This is the 2nd time we are going to London, as previously we had a 3 Days Trip to London. And this time we are going from Paris to London by Train!
And you know what? We missed the Train!
Yes, you heard it. We were late. We woke up late, caught in the jam, and voila.. Missed the train.
The Longer Story
It takes 2 hours from our Town to Paris and Gare Du Nord. And from there, we have to park the car somewhere cheaper and walk to the station.
Our train departure is 07.15am and we reached the car park at 07.20am.
And the next train will cost additional €472 for 2 people. The initial return tickets cost €236 for 2. So total is €708 ( S$1100+) for 2 people!
S$1100+ can fly to alot places you know!
Sibei expensive lesson for the day.
3 Day Paris to London - Day 1
So the journey from Paris to London by train will take approximately, 2hrs 15mins. You board at Gare du Nord and alight at St Pancras in London.
Parking at Gare Du Nord
Gare Du Nord Carpark Review
Location
Entry / Exit
Parking Space
Value for Money
Because we drove, so we need to find a carpark for our car before boarding the train. We have tried the car parks at the airports, but we have not tried the ones near the train station. After many research, we fine tune to 1 car park that is affordable in pricing and 10 mins walk to Gare Du Nord.
Entry/Exit: The entry is simple. Just key in the pin code that is given to you when you register for the car park. The door will automatically open, and you can drive your car in. The exit is also the same. Convenient and hassle-free.
Car Park Space: The lane going in and out is very narrow. It can only fit like the sedan or small cars. Those SUV or bigger cars are not advised to book this space. Each car park lot is also all right. Not very spacious but not too narrow till you cannot open your doors.
Value: Compared to the parking charges at Gare Du Nord, this is a good value for 3 days. There are cheaper options elsewhere, but the entry/exit process is quite a hassle. That is why we settle for this car park.
Special Note: To get to the car park, you need to have an entry card from the reception of the hotel. So this carpark is very secured.
Tip
Book your parking with Onepark
Train: From Paris to London
Train From Paris to London
Time
11:13 Hrs
Departure Time
Duration
2 Hr 26 mins
Duration
Time
12:39 Hrs
Arrival Time (London Time)
Check-in
Comfort
Value for Money
It is our first time taking the train from Paris to London. There are a total of 18 cabins, and the cafes are situated at the 6th and 12th cabin usually. So you can grab your quick snacks or munch during this 2 hours.
But if you don't fancy their food, you can Dabao McDonald's nugget from the Mcdonald's just opposite Gare du Nord.
Check In: Now I understand why there is a need to check in 30 mins in advance. We thought it was like taking the Metro or the regional train. You have to fill in some forms before you enter, from there there is a queue for security checks. The process will take you 20 mins at least.
Comfort: Depending on where you are seated, facing forward or backwards. It is always good to face forward, but if you are unlucky like us, getting the expensive ticket and facing backwards, then it will be an uncomfortable ride for some.
But the leg room and space is good. You don't feel cramped up.
Value for Money: Pay €354 per person how to value for money ? But if you can get the cheapest return ticket for €68 if you are booking early.
Missed: Changing of Guards - Buckingham Palace
We were supposed to visit the Buckingham Palace for the Changing of Guards as the previous trip we didn't manage to see it.
This time also didn't get to see it. Cheesepies lor! Our planning actually swee swee one. 8.30am reached St Pancras, go Giraffe at Victoria eat Breakfast, dump our luggage and go for the Change of Guards. So now all have to change.
Lunch: Burger and Lobster
Review of Burger and Lobster
Time
14:00 Hrs
Arrival
Service
Food
Value for Money
Now, we reached 2pm. The only thing we want to eat is Burger and Lobster because didn't eat before mah. Must try.
So we went to the outlet near Knightsbridge station because it seemed to be one of the outlets near to where we stay and less walking distance.
Service: The service of Burger and Lobster is excellent. The staff puts on a smile whenever she takes orders, certainly made our day better.
Food: We ordered the Burger and Lobster Combo, the Medium size Grilled lobster and a Calamari. Honestly, the lobster taste quite bland and luckily there is a garlic butter sauce to enhance the taste.
But again, not very tasty leh. I was expecting some WOW effect when chewing it. The grilled lobster at La Paradeta - Barcelona will win this lobster anytime.
