Originally Posted by
Sunny 1
We're going on a barge trip in June too! We'll be in the South of France though. I haven't read any comments on acquiring TGV tickets. We have our travel agent secure reservations in 1st class on the TGV before we go. I think they go on sale one month (at least) before departure. I'm glad we had them last year as the train was packed! This system is very different than travelling by train in Italy where we have the hotel concierge secure tickets for us.
Keep in mind that you can easily (assuming the website is working!) buy tickets on the SNCF website, for collection in France. Don't buy them from RailEurope.com unless you're keen on spending a lot of extra $$$. It's easy to collect the tickets at the station; just allow for an extra 20 minutes or so in case of long lines. Unfortunately you cannot collect your tickets from the automatic ticket machines unless you have a european-style credit card (with a chip embedded in it).
The difference between a non-refundable first class fare and non-refundable second class is relatively small, but so are the differences in comfort. The primary advantage to first class will be more available luggage space in the vestibule, and you won't get ticketed but non-seated passengers cramming into the car.