Roar

Thank you. This is helpful.

I am trying to figure out how I am going to wrangle my very tired mother, her bag(s), and my bag off the plane, through immigration, and into a taxi.... we have to make a train at Gare Montparnasse... so the timing is going to be important.

I don't want to book at really late train because I don't want to have her wait. The flip side is that I do not want to miss our train. That would be disaster. IF we can get through immigration quickly, that would be good.

We are either looking at a gap of 3 hrs 22 mins from landing to train leaving or 5hrs 22mins.

I am planning on taking a taxi or uber from CDG to Montparnasse.

Is 3hrs 22 from landing to train insane?

(I think it should be doable, certainly if I were by myself, but I don't know with my mother in tow.) Thoughts?

TakeTheATrain

Depending on your destination, you might be able to take the train directly from CDG Airport. TGV service is available to most major cities in France from Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV, the train station in Terminal 2.

seenitall

What time of day and day of the week are you landing at CDG. If you are on the flight from IAD that lands at 06:55am, and on a Sunday; no problem in a 3:22 connection to Gare Montparnasse. But if you are landing later, and on a weekday, traffic into the city could be fierce. Assuming the TGV option is not open to you, chose the later train. As you point out, waiting for the later train is inconvenient, but missing the earlier one is a disaster.

ajGoes

What dates are you traveling? The SNCF and RATP (the national and Paris-area train operators) are facing an "unlimited" strike beginning December 5th. [Edited to fix date.] The unions are threatening not to honor their contract requiring them to maintain at least a minimum level of service. If they do strike, there's no way to know how long they'll stay out.

Roar

It's the TGV to Bordeaux. Annoyingly, it only seems to leave CDG twice a day (early and late). I am 99% sure I have taken this train before in the middle-ish of the day. Not sure what happened to the schedule. (I need to double-check it. I know I can take the RER to Montparnasse in theory, but with my mother + bags, no way. Gotta taxi.)

Re the strike - I wonder how long it will go. We are not landing til much later than the 2nd, but that's still worrisome.

Re landing time, we would be in the rush hour on a weekday - thank you for pointing that out.

Maybe the later train is the safest way to play it. Better safe (and really tired) than sorry and stuck.

ajGoes

I made an error. The strike begins on the 5th. (I've edited my post with the incorrect start date.) I don't have enough experience to know how bad it will be or how long it will last, but I've taken the precaution of reserving a car for my onward travel after a few days in Paris.

I don't recommend trying to drive immediately after landing. Driving when fatigued is much like driving drunk.

Roar

I definitely do not want to have to get a car and drive down. I've done it before and it's exhausting, even if one is not jet lagged.

Maybe I will reserve one as a CYA, though. That is a good idea/tip.

SFO28L

The TGV is hourly between Montparnasse and Bordeaux. It should take:

1. 1 hour (or less) to exit the airport
2. ~ 1 hour to get to Montparnasse, 2 hours in extremely bad traffic.
3. 20 minutes to get into the station and to the platform with elderly parent.

Roar

So you are estimating a worst case scenario of 3:20 ...

Hmmm.....

SFO28L

Check the TGV ticket terms. Some can be modified up to 30 minutes before departure. You could likely push your tickets back 1 hour if you were delayed.

Roar

That is a good idea but my worry is that tickets will be sold out on the day of....

Maybe I'll do the reverse - buy the later train and see if we can swap to the earlier one if we get there in time....(provided there is availability).

***Edit - No decision to be made now. Both the earlier and later trains are sold out. I know they book up, but that is surprising. So, it's going to be a later train. I haven't been a on Ouigo, so I think I am going to stick to the TGV....

Roar

OK, this morning's thought - fly down instead of train?

Train is at 2

We could catch a 0955am 1230pm AF and fly down... why do you guys think?

I have changed terminals at CDG before, and if I remember correctly, it's a total hassle. Not sure, though, the hassle outweighs the schlepping over to Montparnasse and hanging out for hours.... I guess we could have lunch....

seenitall

You are right. Changing terminals is a hassle. Especially if you have to take the CDGVAL shuttle train. You will have to ditch your luggage trolley and wrangle all of your luggage up and down onto the train. Then repeat the process at T2. If there is a shuttle bus option to your particular T2 terminal, that would work much better. I don't want to imagine what a Parisien cab driver would say to you if you told him that you only wanted to go to T2. But 3 hours should be adequate to make this connection to T2. However, once you reach Bordeaux, you will need to get into the city. Depending on where the train station and airport are relative to your final destination could make a difference.

ajGoes

It will be much less of a hassle with your wheelchair assistant there. They'll guide you to the most efficient way to do it. I don't know how long the terminal change will take, though.

Roar

Re getting into Bordeaux city, it's not an issue - a friend is picking us up. I just need to get us down there.

You guys think a wheelchair assistant would wrangle my mother to terminal train. on train, off train, to gate, etc etc while I wrangle suitcases?
Going back through security again seems very un-fun. That said, being dog-tired at Montparnasse and getting to BOD late(r) seems un-fun, too.

What do you think you'd do?

(I will also keep monitoring the TGV to see if any availability pops up....)