The Motto of the City of Marseille: Actibus immensis urbs fulget Massiliensis.
"By her great deeds, Marseille shines in the world".
The idea to visit Marseille had been around for me for many years. In the early seventies I had visited the South of France several times but stayed away from the big city. Yes - I did all the tourist spots... St. Tropet, Cannes, Nice, Monaco etc. But this time I wanted to see some of France that maybe you had to find for yourself and wasn't air-brushed for tourists.
My intention was to travel light to Marseille, with just hand luggage and my laptop - I just about did it. If I was going again I would not take so much! One laptop, less underwear and leave behind all the chargers for cameras, shavers, mobile phones and more that I took with me. Carrying all that defeated the object of travelling light to Marseille. Anyway, life is one big, long lesson is it not? On with the journey.
Marseille, for me, as you will see, certainly lived up to my expectations.
Before leaving England, I did my research and here is what I used.
Return Flight Gatwick to Marseille
I booked my flight with last minute .com and got a return flight that suited me with
BA for £73.64 (approx. 145 US Dollars or 109 Euros). The service was very good, I collected my tickets at the airport and everything went without a hitch as far as the flights were concerned. I know this was not the cheapest tickets I could have purchased but I didn't want to fly (at that time) with any of the budget airlines and the tickets with
BA suited me. (
BTW I have subsequently decided to never use last minute .com again, as recently when I challenged them on their price promise - if you find it cheaper within 24 hours they will refund the difference - well, I found something else I had purchased from them cheaper and they failed to honour their price promise - I won't use them again and would not even link to their site.... :-) - there are lots of good alternatives when you are buying on the web - you don't need to use someone who welches on a price guarantee.)
Car Parking at Gawick Airport
Once I knew I was flying from Gatwick Airport I needed parking for my car - I got a good deal with
APH who were able to provide 16 days secure parking near Gatwick for £50.24. (approx. 99 US Dollars and 74 Euros).
All went smoothly at
APH. I was greeted and welcomed well by their reception, check-in of my car was smooth and within minutes of arriving at the
APH car park I was on my way to Gatwick Airport aboard their courtesy bus. The courtesy bus runs every fifteen minutes.
At Gatwick Airport I collected my flight tickets which I had purchased online without any problems. The only hiccup I had at the airport was that contrary to some information I had read at the
British Airways website, you are only allowed one bag as hand luggage and NOT one bag plus a laptop. This meant I had to squeeze my laptops (I had two) into my hand-luggage - I just managed but others may not be so lucky so be warned about this. I did speak to a
British Airways customer services rep who said this was a frequent problem and she had asked for the misleading advice on the
BA website to be change.
So off I went to Marseille with just one bag of hand luggage and the beginnings of a true adventure.
I am
Carbuncle, a writer, journalist, web author and World Wide Web publisher. I write when the muse calls and publish to the
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Carbuncle