Techniquest
Veteran Member
Hi there,
Some of you will have noticed that I'm off to Brussels in January. 2 months and a day pretty much to go, feels like decades away!
Anyway, as I've never done Eurostar on my own and the only time so far was over 6 years ago, I'm after a bit of help. The first problem I've got is that I've never had to worry about printing my own tickets at home, and I've booked tickets through from Newport. The Eurostar tickets I'll be able to print easily enough, although I'm printing at least three copies just in case! However, with the having booked travel through from Newport, I therefore have three queries:
1) Can I pick up the tickets for travel from/to Newport from anywhere else apart from Newport? I'd have booked from my nearest station, but annoyingly Hereford and Worcester aren't options for such a thing. Seriously, when places like Worplesden is an option?! I'm planning to get to Newport considerably earlier than necessary, just in case, but I'd rather get my tickets in advance so I've got it all with me. Logic tells me I can indeed pick up my tickets at the local shack, but I have a hunch I'm wrong.
2) The travel is booked through from Newport partly to try and give me some sort of back up in case of late running into London or from the continent. What happens if I do get into London late? Eurostar's only given me an hour and a bit to cross London, which seemed quite good but then you've got the minimum 30 minute check-in time to factor in, so with allowing for random delays on the Tube and late running into London, things seem stupidly tight.
3) I think I'm booked on the 1109 from Newport to London Paddington, but it wouldn't offer me seat reservations at the time of booking through Eurostar.com, so my final query is what if I get to Newport in time for, say, the 1039 to London instead? Would I be permitted to travel on it? I know I have to get the specific Eurostar service, unless circumstances outside my control change that, but the FGW bit seems flexible.
Gotta admit, aside from that, I'm looking forward to seeing how St Pancras goes compared to Waterloo when I did Eurostar out of there
Turning thoughts to the continent side of things, aside from the language barriers (judging by the posts on the thread I started about Belgian travel advice, I'm going to be very lost and vunlerable! Good thing I'm a big chap, I might just be imitating enough for people to leave me alone! ) that are going to prove to be more blocking than originally thought, I do have a query for travel back to the UK at least:
1) At Brussels Midi, is it at all obvious where the check-in is at? I recall this wasn't the case at Marne-la-Vallee Chessy back in summer 2006.
2) Also, is there even any English, spoken or written, at stations? I would hope so, as without Google Translate I'm going to struggle to say "Sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for the Eurostar check-in" in either French or Dutch. Or much else for that matter! That reminds me, I need a French and Dutch phrasebook ASAP...
3) Finally, would it be recommended to allow more than the minimum 30 minutes for check-in? I always allow the minimum of 2 hours before gate closing time (bar my visit to Cork Airport last month, but that was an exception and I still had near 2 hours anyway) for flights, domestic or not. After a busier-than-expected security queue on a Sunday morning at Birmingham Airport once, 2 hours is an absolute minimum with flying for me, even at a small airport like Ronaldsway (Isle of Man)!
Finally, I'm curious with the enthusiasm side of things on Eurostar. Two questions really:
1) Is photography permitted at all? In security sensitive areas I have no doubt of the answer, but I'd love to get a few snaps of the Eurostars without having the worry of MI6 carting me off!
2) I'm sure I won't have too much difficulty in identifying the front or rear half of the Eurostar I'll be getting, as I'm sure I'm in coach 17. Same for coming back, I'm in coach 4. However, I'll want the front/rear 373 number as well, but I doubt I'll get many happy looks from security or whatever doing so. I could, for argument's sake, get 3201 on the front half. Reasonable to assume that it would be 3202 on the rear half, but I know 3999 comes out to play on occasions, I've seen it happen when arriving into t'Pan on an EMT run. So if it should on either of the trips I'm on, I'd need to know!
You may get the impression I'm a bit of a nervous basher with this upcoming trip. You would be correct, bearing in mind I've never been on a solo trip to mainland Europe. I would happen to choose a country that speaks what feels like a million different languages depending on where you go to...
All help appreciated greatly, as I'm starting to wish I'd chosen to fly to some exotic climate instead. If it wasn't for the HS1 bits I still need, I probably would have! At least with flying I know what I'm doing...
