Brussels to London with Eurostar. Travelling at 300 km/h on the e320 High Speed Train!

good morning guys from brussels of brussels midi uh where this morning i will be taking you a star all the way back to saint pakistan london why don't you come with me for the trip and i'll see you on the train yeah brussels midi or brussels south station is the one you want for the eurostar service back to london and i was staying in the handily placed ibis hotel just outside although to be honest this entrance passed the abandoned scooter and remnants of the night before's takeaways probably isn't the best approach the opposite entrance to the north west is much nicer i think now i was up pretty early about seven o'clock and as you can see it was fairly quiet but eurostar had advised me to be at the station 45 to 60 minutes before departure as checks were taking longer than usual because of the impact of brexit and the dreaded sea wood well my departure time wasn't until zero eight to fifty two but i thought i'd play it safe as i hadn't used the station before now the underground concourse is fairly bland and there are large departure boards and uh usual various shopping outlets and but aside from that i was glad to be making my way towards the eurostar channel terminal which is located right to the north west end of the station and through the automatic doors with the teapot on them there was easter when i filmed this and staff were handed out small easter eggs in the arvasaur which i thought was a nice touch and then once through security which only took about five minutes now there's airport style duty-free areas um after which uh the departures wall is located um that's a pretty gloomy affair to be honest looks like it's in the process of being refurbed now eurostar information is here along with the business premier lounge there was wi-fi available allegedly but and this was pretty woeful now there didn't appear to be any sort of power charging anywhere now all in all yeah the area is rather poor i think and it needs improvement in my opinion right guys i'm just um hiding in the corner now of the departures lounge at brussels midi railway station waiting for the eurostar i got here really early um which is what they asked us to do um but really it was five minutes through security and passport control both the belgian side and the british side and so yeah everything's good really um not much to see here now i've got about an hour to the train so uh yeah we'll see how it goes well we were called for boarding around 20 minutes before departure a random queue began to form from where priority boarding went first and then the rest of us who doddled up to a nearby escalator which then took us up to platform level where our train was waiting i walked all the way up to the front of the train which was a bit of a slog in itself because of these class 374s also known as the eurostar e320s are 390 meters long would you believe ninth service since 2015 the train sets consists of 16 cars with a capacity of 902 seats in three classes business standard premier and standard now i would be traveling in standard class today but it was worth the trek though wasn't it and i thought she looked absolutely stunning in the early morning belgian sun [Music] anyway it was time to get on board so follow me and we'll go and have a look and see what we've got in store for shall we and as you can see standard class is laid out in the expected 2-2 configuration and first impressions uh well yeah it was quite roomy probably thanks to the larger loading gauge in mainland europe i suppose and my ticket was for coach nine but i didn't really bother with that uh there was loads of available seating today so i just found an unreserved airline style seat and plopped myself in that now there were leather style anti-machetes on all seats which themselves had a subtle marquette and good padding in all areas as you can see there is decent legroom and an airline style pouch for your bits and pieces there's also a foot rest for you know getting in in the way of your feet but a good size drop down table which is also provided okay so we left brussels bank on time and by this stage i was dying for a cup of tea and so it was a good excuse to head on up to the cafe bar the cafe metropole and enjoy some of the views from there now there is a decently enough selection of drinks and snacks to be found at the sort of prices you would expect to pay on border train in western europe now i'll pop a link to the onboard menu in the description below i had a croissant with my tea cost was four pounds 70. now there's limited standard room only in this area no seating and not even any stools but to be honest it's pretty basic uh when you compare it to the superb offering on you know something like the db railways ice services uh which yeah we're in a completely different class to be fair i tried out the wi-fi whilst i was here which was easy enough to connect to but there was no real reason to linger for too long in the cafe bar and for what i saw most people tended to purchase something and take it back to their seats anyway we were doing just under 300 kilometers now at this point and you know what it hardly felt like the train was moving yeah i have to say the ride quality in my opinion was absolutely exemplary the scenery outside wasn't really anything special to be honest so i thought i'd have a one drop to the front of the trainer see if i could have a look at the business premier standard premier sections in coaches one to three now as i walk through the remaining standard class coaches and note the generous full length overhead luggage racks and the storage space near both vestibules obviously these trains do carry a lot