please help navigating Paddington to St. Pancras
 

I am traveling from Oxford, England to Paris. I will arrive at Paddington with about one hour to get to St. Pancras for my Eurostar train to Paris. Even though I have an entire hour I am very nervous about making my train on time since this is the first time traveling to St. Pancras. What is the quickest way to get from Paddington to St. Pancras? Thank you in advance!

I do hope you are allowing for the needed amount of time to check-in for the Eurostar:

http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisur...n/check_in.jsp

Take a taxi.

Can you travel earlier as you are cutting it a bit fine - it's 20 minutes by Tube and you'll have to change at either Edgware Road or Baker Street.

If you arriving at Paddington between 7:00am 9:30am on a weekday then you also have to contend with tens of thousands of commuters

If everything runs on time I have 1 hour and 17 minutes. This was the itinerary purchased directly from Eurostar which made me think that it must be doable, however I'm nervous since the route it's unfamiliar to me. I had planned to take a taxi, but then read the last thing I want to do is take a taxi in London traffic, so now I'm not sure what the best way is. Thank you again for advice.

Tickets have already been purchased so this is what I will have to do.

Art mom- stop worrying.

you don't need to change underground lines - once you get to Paddington, don't walk forward towards the barriers but go backwards [so to speak] and take the lift up to the bridge that goes over the top of the railway lines coming into the station, then follow it to the right until you get to the Hammersmith and City line.

it's 5 stops to St. Pancras.

[we got this tip from the ticket collector on our train into Paddington from Bristol, and were amazed that we hadn't heard about it before - and a bit sceptical - but it worked!]

have a great trip!

depending on the connections, it might take 30 mins to get you there.

Because they have sold you the whole package, if you did miss your connection, they are obliged under the european conditions of carriage to put you on the next train that has space. that is a definite advantage of buying your UK and onward train tickets at the same time through the eurostar site.

Thank you so much, Annhig!!!!

Art- Mom, hope you catch that train.

come back and tell us how you got on!

and I believe there are direct buses out front between Paddington and St Pancras if not into tubing it!

I will!

I spent a wonderful 5 days in London just last week and used the tube daily, just never went through Paddington and I've never been to St. Pancras. We should be okay. I just get a little nervous when I don't have more time to spare. First time going to Paris. I would hate to miss it!

Art -Mom - you won't miss Paris. the worst that can happen is that you'd have to catch the next eurostar.

a bit of a pain, but not a catastrophe.

BTW, you can buy things like museum and metro passes from the Paris information desk at the eurostar terminal at St. Pancras. [in the departure lounge]

they also have ATMs that give euros.

The route Anne suggests is the one we took recently to get from Paddington to St Pancras, and is also good for travel from Paddington to anywhere on the northern section of the Circle Line.

The only disadvantage is that it involves a lot of stairs, and the stairway down to the Hammersmith & City line platforms is especially narrow. If you have luggage, an alternative way to access the Hammersmith & City line platforms is to exit the main line platforms in the other direction and then take the lift up to the new taxi rank level. Walk along to the H & C line booking hall and go down the stairs to the platform.

Thank you for the encouragement and more great advice! Now I'm starting to relax and look forward to the trip. Can you hear my sigh of relief?

chartley- there is certainly a lift from platform 1 going the way I said too. not sure about other platforms, admittedly.

sadly there is none onto the H&C line platform so whichever way you get up there, you still have to struggle down those stairs.

BTW, you have to pay for the public toilets at Paddington, but not at St. Pancras, where the loos are brand new and FREE!

yippee!

I am going to write down both paths. We are traveling very light. One small bag for the 3 of us. The difficulty is that I will have 2 children- 9 and 14 to keep track of. Last week in London, my 14 year old was walking behind me. I turned to check on her and my 9 year old went ahead and got on the train. The doors closed behind him and he left without us. It was easily remedied by contacting the station manager very quickly and they were able to collect him at the next stop where we met up with him only a few minutes later. He was safe and sound the whole incident seemed kind of funny, particularly to his older sister. Still something we NEVER want to repeat! The station master joked with me that there are easier ways to get rid of kids. Lesson learned that day.

After pressing the submit button I'm wondering if I should have admitted I misplace my son (however briefly) on the train last week. Hope you find it a bit amusing.

Art_Mom

i confess that we lost our DS [at about the same age] at Epcot during the fireworks! that was a loooong 20 minutes before we found him. So it's bringing back memories as well as raising a smile.

can you make it the job of the 14 year old to keep track of the 9 year old? she loses pocket money if she loses him?

seriously, as well as the station master [quick thinking there!] there is always 999 in the UK and in France, the european emergency no - 112.

We just made a mad dash up the escalator to the station masters office. The next station knew before the train even arrived at it's next stop that there was a child on the train separated from his mother. They had him wait in the office and I collected him there. Everyone was good natured about it, but it's still not something I want to allow to happen again.

As for threatening my older child-- she may actually consider that money well spent if we lose him again. (Just kidding) We are just staying quite a bit closer to one another when we are getting on and off trains.

We are just staying quite a bit closer to one another when we are getting on and off trains.>>

good luck with that!

our DD would have felt the same as yours had we given her such a task. She was though traditionally our ticket keeper, which was therefore one less thing for me to have to worry about.