{"id":88294,"date":"2012-11-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelstartblg.wpenginepowered.com\/the-eurostar-experience\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T13:50:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T13:50:59","slug":"the-eurostar-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eurostar experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/travelstartstg.wpenginepowered.com\/the-eurostar-experience\/screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16-40-04\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-27149\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-27149\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"527\" height=\"394\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I think one of the (many) funny things about being South African is how we think the rest of the world is so far advanced in comparison to us. In many ways they are, of course, but it\u2019s funny how we cast this assumption over every aspect of overseas travel. Well, I know I do.<\/p>\n<p>When I thought about the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eurostar.com\" target=\"_blank\">Eurostar<\/a>, I imagined a sleek black devil of a train \u2013 one of those you see in sci fi movies, the ones that travel so fast you can\u2019t even see a blur of light, where the time between departure and arrival is only long enough to take a breath of air. Okay, maybe not quite that fast, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n<p>But in fact, the Eurostar is not that new, and not that fancy. The check-in service at London St Pancras International is certainly fancy \u2013 something like an airline but slightly less of a headache. And the fact that it can get from London to Paris or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/lp\/brussels\/flights\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Book the cheapest flights to Brussels, Belgium now\">Brussels <\/a>in a matter of hours, at speeds of up to 300km, is nothing to sniff at. But the train itself was just like being on a, well, train.<\/p>\n<p>Although that\u2019s not entirely true. We somehow found ourselves taking the Friday evening train (rookie mistake! That\u2019s when all the Londoners were jetting off to Paris for a romantic weekend away) and there was a real sense of festivity in the air. Everyone hauls out their dinners as soon as they\u2019re settled on the train \u2013 we had a picnic from Marks &amp; Spencers \u2013 and as soon as you arrive in Paris there\u2019s a buzz of anticipation. I suppose that\u2019s what lends the Eurostar its glamour, the fact that you can simply hop over to the City of Lights for a night or two. It might not be a sleek black devil of a train, but the Eurostar certainly achieves what it promises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It might not be a sleek black devil of a train, but the Eurostar certainly achieves what it promises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":88295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[221,224],"class_list":["post-88294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-london","tag-paris","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Eurostar experience | Travelstart Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It might not be a sleek black devil of a train, but the Eurostar certainly achieves what it promises.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Eurostar experience | Travelstart Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It might not be a sleek black devil of a train, but the Eurostar certainly achieves what it promises.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Travelstart Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Travelstart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-28T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-04T13:50:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"585\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brandon Mlilo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Travelstart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Travelstart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brandon Mlilo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brandon Mlilo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/607405fa1eb10609e1f0966851769710\"},\"headline\":\"The Eurostar experience\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-28T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-04T13:50:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":328,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png\",\"keywords\":[\"london\",\"paris\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Travel\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Eurostar experience | Travelstart Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-28T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-04T13:50:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"It might not be a sleek black devil of a train, but the Eurostar certainly achieves what it promises.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png\",\"width\":585,\"height\":438},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/the-eurostar-experience\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Eurostar experience\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Travelstart Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Travelstart ZA\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"Travelstart ZA\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/Travelstart\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/Travelstart\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/travelstart\\\/?hl=en\",\"https:\\\/\\\/za.pinterest.com\\\/travelstartza\\\/?etslf=6584&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;eq=travelstart\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/TRAVELSTARTchannel\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.travelstart.co.za\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/607405fa1eb10609e1f0966851769710\",\"name\":\"Brandon Mlilo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/85747dfa7c29be6c5eab5afe41b9a4d31b3db20961febcb45650400a9bc94a62?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/85747dfa7c29be6c5eab5afe41b9a4d31b3db20961febcb45650400a9bc94a62?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/85747dfa7c29be6c5eab5afe41b9a4d31b3db20961febcb45650400a9bc94a62?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brandon Mlilo\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Eurostar experience | Travelstart Blog","description":"It might not be a sleek black devil of a train, but the Eurostar certainly achieves what it promises.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Eurostar experience | Travelstart Blog","og_description":"It might not be a sleek black devil of a train, but the Eurostar certainly achieves what it promises.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/","og_site_name":"Travelstart Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Travelstart\/","article_published_time":"2012-11-28T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-04T13:50:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":585,"height":438,"url":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Brandon Mlilo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Travelstart","twitter_site":"@Travelstart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brandon Mlilo","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/"},"author":{"name":"Brandon Mlilo","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/607405fa1eb10609e1f0966851769710"},"headline":"The Eurostar experience","datePublished":"2012-11-28T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-04T13:50:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/"},"wordCount":328,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png","keywords":["london","paris"],"articleSection":["Travel"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/","url":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/","name":"The Eurostar experience | Travelstart Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png","datePublished":"2012-11-28T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-04T13:50:59+00:00","description":"It might not be a sleek black devil of a train, but the Eurostar certainly achieves what it promises.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-shot-2012-11-02-at-16.40.04.png","width":585,"height":438},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/the-eurostar-experience\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Eurostar experience"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/","name":"Travelstart Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#organization","name":"Travelstart ZA","url":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Travelstart ZA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Travelstart\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Travelstart","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/travelstart\/?hl=en","https:\/\/za.pinterest.com\/travelstartza\/?etslf=6584&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;eq=travelstart","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/TRAVELSTARTchannel"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/607405fa1eb10609e1f0966851769710","name":"Brandon Mlilo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/85747dfa7c29be6c5eab5afe41b9a4d31b3db20961febcb45650400a9bc94a62?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/85747dfa7c29be6c5eab5afe41b9a4d31b3db20961febcb45650400a9bc94a62?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/85747dfa7c29be6c5eab5afe41b9a4d31b3db20961febcb45650400a9bc94a62?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brandon Mlilo"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelstart.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}