Value for Money: The price got increased since 2-3 years ago. Last time the price was like £23 for a small lobster. Now, it cost £31 for the small one. £40 for the 1.5 pounds! I feel it is overrated for this kind of price. And they even have 12.5% for the service charge.
Will I Recommend to Others: Probably yes, if you die die want to try. But I won't return to eat. 1 time experience is enough.
Missed: Hype Park Winter Wonderland
And we were supposed to go this Wonderland and guessed everything overran. You can check out their website on what are the things to do there. Seems pretty awesome! It opens in November, so visit them the next round ya!
Dinner: Seafresh - Fish and Chips
Review of Seafresh - Fish and Chips
Time
20:00 Hrs
Arrival
Service
Food
Value
Aiya, come to London already expecting to eat Fish and Chips already. So the nearest Fish and Chips to our stay is Seafresh.
Service: Good service. They let you choose any seats you want that is not reserved. Got a hard time choosing actually. Because too many seats to choose from.
Food: We ordered a Large Fish and Chips and a Calamari (again). The fish and chips taste bland again leh. The fries were too big and soggy. The one we ate at Golden Chippy was one of the best Fish and Chips we had.
Value: Price is mid-range, £15.95 for a large Fish and Chips. But the food was a little disappointing though.
Will I Recommend to Others: Ermm, no lah. Go try other Fish and Chips okay?
Stay: Apartment of London - Airbnb
Accommodation Review
Location
Check In/Out
Communication
Value
Location: This stay is located in Pimlico. 10-15 mins walk from Pimlico station. Average location, however, there is a bus #24 that seems to bring us to everywhere we wanted to go. And 10 - 15 mins away, there is a Sainsbury supermarket, and most of the eateries are located there.
Check-In/Out: Checking in is okay as they only allow you to check in after 2pm. If you are early, you can actually dump your luggage at their reception office which is near Victoria station. And this is a self-check in with the Door pin only given to you 2-3 days before your arrival.
Communication: Prior the stay, communication via Telephone is poor. Because their account got suspended on Airbnb but was reinstated after which. I was worried that something may happen to the booking. Called their customer whom does not seem to know about anything. However, the communication via Airbnb app was good. We had a heater problem, and they rectified instantly. (We were out anyways)
Value: Very valued stay, because the price is affordable, situated near to Pimlico Station which has a direct train to St Pancras Station. There is a small equipped kitchen too.
Good For:
Cons: Probably the walk from the station to the accommodation. Otherwise, it would have been a perfect stay.
After our long day yesterday (we woke up at 4.30am), missed the train. Nua (idle) at Mcdonald's for 2 hours. We very shag already. Knocked out instantly.
Get Discount Off Your
1st Airbnb Stay
3 Day Paris to London - Day 2
We actually did not plan much for our London trip as previous we covered quite some itineraries for our 3 days in London. But this trip will be doing things that we missed out previously.
Shopping: Harrods
Review of Harrods
Time
13:00 Hrs
Arrival
Duration
Depends
Location
Value for Money
Aiya, you know lah. Every trip must plan shopping or similar for my wife. If not, I get feedback that I did not cater time for her to shop.
Be sure to go the Toy Kingdom. There are like more adults than kids around. And many product/toys demonstrations by the staffs there.
Recommended Duration: Depends on what are you there for. We stayed there for like 2 - 3 hours.
Location: Located just outside of Knightsbridge station.
Worth To Go?: Things don't look cheap, but more to the upmarket prices. A croissant cost like £2. But I guess the Harrods brand is a famous brand here. Like Takashimaya in Singapore? Hmmm..
Note About Harrods
Harrods is a luxury department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London. It is now owned by the state of Qatar. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air Harrods, and to Harrods Buenos Aires, sold by Harrods in 1922 and closed as of 2011.
The store occupies a 5-acre (20,000 m2) site and has 330 departments covering one million square feet (90,000 m2) of retail space.3
Late Lunch: Giraffe
Review of Giraffe
Time
16:00 Hrs
Arrival
Service
Food
Value
We actually wanted to have our brunch at Giraffe on the 1st day. So, instead of having Fish and Chips somewhere again, we decided to visit Giraffe for a change.
Service: The service is excellent, the staffs are friendly and humorous too.
Food: We ordered the set of 5 Tapas which is like Dim Sum. You have 5 different kinds of small bites.
We ordered
All the dishes are so tasty! And each has their own dip sauce. Awesome meal!
Value: £5 for each dish is not very expensive. But if you are a big eater, you will not feel full after eating this. For us, the portion is just nice.
