I have reservations on the eurostar from London to Brussels departing Waterloo station at 14:42 on Sunday Dec. 26. we will be arriving at Kings Cross from Edinburgh that same day at 13:36. Will this be enough time to make it from one station to the next, and by which means should be the quickest? Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Don't take risks here, a taxi will cost around 15GBP. People will probably suggest that you take the tube, but with luggage, and not being familiar with the route, it's far easier to get someone else to do the driving for you.

Yes, definitely take a taxi - that's a very close connection. Can you take an earlier train from Edinburgh? Even taking a taxi and with light Sunday traffic, you will still be pushing it to make the Eurostar.

Rebook on more sensible trains.

There's no direct tube (best is to change at Leicester Sq, but it's quite a walk between the two platforms).

Only you know what time you need to check in at Waterloo(you've hidden that from us), but it's probably 1412. On a busy day, the queue at the cab rank could easily take up almost all those 36 minutes. I'm no expert, but I'd have thought the incoming train would be crowded, but that lots of cabdrivers were taking the day off. And in the current chaos round Kings Cross, it's probably not practical to pre-book a car, since it will be very difficult for it to find anywhere convenient to park while waiting for you.

All of which is making the foolish assumption your incoming train will be precisely on time.

It's always wise to take the train before the one that will just make the connection. And even then to allow at least 45 minutes from KX to Waterloo checkin (NOT departure time)

I quite agree with flanneruk, however, if you can't change your trains then you risk losing the eurostar connections.

Yep, Eurotunnel now say they want you to check in half an hour before departure time - though they may be flexible on it I wouldn't bank on that.

Given the unreliability of the tube, especially the Northern Line, the tube journey could take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour or more.

Taxi queues and traffic could easily see the taxi trip taking just as long.

You MIGHT make it but you'd be lucky to do so and Eurostar are under no obligation to put you on the next train if you miss yours.

That said, I would GUESS that traffic in central london would be quiet on the 26th but then again - is it usually on the 26th that the BIG sales start?

I would think there is probably an 80% or 90% you cannot make this connection no matter how you do the transfer. The chances that your train from Edinburgh arriving smack on time on Boxing Day would be slim to none.

Take an earlier train from Scotland if you can . . . . . .

We took the overnight train from Inverness to London/Euston last year and then took the tube to Waterloo for the eurostar to Paris. The tube part was very fast but the train from Inverness was 2 hours late. We made our eurostar train - only because we'd left a 3 hr window to catch it.

m_kingdom, any idea what a taxi would cost about that same time during the week to go from Paddington to Liverpool Station?

Assuming that you're talking about a non-Christmas week, and Liverpool St. Station:

I'd reckon on about twenty pounds, but if the traffic is light it could be as little was twelve.

There are no trains from Edinburgh to London on 25 or 26 December, according to GNER (www.gner.co.uk). Very few trains run anywhere in the UK on 26 December.

the earliest train from edinburgh is 0900 that should put us in londo at 1336. sounds as though i may need to rebook the eurostar

I'll give you a personal story. In early July, I flew to London and I had to make a very tight connection for Paris (by Eurostar). My flight was delayed, and I barely made it for the 12:15 Paddington Express (literally, just barely, by less than a minute, I reckon). I was in Paddington station around 12:35.

Eurostar train was scheduled to leave at 1:09 (I think, or 1:07).

What did I do?

I took a cab. Bad mistake. There was a traffic jam because of some parade in the vicinity of Hyde Park earlier. The cab driver ended up dropping me a few blocks away from the Bond St. tube.

In any case, I doubt that I'd have made the train with the tube.

You've a little more time, but the train from Edinburgh may be delayed. The cab is not necessarily the best way, I think, unless traffic is light. Definitely plan on an alternative.

In terms of checkin for the Eurostar, at least ten minutes (?) prior, I think. You need to undergo security similar to that at airports. While the scheduled checkin deadline is probably around half an hour, I don't think that this is strictly enforced. But once the checkin process is closed, you'll not be allowed to check in. So you need to get there by 13:25 the latest, and you've about forty minutes. It'll be tight, given luggage, etc., but you can make it if you're lucky.

dav:

Read Geoff's post. Since the timing of Christmas festivities is slightly different in Scotland from England, we all assumed you'd checked there were Anglo-Scottish trains that day before posting.

But Geoff's right. THERE ARE NO LONG-DISTANCE DOMESTIC TRAINS THAT DAY. You need to rebook the Eurostar for Dec 27, come to London on Christmas Eve, or fly.

dav28 blissfully posted about a new Eurostar booking w/o acknowledging the previous post from HeoffHamer -- apparently he doesn't get it.

I think I'll e-mail him to make sure he sees geoff's and flanner's posts. It would be a shame for them to plan this whole journey based on non-existant trains . . . . . .

Flanner: "the timing of Christmas festivities is slightly different in Scotland from England" ??

We have the same Christmas; we just get an extra day off for Hogmanay

Until about 30 years ago, England and Wales had holidays on 25 and 26 December, but no holiday for New Year, while Scotland had 25 December and 1 January. Now, England, Wales and Scotland get 25 and 26 December, and 1 January, while Scotland also gets 2 January. How did the Scots manage to get an extra day?

If there is no train service on Dec. 26, then flying would work. EasyJet has cancelled its morning flights from Edinburgh for that day, but BMI lists one flight to Heathrow arriving at 08:00 and another arriving at 12:05. The current Web fare is 51.00 GBP for the first flight and 26.00 GBP for the second one. Play it safe. Take the early flight.

One more thought: If you take the early BMI flight, you could easily catch the 12:36 Eurostar to Brussels.