Train vs Plane – The Brussels and Christmas Edition
In this… comparison.
- A Surreal Weekend Out
- Early Morning Virgin Trains and St Pancras International
- Eurostar ES9116 London St Pancras to Brussels Midi (Standard Premier)
- Crowne Plaza Le Place, Roiger, Brussels
- Enjoying time in Brussels and Leuven
- Off to Trainworld
- Back to Brussels Airport, British Airways Terraces Lounge
- BA399 Brussels National Airport to London Heathrow (Club Europe)
- Heading back to Marylebone, and heading home
- Train vs Plane? Which wins in this round?
A Surreal Weekend Out.
It’s coming to the end of the year again. And whilst I won’t be going long haul for my birthday (or in fact going on my birthday), some of my Twitter friends talked about meeting up in Brussels the week after.
Since I had nothing to do that weekend… well, I do have plenty to do, but that’s called shirking responsibility, I decided that hooking up with them would be fun.
And a feeble enough excuse to do some travelling before the end of the year.
With me and my wonderful memory, I ended up booking this trip with only a two weeks to go before the meet-up.
As a result, airplane prices were was… painful, with full revenue tickets going in silly numbers.
Rather than splash the cash on revenue tickets – I pondered if this could be turned into another fun comparison like I did earlier this year.
So, firstly – I needed to get to Brussels. With airfares starting at a £200+ one-way at the times I wanted to go, and minimal redemption space, I did what most people would do in this instance… and book a Eurostar instead.
Initially, Eurostar wanted £146 for a single fare. A bit expensive, but hey. That’s the price of catching up with friends.
What was really interesting is that for £11 more – I could take Standard Premier which included a larger seat, more space, more Club Eurostar Points, and limited catering.
Of course, I paid the £11 extra.
Heading homewards, thankfully, there was a lot of British Airways redemption space on the way home. All for 9000 Avios and £25.
I could have gone for a revenue fare for £150 in Business Class – but I don’t need the tier points at the moment. Therefore, this is a perfect case to redeem a few points.
For a hotel, I decided to be brand loyal (or lazy) and went for the Crowne Plaza Le Palace near Brussels North station (a… wonderful… neighbourhood)… mainly out of brand loyalty, but also the NH Hotels scheme was confusing the heck out of me. And I have enough confusion in my life as it is.
To position into London, I got a Virgin Trains express ticket for £9 single to London. For the way home, whilst I maintain never booking a ticket when travelling home – as delays are a thing that happen when I travel. Whilst this ticket would be £30.50… I’d be using the return portion a couple of weeks later to visit my parents.
So, for one final time this year – let’s have a map of where we’re kinda going.
Next: Off we go to London and St Pancras International Station
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