Will I Recommend to Others: Yup! If you are sick of Fish and Chips and want to try something different. This is the place you can try out. They have many outlets in London.
Watch: Phantom of the Opera @ Her Majestic Theatre
Review of Her Majestic Theatre
Time
19:00 Hrs
Arrival
Duration
3 Hours
Recommended
Location
Value for Money
The main highlight of our 3 days in London. Catch the Phantom of the Opera. It has always been a bucket list for my wife to catch a play in London. We were lucky only to book one because we intended to book another play the day before.
Recommended Duration: 3 Hours. The show is 2 hrs 30 mins. Be there early as they only allow you in at certain chapters if you are late.
Location: Located at Haymarket street, the nearest underground station is Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines).
Worth To Go?: Not worth the money actually. The seats are narrow and lack of leg space. The theatre is small. You even need to pay to deposit your jackets. But if you die die want to see, then can go ahead. Maybe because we have been to a similar play at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
3 Day Paris to London - Day 3
Holidays are always so short. So fast it is the 3rd day of our 3 days tour of London. This morning, we were very lucky to be greeted with the 1st snowfall of 2017 in London.
Snow has always been a fascinating thing for Singaporeans. Because we see the sun almost 365 a year. And snow always seem beautiful wherever you are.
We also scare we miss the train again, so we go Mcdonald's to have breakfast and also to meet our cousin there too.
Breakfast: Mcdonald's near St Pancras Station
Review of Mcdonald's Breakfast
Time
09:00 Hrs
Arrival
Service
Food
Value
VS
You may be wondering. Huh? Mcdonald's for breakfast. Actually I tell you, the Mcdonald's in UK has more varieties than the breakfast option in France. And they even have hash brown similar to Singapore.
Yummy crispy hash brown!
And we have a little surprise gift from our cousin too! He brought us 1A crispy curry puff from Singapore! Best lah! Just as we were craving for curry puff.
Train: from London to Paris
Taking the train from London to Paris is much easier somehow. Probably because we were there earlier. Everything is house under one roof. The metros, the regional line as well as the international line. Because it was snowing, so we need shelter right?
But still, be there 30 mins to 1 hour in advance as you will be subjected to security checks.
This marks the end of our 3 Days from Paris to London trip.
Overall it has been a very relaxed trip apart from the 1st day morning rush and expensive late fee. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed ourselves pretty much.
For a more exciting 3 Days itinerary in London, you can check out our previous post.
We will visit London later this year so we are lucky to have discovered your blog!
We’d like to follow your itinerary and tips, so we have saved your article 🙂
Surely! Enjoy London! Beautiful place and people.
That’s so dissapointing about missing the train! It seems that you took it all in stride though rather than getting frustrated, which is key quality in being a happy traveller 🙂 Shame that you missed the changing of the guards, it’s quite a cool thing to see. You’ll have to check it out on the next trip!
Yaa.. Missed quite a couple of itineraries, we planned for. Hope we have a change to see the change of guards.
I love London, one of my favorites! We also saw Phantom of the Opera in London. Sorry used missed the changing of the guards!
I hate the filling when I am late to something this important. Happened to me three times but luckily I got there just in time
I think we were not prepared. We thought was like taking the metro. There’s always a first time.
Great info on the train and parking! It’s a shame you didn’t enjoy Phantom of the Opera more, that’s my favourite musical!
I guess we have been to the one in Singapore which the play was much more awesome. Hence, the slight disappointment. Plus the theatre was also disappointing too, considering the price we paid for the tickets.
Wow perfect itinerary and with so many details. Nice presentation.
Hey!
That sucks you missed your train.. but good to write about real life happenings! This post is FULL of great info! I would love to do this route! I am a total foodie and you had me at the burger and lobster combo! What a cool combo! Will put this on my list when I head that way!
Thanks for the good tips!
Yeah! Have it with the Garlic Butter sauce. Tasty!!
Hang on, I am from London but used to live in Paris and worked on the trains many moons ago, did the tickets you already have a refund policy? Did you actually pay the excess to go on the next train? Also the original tickets, did you booked them at the last minute as if you buy them in advance, you can usually get them for 80 euros return per person. It seems you broke the bank for a 2 hour train journey 🙁
If I was in your shoes, I would have got a refund and refused to pay the upgrade and spent more time in France and leave London for another day. 😀
Also, I used to get this a lot in Paris check in, a lot of non-European citizens etc turn up at the last minute but its now like an airport. Its best to get there 90 minutes before to allow for passport checks and security. The UK is not part of Schengen zone which also confuses a lot of visitors. :/
I read about the refund policy but not sure if it works as we booked it from another 3rd party websites.We called in but the office is not open at that time. And I guess I was overwhelmed with all the change of plans that I didn’t think of going to the customer service to inquire.
