Undoubtedly the best way to get to Paris, Brussels and indeed many locations in western Europe is by Eurostar through the channel tunnel. Thousands make the trip every day, however it seems very few of them are aware of tickets to 'London International (CIV)'.
For anyone not starting their journey in London (and that is a large number of us) these tickets are a great option for making your way to St Pancras. The tickets offer travel to, and from, St Pancras in connection with a Eurostar ticket.
There are several advantages over a usual fare
- firstly these tickets tend to be cheaper
- the tickets carry far less (if any) peak travel restrictions
- finally, and possibly most importantly- the tickets are subject to the international conditions of carriage- this means that if your train in the UK is delayed, Eurostar are obliged to put you on their next available train without any additional charge. Similarly if your Eurostar is late and you have a 'timed' ticket to get back home in the UK the ticket will be honoured on a later train.
Amazingly these fares seem not to be advertised at all, and if it were not for the excellent Seat 61 website I would not have known about their existance either!
To book simply ask for a ticket to 'London International' at your local ticket office, bringing your Eurostar tickets with you. You can also get a further 1/3rd off these tickets with a railcard. My local station had no problems issuing the tickets- but politely insist that the tickets do exist should you have any trouble.
No comments:
Post a Comment