The Eurostar is a high-speed train service that connects London and Kent in Great Britain, with Paris and Brussels in Europe. It is the most advanced train in the world, taking you under the sea through the famous Channel Tunnel in luxurious surroundings, in just 20 minutes at a record speed of 186mph.
The first trains ran in November 1994 and since then Eurostar has established a dominant market share for the routes it serves. With the announcement that the Channel Tunnel Rail Link will open at London St Pancras station on 14 November 2007, the service will enjoy “High Speed 1” status.
Eurostar claims travel times equal or exceed air flights, making it an alternative to air travel for holidays in Europe. Fares include ticket price and seat reservation. Meals are included for Business Premier and First Class fares. The service is also non-smoking!
The food in first class is better than what is served in the economy seats of an airplane and is served separately with metal cutlery and complimentary half bottles of wine.
There is also the convenience factor. If you live in London, instead of enduring a 40-minute journey to Heathrow, you can reach Waterloo Station in just 10 minutes, thus shortening your commute.
If you get a seat in first class (not premium first), not only does the legroom double, but apparently so does the seat size.
For those who have traveled by Eurostar for weekend leisure visits to Europe, here comes a trick to get cheaper tickets. The idea is to book your tickets in reverse to take advantage of the leisure fares arriving from the French side. So instead of booking London to Paris Monday to Friday, book Paris to London Friday to Monday. You will see a big difference in price.
Some say it’s cheaper to buy a plane ticket, but if you add airport taxes, the cost of getting to one airport and then finding your way into the city from another airport, then all the snacks you’ll buy at the Somehow It would be very difficult to make the trip for less than the Eurostar ticket. It will also take much longer and be a much less pleasant journey.
A day trip from London to Paris, or vice versa? No problem. By plane? It would be a nightmare! The Eurostar also caters very well for disabled people so if you are disabled there is another plus.
There are other useful things worth knowing about Eurostar: they sell gift vouchers, which are nice gifts. All of their timetables are available online, as are booking services and even details on how to book subsequent journeys if you want to switch to another train to go elsewhere in France.
The downside at the moment is that Eurostar’s rail network isn’t very extensive, which means finding more train connections if you’re going anywhere other than London, Paris and Brussels. But there are plans for the service to roll out across Europe. The day may come when you can take a sleeper from London and wake up in Rome.