Take your car on the train with you (Eurostar)

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Eurostar
Date:	06/08/09 (177 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty of trains, reasonable prices sometimes, fast

Disadvantages: Have to go through rude English custom officers

Occasionally it seems people moan about Eurostar, that it's late or difficult to fit your donkey load of suitcases on the train. I've never been on the trains solely for passengers but have made use of the Bolougne-Folkstone connection for cars. Whether it's the connections to Lille, Belgium, Paris or just the one going through the tunnel itself, it's a pretty amazing piece of transport that I feel people have begun taking for granted.

I've been on it numerous times and I guess the first time was nearly 15 years ago now, the novelty hasn't worn off though and I think it's pretty awesome to board a train in a car and travel under the sea. For some reason, I've mostly travelled on it from France to England, after leaving the French motorway you get to a toll booth type thing where they ask to see your documents and most importantly your tickets, after that you go through into a large car park where you can do as much shopping as you like.

Get in line to go through customs and then board the train. Now if customs don't stop you, it's plain sailing, I have been stopped once and it took quite a few hours because the car was jam packed with stuff and they wanted to check each item singularly, then they opened up the car doors and air conditioning unit, looked inside the bumpers and underneath the car. The car happened to be pretty new and they seemingly had no idea how to put it back together, so basically damaged the car. They had complaint forms on hand to fill in. This episode wasn't too long after 9/11 and I happened to be travelling with a lot of Middle Eastern stamps in my passport in a car with Pakistanis who had been to Morocco, so perhaps it all looked a bit dodgy. On the other hand the custom officers were some of the rudest, most dispicable people I've ever met. This though, is not down to Eurostar but HM Customs, so shouldn't have any effect on my rating to Eurostar.

As long as that doesn't happen, you travel underground for around 30-35 minutes and before there's time to say "that customs officer was a prat", you are re-introduced to the motorway in England.

I have tended to travel on it in high season when the price is quite dear, often as much as £200 return for a car full of people. There are absolute bargains available in midweek and the winter, never mind advanced bookings on the passenger trains.

Summary: An awesome piece of engineering