Practical tips for Eurostar travel

Having travelled by Eurostar more than a few times now,  I've picked up a few ideas about how to make experience pass as smoothly as possible. Here are my top ten tips for travelling from London:

1. Firstly, if you're travelling from another UK mainline station you can book a through ticket via the Eurostar site (eurostar.com). This will almost certainly save you money, possibly lots of it. Just click on the United Kingdom tab when searching and find your local station. 
2. On arrival at St Pancras the Eurostar terminal is well signposted and there's a nice sized area outside the barriers to gather yourselves. Here you will also find the help desk and the collect at station ticket terminals. There are quite a few gates and they'll have particular trains showing on the screens above them but you can use any that are open if the queues are shorter. (Update: the queueing system has changed a little since Brexit and the pandemic so is actually now a little smoother)
3. BUT before going any further get yourself ready for the security check the other side of the ticket barrier. There's very little room once through the gate so empty your pockets now. If you have a coat you will have to take it off for the check so put all your loose items; phone, coins, keys, wallet etc., in its pockets, otherwise put it all in your hand luggage or even a carrier bag. 
4. Have your tickets and passports ready. If you've printed your own tickets you'll need to have the QR code showing so you can press it up against the reader on the barrier - this takes a couple of seconds so don't take it off until the light goes green and the barrier opens.
5. The security check area is, as I said, immediately after the gate. Hopefully you'll have read and acted on point 3 and are completely ready to proceed. You'll need a tray. They are kept under the conveyor so grab one and put your coat in it with your bags on top. If you've got a suitcase get another tray for that and push them up towards the x-ray machine. Walk through the metal detector and collect your belongings from the other end of the belt. Remember to push your trays towards the end where they'll get swallowed up and sent back to the start. Not doing this annoys other people. Move away towards passport control before even attempting to put all your stuff back where it belongs but preferably wait until you get all the way through. The checks are much less onerous than at the airport but getting ready cuts time and allows a brief smug smile to pass across your lips.
6. This is not really a tip but there are two passport checks, UK and France, out and in, and of course your passport is already in your hand by now isn't it? Join the right queue - all windows will take EU passports, only one or two will take non-EU ones (edit: sadly that is now the window you want). Hand it over open at the appropriate page and wait politely. Try to avoid getting in the queue behind the thoroughly disorganised person with at least two massive suitcases because there's always one.
7. When you get through to the waiting area you can finally reorganise yourself at your leisure. You won't need your ticket again but make a note of which coach you are in and check the screens for boarding notices. There are two travelators up to each of the platforms and getting the right one will depend on your coach number. Incidentally, coach 1 is always nearest the exit in London, while coach 18 (or 16 in the new e320 trains) is always nearest in Paris - useful to know if you've got a tight connection.
8. Once it's announced that your train is boarding, people will rush. Everyone has a reserved seat and there's plenty of time so rushing seems unnecessary, but if you have a large case you'll need space on the luggage racks by the entrance doors to your coach. However, there's usually another rack just inside the carriage and medium cases will fit in the above seat racks so assuming you aren't the person with two massive cases getting in everyone else's way, you can confidently saunter along and take your seat once all the hullabaloo has died down. 
9. Going to Brussels? Look out for the escalator halfway along the platform at Brussels Midi if you're making a connection for an onward train, it'll save you time and hassle.
10. Exiting Gare du Nord Paris is just like any other regular station, but when coming back it has one of the most uncomfortable waiting areas going, so try not to get there too early!

Overall, travelling by Eurostar is quick and hassle-free and hopefully these tips will aid restful travelling. 

Any comments, thoughts or suggestions, even corrections are most welcome.

Amsterdam

May 2015

Our third visit to Amsterdam was lovely; it's an easy-going city perfect for a short break and we always have a great time. Our previous visits have been in winter so a trip in spring is a welcome change, especially as on our first trip coincided with frozen canals and the lowest temperatures for 20 years. One of the main reasons we've come back again is to visit the newly refurbished and fully reopened Rijksmuseum as well as to enjoy a much needed holiday. Usually we opt for the Iamsterdam city card, but this only gives a 10% discount for the Rijks, so planning ahead I discover that there is also the 30 day Museumkaart which will get us in to everything the city card does, plus the Rijks, for free. Alongside a four-day travel pass from GVB it works out at much better value all round. Armed with this information and a clutch of train tickets we set off from Fratton on a promisingly sunny morning.

Booking a through ticket via Eurostar.com is both simple and usually excellent value as the Fratton to London portion can be very much cheaper this way and is valid for travel from whatever terminal you arrive at, across London, to St Pancras. However, every time we approach the underground clutching our Fratton to London International tickets, we are ever more certain that they will fail to open the barrier and we'll have to show them and explain ourselves to the busy TFL attendant to let us through. And then of course, out again. Why this should be is beyond me but these frustrations aside, boarding the Eurostar is as straightforward as ever and we're soon on our way.

Brussels midi station is still a bit on edge after the recent attacks, so the usually convenient escalator down from the Eurostar platform is closed.  We end up working our way around and down to find the Thalys departure area where no-one is as sure as our Eurostar train manager was as to which platform the train to Amsterdam will be leaving from. Twenty minutes, we are told, and all will become clear. Hanging about for this revelation in a rather stark waiting room is fine but there's no departure board in there or indeed any other information source so we're taking turns to check the board before our train appears proving the Eurostar announcer right all along. However, there's a little more confusion as we're initially directed towards the wrong train but a very helpfully strident platform assistant points everyone across to another Thalys arriving on the other side of the platform and we're soon hurtling through Belgium at speeds far in excess of those managed by even the fastest UK trains. A standard class seat in a Thalys is also much more comfortable, even if the much trumpeted WiFi is patchy at best.

