Paris To Florence Italy

This is 4th evening of our small 9 days 🙂 Europe holiday, do check my previous post. On our last day in Paris we need to board a train to Milan & from there to Florence Italy.

This was the first time my husband forgot’s the departure time and also didn’t thought about the evening traffic. Our train was scheduled to depart at 7.10 PM from Paris-Gare-De-Lyon station and we left the hotel at 6.20 PM.

Ticket cost was Euro 196 for 2 berth in 4 berth couchette and Euro 66 for Milan to Florence in Thello Premium.

We didn’t book flight as the airports were far from Paris city and Florence and also we want to experience the sleeper trains of Italy. There are different categories and early you book cheaper it will be.

There are 6 berth couchette, 4 berth and then business class where it is 2 or 1 berth and in that you will get bedding and other perks. Then there are option to select if you want to book in mix, only women or only men couchette.

We didn’t took the metro because Paris metro is not at all stroller friendly and with luggage and a small kids it will be too difficult if you are short of time.

First there was issue with Uber, the first diver was taking too much time and then cancelled the ride which again wasted some time. Finally we left and there was bumper to bumper traffic in most of the way till the station.

Due to the tension of missing the train and ruin further bookings and plan we were not able to enjoy our luxury ride, can you believe it was Mercedes as our Uber cab.

Finally we reached the station quite late, trying to figure out where to find the Thello authorities. While looking for help, help found us 🙂

As we were on holiday so didn’t check the news. Our luck was on full swing that day, there was strike of workers due to issues related to salary etc.

Because of the strike all the trains were cancelled. So we actually didn’t miss the train :). Thello has arranged buses for all the passengers and were looking for last passengers by carrying small hoardings on the platform.

When we came to know about all this then we got little relaxed. We were the last passengers so in a full 40-50 seat bus we were the only passenger, other than us there were 2 Thello officials.

They arranged for some food and drinks as complimentary due to the inconvenience caused. It was a 2×2 semi sleeper bus. We are not used to travel in bus and with small kid it was quite difficult.

Some how we managed to get few hours of sleep and reached Milan. As it was via road and bus left little late, we reached the Milan station late and due to this the connecting train to Florence was missed.

As it was not our mistake the officials arranged the seats in the next available train ours was in Premium, they were not able to provide the same sitting but it was same category.

From Milan to Florence it was Frecciarossa. There are mainly 3 categories –
1. Standard – very basic with no additional perks
2. Premium – additional perks like better seats, welcome drink and snacks
3. Business & Business Quite – here seats are more comfortable and wider as it is 2×1 arrangement.

Finally we reached Florence the capital city of Tuscany region of Italy.

This is for all the people reading this and planing a vacation abroad please double check the scheduled departure time of the trains and buses. Also consider the time you will spend in traffic.

We really appreciate how Thello management took the responsibility of there passengers and managed everything.