Scotland to Paris to London

We did the Eurostar trip a few years ago and found it not worth the time or money. Paris was a big disappointment. Personally, I'd spend more time in Scotland or use the time to take a lesuriely train trip from Scotland to London. We love to go from Edinburgh to York then York to either Stratford upon Avon or straight to London. It is well worth it to spend a day in York.

Kathy - I'm not quite sure I'm reading your info correctly. You want to go to Paris from either London or Scotland for the day?
If this is correct, I've done a day trip to Paris from London - albeit with a tour group - and it was good if you want to "SEE" Paris - our only time off the tour bus was to take the perfunctory photo in front of the Eiffel Tower and the tour finished at the Louvre. We spent some time at the Louvre (checking out the Mona Lisa - of course) and we happened to get the very last train back to London after having coffee with a friend on the Champs E'lyssee. It made for a very hectic day. In a way I was a bit glad we did it, but we didn't really get to do much.
As far as doing it on your own, you might get to see a few more things - but public transportation can be questionable at times - we almost didn't make the last train back to London b/c of a transport strike! Luckily our friend got us back to Gare de Nord - or we would have slept at the US Embassy!

My husband and I have visited and enjoyed Paris but this 16-day trip to England and Scotland will be the children's first abroad. We were thinking of the day trip to Paris as a little taste of France, not the only time they will go. I think they would enjoy the Eiffel Tower. My husband is interested in trains and transportation/engineering, so the trip under the Channel on a high-speed train could be a fun experience for him. I just don't know if the logistics I described in my post would work.
Thanks.

Two good search engines for budget flights are www.whichbudget.com and www.skyscanner.net.

However, I don't think you can get to Paris early enough to have a full day there. If you can spend one night in Paris, it would be much better.

We did a one day trip to Paris in 2006 and had a wonderful day. It was my Mother's 85th birthday. Took a 6:30 am train over and then a 7:30 pm train back. I had arranged for a personal tour guide - worth every euro since I could relax and not worry about anything. Got breakfast on the train. We saw the Eiffel Tower, took a boat ride on the Seine, lunch at a bistro, sat in the Tuilleries, walked along the Left Bank and looked at the little stalls and then a break at a cafe in the Latin Quarter. We ended up walking about 4 miles but was all broken up so not bad even for my Mom. Had a beautiful day. Made a conscience decision NOT to visit museums. Train was very enjoyable and even faster now that it leaves from a different station. I hate airports!! As for the expense - if you book ahead, you get better rates. Go for it!!

We did a one day trip to Paris in 2006 and had a wonderful day. It was my Mother's 85th birthday. Took a 6:30 am train over and then a 7:30 pm train back. I had arranged for a personal tour guide - worth every euro since I could relax and not worry about anything. Got breakfast on the train. We saw the Eiffel Tower, took a boat ride on the Seine, lunch at a bistro, sat in the Tuilleries, walked along the Left Bank and looked at the little stalls and then a break at a cafe in the Latin Quarter. We ended up walking about 4 miles but was all broken up so not bad even for my Mom. Had a beautiful day. Made a conscience decision NOT to visit museums. Train was very enjoyable and even faster now that it leaves from a different station. I hate airports!! As for the expense - if you book ahead, you get better rates. Go for it!!

I took a train from London to Edinburgh for the day a few years back. I wanted to see Scotland. It was about a 4 hour train trip each way. It was a little crazy, but it was my husband first time to London and I had studied there for 6 weeks one summer, so I wanted to see something different. 3 to 4 days in London is not much time unless you have been there before. Either choose Paris or Scotland for your "Day" trip. It sounds like you are leaning more toward Paris for both your kids and husband. I think the train would be easier then trying to fly and having to waste alot of time getting to the airport and security.

We did a one day trip to Paris from London three years ago. We were with a group and it was a very long day. We got to see the outside of Notre Dame, but not go in. Power walked to see the Mona Lisa and saw the outside of the Eiffel Tower, but not go up. We did have a short walking tour around Notre Dame, but didn't get much out of it. Not a lot of time to see anything, so we felt that we wasted a whole day and a lot of money. My recommenation is to try and spend at least one night there. I feel we could only "say" we went to Paris, but I don't feel that we "saw" it.