Getting on board on Monday was a bit fraught. The travel company hadn’t bothered to pass on my credit card details to Eurostar, so the booking had expired and I didn’t have a seat. Ten minutes on hold to the call centre, a five minute wait for a new booking to be processed, disappointment and another call to the agent when they didn’t pay for the new booking, and eventually I collected my ticket from the Waterloo ticket office.
After a few false starts with 30-second-long tunnels and popping ears, there was an announcement asking us to put our watches forward to Brussels time (an hour ahead) and then we plunged into the side of a hill and into darkness.
Nineteen and a half minutes later, we surfaced to green grass and a slightly different style of electricity pylon - a sure sign we had popped up in France and hadn’t doubled back under the channel and returned to the UK.
It’s all very civilised. A bit more comfortable than the Belfast Dublin Enterprise, but nothing special. No power outlets in cattle class! And the journey from London to Brussels Midi took only twenty minutes longer than the time it takes to commute the 100 miles down to Dublin. But at 8 times the price for a flexible return to Dublin.
If only EuroStar could announce to passengers which carriage sells cups of tea! There are way too many carriages to expore.
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