I was travelling Interrail from London to Paris in May. I came down to London from Edinburgh on a Sunday and went to a concert at the Barbican .. everything was going fine.

The on Sunday evening I got a Eurostar email - due to French rail industrial action my Eurostar next morning cancelled .. But there was a link to make a “simple rebooking” on the next available train .. so ok?

No, not OK. The link for me did not work. It led me through a rebooking process that just led always to “unexpected error has occurred”.

I was initially quite panicked .. I had nowhere to stay longer in London and had a hotel booked in Paris that could not change. I could do nothing until the next morning when offices were open.

In fact, the next morning phone call to Eurostar worked .. I had to hang on the line for about 45 mins .. but when I got through I was rebooked on a train 2 hours later with no problem.

My question though : As interrail users, do we just have to accept that we are not included in such automatic rebooking procedures? Is it always the case that there will be an “unexpected error” .. and we will have to wait in long phone queues? (In my case calling a UK number from a German mobile phone)