O/T Thomson Airlines have ruined my summer holiday

[Aspinal's Body Double]

To the Balkans by train...

It's not difficult to travel from the UK to Belgrade in Serbia, Skopje in Macedonia or Podgorica or Bar in Montenegro by train. Leave London mid-morning, travel via Paris & Budapest, and you'll be in Belgrade the next day mid-evening. Or leave London in the afternoon, take the Paris-Munich sleeper, an reach Belgrade late next evening. It's safe and comfortable, too. It may cost a bit more than flying, but it's a real travel experience not a mere flight. This page explains how to plan, book and make a train journey from the UK to each of these countries.

On this page...
Train times, fares & how to buy tickets from:

London to Belgrade (Serbia)

London to Podgorica & Bar (Montenegro)

London to Skopje (Macedonia)

Booking trains within Serbia

Route map: London to Serbia, Macedonia & Montenegro by train...

London to Montenegro

You can travel from the UK to Montenegro either by train via Belgrade, or by train to Italy then a ferry across the Adriatic. Both options are described here.

London to Podgorica & Bar by train via Belgrade...
Travel from London to Belgrade as shown above, then take a train to Podgorica or Bar. The Belgrade-Podgorica-Bar railway is one of Europe's most scenic. There is both a daytime train and an overnight sleeper, which uses second-hand French sleepers with 1 2 & 3 bed room with washbasin. You can find train times online at DB BAHN - Verbindungen - Ihre Anfrage (English button upper right). Use the Wasteels agency in Belgrade recommended above to arrange your train tickets and reservations from Belgrade to Podgorica or Bar train tickets and reservations. Allow at least 2 or 3 hours in Belgrade for connections, as incoming trains often arrive an hour or two late.

London to Podgorica & Bar by ferry from Italy...
Travel from London to Ancona or Bari as shown on the London to Italy page. Allow several hours in Bari for getting to the port & checking in. Then take a ferry across the Adriatic to Bar. Two ferry lines operate between Italy and Bar. Montenegro Lines (Montenegro Lines :: Barska Plovidba A.D.) sail Bari-Bar 3 times a week year round and daily in summer, usually departing both Bari & Bar at 22:00, arriving at 08:00 next morning. Cabins available. Ferry fares from 50 euros each way with reclining seat, or 60 euros each way with a bed in shared cabin, more luxurious cabins also available. You can also book Montenegro Lines through UK agency Book your Ferry Tickets, Ferries Services, Inter Rail Passes | Greece, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Corsica, Belgium, France, Montenegro, Albania, Cyprus, England, Germany, Finland. Azzura Lines (Azzurra Line Traghetti per la Croazia, il Montenegro e l'Albania) also sail from Bari to Bar, but they run in summer only.

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Thanks. This is incredibly good of you to do this.

 

[brunswick]

thomson are maffia syle corrupt assholes. they have bought everyone up, have links to the hotels in the meditarennean in a way so that they practically own what goes on in these hotels. the tourists on package holidays they treat as cattle with money.

if you are unintegral and book with the likes of thomson without thinking about what sort of company they are then i find it hard to dig out too much sympathy.

 

[sam86]

Aspinal's Body Double; my simple advice would be, don't jack it in, travel by other means. In my experience, the holidays that have something go slightly wrong are often the better ones. Travelling through countries on multiple trains before arriving at your Villa sounds BRILLIANT.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

BA and Alitalia both fly to Bari ( Volcanoes permitting of course, don't forget you're a bit close to Mt. Etna ). Ferry across the adriatic sounds like a good bet.

 

[Adam Virgo's Shirt]

Have you contacted her to explain the situation and ask that if she does re-let it would she consider returning your deposit.

After the last weeks problems anybody who books a holiday without buying a decent independent insurance package is taking a big risk, but I thought that when Xcel went bust.

I have just come back to this thread to suggest just that, but have been beaten to it

I guess it depends on where most of the visitors to the resort come from? If most come from UK, she knows she will have less chance of resell as there is now a lack of flights. However, if most people come from elsewhere in Europe, and flights are still running ok, she probably will resell easily. If you communicate with her and appeal to her better nature, she MAY let you have your deposit if she resells

She MAY even let you have it back anyway, if you can state a good case, but as you know, legally she doesn't have to

As has been stated before, this is not a Thomson issue, it is an issue with booking flights independently. The only way you can stop this happening is to book a package holiday, as then if they cancel your flight, they have an obligation to give you an alternative holiday. But you will pay more for that option, several hundred quid more usually. It's the risk you take

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Thank you for this. It's good of you to go to so much trouble. We've looked at some of those one or more stops-they involve a 12hr+ trip in most cases. We really don't want to be on flights for that long. The costs of most are also three or four times higher (although you've found some good prices there too).

I'll have another look at these.

Good luck mate

Would say though that you are going to have to make some sort of compromise. I dare say you booked the Thomson flights so everything would go like clockwork. But the Thomson thing is no more, so I'd suggest you bite the bullet, suffer the 12hr+ trip (and maybe turn it into a positive and catch some fun stuff along the way if they'll give you a pass out of the transit airport) and enjoy your holiday. Go for it!

Oh, and unless you already posted your holiday dates and I missed them, I'd strongly suggest you do so. There's a lot of smart people on NSC that might just be able to come up with your perfect alternative flights. But unless you provide the dates, there's only so much that can be done fto assist you. Er, innit.

 

[StanmoreSeagull]

If you'd booked a package you'd be fine, unfortunaltely as you've booked flights and accommodation separately there's not much you can do. Did you book the flight and accom directly yourself or via a Travel Agent?

 

[jcdenton08]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Thomson are absolute bastards.

My girlfriend was flying to Orlando a few years ago, every other flight with every other carrier had been cancelled due to a tropical storm (or hurricane, or something), therefore were given hotels, compensation etc.

Thomson knew they wouldn't be able to land, same as everyone else, but still took off, went more than half way there (invalidating the insurance, meaning no hotel, no compensation etc) and turned around over the atlantic ocean, and came back.

Arrived back at the airport and had to sleep in the airport overnight, before being told to go home and come back in two days. Not a penny in compensation, and the civil suit put together by twenty passengers who flew was dismissed as there had been no "breach of contract".



Absolute bastards.