Eurostar thoughts

I’m in the process of putting together the big trip report (look out for it starting in a couple of weeks – mainly as I need to get a lot of things into place, and a heck of a lot writing), but here are some thoughts of a trip on Eurostar

Head of a Eurostar Class 373 train set at Paris Nord – Image GhettoIFE.

• 2 hours and 15 minutes, centre to centre is very tough to beat, no matter how you cut it. My journey was slightly longer due to us dropping off passengers at Ebbsfleet International, but still under 2 hours 20 for a 282 Miles, hitting 180mph regularly on both sides of the Channel Tunnel.
• I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, Eurostar customer service is pretty much some of the best out there. After some person made off with my wallet (with the card the ticket was booked on), the Eurostar agent at Gare Du Nord took my passport and happily printed me off my ticket for the journey home.
• Allow time for security clearance and check in time. Eurostar recommends 30 minutes on Standard, 10 on Business Premier (I’d allow a few minutes extra especially if French Customs decide your bags are “of interest” to them…)
• And yes, you can bring liquids over 100ml through (says the person who brought a reasonably sized bottle of Jack Daniels).
• Eurostar’s on-board food prices aren’t what I’d call good, but not what I’d call bad. At €3.70/£3 for a Large Americano (vs £2.20 in Starbucks), there isn’t much to complain the extra 80p for a coffee when you need it (and yes, it was reasonable enough strength to keep me going.
• The offering of reasonable quality fast food in the standard carriages was quite interesting – being Waitrose ready meals. There was a pretty high excess on having them on the road (About £2/€3 extra on a store brought meal), but that Chicken Tikka Masala they had on the train smelt EXTREMELY tempting.
• The Eurostar seats are still very comfortable in a 2-2 airline style seating , with tables of four available in Standard class. Leg room is “cosy” (I’d say 36″), but I couldn’t get my knees to touch the seat back – a very good place to sit if you’re on your own

• Saying that, the trains do look like they’re ageing a bit. Whilst they have gone through mid-life updates (and another one due soon), the Class 373 is showing its age (and some of them could do with going through the carriage washer for good clean too!)
• If you want power for your laptop or phone, either sit in Business Premier or Coaches 5 or 14 in Standard. But that power can be variable (I had to hold the plug in-situ so it made electrical contact at one point. Power also drops and comes back as the train draws power too… (maybe an idea to invest in a RCD before using your own plugs). Make sure you pack a socket converter just in case – some seats have French CEE7/4 style sockets, whilst others have the UK 3 pin BS1363 plugs. Note in Car 5 and 14, it’s one socket per two seats. There is no USB Power sadly.

• SFR has pretty good 3G data connectivity between Paris Nord and way into the tunnel (with only a few black-spots). Vodafone however dropped to poor EDGE connectivity, with regular pokes to register it onto 3G networks
• Arrival into St Pancras is still simple – drop into the station, clear the waiting customs agents, and through to arrivals. The access-way to the Underground is a couple of minutes walk away.

And yes, given the option, Eurostar is my primary choice for going between London and Paris/Brussels. However, I’m normally resorting to taking the plane – due to living in the regions of the UK , it’s an extra two hours to get to London, negating the time benefit of High Speed Rail vs time in the air & at airports.

But for Centre-to-Centre travel between London to Lille, Paris or Brussels, it can’t be beaten.

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