Jaunted

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And Now, a Happy Eurostar Story to Warm Your Heart

It’s the nature of news to focus on the bad stuff, we suppose, which is why lovely stories like this make us go all warm in our tummies.

Picture the scene: it's last Monday, and our friend Mia is on the Eurostar returning home to London after a trip to Paris. During the journey, she reads a book—a hefty academic tome worth $120—that she has been asked to read and review for work.

Nearing London, she notices that a friend of hers is mentioned in the book, and puts it down to email her. She forgets to pick it up again, gets off the train, and assumes she’ll never see it again. She is, in her own words, “so annoyed” because not only was the book worth $120, but since it’s brand new it’s not in any libraries yet.

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The Newbie Traveler / Paris Travel / France Travel / Tourism / Tourists / Eurostar / Culture Shock / Andy Miles / Travel Tips / → All Tags

An American in Paris...Does His Laundry

What would your life be like if you hadn't yet traveled to Europe? If you'd spent years reading travel novels and fantasizing over guidebooks, but hadn't made the big leap? This is the case for Andy Miles, who in his late twenties is embarking on his first trip to the continent and walking us through the emotions and observations of a true Newbie Traveler. Read his previous adventures and follow along all week as Andy takes us along on his inaugural Euro journey.

Romance is not lost on me. I like fine wines, nice dinners, and I'm not above admitting that Love Actually is one of my favorite films. However, just because you're in Paris doesn't mean it can be all moonlit meals and strolls by the Seine 24/7. I don't care what country you're in—dirty socks are dirty socks. Even Napoleon had to wash his pantaloons now and again.

Without the creature comfort of the washer and dryer back in my San Francisco apartment, I was forced to seek laundry asylum elsewhere. Luckily, there was such an establishment not far from my hotel. I packed up my unmentionables and headed out in search of cleaner pastures.

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The Newbie Traveler / Paris Travel / France Travel / Tourism / Tourists / Eurostar / Culture Shock / Andy Miles / → All Tags

The Newbie Traveler Says Bonjour to a Very First Visit to Paris

What would your life be like if you hadn't yet traveled to Europe? If you'd spent years reading travel novels and fantasizing over guidebooks, but hadn't made the big leap? This is the case for Andy Miles, who in his late twenties is embarking on his first trip to the continent and walking us through the emotions and observations of a true Newbie Traveler. Read his previous adventures and follow along all week as Andy takes us along on his inaugural Euro journey.

It's already been one year since my first international trip—to London. It seems like only yesterday I was basking in the glow of the on-demand entertainment system of the Boeing 777 that whisked me up and over the United States through the cold, maple syrup-flavored airspace of our northern comrades only to touch down several "Frasier"-filled hours later in the United Kingdom. However, this time around, instead of just being a newbie in London, I was a newbie in three other amazing cities: Paris, Rome, and Zurich.

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Wills and Kate Boost Eurostar's Passenger Rate by a Staggering 21 Percent

Royal Fever: an ailment categorized by a compulsion to don Union Jack garb, the purchase of Royal Wedding-themed miscellany, and emitting shrieks at the mere mention of WillznKate. Also classified by voracious consumption of tabloid material written about the Royal Family and, in extreme cases, donning fascinators gaudy enough to compete with Princess Beatrice's wedding habit of choice.

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Even Spice Girls Take the Eurostar

Geri Halliwell may be a Spice Girl, but that doesn't mean she's a diva. The former Ginger Spice was spotted boarding the Eurostar back to London after attending the Viktor & Rolf Spring/Summer 2011 runway show in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris.

Though she looked beautiful at the fashion show in an off-the-shoulder black dress, she had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction while rushing through the Gare du Nord to catch her train. It appears her strapless bra was slipping down under her blue tank top. Geri has become notorious for "popping out" of her blouse in the past, so the paparazzi were just waiting for it to happen again. She recently flashed her bra at Heathrow Airport and, not long before that, she slipped out of her bikini while vacationing in France.

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Take 50% Off the Eurostar from London to Paris in August

Are you planning to take advantage of the deals during the hot, hot summer over in Europe? Although hotels can be pricey during these months, transportation discounts make up the difference, and @raileurope just tweeted an awesome tip:

~Inside Scoop Eurostar has $57 One-way & $100 Round-trip Fares for London-Paris Route During August~

Since we know people definitely have Paris in August in mind, we double-checked on their website to see if these fares are actually available, and...

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Finding Out How Long It Takes the Eurostar To Travel the Channel Tunnel

Good news! We just got off the Eurostar direct train that travels the Channel Tunnel from London's St. Pancras station to Brussels Midi station, and we did not get stuck underneath the English Channel. Only a few weeks ago and then a few weeks before that did several trains on the same route get trapped underground by electrical problems caused by the super low temperatures. We hoped the same fate wouldn't befall us, and we were lucky it didn't.

