If you are thinking of taking a trip to Europe and traveling from London to Paris, then in all probability you will be traveling on the Eurostar train for this route. When I took this trip, I had all kinds of questions about traveling in Europe and this specific train, and spent months researching looking for specific information. Hopefully these tips will make your experience an easier one.
1. first you need to know how to book tickets to travel on Eurostar. The best site to use is raileurope.com. I found the best prices on this site, and other useful information like schedules. Raileurope also has an 800 number you can call for additional assistance. If you go to the railway website, in the left hand part of the website, there will be a place where you can click for eurostar tickets. This will take you to a page where you can travel on the dates you want, and pull up the ticket price options. If you really don’t want to spend much time, you can buy your ticket here and be done with it. But I’m guessing you’ll have more like me.
The Eurostar Train is a train that goes from London to Paris to Brussels, Belgium. The train is incredibly advanced and goes faster than many other trains in Europe. The Paris to London option discussed here takes about 2 hours and 35 minutes. The Eurostar goes under the English Channel through the Chunnel tunnel, which was built underwater, through the rock below. When I first heard about the Chunnel, I assumed you were going to go through the water, but you were lying underneath it in the very rock. This made me feel safer because I had visions of a leak in a stream or something else!
When you book a Eurostar ticket, you can choose either a one way ticket or a round trip ticket. The fare includes the ticket itself, plus a seat reservation. This is a new idea that you should take if you travel by train in Europe. If you have a ticket on the train, this does not mean that you necessarily have a seat. If you buy a closed pass for Germany, for example, you’ll be able to ride trains, but it won’t have reserved seats. The sun reservations themselves usually cost around $10-$20 extra for each part of the trip. If you travel from Basel to Frankfurt, and change trains and travel from Frankfurt to Berlin, it costs about $11 for each segment, just for the seat reservation. With a Eurostar ticket, you get a seat reservation with the ticket. In this way you will have designated seat seat as Car 5, seat 62. (In general, I found that except for Eurostar, it was not important to have a reserved seat in France, Germany or Switzerland, because you could usually find a seat on the train.
2. When you buy a ticket, you also choose class. You can choose business class, first (also select leisure), or second class. It costs more to buy a first class ticket, but the extra leg room, the seats themselves, and the meal added to your seat is the difference in price. It cost us about $150 one way for a first class ticket from London to Paris. Second class seats were about $50 less.
A second class ticket gives you only the seat reservation and the ticket itself. You will also be assigned one of the second class cars. In the second class, the seats are a little tighter, so you will feel more like you are in the cabin than if you sit in the first or business class . In second class, you will also sit in rows like you are on a boat. The table in front of you probably won’t be eating, so you fuel in your lap or go to the barcar. The car bar is very interesting. There is a counter area where you order food. They serve sandwiches, salads, desserts, and drinks. The sandwiches have something hot, and there is a decent selection. The only drawback is that you have to stand to eat in the car. There are tables, but they are higher than normal tables and you stand to eat your food. You can take the food you bought to your seat.
3. If you are seated in first class or business, lunch will be at your seat. This is nice! Breakfast varies according to the time of day. Before 11 am, they served breakfast. From 11 to 2 lunch was served to me. From 2 to 4 pm you take lunch in the afternoon, and from 4 onwards you take dinner. Breakfast is a three-day meal, and varies according to the day. It is about a four-day recovery, which repeats itself. If you went on day one of the rotation, you would end up with one meal, and on day 2 it would be something else. For every meal, there are usually at least two good ones. We had lunch on the Eurostar. This is done with an omelette, sausage, orange juice, coffee or tea, some kind of bread and jam, and an. opt for some champagne! This was cool. The second choice of that day was a cold selection, such as a muffin and some types of fresh fruits. Yogurt with either choice.
Seat selection is another thing to think about in first class. You will either sit in a row like a boat, which has a table wrapped around your food, or you will sit facing your partner at a fixed table between the two of you. I prefer you a certain table. It appears as if you have more space and then it is like you are eating dinner in a restaurant instead of a flat. Unless you specify when you register your tickets, you will have whatever seats they put you in. I actually called raileurope and asked about requesting a seat. If you get a seat chart, they will tell you which seat you will have. If you don’t like it, before you book it, you can return the reservation and hopefully this time you will have the type of seat you want. If there are four of you on your side, you will be sitting almost opposite each other. If there are two of you or one of you, you can end up either in a row or facing each other. It is not possible to request a specific seat in the car seat, but you can request to have the next seat. ready for the car 11, 56. sit, viz. If you want to sit in seat 57, ask for the next 56 for example. To view the seating chart, go to http://www.eurorailways.com/brochure/premier/eurostar_seatplan.pdf . There are 18 cars on each Eurostar train, with two dedicated train cars. Cars 14 through 18 and 1 through 5 are second class. Cars 7 by 8 and 10 by 12 are first class. Car 9 is premier class.
4. Packaging will be something to think about. Let me tell you upfront, the less you pack, the easier your life will be in Europe. If you ride trains, you will have less luggage, the less you will have to juggle and you will have less time for each team. On the Eurostar, there are luggage racks at the end of each car. Baggage bags aren’t as big as you might think, and if you’re one of the last on the train, they may already be full. This is also down to sitting in the other car away from your luggage. This would be difficult to access, and if the train stops loading or unloading passengers, you are prey to someone trying to steal your luggage from the train. (Believe it or not, someone could jump on the train at a stop, take your luggage, and jump off just in time for you to get on the train without your luggage getting stuck.) To protect this, we bought a hair bike at Walmart. and shakes the luggage. We also made sure to get our seats next to the luggage racks so we could be closer to our luggage! Using locks on your luggage can also deter thieves from breaking inside and removing items.
There is room for overhead luggage, or for your seat. Small suitcases and duffel bags will fit above your seat on the head rack. Let the middle bag sit under your feet, but then you’ll literally have no leg. They’re not too picky about what you do with the luggage, but they can’t be in the lobby because the staff is constantly walking around with a bunch of drinks and food first-class dining cars
5. Train Station. The train station that used to be used in London was Waterloo International. This post was somewhat difficult for me. It was hard to figure out where to board the Eurostar train. We rented a car through Avis and couldn’t find a place to return it! If your car is rented by Avis, there is a separate building next to the train station on the side of the road where you have to return it! In Waterloo, you must board the train at least 30 minutes before your scheduled time. I recommend that you give yourself an hour, and an extra hour to find the place, and go in and find where you are supposed to be. As of November 14, 2007, Eurostar’s departure point will change to St. Pancras International, another train station. Hopefully it will be more comfortable. This new start promises to reduce journey time by twenty to twenty five minutes, from London to Paris or Brussels.
The Paris train station is also no picnic. When you arrive in Paris, hardly anyone speaks English. Many people want to put their luggage somewhere and go. It took us two hours to complete this work. There are lockers in the railway station room. Once you’ve found them, you’ll need to pay the change in euros for the locks, so be prepared for this. You have to go through security just to get into the room. Lockers are also often filled with large sizes, and are used for the rental of two medium or small ones. It costs 4 to 10 cents for each box depending on the size. Don’t expect the employees at the train station to speak English and answer these questions for you. If you take another train to the Eiffel-tower, these trains are at a different station from where the lockers are. The bathroom are in the room, almost directly below where you get off the Eurostar.
