Jet vs. Train: Which is faster from London to Paris?

I took my first trip on the Eurostar r/t between London and Paris for work earlier this week. There really is no comparison to flying-- no security queues, more space (in your seat, in the aisles, in the dining car), no stuffy/dry airplane air, no waiting for your bags, no need to get a ride to/from the airports, most seats have a power point, and EVDO/mobile phones work for much of the journey. I just wish there were more routes!

Ah the Eurostar, it's great.

But then the only reason that flying is intolerable now id because the DHS and TSA demand that all flights comply to most of their agenda.

We already had quite enough security in Europe after 75 years of terrorism we have never been as slack as the USA.We've had IRA UVF,INLA, UDA,ETA, Red Brigade, Red army faction , Badher Mienhoff.

N ot to mention endless invasions and balkan wars.

Were already very security conscious, but if you don't do as the DHS say then you can't fly your planes to the US.

On behalf of the people of the United States, I'd like to apologize for our asinine post 9/11 security hysteria.

WHEN will the US build a high-speed train system already?

I prefer train. It wouldn't work in the US though, the US is too big. Crossing the country by train would take days.

Strike in France? How common.. .;)

@leksvik : $200 a barrel?

I did this trip between Paris and London last weekend, and it was such a stress-free ordeal! I'll never fly to Paris again!

Summary: train beat airplane by 15 minutes. Train much less stressful than plane. There was, however, a transportation strike in Paris that skewed the results somewhat.

There's always a transportation strike somewhere on any given day in Europe.

Couldn't watch this video - after the first two seconds, it was "so what"?

What a waste of time and money.

You could just look up the departing and arrival schedules to see who would get there first. Who decided to bankroll these two reporters?

The Top Gear races (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_%28current_format%29#Epic_races) are lots of fun.

Alba to London - Bugatti Veyron vs Cessna prop plane
London to Verbier - Ferrari 612 Scaglietti vs plane, train and coach
London to Montecarlo - Aston Martin DB9 vs Eurostar and TGV

The cars tend to win, except in the race that's most relevant to the average punter, car vs. bike vs. boat vs. public transport across London, where car came last!