What a Euro-star! (Eurostar)

Member Name: bailey_kipper_uk

Product:	Eurostar
Date:	09/07/08 (308 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick, easy, comfortable

Disadvantages: Price is the main one if you are booking late

I've just returned from Rock Werchter in Belgium, excellent festival, but I got there using Eurostar. It was my first time using the passenger only train and also booking my tickets myself online, so here's a review about the end 2 end customer journey.

Booking
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Eurostar of course have a website, which is simply www.Eurostar.com. I was a leisure traveller but there is also a tab for business travellers. The leisure section allows you to book the Eurostar plus Hotel and Car Hire.

To book the Eurostar you have a series of options, first you need to pick your starting point and your destination. I went from London (St Pancreas) to Brussels. You then pick your date of travel, pick am or pm, and then the same again for the return leg if applicable. Finally how many people are travelling and the age mix. Then hit search.

The cost can vary wildly as with any form of travel. A ticket for tomorrow costs £154 whereas a ticket for 2 months time could cost as little as £44 (non-flexible). The prices also vary depending on what time of the day you go. You are presented with a list of options for your outbound journey and you can either select one of these or choose to see later/earlier trains. You then move on to the return leg and do the same.

Once you've done this you just need to confirm your personal details, and pay. You will be sent an email confirmation and my tickets arrived a couple of weeks later, in plenty of time for the journey.

Getting to the station
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We went to St Pancreas which is connected to Kings Cross station. On the way in we took a direct train from East Croydon and I used the tube going back, both options are easy to do and are both fairly short journeys between trains. St Pancreas itself is a nice station having been recently refurbished. There are lots of places to eat such as Costa Coffee and a few shops such as M+S and WHSmith.

Checking in
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Your ticket has a strip on it, so you just need to stick it in a barrier machine which lets you through. You then have the usual checks through the metal detectors (took me 4 attempts, ended up removing my belt which almost made my shorts fall down due to my recent weight loss) also of course the passport control. This seemed to work very well going out but the queue was bigger going back despite the train seeming to be less busy.

The Trains
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The trains seem to be made up of 18 coaches. On our journeys we were in coach 1 going out and then 16 coming back, both were up to the same standard so it doesn't seem to matter which end you are in. There's no way of selecting a 4 seater section however if the train isn't too busy then you may be able to move into a seat. There's no ticket inspectors so you'll only get moved if someone gets on who has reserved that seat. There's lots of space for lugguage, we filled up probably the entire train going out and there was enough space for everyone's backpacks, tents etc. The seats were also fairly spacious, and the corridors are wide enough so it's not cramped. You can travel business class which I would imagine is a bit better as it's double the price.

The Journey
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The journey is so quick. London direct to Brussels in 2 hours. Brussels to Lille seemed to take about 30 minutes, which is amazing. Brussels is currently an hour ahead so it does technically take 3 hours to get there but then only 1 to get back. The ride is smooth and feels quick.

Overall
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The train is quick, it's easy to be a foot passenger, it's comfortable, not that cheap though, but equally not too expensive if you book more than 2 months in advance and take a risk with a non-flexible (non-refundable, non-exchangable) ticket. I'll be using it again.

Summary: Decent alternative to ferries and planes.