Some of you will have noticed that I'm off to Brussels in January. 2 months and a day pretty much to go, feels like decades away!
Anyway, as I've never done Eurostar on my own and the only time so far was over 6 years ago, I'm after a bit of help. The first problem I've got is that I've never had to worry about printing my own tickets at home, and I've booked tickets through from Newport. The Eurostar tickets I'll be able to print easily enough, although I'm printing at least three copies just in case! However, with the having booked travel through from Newport, I therefore have three queries:
1) Can I pick up the tickets for travel from/to Newport from anywhere else apart from Newport? I'd have booked from my nearest station, but annoyingly Hereford and Worcester aren't options for such a thing. Seriously, when places like Worplesden is an option?! I'm planning to get to Newport considerably earlier than necessary, just in case, but I'd rather get my tickets in advance so I've got it all with me. Logic tells me I can indeed pick up my tickets at the local shack, but I have a hunch I'm wrong.
2) The travel is booked through from Newport partly to try and give me some sort of back up in case of late running into London or from the continent. What happens if I do get into London late? Eurostar's only given me an hour and a bit to cross London, which seemed quite good but then you've got the minimum 30 minute check-in time to factor in, so with allowing for random delays on the Tube and late running into London, things seem stupidly tight.
3) I think I'm booked on the 1109 from Newport to London Paddington, but it wouldn't offer me seat reservations at the time of booking through Eurostar.com, so my final query is what if I get to Newport in time for, say, the 1039 to London instead? Would I be permitted to travel on it? I know I have to get the specific Eurostar service, unless circumstances outside my control change that, but the FGW bit seems flexible.
Gotta admit, aside from that, I'm looking forward to seeing how St Pancras goes compared to Waterloo when I did Eurostar out of there
Turning thoughts to the continent side of things, aside from the language barriers (judging by the posts on the thread I started about Belgian travel advice, I'm going to be very lost and vunlerable! Good thing I'm a big chap, I might just be imitating enough for people to leave me alone! ) that are going to prove to be more blocking than originally thought, I do have a query for travel back to the UK at least:
1) At Brussels Midi, is it at all obvious where the check-in is at? I recall this wasn't the case at Marne-la-Vallee Chessy back in summer 2006.
2) Also, is there even any English, spoken or written, at stations? I would hope so, as without Google Translate I'm going to struggle to say "Sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for the Eurostar check-in" in either French or Dutch. Or much else for that matter! That reminds me, I need a French and Dutch phrasebook ASAP...
3) Finally, would it be recommended to allow more than the minimum 30 minutes for check-in? I always allow the minimum of 2 hours before gate closing time (bar my visit to Cork Airport last month, but that was an exception and I still had near 2 hours anyway) for flights, domestic or not. After a busier-than-expected security queue on a Sunday morning at Birmingham Airport once, 2 hours is an absolute minimum with flying for me, even at a small airport like Ronaldsway (Isle of Man)!
Finally, I'm curious with the enthusiasm side of things on Eurostar. Two questions really:
1) Is photography permitted at all? In security sensitive areas I have no doubt of the answer, but I'd love to get a few snaps of the Eurostars without having the worry of MI6 carting me off!
2) I'm sure I won't have too much difficulty in identifying the front or rear half of the Eurostar I'll be getting, as I'm sure I'm in coach 17. Same for coming back, I'm in coach 4. However, I'll want the front/rear 373 number as well, but I doubt I'll get many happy looks from security or whatever doing so. I could, for argument's sake, get 3201 on the front half. Reasonable to assume that it would be 3202 on the rear half, but I know 3999 comes out to play on occasions, I've seen it happen when arriving into t'Pan on an EMT run. So if it should on either of the trips I'm on, I'd need to know!
You may get the impression I'm a bit of a nervous basher with this upcoming trip. You would be correct, bearing in mind I've never been on a solo trip to mainland Europe. I would happen to choose a country that speaks what feels like a million different languages depending on where you go to...
All help appreciated greatly, as I'm starting to wish I'd chosen to fly to some exotic climate instead. If it wasn't for the HS1 bits I still need, I probably would have! At least with flying I know what I'm doing...