I have done a search and can make neither heads nor tail of it. I have been to raileurope and eurostar.com and SNCF. Help! I'm trying to help a friend who has found a $94 RT fare through a travel agent, but will end up paying $130 with agent fee. (She won't be using the return trip.) Do any of you have good (easy) advice?

In addition, best way to get from Waterloo to Victoria? She has to take a train to Worthy.

try calling the london reservation number directly...the number has been posted numerous times on this board.

as for getting to victoria, just hope on the tube for a short ride.

Try Eurostar.com but when the first qustion comes up of where you are, answer United Kingdom notUnited States. If you answer United States, you are directe to the rail Europe site and a cookieis put into your computer so that next time you enter Eurostar.com you are automatically directed to Rail Europe site.

You can currently book a return trip London - Paris for £59 with no additional fees to posting (mailing) the tickets for agent fees.

I had already checked US, but by going to eurostar.co.uk I was able to try to book tickets. However, the best price they gave was £162 RT, with no Leisure Fares, etc. I can't seem to locate the phone number either.

RailEurope gave me the Leisure Fare RT for $95 + whatever fee RailEurope charges.

SNCF gave me a RT of €69, which seems like the best deal of all. However, the site does have its little quirks. I think her best bet may be to call the SNCF English number (which I do have) and order her tickets there. She will be in Paris beforehand, so can pick them up there.

I also had this same problem and just finally went ahead and bit the bullet and booked out tickets through the US site, Rail Europe. It seemed simpler in the long run. We paid $130 each (I think that was the amount, I got them in Feb. for April travel) for our tickets. They were delivered 2 days later to my office by Airborne Express. I think the Eurostar site could use a lot of help -- it's not very convenient to use for those of us in the US.

One thing we found out is that if you have a ticket like the ones we got you cannot use the self-check in at Waterloo, you must got to a manned booth. It was no big deal, but we didn't realize it until we stood in line for about 10 min. and an employee came along making this announcement.

A train to "Worthy" ? Do you mean Worthing ? If so, you don't need to go to Victoria. From Waterloo, take any train to Clapham Junction, then catch the Worthing train there. Getting from Waterloo to Victoria involves changing tubes. Buy the ticket to Worthing at Waterloo. Trains to Clapham Junction leave every few minutes. You can check schedules on www.nationalrail.co.uk.

You may try to contact eurostar's customer service. I had a problem and found them EXTREMELY helpful. I had booked from Paris to London on a nonrefundable/nonexchangeable ticket. When my Paris flights changed, I needed to get back to Paris earlier. I asked them if there was anyway to get out of the first one. They said that it was a nonrefundable but they would make an exception. It took a day to have the money refunded.

I sent a thank you email and they in return sent a thank you email for my thank you. I think they are definitely trying to be of service. I hope I can send another thank you after actually traveling in a few weeks.