Suggestions Needed for Train Transportation

When you say "railpass", I hope that you don't mean a Eurail pass. A Eurail pass is not valid in England, Scotland or on the Eurostar train from London to Paris. What you can do is to look now on the British rail website (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/) and go for some really nice fare discounts on the roundtrip to Edinburgh from London and on www.eurail.com for discounts on the Eurail train from London to Paris. If you can provide some specific information on your travel dates, you might get some great specific information on the fares. I'm not the best on British trains but Nigel and Tim are.

Edinburgh-Paris is a 7-hour train ride, via London. If it's not too late you might investigate flying into Edinburgh, so that you can go Edinburgh > London > Paris. If not, I wonder if there are cheap flights Edinburgh - Paris.

Standard advice for these questions, and still sound: Look at www.seat61.com which knows A-Z about train travel anywhere and especially the UK where its guru is based.

Larry - Thanks for the info and the link. I'll check it out. Adam - I'm trying to avoid flying, especially short flights b/c smaller planes make for bumpier rides and, as I stated above, I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to flying.
I've already purchased my tickets to land in London, so that's set. What I'm wondering is if there's a better way to see all three areas than London/Edinburgh/Paris?

James, Since you didn't mention specific dates in December, I entered dates as far in the future as possible and found the following. Round trip from London to Edinburgh is as little as £34.00 per person. Round trip on the Eurostar London-Paris is as little as $116 per person. Now keep in mind the fares mentioned are non-transferable and non-refundable. Have a look at the following web sites www.eastcoast.co.uk & www.eurostar.com. Play around a little bit with schedules.

Edinburgh-Paris: If you can sleep on trains and want to save on your hotel costs, take the Caledonian Sleeper from Edinburgh Waverly to London Euston, departing at 23:40 and arriving at 06:43. Book well in advance (up to 12 weeks allowed) to get a discount fare. Take the Tube (one stop) from Euston to King's Cross/St Pancras. Or take a bus. Or just walk. According to the Journey Planner on the Transport for London site, it's an 8-minute walk. The earliest Eurostar train to Paris you could catch departs at 07:49. However, to allow for the possibility of a late arrival in London plus the mandatory 30 minute check-in deadline for the Eurostar, it might be wise to book the 08:55 Eurostar. You'll have time for a leisurely breakfast at St Pancras. Book your Eurostar ticket ASAP (up to 120 days allowed) at eurostar.com to get the lowest fare. The Eurostar departure times I gave you are for weekdays. They may be different on Saturdays and/or Sundays.

Joel - Thanks, that sounds really affordable. I'll check into it. To everyone else, thanks so much for all the tips! Unfortunately, I've been convinced to book a flight from Edinburgh to Paris :(
It's very quick and inexpensive, but I'm sure those Eurojets are going to be smaller, and not the most comfortable flight for me. Guess I'll have to grin and bare it!

Some of your assumptions are not necessarily correct, and you may be worrying more than necessary. Smaller jets are not necessarily bumpier than bigger ones, and shorter flights are not necessarily bumpier than longer ones. The worst turbulence I ever experienced was on a 747 from New York to Tokyo. Just because a flight is within Europe does not mean that it will be a on a very small plane. Depending on the airline and the route, 737's (or Airbus equivalents) are very commonly used. These have only 1 aisle, but are 3-3 seating. EDIT: a little searching on SeatGuru shows that most of EasyJet's flights from Edinburgh to Paris use an Airbus 319, with 3-3 seating and 26 rows. Not gigantic, but not tiny either. However, it is true that on a short flight, the plane spends more time going up and then going down than it does at cruising altitude. If you are very sensitive to altitude changes (one of my sisters is), you may indeed have a bad flight.