Arriving in Amsterdam I realise my complacency in having been twice before means my planning has fallen short of actually getting to the hotel, I haven't even brought a map, so after buying our travel chipkaarts there's a few minutes working out where the hotel is exactly and what tram we need to catch to get there.

The hotel is in a very nice area by the Vondelpark and looks quite promising from the outside but once inside things get different very quickly. We have to pay in advance which is never a good sign, and there's no lift. We're on the third floor. Struggling up the increasingly steep stairs I manage to knock a picture off the wall before the stairs turn up the final flight almost vertically. The bed is great but the bathroom is pokey and a bit worn and, get this, we share a window with next door!

Tuesday

Breakfast is not included and at an extra €10 per person, not worth it, so we head off towards Museumplein for on the way is Bagels and Beans where we enjoy a fresh and tasty.breakfast in a funky setting before our visit to the Stedelijke, which is rapidly becoming my favourite modern art museum. Alongside the regular and intriguing exhibits there's a special exhibition of the Amsterdam School, the architectural style movement looking a lot like the bastard child of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Vienna Secession and absolutely fabulous.

Lunch is at our favourite old style (but actually modern) café up by the Blauwbrug. We discovered its welcoming embrace during our first visit that freezing February and spent half the afternoon lounging on their sofas drinking coffee and mulled wine and stroking the cat before venturing out into the cold again. Now unfortunately cat-less, it's still a nice place to go and we enjoy a fine sandwich before heading back to Foam, the photography gallery, where there's a couple of  thought provoking interpretations of the migrant crisis.

Our first two evenings have followed much the same course; beers at Het Hok before traditional Dutch fare at the very popular The Pantry two doors down. ''Traditional" here means various flavours of mash with a smoked sausage or giant meatball alongside other hearty cooking like ham hock and beef stew. The food is delicious and the atmosphere convivial.

Wednesday

Wednesday is all about the Rijksmuseum. Well, nearly all.
It's another sunny day as we stroll across Museumplein past the holocaust memorial and iamsterdam sign. The entrance to the museum is through the basement so, skipping the queues with our museumkaarts in hand, we dive in.

We spend more than half the day exploring the newly and brilliantly refurbished Rijks. And while much attention is focused on the "Gallery of Honour" with Rembrandt's Night Watch taking centre stage among some of the greats of the Dutch Golden Age, the lower galleries house examples of some of the most exquisite craftsmanship you can imagine and there are other stunning works at every turn. The museum displays are well organised, by date mostly, but it's worth taking some time to plan your way around as it's not necessarily obvious which is the best route to take. The first floor, for instance, is in two unconnected halves as the roadway cuts through it. All things considered it's a brilliant way to spend a few hours even if the lavatories are harder to find than you'd prefer.

After a late spot of lunch we head off across the city so we can visit Rembrandt's House again. Our route to Waterlooplein takes us for the first time in three visits along the metro, which is as clean and efficient as you'd expect and after a wander through the flea market we arrive. To my mind Rembrandt van Rijn was something of an alchemist with paint and a trip to this house museum is always a joy, for me at least. Today we are in time for the paint mixing demonstration and we discover they've recently opened the top floor showing the studio space his students would have used, and in the new building there's a great exhibition of nudes drawn by him and his contemporaries too.

Across the road is a bar on the canal and a much needed beer is enjoyed while watching the boats pass by. On the opposite corner of the canal, nesting in a half submerged boat, is a family of cootes and unfortunately one chick has got out onto the water. One of the parents desperately tries to persuade it back into the boat, a task seemingly beyond the chick's capabilities - the side of the boat is a good foot out of the water - unfortunately all to no avail as a seagull swoops down and carries the youngster away. Nature red in tooth and claw, so to speak, was not what we were expecting in this quiet corner of Amsterdam!

Today is also the day in the Netherlands when they remember the war dead. There's a two minute silence at 8pm and a big gathering in Dam Square with the King attending, which is throwing the tram schedules well out of whack and we end up walking most of the way back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. We've booked at the Koffiehuis van der Volksbond where we've dined on previous trips and it's just as lovely as before, even if it's a bit weird being there in daylight on a warm spring evening. A perfect end to the day.

Thursday

The following day is Liberation Day, a public holiday, and the crowds are out in force on another beautiful sunny day. We wander up to Dam Square with a view to seeing the World Press Photo exhibition at the Niewe Kerk but it doesn't open until the afternoon so we visit the fairly dull royal palace instead before pottering about the city centre and having a beer by the Niewe Maarkt.

After returning for the photography exhibition and some coffee and cake we decide it's high time we took to the water. There are boats of all types and sizes thronging the canals and more than one collision but it's wonderfully relaxed and good humoured and we have a ball.

Dinner is at a nice little restaurant in the centre that our friends have used before. There are no reservations taken at this very popular place so timing is everything. We get one of the last tables and enjoy a decent meal with excellent service.

Oh, and if someone offers you a Dutch salted caramel lolly just politely decline. If you don't, at some point later your mouth will be filled with the most hideous liquorice powder and you'll be left gagging into a nearby canal.

Friday

Friday morning sees us grabbing breakfast in a café near the station before catching the train home. Brussels' Eurostar experience is about the most relaxed of the three principal stations and aside from a brief stop at Calais, completing the set, we're back in London by (late) lunchtime. We're travelling back to Portsmouth via London Victoria and thanks to the ongoing disorganisation of British railway operators we stand, necks craned, staring at the departure boards for an eternity until just five minutes before departure it finally shows us which platform our train will be leaving from. This, naturally, precipitates a mad rush for a seat in the right part of the train before we can settle down for the final leg home.

Carbon saved: 50kg