London Trip
 

I will be visiting London for 3 weeks. I would like to visit Paris,Amsterdam, and Scotland while I am there. Do you have suggestions? train or car? What to see on a one or two day trip? I have never been to Europe so I could use lots of help.

Some good sources:
www.ricksteves.com - lots on trains and passes on site
www.euraide.com
www.budgeteuropetravel.com - at this site you can order the free European Planning & Rail Guide that will answer many of your questions - not only about trains but packing, itineraries, railpasses, etc. The site itself details railpasses and travel in countries you're going to.

www.eurostar.com
www.nationalrail.co.uk
www.firstscotrail.co.uk
www.whichbudget.com
www.thalys.com
www.dutchflyer.com

For London to Paris it has to be Eurostar.
"Scotland" depends on where in Scotland you want to be, if Edinburgh then get a train as day trains cost from £13.50. You can also get a sleeper train to many of the major stations in Scotland for £19.

For Amsterdam then flying is the quickest option though you can get a rail/ferry/rail ticket for £25

You could also take the Thalys train between Amsterdam & Paris or fly from Scotland to Paris or Amsterdam

Car BTW is probably the worst choice for a lot of reasons

You could ride the Eurostar to Paris, Thalys to Amsterdam, then Dutch Flyer to Cambridge and go north from there.

The cheapest way might be DF to Amsterdam, Smilys to Paris and back, DF to Cambridge etc.

If you can stop over in Brussels and do an afternoon in Bruges, you won't regret it.

You don't HAVE to take the Eurostar to Paris, there are also a number of cheap airlines that fly between London & Paris, but make sure to factor in the time required to get to and from the airport, the time you have to be early to the airport, and the extra cost of getting to and from the airports (not inconsiderable to Luton & Stansted especially).

There's also a train + ferry + train route from London to Paris -

recommended only if you're a traditionalist, on a very stringent budget, or masochistic.

I'm not even sure it's cheaper than flying or some of the Eurostar tickets (train tickets within the UK ain't all that cheap, probably around 10 quid to Dover; I paid it not long ago, but don't remember exactly how much it was).