Travelling to Zurich from the UK- but will taking the train all the way make the journey A-OK?

 Hello from St. Pancras train station, where I am sitting in the station lounge. I shouldn't really be here, but I am.

Now if it was down to me, I wouldn't be forking out extra money for a ticket that grants me access to a lounge. If I'm going on holiday, I pretty much want to do it as cheaply as possible.

But my hand was forced....

You see, when I tried to book my Eurostar tickets using my Interrail pass, I thought 3 weeks would be good enough notice. I hadn't seen anything to suggest that I couldn't get a ticket. But I was too late- not only that, I couldn't use my pass to get a Eurostar home. The inner hypochondriac in me thought about cancelling the trip, altogether. I briefly looked at other destinations, but then came bac to my accommodation bookings, and alas, neither of my stays were refundable. So, with skinflint mode activated, I had to go ahead. 

The trusty travel bottle with a complimentary Sprite from the lounge.

I knew about Eurostar Snap, a service that offers last-minute ticket discounts, but you can't buy a ticket until a fortnight before the trip, and do not find out your time-slot until 48 hours in advance. To add to this, there is no guarantee of actually being able to get a ticket, and alas this was what I'd found. After composing a panicked Reddit post asking for advice and other options, I concluded that I would have to delve into my pockets and fork out for tickets. However, these pockets had to be expansive, as there weren't any standard class tickets available at the time I needed them to be. So, I've had to go all bougie. Bizarrely, the cheapest option at the time I was after was "Premier Plus", their first-class option, and obviously, I wouldn't begrudge picking first class over "premium economy". Whilst this ticket alone has plunged me into debt, here's a list of the extras I get: Eurostar Premier

I must admit, being in the lounge makes for a very pleasant experience, contrary to the hustle and bustle of the waiting area- not just any hustle and bustle, Bank Holiday hustle and bustle! You can get free drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and bar snacks, but there isn't a restaurant- but hey, when you have the opportunity of a complimentary 3-course meal, cooked by a Michelin Star chef, you won't be wanting to stock up too much on cheesy Doritos, or wasabi peas (as nice as they were).

Tom here again (a few hours later now), having had an enjoyable trip on the Eurostar. It's certainly not every day that you can say that you had your lunch 100 metres below sea level, but given that it's such a novelty, it would be remiss to not talk about it in a bit more detail. With it being made by a Michelin-starred chef, you'd expect to have some fancy-sounding food- and whilst the three courses that were promised, weren't delivered, what I was given did deliver. I was given an amuse bouche (as it was branded, or starter in more commoon parlance). There were 3 little dishes that were handed out, the most recognisable being a cheese cob with butter we get from the local diary. It came with some sort of preserve- the contents of which I couldn't quite put my finger on. It also came with a savoury eclair with legumes, and some small pancake-esque thing with an olive and courgette tapenade. Needless to say, everything was great on that front. The main was a couscous salad, which had carrots, peppers and houmous to name a few things. Flavours were strong, too- so in spite of the lack of pud, and my distinct lack of experience tasting Michelin food, I'd say that it came close to Michelin-quality. 

Lunches

Asides from my food wanker spiel, the staff were pleasant and accommodating, and the seat was an upgrade on what I'd have sat in had I'd been more organised when sorting my travel out. Although it did take longer to get to Paris, it did ultimately feel much more of a relaxing and leisurely experience, compared to how I'd typically choose to get there. Still, that was largely down to having access to the lounge- something I will not have come the return journey.

Et alors, in order to catch my train from Paris to Zurich, I needed to take the underground, and it was busy! If I hadn't already been sweating like a dog from the unseasonal weather, then I think an experience on the sauna *cough, ahem, the train, would be enough to think you'd be close to the Equator. Anyways, a short journey in such conditions did not go amiss. Well, that is, until I arrived at the Gare de Lyon, or Greenhouse de Lyon as it should've been more appropriately named. Having said that, with two connections today, I'll take waiting around in a solarium and catching the connections, instead of being in a more comfortable climate, and missing one of them, as I could've well found myself having a night in Paris.

With no expense incurred from not staying in Paris (Tom a few hours on, now stationary at Basel Station), I boarded a near 5 hour train journey to Zurich, my stop for the next few days. And at risk of sounding like Francis Bourgeois, I am quite impressed at the double-decked nature of this train, as well as its strong Wi-Fi (something Eurostar couldn't provide), as without it, I wouldn't be able to get this blog post out on the same day of travel. I've admittedly not made it to Zurich, yet, as weve been at Basel for 20 mins, due to some construction, but will I make it to Zurich today? We'll have to wait and see...

Nonetheless, I've enjoyed taking the train to Switzerland, today. Sure- you do bank on connections being reliable, but as long as you occupy yourself (in my case, lots of Radio X shows), and give yourself a reasonable amount of time to make those connections, then you should be fine....

'Til next time,

Tom :)