Off to France and Italy in March for 2/3 months (undecided) ... will come back when we feel like it! What do others do regarding return tickets, P & O Dover/Calais?
Can one get an open ended return or do you have to get a single outgoing and buy another single at Calais coming back?
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P&O do a 'fully flexi' which allows travel when you like but it is several times cost of a standard return. Your cheapest option is probably to buy a standard return for latest time you are likely to return & if you want to return before that, phone ferry company a couple of days before travel & amend booking, cost around £15 or perhaps a bit more but usually not that much if you are sailing at same time of day/week as original booking.
You do need to phone ahead though as if you just turn up, say a week earlier an amendment at checkin can be £60 or more.
For the last few years we have booked single outward, and then a few days before we are ready to go home we book the return.
If we have internet connection we book that way, and if not phone the ferry company or a club.
In any event all you need is the booking number which I write on a scrap of paper and hand it over at the kiosk.
I believe that some ferry operators use number plate recognition.
You can buy a flexible ticket in advance but then you are restricted to that ferry operator and there are also costs to be considered.
The fully flexi tickets are expensive. We've started not booking a return, and just coming back when we feel like it and we find the cheapest way is to just book a single crossing, and then go on line once we know when we're coming back and book a return. It's not like it used to be when a return was less than twice the cost of a single. These days each journey is priced separately and you save nothing by booking a return.
I wouldn't advise booking anything until you know just when you want to come back - there is never a problem finding a crossing. But I wouldn't wait until I get back to Calais - if you turn up without a ticket it is always more expensive on the day, than booking even just 24 hours in advance.
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Thanks for the tip, Val, I just priced a return only fron Calais or Dunkirk for tomorrow, and as you say, it is no more expensive than booking as a leg of a return trip. The other bonus is, I suppose you can mix and match ferry routes. As we do a lot of touring, it would be nice not to have to return to Calais if we had ended up in Brittany, say. We have friends with a house there, and they like us to call in, the drive back can be a nuisance. Will look at doing single trips in future, and using Cherbourg to get home.
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Topic: Open ended return
