PARIS to LONDON on the incredible Eurostar UNDER THE SEA!

hello and welcome back to another video today i am in paris france where i will be traveling from paris gardener beneath the english channel to london saint pancras onboard a high-speed eurostar train i'm in standard class for this journey on one of their new velaro trains so let's go [Music] today's journey starts at the spectacular paris galliano or paris north station [Music] the station sees a large selection of services other than just eurostar including regional and commuter trains as well as international trains to belgium the netherlands and north germany [Music] i just love the roof here at guadiano being made of iron and plenty of glass allows for an interior full of natural light all passengers for eurostar trains must pass through a dedicated passport control and security checkpoint found above the main concourse as such it is advisable to arrive quite some time before the departure of your train presently eurostar recommends to arrive at least 90 minutes prior to the train's planned departure time due to the requirement for the laborious and time-consuming extra border checks in response to kovit 19. as you can see there are plenty of eateries and shops available at this station though i did not avail of their offer as i had already eaten prior the eurostar departures area can be found on the high level of the station which also affords a fantastic view of the bustling concourse below is the busiest station in europe by passenger count seeing hundreds of thousands of passengers in any given day to the left here you can find the dedicated eurostar ticket office though i wouldn't expect to have much luck for an on the day ticket with high prices and even seat availability being an issue due to strict channel tunnel regulations necessitating compulsory reservations time to indulge in culture and begin the typically british tradition of queuing now i had expected this service to be formed of one of the older eurostar trains the tgv tmst this being what was indicated to me on the seating plan at the time of booking however due to a decrease in demand during covert 19 those sets were temporarily withdrawn meaning i was lucky enough to be traveling on one of their newer and in my house experience much better german-built trains because of the massively different seating plans i was issued a new seat automatically at the ticket control gates indicated on this yellow slip checking my new seat i found it was poorly aligned with the window but thankfully someone at the help desk issued me a seat with a better view at my request anyway after a security check and clearing of border control we are now in the departure lounge which has another large selection of eateries and shops [Applause] many of these weren't open at this time again due to reduced demand departure lounge offers a view of the eurostar platforms where my train for today is currently waiting for boarding to start [Applause] towards the far end of the departures area there is a small elevated waiting area probably my favorite place to sit [Music] this area has power sockets and being an international service both european and uk style plugs are catered for as well as also having some usb ports it's also worth mentioning that a more luxurious lounge does exist but is dedicated only to business premier passengers a ticket for which costs more than the regular standard premier or first class offering about 20 minutes before departure boarding is called for my train my ride today is train number est 9039 departing from paris gadinor at 15 13 with a planned journey time of 2 hours and 26 minutes for the non-stop ride up to london this afternoon beside me now is the train that will be taking me through to london it's a class 374 eurostar e320 built from 2015 as part of the siemens vallaro family of trains which also see a lot of use in germany and turkey for example this set is 374011 and 374012 with the trains running in fixed pairs of eight carriages each leading to a total of 16 carriages these units are capable of an impressive 320 kilometers an hour but only operate in service at 300 kilometers an hour as you can probably imagine it's quite the trek if you're in one of the front carriages with these trains being some 390 meters long i am booked into standard class coach number four towards the front of the train when heading towards london this is my seat on the left coach number four seat number 93 a forward-facing aisle seat at the time of recording eurostar was only selling every other place which means i was free to take the adjacent window seat and naturally i made sure i took this opportunity [Music] today's route begins in the center of paris at the massive and marvellous garden we run through the northern suburbs of the capital before speeding through the french countryside and enter the famous channel tunnel at cocoe after that we emerge in foxton england where the remainder of the journey is on high speed 1 the only high speed line in the uk which takes us through many tunnels for the spectacle of railway station design of saint pancras international in london after a short wait it's time to depart the french capital on time at 15 13. we're soon rolling along the southernmost section of the lg v nord which means north high speed line this key artery of the french railway network connects paris with lil chalet among other french destinations with a junction heading towards brussels in belgium and of course the route through the channel tunnel to the uk at present the train is navigating its way through the suburbs of paris at a maximum of 160 kilometers an hour but this speed will look rather pedestrian in comparison to our top speed later on in the trip this is la landi a major maintenance base for all fleets operating out of paris gadinor including the eurostar fleet it also handles the tgv and talis high speed trains as well as ter regional trains it's not long before we are rocketing through the countryside at full speed passing by the ever rolling hills of the ul's de france or upper france region with the journey well underway it's now time to take a look at the seat here in standard class starting off with perhaps the most important aspect the level of seat comfort i actually found these seats really comfortable offering a nice amount of padding and having a really good ergonomic shape there's also a generously padded leather headrest a nice touch i thought as for legroom there's ample space here in standard class though do be warned if booking a table seat that the amount of room is substantially reduced due to a somewhat poorly designed table beside the seat cushion you can find a small lever which controls the seats much appreciated for climb function and if you pull the base of the seat up you can find the adjustable thigh support in my opinion a really nice feature there's also a foot rest attached to the bottom of the seat in front above this you can find a small but flexible storage pocket and here's the decently sized seat