Eurostar have now announced direct trains from London to Amsterdam in just 4 hours and 38 minutes. The weekend I chose to go I had to take a connection in Brussels and the whole journey took me twice as long, almost 8 hours in total (excluding my journey to Kings Cross).
This time I decided to upgrade to Standard Premier in the Eurostar and it really was worth it. As it was a morning train breakfast was served by some very friendly and humorous staff.
Unfortunately arriving at the Eurotunnel there was a signal failure which caused my train to be delayed by over an hour so I missed my connecting train to Amsterdam in Brussels. The train manager gave me a stamp and told me I needed to go to the desk to get a new ticket as a seat was mandatory on a high speed train. When I got to Brussels I was told to go straight to the platform – the wrong platform from which I saw the correct platform and ran over, but was told I needed a seat! Running back to the international tickets desk I had to take a number and wait, only to be told I didn’t need a seat and they could only issue one if I paid for a new ticket! So I ran back to the platform with only five minutes to spare but I was told I had to wait until everyone was seated to find myself a seat.
I’m also not quite sure why I was booked on a local train – Thalys when I booked directly through Eurostar, perhaps because of the timings I wanted but this was unexpected, although I did appreciate the the red cuhsion covers reminded me of Russian trains.
All in all it was still quite a smooth and enjoyable journey, and we passed through Rotterdam Central before arriving in Amsterdam. I love seeing the graffiti on the trains which reminds me I am back in the Netherlands.
Eight hours later a little behind shedule, I arrived in Amsterdam!
