always thought Rosyth was a better bet, though it's certainly a longer sail than I had expected.

I've had it with driving through England.  I'll do it to get to England, but that's it.

I'd spring for a cabin berth for me, but over £300 for a four-berth cabin for one person is just silly.  I'm thinking lilo and sleeping bag and a bit of floor, actually.

Rolfe.

[gizzywizzy]

Hi Rolfe

You mention that you have tickets not a ticket does that mean you are not going alone?  Could you not split the price of a cabin between you that would work out somewhat cheaper.

Whatever you decide have a great time.

Gizzy

[Rolfe]

I have tickets for more than one performance.  It's an opera festival.

If I wasn't going alone, the ferry would make a lot more sense, but my mother says she's too old to make the trip (she's been several times before and loved it), and the friend I thought would come with me has decided she doesn't want to.  That's why the dilemma really.  If there were two travelling, sharing the costs and the driving, it would be a no-brainer.

I actually have two pairs of tickets, for each of two performances.  There are seven different operas on offer.  When I've been before, there was a healthy barter system in operation, where people with extra tickets could swap them over.  So actually I have an excellent chance of doing a swap and getting to see four different performances, which is a great reason to travel alone!

Rolfe.

[Rolfe]

Yay me!

I decided to take the ferry, but I didn't book at once, because I needed to check I could get the extra 2 days holiday I needed to fit in with the sailing dates.  Today I finally remembered to ask if that was OK, and was in fact given the whole week if I wanted it, making it a nice summer fortnight (though I'll still come home on the day originally planned).

Just about to go to bed, when I remembered the ferry booking and thought, well, I'd heard it tended to book up when the previous operator was runnning it, and although it's probably at the end of the school holidays you never know, so I'd better book.  Went to the page which was still open in Firefox, and clicked on refresh.

£120.

How about that then?

I went right back to the beginning and went through the entire booking again, just to be sure, but it came up the same.  £120.

OK, I could now have the bloody cabin as well for not much more than I'd originally bargained for the reclining seat berth, but it strikes me it might well be possible to pick up a cabin berth much cheaper on the boat.  So I'll chance it.

My lucky day for sure.  That's one helluva reduction.  I can procrastinate at Olympic level, but that's the first time it saved me £288.

Rolfe.

And by the way, the booking choices for the cars state Golf GTi, whenever to 2008, and Golf GTI, 2009 on.  So somebody else thinks the i used to be lower case.