Expert: Graham Thomas - 4/2/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi.  I would like to fly from Memphis, TN to London then visit some other European countries from there.  How hard is it to get to the train station and go to different places?  What hotels, bed and breakfast, etc. are very close to the train station?  Thanks!!

ANSWER: Hi Audrey

You will need to take the Eurostar train from St Pancras to go to Europe. It goes direct to Paris but you can also get off at other towns in France and change trains to go to different destinations or go to Paris and change there.

There are several stations in Paris so which one you would need would depend on where you are going... You can easily get from station to station by metro or by taxi..

When you fly into London you can take the Tube direct from Heathrow to Kings Cross which is the tube stop for ST Pancras. There are lots of hotels around there wher you could spend a night or two. Try looking on hotels.com and specify the Kings Cross area. Alternatively you might want to stay around Russell Square - that is only one stop away from the station and is a much nicer area to stay in.

Then you would be near the British Museum and also central London for shopping and sightseeing.

Hope this helps

Graham

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It is feasible to land in London, tour a few days, go to Paris on the train and from Paris go to some other country for a few days?  Is this pushing it too much for one week?  Thanks!

Answer
Hi Audrey

Well it can be done but it might well be a lot to fit in a week. Remember you will be jet lagged coming from the US to the UK so probably not as perky as usual.

Having said that if you stayed a couple of nights in London you could get over that and go to Europe on the third day. It is only 2.5 hours to Paris by train. From there the easiest countries to get to would be Belgium or Holland.

I think Spain would be too far as you would have to travel the length of France. So you could probably fit in a day and night in Paris if you leave early morning from London but I think trying to go further afield may be too much.

Alternatively what about going up to Scotland from London? That takes about 6hrs by train so you could have a few days in London and then 2 in Edinburgh maybe?

Graham

Graham