back table finally towards the top of the seat is this small groove now i'm not 100 sure exactly what it's for at first i thought it was good for holding phones but mine just ended up flipping downwards leave a comment if you know why it's here beneath the seat you can also find the power sockets and much like in the departure lounge international travelers are well catered for with each pair of seats having a uk three pin socket as well as a european one if you have a travel adapter as you probably should then you can use either socket or both in the event that you get two seats to yourself so let's have a look around the rest of the train first off there are a few mid-carriage luggage racks situated above a bin these complement the well-sized overhead luggage racks in providing much needed storage space on what is entirely a service used for long distance travel there are also sizeable luggage stacks at the end of the carriages this is a standard premier coach which is eurostar's first class offering the interior is the same as in business premier but with a lighter meal being offered and fewer benefits at the station like no access to the business lounge or fast track security here in the rather stylish festival area you can find two toilets as well as a set of recycling bins in both coach number eight and number nine you can find the bar area eurostar refers to this as cafe metropol though unfortunately it was closed at the time of recording and so no catering was available still i really liked the modern abstract design of the carriage interior having a look at the prices though i noticed they are very expensive even by on train standards in the uk perhaps it was a good thing that i had already eaten you can also buy tickets for tourist attractions in each of the three capitals served by the core eurostar network as well as urban transport tickets for these cities after just under an hour we are on the outskirts of lille in northern france here the train dive underground are the platforms of lil europe a station which sees the majority of high-speed and international trains serving the major city of lille eurostar trains do serve here however only the trains to and from brussels stop at the station as well as seasonal trains from the south of france in order to process luggage and passports in what is unlovingly known as the lil shuffle this station necessitates the train slows to just 200 kilometers an hour but afterwards the train shoots back up to 300 kilometers an hour running at great speed once again through the french countryside on this lovely sunny day speaking of the sun there's also a sunblind provided at every window but i found it wasn't very effective at blocking out the light due to having such a low density mesh above the windows you can find a sliding coat hook it's a little bit tricky to move though this is the final station on the lg v nord route this station is temporarily closed to eurostar services as a result of cover 19 leading to eurostar focusing only on its busiest stations however what this station does signify is that we are fast approaching the world famous channel tunnel through to england this tunnel is a marvel of modern engineering stretching the 31.35 miles under the english channel between coquel in northern france and folkstone in southeast england after numerous proposals dating back as far as 1802 the so-called chunnel finally started construction in 1988 and opened to passenger traffic in 1994. the tunnel consists of two main portals for rail traffic and a central service tunnel for utility vehicles and emergencies nowadays other than eurostar services the channel tunnel sees the euro tunnel le shuttle service for road vehicles as well as some freight trains now i'd love to show you the full video of the channel tunnel from the inside but i can't really say that it will be particularly interesting after roughly 20 minutes crossing the channel a perfect opportunity for changing your watch to account for uk time of course we emerge in kent the train is now traveling on a route called high speed 1 which connects the channel tunnel with kent and london to the left is the southeastern mainline a classic route that also links kent with london powered by the 750 volt direct current third rail system historically the old eurostar trains would have trundled along this route on their way to the capital until high speed 1 fully opened in 2007. we are now passing ashford international one of two eurostar stations in kent south east england much like calais these stations are not presently accepting eurostar trains due to sighted lack of demand with the journey's end fast approaching let's run through the price this trip cost me 75 pounds exactly booking about two weeks in advance such a ticket is valid only on the book date and on the booked train for a journey of 307 miles this gives a price per mile of about 25 p this seems fairly expensive and to some extent it is but when you remember that the cost of running the train through the channel tunnel are very high and the convenience of running from the center of paris straight to the center of london without stopping in a decent time of under two and a half hours it doesn't seem quite so bad fares in standard class can start at as little as 39 pounds which is fantastic but if you leave it to the last minute it's not uncommon to find tickets costing nearly 200 pounds overall i am generally pretty impressed with the eurostar standard class experience it's a fast way to get between london and the continent with a comfortable and smooth ride i certainly prefer it to flying we're now arriving into london st pancras international the terminus station for my train arrival today is an impressive eight minutes early at 16 31. saint pancras international has long been one of my favorite train stations anywhere in the world not only because of its stunning train shed but also because it is symbolic of international rail travel from the uk and the many incredible adventures you can have as i leave the train why not take a moment to post a comment letting me know what you think of the eurostar experience [Applause] thanks for watching my video on eurostar if you enjoyed it then be sure to leave a like and for more similar content subscribe to the channel i hope you enjoyed the video and i look forward to seeing you again on my next journey [Applause] [Applause] you

Channel: Superalbs Travels

Views: 2,109,045

Keywords: Superalbs Travels, Eurostar, Paris, Gare du Nord, Paris Nord, London St Pancras, St Pancras International, Eurostar to Disneyland Paris, Eurostar Travel Requirements, Eurostar Covid Requirements, Velaro, Siemens, Eurostar e320, high-speed train, high-speed rail, SNCF, TGV, london to paris, paris to london, train review, trip report, standard class, standard premier, HS1, LGV Nord, trainline, interrail reservations, eurostar reservations, eurostar test, France, UK, entry requirements

Id: 9syZa5XpKfE

Length: 18min 13sec (1093 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 27 2022