Eurostar Experience: London to Paris
Memorial Weekend: This was supposed to be a quick trip to visit friends in Europe: leave Houston Friday night and be back Tuesday night. Unfortunately, I was not able to leave Friday night as planned. Instead of flying direct to Paris on Friday night, I left for London on Saturday and then I made my way from London to Paris.
Once in Gatwick, I had to decide on how to get to Paris: buy a cheap ticket to Paris or try taking the Eurostar train? After talking to several people on the plane and at the airport, I was considering the train as my best bet. One issue was that this was a busy weekend for travel and my chances of finding a seat on a flight to Paris was going to be a challenge because of school letting out and it was also a bank holiday in the U.K. (finding a last minute cheap ticket was going to be especially hard). I had never taken the train between London and Paris and I was looking for an excuse to give it a shot. After talking to a travel agent about the train, I decided on Eurostar (his comment was something like “taking the Chunnel between London and Paris is something you have to experience!”).
First off, I have to comment about how friendly and helpful everyone was in London. I have been to England before but this time I could not get over how nice everyone was whether they were travelers or employees working on a very, very busy travel date – everyone took time to help out and they were very (even the customs people – I wish our customs agents were even half as friendly). Now that I think about it, people were friendly in Paris, too … even the waiters (everyone was being so nice I was even tipping the bartenders and waiters something I don’t always do in Europe).
From Gatwick, I took a train to Waterloo Station (this cost me about £10.6 – over $20). This included one transfer at Clapham Junction. I made it to Waterloo in less than 30 minutes – a very easy trip. I knew that going by train was not going to necessarily save me time or money. I went this route because there was a better chance to making it to Paris and for the experience – I was actually prepared to spend a little more money. I expected to pay about $300 one way from London to Paris and that is about what it cost me (taking the plane may have been cheaper – definitely cheaper if I would have planned ahead). Because I waited to the last minute to purchase the ticket, the price was £154.50 one way (another passenger told me he paid about £100 but he purchased his in advance – a last minute first class ticket would have been over $500 one way). When I returned to Houston, I did find the one way ticket for as little as $149 if purchased at least 5 days in advance (see RailEurope website).
I had less than then 20 minutes to race from the ticket office, clear security, passport control and to find my seat on the train. Despite having to clear security that is similar to airport security, I made it to my seat with time to spare.
I have been on Japan’s bullet trains and I was looking forward to comparing the two services. Of course, Eurostar is as impressive looking on the outside as Japan’s bullet train but how would the rest of it compare? Would I also see something as impressive as the sight of Mount Fuji going by as when I made my way from Tokyo to Kyoto? Well, maybe not. On this ride, the attraction was the trip under the English Channel.
We pulled out of Waterloo Station and most of us were anxious for the speed. But, we needed to clear the city before the speed would pick up. We had to be patient … very patient! An hour into trip, the train came to a stop. We were not sure what was going on: Maybe there was a problem with the line and we were waiting for the line to clear? The announcer was not sure what the problem was but he said he was looking into it. After a few minutes, most of the power went off. It came back on minutes later and we started to move slowly and then we stopped again and most of the light went out (it was still daytime and there were emergency lights so we were not sitting in the dark).
The problem turned out to be more serious than first expected and a train was dispatched from London to pick us up and take us to Paris. One problem was that we were sitting on the main line and we were holding up the Eurostar system (some 6000-10000 passengers). When the second train arrived, we made our way to a side line where we were supposed to move from one train to another. I guess this is when they realized that asking some 500 passengers to switch trains (passengers of all ages switching trains – with luggage) was not too safe. So much for waiting for an hour for the second train to arrive. We ended up heading back to London under our own power (the front (forward) engine was the one with a problem – the rear engine was fine). Once in London, we safely made the switch from one train to another.
I met a lot of people while stranded on the train: it was an interesting time. Some people were having a great time telling jokes, some managed to get their hands on free champagne and other passengers (many who had just met) were having impromptu parties with each person buying one or two things to share (plus a beer for themselves). I made the most of it – I have traveled enough not to let such things bother me: I chatted with fellow passengers and the crew or tried to catch up on my sleep. Of course, there were some people that complained about the heat and the humidity inside the train (we were not allowed to open doors and we could not open windows – think about it: this is supposed to be a controlled environment traveling between borders which in this case ran under the English Channel). Maybe I have lived in Houston too long but the “heat and humidity” inside the train was not even noticeable. It did seem like the inexperienced travelers were the ones that complained the most (I was embarrassed for them). The Brits were the most interesting (and embarrassed): they kept apologizing to the whiney American travelers for the mishap. The two whiney girls finally quit complaining about how they had lost one of their 10 travel days and that they would never be able to recover it after I told them I was only in Europe for two nights.
Once we were going, we really got going! I did not appreciate the speed until we passed cars and trucks motoring alongside us. At one point, I was standing in line to purchase food at the bar (just before it ran out of food – too many hungry passengers), calmly talking with someone when I noticed us zip past a car on the motorway: We passed it like it was parked! I wish I knew how fast we were going. Also, while I was in line, I noticed the crew (now a French crew) answering to a radio check … something was up. An announcement was made that we would soon enter the Chunnel. Everyone got excited and even more so when we entered the Chunnel!
My flight from Houston to London took about nine hours. This train ride took almost eight hours (normally it is less than three hours). I was told this was going to be an experience and it was … it was just not what I (or anyone else on our train) expected.
[Because of the long delay, I am told I should be able to get a full refund. We'll see about that.]
Some interesting facts on the Chunnel (taken from the EuroRail website):
•Its length is 31 miles, of which 23 miles are underwater.
•Its average depth is 150 feet under the seabed.
•Only 20 minutes of the Eurostar journey takes place in the tunnel.