I only saw the counter when we return from London.
It’s our first time taking the train and took it for granted that it is like taking the metro.
And I agree totally, be there like 90mins in advance so that we are very in time. Thank you for sharing the tips too!
Hope this is my last experience of missing the train.
It sounds like you had a lot of misadventures going to London. Lesson learned, allot more time to catch the train. We recently almost had our own “miss the train story”. We were in Sri Lanka, leaving on the midnight flight and got completely turned around with “which midnight”. Because all of our notices were set for the other side of the date line, no WARNINGS came from Google. Finally, at the last possible minute Tripit sent a notification out. The entire staff pulled together to help pack our room, find a taxi, and get us to the airport on time. It was an harrowing journey but we made it in time thanks to some aggressive driving by the taxi. He informed us that a speeding ticket cost about 1000 rupees, or 6 USD. I said, that’s all – gun it and we’ll pay. Of course for him, that was a day’s wages.
Yes expensive lesson learnt. We tried rushing by driving faster, but it probably be 5mins earlier, but we are caught in the jam.
Traveling from London to Paris by train sounds awesome and is on my bucket list! This just inspired me all the more to do this!
Yeah, pretty interesting to take the train over. We drove into London from Paris before, but I think taking the train is much wiser somehow.
Wow you packed so much into 3 days. I can’t believe you missed your train, that turned out super expensive. Although you missed some things, you also had some great food and saw some lovely things too. Hope you enjoyed tour visit to London
Overall sounds like a great trip, although I’m sorry you missed the Changing of the Guards, I love to watch this ceremony and I hope you get to take it in some day! Truly appreciate the details in the post, as many times as I’ve been to London I still haven’t experienced a few things you mentioned, including taking in Phantom of the Opera in the West End. I’ve seen it in NYC but something tells me it’ll be extra special in London!
Yeah, it’s an interesting experience to catch Phantom of the Opera. But the leg space in the theatre is kinda disappointing though.
Wow.. Very detailed.. This is very helpful.. Cheers.
I can’t believe how expensive it is to go by train – besides the fact that it was much more expensive since you were late. Already considering the ecologic aspect, trains should be much cheaper than flights. Anyway, it’s good that you’ve eventually made it and had such a good time – and got to sample so many different foods 😉
Sorry you missed the train and had that additional expense. But, it does sound like you had some enjoyable experiences (at least your wife did) and you had some good meals. Would love to get to London someday to see some theater.
Oh, I’m so sorry you missed your train. This reminds me why I’m always at the airport or train station waaaay earlier than usual. Have you asked whether you can somehow get a refund? Ugh…
I do enjoy the Eurostar train. It is a nice way to travel, if a little expensive. Its worth a try though. Nice blog post guys, although the 5 star McDonalds review made me laugh.
Haha..if you have been to the one at France for breakfast you will understand.
Haha.. hash brown ftw!
What a well-detailed itinerary for 3 days!! so nice of you to place the budgets costs in too. looks like it was a great time even though you woke up late! the fish and chips looks amazing
When travel plans go awry!! Love the article coz you discussed not just what you did but what you planned to do but didnt happen coz you missed your train. London is fabulous and there is so much to do! 🙂 I wish you hadn’t missed your train though:D
Wow, that turned out to be one expensive 3-day trip and one where not everything planned happened. But it can nevertheless be as enjoyable as can be.
Wow, that is a very expensive train ticket! It’s very interesting to see where people go when they visit my hometown. Winter Wonderland is really nice over the Christmas period!
Sucks you missed the train but it sounds like you figured it out! What a great trip just outside of London. Can’t wait to get back and take advantage of this handy guide!
When you mentioned that you missed the train, memories of our missing a train from Rome to Florence came flooding back. You feel so helpless at that moment, and then you realize that there always is the next train. London has been a dream destination for us and we hope to get there. We have traveled from Paris to Zurich and the experience was somewhat similar.
So bad that you missed the train!
So many information about this trip to London 🙂 Good to know!