I received a call from Javier Espinoza the week before last for comment on some feedback he had on the failing popularity of longer breaks in the European travel market in general. After a quick Google , just double check that he was who he said he was, made some comments on Short Breaks’ experience of the UK short break market.

Last week it appeared and makes interesting reading - it does however make it sound as if we put on 63 extra Eurostar trains during the Ash crisis…..given the revenue they should have generated  I wish.

Eurostar announced , last week that they were to become a Tier 3 Sponsor of London 2012 -  which totally makes sense for both the Olympic Organising Committee and Eurostar. To mark this occasion Eurostar announced a Tri-Country Triathalon , quite a good idea I thought.  Jacquelin Magnay Olympic Games Editor for The Telegraph disagreed and wrote a particularly scathing article criticising the launch and the idea of the triathalon with equal venom. After reading the article I thought I’d make the point that the article was over the top and that our friends at Eurostar deserved a bit more credit but was unable to find it even when following links from Google News as below

London 2012: Eurostar sponsorship presentation quickly runs out of …

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Telegraph.co.uk - Jacquelin Magnay - 12 May 2010

When Lord Sebastian Coe and Dame Kelly Holmes went to inscribe their signature on a Eurostar train at St Pancras this morning, ostensibly to celebrate the …

A bit odd , but these things happens - bit given that the Telegraph had previously been promoting the Eurostar event very strongly _ I wonder if the two events are related - hardly a conspiracy theory to compare with the Grassy knoll but made me think.

Sometimes it is refreshing to hear a first time visitor’s experience of Paris. Mariella , daughter of our Florida specialist Noula, visited Paris for the first time just before Christmas  and here’s her account…

‘The Eurostar is always an adventure, exactly all that you could ask for when travelling from London to Paris. Exiting the train, you find yourself in the famous Gard du Nord – Paris’s international station – it’s daunting yet stunning but it is the streets just outside that you long to explore.

I had the pleasure at staying at the Hotel Lorette Opera which is a casual 15 minute walk from the station. And within the 15 minutes you realise you are in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. You pass quaint cafes, flower shops and all things Parisian. The hotel is best described as an undiscovered gem; the decor is very arty and pretty with lovely little pieces of furniture. The rooms are more than you could ask for, in size and in cleanliness, with views of a picture perfect terrace, and of course the streets of Paris. On walking in the reception staff are very accommodating and friendly, going that little bit further to make your stay comfortable. And as well as all this, not only is it near to Gard du Nord but it is a 5 minute walk from Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church and area from which you can see all of Paris and get yourself a one of a kind painting from the artist that congregate around the inspiring atmosphere. Paris’s centre of bohemia is not too far from the Moulin Rouge which is a tourist hot spot and although is most famous is not something to go out of your way for.

Paris is famous for its museums, and there are many of them. The Louvre is a must see, with its location being in the centre and right next the Seine, it is perfectly finished with a walk along the river bank. Here you can pick up an antique book or an old French film poster, or pop into a little cafe and have a crepe, all of which will put a smile upon your face. One exhibit that is currently on at Galleries Nationales is the Renoir exhibition; his progression through painting is beautifully displayed and can be appreciated by those in the know, and by those who know a little less. Although the gallery is located on the Champs-Elysées, it is better to pre-book tickets then to wander in after a spot of shopping.

Le Louvre, the largest and most visited museum in the world

Although most are afraid to venture too far from the city centre, an absolute must see is Versailles. Only 25 minutes on the metro and you are taken to a palace of amazing history and beauty. the gardens are breath-taking but so are the roofs above your head; the use of gold along with the statues is something quite unlike any other. Throughout the tour inside you learn tid bits of exciting facts, as well as witnessing the place in which the history of the French monarchy occurred. Hidden away is a little library with bricked walls, where you can finds books in many languages that can explain more about French history and its monarchy. I imagine in the summer time the palace to be stunning; however, in the winter with a little bit of snow it was just as exquisite.

They call Paris the city of lights; it could be the city of many things as there is just so much culture, sights and things to do (as well as visiting all the stores). One thing that Paris will never fail to accomplish is to bring a feeling of warmth to all that visit.

Any other first time views of either Eurostar or Paris  out there?

We , like Eurostar , are just coming out of dealing with the fallout of the trains stuck in the tunnel. I can only imagine how it felt for those who were on the affected trains and also those whose journeys were affected. Eurostar do have to provide a robust explanation of  what happened and how they propose to deal with situations like this in the future. These questions have partly been addressed in Richard Brown’s open letter and will also be further and probably more critically dealt with by the independant commission set up to look into issue  which is due to  report in the next week or so.

Eurostar Train

We too have lessons to learn from having to deal with this situation the team here, despite having at times to deliver difficult news , dealt with the situation as well as they could in the circumstances. As with the majority of travellers we suffered from not having information being passed to us from Eurostar and therefore were not able to communicate as effectively as we would have hoped.  When we were passing information on that  was sometime contradicted online and also by Eurostar staff themselves causing our customers even more distress in an already stressful situation.

One area where we definitely needed to improve was to advise those customers who were already on the Continent - again the same problem arose  in terms of not having correct information to pass on from Eurostar but also by the fact that many customers , being independent travellers were uncontactable - that aside it was certainly something that we didn’t handle well. Our PR company Faust PR were in Paris for their annual Xmas trip - their insight into the problems experienced have been invaluable . When there were further disruptions due to the snow in the last week or so we were able to deal with this in a much better manner but the process does need streamlining.

I really want to emphasise that we did our best in what were difficult circumstances in what was our busiest weekend for travellers in 2009 and while hoping that we do not have to deal with such an occurence in the near future  - feel sure that we will be better placed to deal with them.

I’d like to thank the team here at Short Breaks for the way they dealt with the Eurostar disruption  and all our customers who were affected , the vast majority of whom have now rebooked what will hopefully have a trouble free break.

Fair play to Eurostar for being as transparent as possible in terms of their Green credentials. There has been a lively debate on guardian unlimited with readers being given a chance to put their questions to Eurostar’s Tread Lightly Team.

Much of the comment is based on the difference in cost between air and rail travel and the fact that the booking window for air travel is much longer than Eurostar’s 4 months - whilst there is a suggestion that this is due to engineering works schedules I’d suggest that it’s more to do with the cost implications of being on sale further in advance.

Also there are a few comments with regards to extending Eurostar’s network to facilitate easier connections through Europe - a project already under way through through the  RailTeam  .  Of  course given it’s complexity this is a long term project but the will is there.

As Eurostar grapple with having to achieve their green targets in a hard commercial environment  - there may well come a time when they admit that the pressure for profit may mean that they may have to scale back their Green ambitions.

However until then they are to be applauded to open themselves up to scrutiny on a public way.