Overview: We took the Eurostar high-speed train from London St. Pancras Station to Paris Gare du Nord Station. It takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Check-In: Treat the train check-in process as seriously as the plane check-in process. There are COVID requirements to meet beforehand, Passenger Locator Forms to fill out, and a security line to get through. Especially if you have kids and all the gear that kids come along with, arrive to the train station about 90 minutes before your departing train. You would rather have extra time and enjoy the nice food options at the train statin, rather than anxiously rushing to make it to the train (like we did).
Luggage: You take your luggage with you on the train, and have to store it in the main area of your cabin. You can take the smaller pieces with you to your seats to store below or above your seats. We took one large suitcase, one small suitcase, and a double stroller. We packed our essentials for the train ride (i.e., diapers, wipes, snacks, kids outfit changes, Amazon Kids tablet, water) into a packing cube, so that we could easily take that with us to our seating, without having to manuever our luggage too much.
Seating: Kids under 4-years-old ride free if they sit in your lap, so we booked two adult seats and planned for the two kids to sit on us. On the way there, we lucked out with a table with four chairs so we had more room, compared to our return ride where we had a standard row and each kid sat in our laps.
Sanitation on the Train: The train is fairly clean, but since kids manage to touch every aspect of the seat and table, it doesn’t hurt to come prepared with wipes to wipe down all surfaces before sitting.
Carrier for baby: I always carry our baby in our Baby Bjourn carrier, but this time, because we took our double stroller with us, I made the mistake of leaving the carrier behind. The carrier is great for many purposes, including to wear the baby while you are seated on the train. I highly recommend wearing the baby on the train, because these wiggly little humans try to get their hands everywhere. The carrier keeps them confined and you can be hands free. It is also a cozy way for them to nap.
Feeding and Entertaining the Kids: We did not have snacks offered to us on the train, perhaps due to COVID, so it is good to stock up beforehand! It isn’t too long of a train ride, but always a good idea to have snacks and drinks ready for the babies/toddlers. I put the Amazon Kids Tablet on for my toddler as well, and brought a few travel activities he could play with, such as stickers or a white board to color on. The white board markers got a little messy, so next time I will stick to a coloring book. It also gets fairly cold in the train, so remember to brink an extra kids blanket or sweaters.
And, Voila! After a quick train ride, you have arrived in Paris! Have you taken this train ride with kids? Any suggestions? Share below!
