English Channel London to Paris, Brussels and return to London

Alice, don't forget to check on airlines -- not only the budget airlines like Ryanair, Easyjet, but also AirFrance and British Airways will be cheaper than the Eurostar. Even if you have a Railpass, you will still need to pay more to take the Eurostar. (A one-way fare without the Railpass is around $300; with a railpass it knocks it down to about $150, but that's only if you the cheap fare isn't sold out.) London to Paris on BA or AF is about $90 tops.

What trouble are you having with the open jaw question? Rick tells you to contact a travel agent, but we've just done it ourselves -- either with Orbitz, American, or anyone else. Just click the button for multiple destinations on the reservations page.

Hope that's helpful.

Eurostar runs from London to Paris and London to Brussels; also vice versa. To get from Paris to Brussels you need to use the Thalys high-speed trains. www.thalys.com

Lauren the fares you quote for Eurostar are way off. A standard one-way far is $220. You can save even more by booking round trip and throwing away the unused portion for about $135.00. If you fly you also have to tack-on airport taxes, luggage supplements, transport to and from both airports, and the time you waste getting to the airport two hours in advance. Eurostar is the best way to get between London and Paris/Brussels.

The cheapest fare for Paris-Brussels on Thalys is called Smilys. It can only be booked as a return (roundtrip) online, but it is cheaper than a single (one-way). Book an arbitrary return date and throw away the unused portion.You can book up to 90 days in advance at either www.thalys.com or www.sncf.com. In either case, leave France as the default country and print your own ticket. Book as soon as the 90-day window opens to have any chance of getting a Smilys fare.

Booked at www.eurostar.com up to 120 days in advance, single fares for London-Paris and Brussels-London are $94.

At eurostar.com you'll get prices in dollars if you register as a resident of the US, in pounds for the UK, and in euros for France or Belgium.

To compare these fares, clear the "cookies" in your Internet browser, register as a resident of one of the countries, enter a departure date and get fares. Clear your cookies again, re-register as a resident of another country, enter a date, etc. Then do it all a third time. Book your ticket as a "resident" of whichever country gives you the best fare.

Thanks for the correction, Michael. You may have more information than I do, or you may have more flexibility with your schedule. I just tried to book London to Paris a few weeks ago and on the day I needed to travel, the best I could do was 152-156 pounds. I'm not sure what today's dollar is worth, but I know it's less than half a pound, which is where I came up with the $300. Do you have a secret?

Thanks.

Lauren,

Eurostar fares vary widely depending upon day of the week, time of day, how many discount seats are still available, and what country you list as your residence when you register at eurostar.com.

I'm not sure why it is giving you prices in pounds; it should give you prices in Euros. Make sure you are using eurostar's own website at www.eurostar.com and not a third-party. On a different note, it looks like Eurostar will be permanently moving from Waterloo to the new St Pancras International station on November 14. The move will shave another 22 minutes off the journey. London-Paris will be down to 2 hours 15 min, London-Brussels will be 1 hour-51 minutes!