The departure from St. Pancras in London was surprisingly smooth; we went through the security metal detectors and had our passport stamped with a "Lft Londres" stamp right here, as though we had already emerged in France. But perhaps the most perfect part of departure was the free WiFi signal in St. Pancras station, allowing us to get some last-minute alone time with the internet before setting off for the Chunnel (by the way, the Brits hate it when you call it that; it's the "Channel Tunnel" or nothing).

After the jump, how long you actually spend underneath the Channel Tunnel on the Eurostar

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Massive Changes Coming To Europe's Confusing Train System

The demise of RailTeam—which was supposed to integrate booking across Europe's many different rail lines—may have put trains behind in Europe's trains vs. airlines deathmatch. But now European governments are trying to bolster trains by going in a different direction. Instead of a pan-European plan to integrate rail lines under a single system, they've embraced deregulation.

RailTeam was originally conceived as a way of dealing with a very specific problem: since most countries are dominated internally by state-owned rail companies, getting across borders forces customers to deal with multiple companies. Now RailTeam's approach—to integrate across those different companies—failed. The push for deregulation deals with the same problem by letting individual rail companies expand their coverage more easily. In a few years, you might only need to book with a single company to get from Spain to Germany across France, eliminating the entire need to juggle different systems.

A few more technical details, plus some hopeful soundbites, after the jump.

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Train Travel / Delays / Channel Tunnel / Eurostar / Thalys / Amsterdam Travel / Holland Travel / Belgium Travel / → All Tags

We Rode The New High Speed Rail Link Between Brussels And Amsterdam!

Poor European railways. What with the Eurostar debacle, we all forgot about the news they were hoping we’d read last week – the completion of the high speed line between Brussels and Amsterdam, making train trips from Paris and London to weed city a viable alternative to flying.

The fast Thalys trains already plied the Paris-Brussels part of the line, but had to slow down once they hit Belgium and picked up travellers from the Eurostar. On 13 December, though, they started running at high speed along the whole line, shaving 51 minutes off the journey from Paris to Amsterdam (from 4hr 9min to 3hrs 18) and 49 from Brussels (from 2hr 42 to 1hr 53). So you can now get from London to Amsterdam in 4hrs 16: not bad if you factor in the time to get to the airport, wait at the airport, collect your luggage and get into town.

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Travel With Rihanna And Weather Delays Magically Disappear

Nevermind the giant furry black earflap hat from Michael Kors that Rihanna is wearing, or that she's actually dressed pretty casually for travel; the big surprise here is that RIhanna is arriving not to an airport here, but to London's St. Pancras International train station after hopping off the Eurostar from Paris late last week. Yes, Rihanna made it through the Channel Tunnel just before the weather problems kept five trains stuck down there for over ten hours.

Now we want to imagine if she had been stuck down there too; would the situation have received more media coverage in the USA? Would she be crying and distraught from having to consume only the British Digestive cookies the whole night? But no; girl made luckily made it into London just in time to perform with Jay-Z and give Kanye West a private dance at a the club Whiskey Mist.

Apparently immune to the travel mush currently happening in the UK, Rihanna then headed back to the USA through Heathrow over the weekend, despite snowstorms and weather canceling flights across the board. And now we've learned a new lesson on how to never get stuck with delays and travel emergencies: become part of Rihanna's entourage.

Related Stories:
· Rihanna Rolls Into London [GossipCenter]
· Airport Photoshoots [Jaunted]

[Photo: GossipCenter]

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Eurostar Passengers Spent The Weekend Trapped Underneath The English Channel

While the US suffered through a weekend rife with weather-caused flight cancellations, things aren't much better in Northern Europe, where five Eurostar trains got stuck in the Channel Tunnel thanks to problems caused by the low temperatures. After one train broke down in the tunnel thanks to electronics failures caused by the weather, another four followed, trapping over 2,000 people underneath the English Channel without additional food or information for around 14 hours.

Typically the speedy trip from London to Brussels or Paris is no more than two hours, and the Eurostar isn't prone to delays or cancellations, so this quickly became an emergency situation. Eurostar services through the Channel Tunnel are indefinitely suspended, although they're already running empty test trains through and are hoping to be back up and running as soon as tomorrow. And they better be, since we're holding tickets for the Channel Tunnel route between London and Brussels. Luckily they've got another three weeks to sort it out before we storm into London's St. Pancras train station and hop aboard. We're already taking Ryanair back, and we're not too keen on making it a round-trip with them. Alright Eurostar—you've got a couple weeks to figure things out, but then we're coming for you.

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Dress Your Family In Eurostar Remnants and Virgin Hot Air Balloons

A couple years ago, we were all able to live our greatest dream of wearing repurposed airline seat covers, thanks to Worn Again, which turned worn-out covers from Virgin Atlantic planes into bags and accessories.

This year, they've taken the collaboration several steps further by branching out from Virgin to include Eurostar, and hiring UK designer Christopher Raeburn to create the products. And for the first time, all of the products are completely made in the UK.

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