Beyond the booze cruise

Advantages: Eat, drink and shop....
Disadvantages: ....until you drop

...devote some time to sight-seeing before returning home. To do so need not be expensive: fare deals for overnight stays are economical, while French hotels tend to be cheaper than their British equivalents. By staying over you add a lot of interest and excitement to a shopping trip at relatively little extra cost. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? PAS-DE-CALAIS This review is focussed on the Pas-de-Calais, the French département (equivalent to county) immediately across the Channel from Kent. I apologise to readers who might find crossing by other routes to other départements more convenient, and also to those who having crossed from Kent would want to travel further afield than the Pas-de-Calais, but it is simply impossible to cover all the options in a single review. Pas-de-Calais is in any case...

torr 14.04.2004 (10.06.2006) · Read review
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Review of Pas de Calais

Pas de la Casa

Advantages: Cheapest of the cheap, duty-free shopping
Disadvantages: An ambience that is pretty unique.... thankfully

...What can be said about "Pas" that hasn't been said already? Well, the first thing is to correct the nickname of "Ibiza with Snow"; it aspires to be Ibiza, but is far closer to Benidorm. As such, you will either love it or hate it, depending upon how you like your apres-ski. In its favour are its general cheapness (which includes duty free shopping) and a fairly extensive and nowadays well-linked lift system. Against it (and I'm well aware that some would consider this a recommendation) is the hell on earth that is Pas of an evening. I found the service in restaurants to be as rude as I'd ever come across (some places would as soon ignore you completely as serve you), but once you see how the majority of the English holidaymakers conduct themselves, you can see their point. A succession of truly hideous apartment buildings litter...

greenierexyboy 27.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Pas de la Casa/Grau Roig

Pas de la casa

Advantages: Fantastic Ski and snowboard school
Disadvantages: Not great Apres ski

...We stayed in Pas de la casa which is a 2 and a half hour transfer from Tolouse. It is not a pretty town, but has a lovely backdrop of the mountains. We stayed in self catering accomodation which was clean and basic. Food and drink in restaurants was not as cheap as advertised online (although drink in supermarkets is cheap, 1 litre of smirnoff vodka 7.40 euros which is £4!) The service was friendly and it helped we spoke french and spanish, but food was pretty poor and food came out at different times which is not good for a big group. I really enjoyed my two snowboarding lessons which are excellent and a must for all learners that go there. I went for the one on one lesson, you learn so much quicker that in a big group.Overall a great place to learn and go tax free shoppping, but definately a budget holiday resort....

annie81 31.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of Pas de la Casa/Grau Roig

My opinion of Pas de la Casa

Advantages: Wide range of skiing
Disadvantages: Long transfere time

...Pas de la Casa, known to most as 'Pas', situated in Andorra a principality on the French/Spanish border. With no airport all holiday makers must fly to Toulouse and then endure a 3 hour coach ride to Andorra, but it's well worth it. Pas is the first resort you arrive at, being just 100 yards from the border crossing. The main town itself, consisting of shops, bars and some hotels, is situated at the bottom of the main slope, other hotels spread out either side of the valley, where skiing to your front door is easily possible. Skiing. Buying a lift pass for Pas will also allow you to ski in the neighbouring resort of Grau Roig, all chair lifts and drag lifts close at 5:30 pm so ensure you are not in Grau Roig when they close as it will be an expensive taxi ride back to Pas. The two resorts spread over 3 valleys, with plenty...

freestone 06.01.2001 (08.02.2001) · Read review
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Review of Pas de la Casa/Grau Roig

Xmas at Pas de la Casa

Advantages: Cheap, Good fun, Good skiing area, Good drinking, Friendly locals
Disadvantages: 3 1/2 hour coach transfer to toulouse airport

...We have just spent the Xmas break in Pas de la Casa and it was our first visit to Andorra. Yes - we would go again. Although it was early in the season there was enough snow to make the holiday a good one. Skiing is quite extensive and the lift system is good with few queues. The lifts in the main are chair lifts which can be a bit unnerving for first timers but you soon get the hang of them. The nursery slopes are very crowded and its good that you only spend a day or so there before moving on to the blue runs where the greater space allows easier instuction. Ski instruction is very good with most if not all of the instructors speaking good english. This was our second ski holiday and probably our best to date. The town itself is lively and caters for a younger age group, but that doesnt mean if you are over 21 then you are past...

groomoid 12.02.2001 · Read review
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Review of Pas de la Casa/Grau Roig

Fantastique Mythique De Lint, N'est pas?

