Sealink
Service Attendant
A trip to the Black Forest!
First things first, travelling by train in Europe is amazingly easy. Booking can be an issue.
As well as ordering tickets on Eurostar's website, you can get some amazing bargains from Deutsche Bahn, who have an allocation of seats on Eurostar services.
Look for LONDON SPEZIAL on their website, or go here.
Standard and First Class fares are offered. Note that First Class actually entitles you to Standard Premier (same seats as first class, different food.) Standard Premier is excellent as the carriages are mid-way in the train - perfect for the Brussels short cut. i)
So, we settled for the first class fare, and due to our dithering, it went from €109 to €129, but considering that was all the way to the border with Switzerland, a good deal!
Standard class was €10 less per person, so a no-brainer really to upgrade.
No lounge access at St. Pancras, so settled for the next best thing: breakfast in The St. Pancras Grand.
And of course, a 2-4-1 bargain - £25 for two including a glass of Champagne is better value than any lounge!
St. Pancras station was looking as gorgeous as ever, and this was the location where I first met a new group of friends (V-Flyers) - almost five years ago... so always holds a soft spot for me.
Security and boarding was quick and easy, and we settled in to our seats. That looked like these:
EuroStar is looking tired. There's no other word for it.
At 10.58hrs, breakfast was served. Included in the train fare.
The Brussels short cut.
The excellent website Seat 61 offers advice for people connecting onto German ICE trains at Brussels - don't follow the crowds to the exit, look for the escalators adjacent to Carriage 11 entitled "Correspondences" - that way you avoid queues and can get straight to the correct platform.
As it's a through ticket, your ticket is still valid should any connecting service be late.
First things first, travelling by train in Europe is amazingly easy. Booking can be an issue.
As well as ordering tickets on Eurostar's website, you can get some amazing bargains from Deutsche Bahn, who have an allocation of seats on Eurostar services.
Look for LONDON SPEZIAL on their website, or go here.
Standard and First Class fares are offered. Note that First Class actually entitles you to Standard Premier (same seats as first class, different food.) Standard Premier is excellent as the carriages are mid-way in the train - perfect for the Brussels short cut. i)
So, we settled for the first class fare, and due to our dithering, it went from €109 to €129, but considering that was all the way to the border with Switzerland, a good deal!
Standard class was €10 less per person, so a no-brainer really to upgrade.
No lounge access at St. Pancras, so settled for the next best thing: breakfast in The St. Pancras Grand.
And of course, a 2-4-1 bargain - £25 for two including a glass of Champagne is better value than any lounge!
St. Pancras station was looking as gorgeous as ever, and this was the location where I first met a new group of friends (V-Flyers) - almost five years ago... so always holds a soft spot for me.
Security and boarding was quick and easy, and we settled in to our seats. That looked like these:
EuroStar is looking tired. There's no other word for it.
At 10.58hrs, breakfast was served. Included in the train fare.
The Brussels short cut.
The excellent website Seat 61 offers advice for people connecting onto German ICE trains at Brussels - don't follow the crowds to the exit, look for the escalators adjacent to Carriage 11 entitled "Correspondences" - that way you avoid queues and can get straight to the correct platform.
As it's a through ticket, your ticket is still valid should any connecting service be late.
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Great trip and Pics! Thanks for Posting! :hi:
