Eurostar 2 for 1 promotion

I don't really understand what Tim is referring to here. but I am in full support of what he is saying about the demise of Ashford International. My wife and I moved to the East Kent coast (Folkestone) last year and one of the many attractions was the fantastic Eurostar service to Paris. We have had many such trips as it was just a painless three hour door to door service! Out from our home, a short walk to the railway station to catch a 20 minute train journey to Ashford, through security and immigration and more or less straight down to the platform. Hey Presto! into Paris well before lunchtime. Great journey and great prices of £55:00 return for each of us. What now? Yes we still have three Paris services a day, but you try and get those £55:00 return tickets and you will be looking at booking months in advance. Want to travel from Ebbsfleet? Yes fine lots and lots of £59:00 return tickest to both Paris & Brussels for January and beyond but for Ashford because the majority of services have gone to Ebbsfleet, you are stuffed. For those of you that may suggest travelling to Ebbsfleet let me tell that if you drive, it will take just about an hour on a good day. Not that there are many good driving days down here with foreign truckers constantly crashing their HGVs on a fairly regular basis. Oh then there is the rail/bus alternative to Ebbsfleet of over two hours and three changes from station to station. Good luck to those who will benefit from St Pancras but us poor souls in this part of Kent have truly been stiched up by Eurostar and a guttless government who would not stop them from transferring all those services to Ebbsfleet. I spit on them!

BernadetteN, I was thinking of travelling over by Eurotunnel and parking up at Calais Frethun station and catching a train to Lille to connect with either Paris and beyond or travel to Brussels for our planned northern Europe journeys. What do think, have you contemplated this way or is dodgy leaving ones pride and joy at Calais?

Victors_Bruvver wrote: »

BernadetteN, I was thinking of travelling over by Eurotunnel and parking up at Calais Frethun station and catching a train to Lille to connect with either Paris and beyond or travel to Brussels for our planned northern Europe journeys. What do think, have you contemplated this way or is dodgy leaving ones pride and joy at Calais?

I don't think my husband would leave his car unattended in Calais Frethun car park. He would be more likely to take the cheaper route of a ferry as a foot passenger and catch a train from Calais Ville. You can get adult returns from Calais to Brussels for €80.

I was told by Eurostar Call Centre this afternoon that you still cannot buy indirect tickets from Ashford to Brussels due to a computer software hitch (just how many years did they have to prepare for this????) which they have no timetable for fixing. The cheapest indirect fare (sold out already for dates 120 days in advance in April) for an adult return to Brussels is £65 instead of £59 on the direct service from Ebbsfleet which, although there is not too much of a differential, is still unfair for those who live in Kent and Sussex and have lost their direct service to Brussels because it now takes an hour longer and there is only one indirect service available per day. I think it's going to be far harder to get the cheapest tickets on this route because you are effectively taking up a seat on 2 trains instead of 1 so the probablity of the cheapest ticket should drop by 50%.

Anyways, after an afternoon of also pricing ferry fares from Dover to Calais then a train from Calais Ville to Brussels, I have concluded that I am taking a TGV/ French regional train from Brussels to Calais then a footie ticket back home to Dover (total cost £70), whereas the family are going to have to travel to Brussels from Dover by ferry and car because it's now the only way of them getting there for less than £200.

Stuff Eurostar.

I have just been told that I can get a PALS ticket for travel on Eurostar, as an indirect staff perk. Does anyone know how these tickets work (availability of seats at short notice, restrictions) and how much they cost?

I hope this hasn't been posted elsewhere (I did have a quick look: sorry if I missed it). Anyway, the Eurostar/Bluewater 2-for-1 promotion is back.

Just visit http://www.eurostar.com/2for1

You need to go shopping in Bluewater and show the people in the Eurostar shop your receipt. You then get a 2-for-1 voucher for travel from Ebbsefleet or Ashford Intl.

Hope this helps someone save some money.