time to get from Gatwick Airport to St. Pancras to catch the train

You must get to St Pancras by 30 minutes before your Eurostar train leaves, so that leaves you around three hours. If you take the First Capital Connect train from Gatwick direct to St Pancras with no changes, it usually takes under an hour. So it should leave you enough time to pass through immigration and get your baggage unless the flight is late or the train is severely delayed.

Thanks so much. Our flight is a non-stop flight and we are doing just carry on luggage. Should we miss the train, can we catch the next train to Lillie, France without buying another ticket?

Depends what ticket you get. If you get one of the discount tickets and you miss the train, you will have to get a new full-price ticket even if it was because of a flight delay. Also it may be a couple of hours until the next train that stops at Lille.

So do you want Calais (very infrequent service) or Lille (very frequent service)? It would make a lot of difference in planning for contingencies.

We really want Calais, because that is where we have rented a car. I guess we wil have to do Lille and then take a regular trian back to Calais.

I have similar situation arriving Gatwick and have 3 1/2 hrs to make connection at Heathrow. Does anyone have information? Thanks,

Rusty, I'm afraid that you aren't likely to make your connection. It's wise to be at Heathrow three hours before a flight across the Atlantic and two hours before a flight to anywhere in the UK or to the Continent. National Express offers frequent direct coach (highway bus) service between the airports, but the ride takes 1hr30min (more if traffic is heavy).

Linda, I suggest that you take the 12:58 Eurostar to Lille and pick up your car there. Use the time you would spend waiting for a train from Lille to Calais to complete your rental car paperwork and be on your way before the next train to Calais departs. If you book your Eurostar tickets now at eurostar.com, you can get cheap discount fares. Last-minute or exchangeable tickets are very expensive.

Tim, Thanks so much for the information and that is what we will do. I appreciate all of the information from everyone.