Travelling from South Wales to St Pancras

jaibaby

Hi all!

We're going to Disneyland Paris in November. Everything is booked for the trip except for the travel between home (Newport) and St Pancras.

Can anyone tell me the best way to do this? There's 8 of us in total (4 adults ages 70, 54, 34 & 30 - 4 children ages 13, 11, 5 & 1).

Unfortunately for us, I believe our Eurostar leaves at 10.15am from St Pancras so will be travelling in peak times up to London :eek: Something I am not looking forward to with the kids in tow

Cheapest way would be fab, the FIL is paying for it all but would rather save him some dosh after paying over £2000 for the trip already, but he has said cost doesn't matter.

I've priced (approx.) train tickets from home to St P. and it's about £270ish return with a Friends & Family railcard. But I've never done this before so have no idea of times / waiting / or anything else that could affect us, especially important to factor in the kids - older ones will understand and not mind so much, but 5 & 1 y.o. will be my main concern.


Thanks in advance for any help xx

Backbiter

You'll need to cross London from Paddington to St Pancras, which is pretty straightforward, as there are no changes if you take the Circle Line, and takes 15-20 minutes. There is, though, a lot of walking involved to get from the train to the Tube, and then from the Tube to the Eurostar Terminal, and with you bags and a pushchair - at peak time - it wouldn't be fun.

Then there's the shocking cost of Tube fares: £4.70 single for each adult. As your children would need an Oyster card to get a childfare, they'd also pay the adult price, although the 1 and 5 year olds would be free.

So it would cost you a horrific £54 return to travel the 2.4 miles between Paddington and St Pancras.

According to this site:
http://www.worldtaximeter.com/london/London+Paddington/Kings+Cross+St+Pancras+station
it will cost around £11 for a taxi one way.
So - as you'd need two taxis each way - it would cost £44. Plus tips, of course.
So you'd save money and stress by taking taxis to get to St Pancras.

Alan_Bowen

Advance tickets for FGW trains to Paddington do not go on sale until 12 weeks before travel, so they will not be on sale yet. Have a look at the website of FGW now for trains 12 weeks ahead, beginning of October I think and price them for the same day of the week you want to travel, that should give you a good idea of what they might be.

johnmcga

Not so sure about getting the train in from Wales, but if you're in a big group with luggage I would get taxis from Paddington to St Pancras rather than faff about with the Circle Line.

You can pick up black cabs from the rank at Paddington, but it might be slightly cheaper to book in advance, with a company like Addison Lee or Wheely.

notanewuser

This is precisely why we didn't get the Eurostar to DLP in March. We're just outside Cardiff.

There's a lot can go wrong - FHW rarely run to time on their London service. Could you go the night before and stay in a hotel instead?

martindow

You need to buy tickets that cover you with CIV which guarantee that Eurostar will put you on the next train if there are any delays. There are through Eurostar tickets from over a hundred UK towns or you can buy a ticket to London International CIV. These are flexible and they are the same price peak or off peak and include the tube fare.

I've used these from Reading and they are remarkably cheap. I have bought them through Eurostar as I've found that local booking offices have tried to sell more expensive tickets.

Seat61 has all the details here

http://www.seat61.com/UKconnections.htm#.U9dw02OZgvs

jaibaby

notanewuser wrote: »

There's a lot can go wrong - FHW rarely run to time on their London service. Could you go the night before and stay in a hotel instead?

I looked into this but with the price of the hotels in and around London I don't think we'll be going down that route

When my FIL booked it, I did say to ask if we could travel over there the night before, but Eurostar only runs once a day I believe, so we would still have to be in London travelling at peak times

From what I can see, the only way to "miss" (and I use that term very lightly) the rush, is to travel earlier - one train up was something like 4.30am, to get to Paddington at 7.30. We could then make our way over to St P but I'm probably right in thinking that Londons rush is a good few hours before 9 too? I've never been to London before so have never witnessed it.

The bags won't be a problem as such, we're taking very little as we are only staying 2 nights & there is 4 adults and at least the two older kiddies can help if needed.

As for the train prices - I have searched for the same days in October, and that's the prices it's coming up with. Someone said we need to go to King's Cross though? And that looks as though we can walk from there to St P?

I really wish the travel agent had mentioned all this when we booked. My FIL is the same as me and has never been to London so wouldn't have a clue.

jaibaby

Right, I've just had a nose on google and found Kings Cross is not far from St Pancras.

After a search on the trains, we could get the 05.30 train to KC (which changes at Paddington) and arrives at 08.02 KC.

From there we could either try walking (obviously I understand the rush with the kids) which *could* take us about 10 mins, leaving two hours wait until Eurostar. Of course, that all depends on the trains running on time but hopefully, as it's the first train of the day, that it does run fine.

Do you reckon my theory would be doable?

Grumpelstiltskin

Kings Cross and St Pancras are next to each other, there is a signposted walkway between the two.


You do realise you have to check in for Eurostar a good time in advance?. You can't just turn up 15 minutes before the train is due to go.


Honestly I would bite the bullet and book hotel rooms, look at chains like Premier Inn. OK They seem very expensive to you but what about the hassle you are potentially putting everyone through.


This is a case where you should have researched all of this before booking. All travel agents are interested in is getting your money, they are never going to point out the potential problems to you.

Voyager2002

As posted above, you should buy a CIV train ticket to 'London International'.

I don't think you need to worry that much about the London rush-hour. Take a taxi from Paddington to St Pancras, and allow sufficient time for the journey. Traffic in central London is not all that bad thanks to the congestion charge, while the Underground does get very crowded and doing it by Underground would also involve a fair amount of walking.

I also suggest that you investigate accommodation in London: perhaps you could get a family room at the St Pancras YHA Youth Hostel, or the nearby Smart Hostel near Russell Square? Or you might find somewhere suitable on Air BnB.

Voyager2002

jaibaby wrote: »

After a search on the trains, we could get the 05.30 train to KC (which changes at Paddington) and arrives at 08.02 KC.

This is simply a train to Paddington, then an Underground from there to the station that is called Kings Cross St Pancras.