Advantages: Impressive background-research and external-reference. Compelling fantasy legendscape.
Disadvantages: Author's early work. Repetitive and careless French Phrases. Slow? Unrealistic legendscape.

...brings me on to something that annoys me? As a Canadian who lived in Quebec, you would have though De Lint could include in his books, if not a few phrases from a Celtic language, perhaps a bit of good French. Now I'm not about to get involved in an argument about whether having words and phrases in foreign languages in the speech of some characters in books is a good thing, but personally I like it, especially in the Mythic fantasy genre, where "exotic" languages really fit in. I think that it pulls speech away from the artificiality of crafted conversation, as well as challenging me to improve my own language-skills. This for the most part is how de Lint uses his French for the two characters that know it, and although I did get a bit fed up of one character's "N'est pas, inspecteur?" every sentence (if you're not making all your other...

dragonhelmuk 22.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Moonheart - Charles de Lint

Pas de Calai - Cite Europe

Advantages:
Disadvantages:

...Cite Europe in Calais is one of the most pleasant shopping centres I have ever been to. It is only a short drive from the Eurotunnel terminal and offers a wide range of shops and eateries (and a cinema for those who wishing to improve their French). It only takes 35 minutes to travel there from the terminal in Folkestone, Kent. It is well worth going over with an empty petrol tank as fuel prices are significantly cheaper than they are in the UK. It is not difficult to work out which direction to go upon leaving the terminal as the majority of British registration cars are heading there! The main supermarket Carrefour provides a whole host of goods that are available in the UK and centrally there is a most amazing array of produce. It is well worth purchasing French produce - I bought some carrots on my last visit and they had...

penguin_too 17.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of General: France

Calais Hotel Meurice

Advantages: Central location but quiet, elegant, luxurious
Disadvantages: Central location but not too easy to find

...I often go to France for short breaks, usually from Poole to Cherbourg but recently for a change, and because of some business in Kent, my wife and I decided to revisit one of our favourite hotels, the Hotel Meurice, in the very centre of Calais. We spent a Saturday and a Sunday night there at the beginning of February 2008 and we weren't disappointed. Last time we had been here was about 10 yrs ago when its elegant interior was a bit jaded. It has been improved since, although there are still little bits here and there that need some TLC. Let's get straight to the point - Calais isn't the most attractive town in France so who would want to stay here? Well we did. We wanted several things that the Meurice allowed us to do. It allowed us to wallow in the hotel's luxury for a couple of days. It allowed us to refresh our wine...

webfoot 08.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Hotel Meurice, Calais

Ski Break at the Llac Negre,Pas de la Casa

Advantages: Small bubbly friendly hotel with lots going on
Disadvantages: Short uphill walk from slopes, initial cost quite expensive

......

Pink-Ice-Queen 08.06.2006 (14.06.2006) · Read review
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Review of Llac Negre Hotel, Pas de la Casa

Booze Cruise to Calais

Advantages: cheap, fun, quick.
Disadvantages: None! We are after all talking about cheap booze and fags!

...!) man if we could change the times to come back earlier, he advised that we could go on any ferry at any time as long as there was room! Brilliant, we got a wriggle on and instead of having to wait an hour to get ours we got on the 15.15! We drove straight onto the ferry and left the car to go on deck. The ferry had a duty free shop selling cigs, wines and spirits. There was a café, a brasserie, a pub, a kiddies play area and a games room, plenty to keep you occupied for the 70 or 90-minute journey. Our journeys both took 90 minutes, there is just one of their ferries that will do it in 60 and that is the newest and largest – The Rodin. The other ferries are The Cézanne and The Manet. The crossing was calm and quite pleasant, I have never been on a ferry before but I much prefer it to flying. We arrived in Calais at 16...

Redhead 24.06.2002 · Read review
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Review of Calais (France)