of travelers with a lot of luggage and so yeah i think there's more than adequate provision to facilitate this now onto the posh coaches which are laid out in the expected 2-1 configuration and a mixture of airline style and table seating now what do you think of the table design by the way and it's similar to that in standard class but it's a bit of a weird shape in my opinion but i guess it affords better legroom with the angled sides and i wasn't really quite sure what to make of business standard premier to be honest it was quiet enough and there were a few magazines available but the one or two passengers i did see were being served a continental style breakfast but i wasn't sure whether they were on a business or standard premier ticket the display here shows business premiere and so i presume both classes of tickets share the same coach but have different levels of service and i stand to be corrected on all of this so uh yeah please if you know how it works let me know in the comments below what i do understand is that it is significantly more expensive to travel business premier now with some prices when i check their website so get it on towards 300 pounds for a one-way ticket on this route anyway before i got asked to leave i did get the chance to check out the toilet so here's my review of the loo in this section of the train and it's locked with this knob here which you turn anti-clockwise there are baby changing facilities immediately to your right uh which are nice and clean although again no babies were available for exchange at the time of my visit a retractable handle here next to the toilet bowl along with a bin for toilet tissue only above the sink is a large mirror and yeah check this out a waterfall effect tap which you might think is just for the posh toilet only but uh yeah you actually got them in standard class too the emergency call button at floor level and yeah all in all everything clean and in good working order i returned to my standard class seat as we approached lil europe at the high speed hub whose below ground platforms reminded me a bit of birmingham new street only with less platforms in france we then head north west towards the french coast before diving down into the channel tunnel at cockells [Music] so oh [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] as we approach the tunnel you can stop noticing the miles and miles of security fencing erected in an attempt to prevent anyone from gaining access to the 50 kilometer long tunnel and of course the uk and then we're in and for the next 20 minutes or so we'll be passing under the english channel at a maximum line speed of um currently 160 kilometers an hour there's not much to show you in the tunnel it is a but suffice to say and we moved safely on the other side at foxton the eurostar then utilizes the 180 kilometer long high speed one line that connects the south coast with the capital city of london [Music] [Music] so cost of this one-way ticket between brussels and london was 49 pounds 50 yeah which i think is reasonable value when you consider that the journey from city centre to city center it takes around two hours in total let's try doing that in a plane for example now i did book the ticket about four months in advance and yeah i would really recommend that you do that to get the best prices now personally i wouldn't purchase a standard premier or business premier ticket as i don't think they're worth the extra money the standard class is very comfortable in itself and will certainly suffice for the journey of just under 320 kilometers the train overall was clean and the staff i did encounter were friendly and helpful without exception i was able to sit back and enjoy the scenery and arrive at my destination relaxed and ready for my onward travel i'm very cliche i know but yeah overall i was really happy with this trip and we'll definitely do it again now we're just approaching saint pancras and if you sit on the left-hand side of the train you can just make out the gothic tower of the station in the distance eurostar trains arrive on the upper level platforms so when you disembark just take a few minutes to look up at the magnificent arched roof above and for border purposes we're still deemed to be in france at this point you have to descend to the level below to cross back into england so to speak and once you do exit the station just try and make your way to the front of the building and admire its gothic facade well with a few minutes of your time because in my opinion it is one of the finest railway stations in the world and certainly the most impressive in london i'll put a couple of clips up at the end of this video anyway just to show you what it's like okay guys and that was brussels to london with their eurostar and what do you think yeah i thought was pretty good actually would i try them again yes i would uh probably gonna take a trip up to amsterdam actually in a few months time so yeah definitely use it again let me know what you think in the comments below and until next time guys cheers [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Let’s Make a Trip!

Views: 14,537

Keywords: eurostar, eurostar train, eurostar brussels to london, eurostar standard class, eurostar standard premier, eurostar business premier, eurostar standard vs standard premier, eurostar e320, eurostar entering channel tunnel, eurostar entrance, channel tunnel, high speed 1, st pancras international eurostar, eurostar train travel, eurostar travel requirements, superalbs, high speed train, nonstop eurotrip, e320, dylan's travel reports, brussels midi station eurostar

Id: aoazToj9niM

Length: 15min 4sec (904 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 19 2022