LL-L "Travels" 2011.01.25 (02) [EN-NL]

Tue Jan 25 21:43:19 UTC 2011

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L O W L A N D S - L - 25 January 2011 - Volume 02
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L Travels

Traveling by high speed train is becoming more and more affordable in
W-Europe

Here are the lowest rates *from Brussels* to Paris, London and Amsterdam
departing from Brussels, as communicated in a mail today by Belgian
Railways:

Met Thalys naar *Parijs**
*tot *25 *verbindingen per dag *(25 connections a day)**
*Brussel-Parijs in slechts *1u22* *(takes 1h 22 minutes)**
*een *enkele rit* vanaf *25 euro* *(single trip starting at 25 euro)*

Reis comfortabel met Eurostar naar *Londen**
*tot *9 *treinen per dag *(9 connections to London a day)**
*van Brussel naar Londen in *1u51 **(takes 1h 51minutes, of which 20 minutes
under see)**
*tickets *heen- en terug* vanaf *88 euro* *(round trip starting at 88 euro)*

Met de trein naar *Amsterdam **
*met IC Benelux reeds vanaf *35* euro *h/t* *(this is a round trip intercity
rate, not high speed)**
*met Thalys: *enkele rit* vanaf *29* euro *(single trip starting at 29 euro;
not fully high speed yet)*

For the cheapest rates one has to

- reserve several weeks in advance

- or take a connection very early in the morning or in the early afternoon.

Since the cheap rates are allocated in lots it is worthwhile to check the
rates on all websites (Belgian Railwys, French Railways, Eurostar, Thalys).
One may still find cheap tickets at one website, while these goodies are
sold out on the other websites.

Belgian Railways: http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/

French Railways: http://www.sncf.fr/

Eurostar: http://www.eurostar.com/

Thalys: www.thalys.com

For *Paris* I prefer to take the *TGV* in *Lille** *(Rijsel) just over the
border.

It takes about *1hr.* When ordering in advance one easily finds
*upgrades*to 1th class for
*1 single Euro.*

Parking is easy at Euralille (below the shopping center) facing the
Lille-Flandres railway station just across the street (actually between the
2 railway stations Lille-Flandres and Lille-Europe (the latter with Eurostar
connections to London)).

Euralille: http://www.euralille.com/W/do/centre/accueil

Euralille Parking:
http://www.vincipark.com/vincipark.nsf/fr/parcservice/pages/590005.htm

Brussels also has High Speed Connections to Cologne and Frankfurt-am-Main.

These ICE connections are serviced by the German Bundesbahn.

Ticket prices start at 19 euro.

web:
http://www.bahn.de/p/view/angebot/international/zuege/ice-bruessel.shtml

Advantages:

- confortable seat and space; free to move

- stress free; plenty of space e.g. for working with one's laptop; no
switching off of one's devices

- generally on time, eventual delays rarely more than 10 minutes

- virtually no luggage restriction

- food for sale for economy travellers

- check-in just a couple of minutes before the train leaves

For the Eurostar train though one should prepare to present oneselve about
30 minutes before departure, because of a triple queuing at departure:

- security

- passport controll for the country one leaves

- passport controll for the country one is going to.

The latter means one is allready legally in the UK when boarding in
Brussels.

The UK is not in the European Schengen area (area without passport controll)

For avoiding queing upon arrival in London at the tube (underground) ticket
machines, it is advisable one gets an Oyster card in advance.

web: https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do

Regards,

Roger

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