The journey was about as efficient and relaxed as it gets. I left my house mid-morning and caught the tube to beautiful St. Pancras station. A short 10-minute queue at the Eurostar departure gates and security checks was followed by rapidly passing through both UK and French passport control.
There was just enough time to meet with my travelling companions for a half decent coffee and a pasty in the departure lounge before we were able to board the train. It was great to be able to sit with friends from work - although we all booked at separate times, you can easily change your seats on the Eurostar website prior to leaving to allow a larger group to sit together across a couple of tables for example (something that would cost a small fortune to do with an airline).
The relaxed time shared with my lovely colleagues on the journey probably should have been used more wisely (i.e. discussing our important research findings rather than playing Yahtzee the whole way), but the direct 4-hour journey absolutely flew by. Even standard class on the Eurostar offers very spacious and comfortable seats and the carriages are open and well designed, with plenty of space for everyone’s luggage (even though there are no luggage limits). It feels easy to move about and stretch your legs without bothering other passengers and is simple to grab a coffee or something to eat, or to visit the bathroom without having to queue.
I’ve travelled several times on the Eurostar to various destinations in the past, but it will always be a thrill to walk off the train directly into the centre of the city, compared to the delays of passport control, baggage reclaim and a long and often expensive transfer from the airport that is the norm with air travel. It took 20 mins to stroll from the station through the pretty centre of Amsterdam and along the canals to our hotel accommodation, arriving around 5 and a half hours after I closed my front door in London. This is entirely comparable to the total time and cost catching a flight would have involved, but with virtually none of the fatigue and stress.
The return journey was equally pleasant, aside from the transfer through security and passport control at Amsterdam Centraal station being even quicker (although my luck with the dice on the way home remained inexplicably terrible). The fact that this trip was achieved travelling sustainably while also avoiding the boiled hell of a Ryanair fuselage means international travel by train is now by far my most desirable method to get to most European destinations.
I’m very grateful that the IGUANA scheme was able to support my journey to the conference and I think it is an excellent initiative for the university to encourage people to travel in this way.