I have just returned from a motoring trip to Switzerland,
under- taken with a view to ascertaining at first hand how prices and general conditions on the Continent are shaping for the 1950 season. It appears that the British tourist is not going to be allowed to have more than the same ration of currency this year than last, although devaluation of sterling and a perceptible rise in prices for hotels, food and petrol have made costs higher all round for him. Nevertheless, I think that it will still be possible to have a fort- night's motoring holiday abroad on the basic allowance, provided care is exercised in choice of places to eat and stay. There will certainly be no margin for luxury hotels, restaurants and night spots.
It may perhaps be interesting to the prospective traveller if I give an outline of costs involved- in motoring on the Continent today. The car I took on my last visit was an Armstrong-Siddeley, with a wheelbase of 9 ft. 6 ins., and the charge for freight was £8 each way on the Dover-Dunkirk ferry. (Note—charges for freight vary with wheelbase, not overall length, and the minimum is £5 single journey for a car of wheelbase not exceeding 8 ft. 6 ins.). The fare on this service is £2 3s. single for motorists accompanying cars, and a cabin costs a further £1. As we were travelling overnight, we had a cabin—and were lucky to get one, as the demand for them is very great.
The foreign touring documents I procured through the Royal Automobile Club. They can only be obtained from this body or the Automobile Association, and there is some criticism to be heard of the amount charged. My account shows " Customs documents and Port Service " to cost £2 10s., " International Certificate for Motor Vehicles " 10s. 6d., and " Customs Liability fee " £1 10s. This means that the total cost was no less than £4 10s. 6d., and a non-member of either body would have to pay a year's subscription and, possibly, an entry fee to acquire the right to apply for docu- ments. Admittedly, both organisations maintain expensive and comprehensive staffs to facilitate the traveller'i passage on both sides of the Channel, but, when one realises that some 50,000 sets of documents will probably be issued during the coming summer, the high cost which motorists pay for the R.A.C. and A.A. mono- poly of the document-issuing business can be appreciated. The alternative is to travel on a " Laissez Passer," issued on arrival in France, but it has to be preceded by the completion of a complicated document required to satisfy the British Customs authorities that the car is only being exported on a temporary basis. The " Laissez Passer " is a French road licence, and is obtained from the Customs official on the other side, at a cost which varies with the 'duration of stay, on a basis of about 20 francs per day.
The Dunkirk ferry-boat on which we travelled arrives at about 4 a.m., but passengers not wishing to disembark then may remain on board until 7 o'clock (8 o'clock French time). There were some twenty cars in the garage on the top deck, and one by one their owners appeared and drove them ashore. Here the motoring organisations' representative produced the "carnets de passage" (the main foreign touring document), which we had last seen at Dover, and demanded a " landing fee " of 3s. 6d. for so doing. The process of getting passports and carnet stamped, and of satisfy-
ing the Customs officer as to contents of baggage, then followed, so that it was just on 9 a.m. (French time) when we threaded our way out of Dunkirk docks and town—surely the worst sign-posted port in France.
It is only fair to say that, on the whole, it is easy to find one's ' way about on the Continent. The roads are numbered, and one of the valuable services of both the R.A.C. and the A.A. is the route guide which they provide to a member on request. This gives the names of the places through which one should pass, together with distances between towns and the road number. Street plans are also included for the larger places, and there are usually sign-posts in towns. It is only here and there, as in Dunkirk, that the French system falls short, but one must admit that, for a country which is so tourist-minded, it is a little surprising that the matter is not rectified, as it could be very cheaply.
We were able to cash' some traveller's cheques before leaving Dunkirk. The official rate of exchange is 980 francs to the £1 (about), but a charge of 50 francs is made for cashing each cheque. It is, therefore, advisable to take most of one's allowance in cheques of high denomination, as the charge is the same irrespective of value. Soon we needed petrol, and decided to try the " super " spirit, which costs about 5 francs a litre more than the regular grade. The actual price varies in different parts of France, and we paid 52.10 francs a litre here in the northern area. We took 25 litres (5f galls.), and the cost was 1,302 francs 50 centimes (say 26s. 7d., or 4s. 10d. a gallon). The petrol was certainly very good indeed, but later we filled up with Shell of the regular touring quality, and this also was excellent, and cost about 6d. a gallon less. We did not buy any oil, as it is easy enough to take a gallon tin of one's regular brand in the boot. Oil is apt to be an unknown quantity in France unless one buys from a big and reputable garage, and it costs quite a high price—anything up to 15s. a gallon.
After we had driven for fifty miles or so, some of our party decided they would like breakfast, as they had not felt ready for it before leaving the boat at so early an hour. We therefore stopped at. Bethune, where from past experience we knew of a good café- restaurant, and here we had coffee, rolls and butter and a boiled egg (oeuf a la coq) at a cost of 150 francs (3s.) apiece. Motoring on refreshed, we covered an easy forty miles in each hour without hurrying unduly, and at about 1 p.m. reached Soissons, where we decided to lunch. Consulting our restaurant guide, we selected an hotel, but discovered that there were already several cars outside carrying red and white Belgian number plates. This was an ominous sign to me, for my experience is that, wherever Belgian tourists go, prices are raised. True enough, when we inspected the menu outside the place, our worst hopes were realised, for the prices were staggeringly high. To start with, cover charge was 60 francs, double what it is at most places, and a main dish was 500-600 francs. With etceteras this would have made the bill anything up to 30s. per person, so we drove away to the next place on our list, of much more modest calibre and with no Belgian cars in sight. Here we lunched on soup, grilled steak, patisserie and dessert, and, with apéritifs and wine, the cost was 1,400 francs for three—say 10s. each.
Overnight our stopping-place was a small town—Chatillon-sur- Seine—about three hundred miles from our starting point that morning. We arrived at six p.m., and put up at a small hotel, which we have used on previous occasions. It is of the type one would designate as a 2-star, being quite unpretentious, yet adequate for a one-night stay while touring. The food, cooked by the proprietor, has always been excellent, and the rooms, while comfortable for a short stop, would be too small for a stay of any duration. The food really was good ; likewise the wine, which was a local vintage of rosé. In the morning we were, under way by 9.30 a.m., after a coffee and rolls breakfast, and the bill for three of us amounted to 4,700 francs (say £5), out of which the two rooms we occupied were charged at 850 francs. Dinner cost 680 francs apiece, and a service charge of 15 per cent. was included.
Motoring on towards Switzerland, we stayed at Dijon for lunch (1,000 francs a head at the best restaurant in the town), and crossed the frontier at La Cure. There was little delay or difficulty here, but I noticed that the Swiss authorities ar© still making a charge
MARGINAL
By HAROLD
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