Train vs Plane – The London to Amsterdam Edition!

Train vs Plane – The Amsterdam Edition!

In this … comparison. Yes. Let’s call it a comparison.

• Train vs Plane? What the blazes is this?
• Off to St Pancras on the Early Train (Virgin Trains Birmingham to London Euston), St Pancras Departures Lounge
• Eurostar train 9114 London St Pancras to Amsterdam Centraal
• A walk around Amsterdam
  
• Setting the timer off: Off to Amsterdam Schiphol
• A light bit of spotting at Amsterdam Schiphol
• British Airways Terraces Amsterdam Schiphol
• BA441 Amsterdam Schiphol to London Heathrow
• Into London, stopping the stopwatch and Chilterns home
• Who wins?

Earlier this year, Eurostar announced it was going to be commencing direct services between London St Pancras and Amsterdam Centraal.  I crunched the numbers and worked out what should win and what that means.

But you can go only so far with theoretical things. I like facts and science.

And stropwaffles.

Maybe Miffy…

And Planes…

And also trains…

So with all these things in mind, I thought a real live fire test would be in order – to see if the numbers I crunched worked out.

Booking this ticket was easy enough – Eurostar have plenty of lead-in tickets for £35 single (£70 return) if you dig hard enough for them . I grabbed one of them for this example.

Easy enough to do on the App or on the laptop

For the return leg, I needed to conserve cash where possible. KLM were offering a single for €77. BA wanted €93 for a basic fare.

So what did I do? Correct – booked a British Airways Reward flight saver for £12.50 and a bunch of Avios. Why not business class? It’s a short flight – not even worth ponying up for C for such a short leg when I can get an exit row, and a relaxing lounge beforehand.

To get to London, I secured a £9 single fare from Birmingham New Street, with a decision to take whichever train service was convenient when arriving at London (least of all – I didn’t know if I’d be delayed on the way back.

I’m going to do a little science with this – with end to end timings. I’ll allow for breaks and such (and diversions won’t count), but this will have no splits in it. Well, that’s the theory. Theory and practice have a very odd way of combining on this blog as we all we know.

Because let’s face it – things love to happen when I travel… and I don’t have a choice in it in some respects.

The other thing – when I booked this, I didn’t realise two things – a Royal Wedding was in the offing, and the FA Cup Final were both occurring on the same day – which would make getting home… interesting.

Or chaotic.

Just how much?

Next: Off we go!

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