The One with the Eurostar Experience
Have you ever texted your mom from under the ocean telling her where you are to have her reaction being, ‘is that safe?’
The Chunnel is a large tunnel under one of the more shallow areas of the ocean connecting England to Europe via France or Belgium.
That story was from another time of taking a cheap coach bus from London to Paris; this time I would be taking a bit more pricey train from London to Amsterdam, passing through Lille Europe, Brussels, Rotterdam, and ending up at Amsterdam Central.
This is the Eurostar.
The Eurostar is a pretty fancy high speed train that travels internationally to other destinations to and from London.
You may wonder why bother with a train, surely it must take a lot longer than flying, especially since you have to cross a body of water.
But the train does have a lot of benefits: for instance, I am bringing a case of Strongbow Dark fruit ciders to my lovely German friends for the weekend in Groningen, Netherlands.
This is a delicious cider that I would for sure not be able to take with me in my carry-on-only type of travel with flying.
You also do not have to worry about your liquid allowance and can bring full-size toiletries with you. What a luxury!
You also do not have to go through your ears popping when you lift off and land.
I would say the most beneficial positive is that you do not have to be there 3 hours before your flight. Not to mention also paying for extra transportation to even get yourself to the airport in the first place. That can easily add an extra $20-30 and hour or two extra of time to that already long 3 hour mark.
Online it did say it recommended getting yourself to the train station 90 minutes prior to departure, I think mainly just so you for sure have enough time to go through security and to make sure you do not get lost, or give you ample time to find where you are supposed to go.
I got to the train station 90 minutes before my train was scheduled to leave. The first thing you will do is make your way to the international train departures area, and at London St. Pancreas International, everything was clearly marked on the signs on the ceiling.
There was a sign for international trains and Eurostar, then staff holding signs for arrival destination so you can enter the correct line to go through security and passport control.
Once in the line, you will proceed to the security section. Now it is a bit jarring arriving here because unlike an airport where you know so many things are forbidden and to have your liquids and technology out, there really is no sign saying what to do here.
But there are staff, and they instruct you to just place your belongings into the trays like usual. However I did not have to remove any of my liquids or technology.
The body scanner also seemed pretty uneventful; usually I always end up having to get an extra pat down.
Makes sense; we are not boarding a plane here so the rules are much more lax.
Once I collected my 2 bags I then I was asked what passport I had. I went to the designated line, it was checked by a staffing agent, then I went into another line and did the scanner passport section.
This is where you by yourself scan your passport into a little terminal and it takes your picture.
Finally, one last person at the end of this looked at my passport and gave it an exit stamp. This I have never gotten at the airports in London which was new but I do love my stamps!
That whole process just took about 20 minutes which was pretty good.
After that, I was in this other large room—the waiting area for the departing international trains.
This was a bit chaotic considering how many people were in the waiting area compared to the ratio of seats.
There was definitely no room for me at the start.
There were two trains on the departure board; mine for 11:04 and one earlier train for 10:26 heading for Paris.
After those people would leave to board, the waiting room became much more open and I found a seat.
Not that I sat down for very long; there were three shops to browse in this waiting area.
One was a name I had not heard of but it had some bacon baps and other sandwiches and a small section of on tap beers.
It was a bit too early for me so I went on to the second shop.
This one was a Duty Free. It had a small selection of alcohol, snacks, and magazines.
Not to forget the souvenirs as well, like stuffed teddies dressed in British garb.
The final shop was a Pret a Manger. I did not find anything extra I really wanted, so I found a seat and ate the sandwich I got at M&S earlier.
After having my snack/breakfast, I did some laps walking around the seating area.
Finally it would then be time to board!
I would say you would not need to get to the station more than an our before your departure, unless something crazy was happening.
Once we got on the train I headed to my allocated seat.
I was in coach 12, seat 17.
It looked a little something like this:
I was in a little section of 4, with two seats across from me facing me. I usually do not overly love this setup as it kind of forces you to make eye contact with the person/stranger across from you.
However it has been fine and the person seems to be asleep anyway.
The trays at table fold out to give you a bit more space to eat or work.
After about half an hour you are already crossing the ocean. This is definitely a different and more seamless experience than what I had when I took a bus. With this bus, you see everything that is happening. You have to get onto a larger train which then takes you.
Once through to the other side, you can say hello to Calais (France) and heaps upon heaps of countryside.
One slightly funny thing that has happened so far is me thinking that one of the stops was called “Little Europe” which in fact in read “Lille” as in Lille, France. Whoopsie! It was quite curious to me what Little Europe would be, as we often call Montreal in Canada a little Europe. Anyway, both pertain French!
So far the train is also pretty comfortable, although I did do a cheeky swap of my seat to the one beside it (also a window seat) just to have more leg space. I may be short but I do like to sprawl out!
But it seems like the other person who was sitting across from me was also quite appreciate as he also was in a full stretch position.
Whether it be plane, train, or car, sitting upright in a moving vehicle with no movement for hours on end is painful on the body. My neck and shoulders are often in pain as it is since I like to carry obscene amounts of things on my back with me, but it definitely gets worse in these situations.
You are also able to purchase drinks and food on the train, though I did buy some beforehand so am going to try to control myself until I at least get to Amsterdam and things are a few euros cheaper than on the train.
Another successful journey and one I would recommend trying!
Have you ever tried the Eurostar? Did it meet your expectations?
Signing off until next time!
Christina x
The elusive waiting room area
