Our tour with APT officially finished today with a courtesy drop off to the airport. Our flight from Prague to Paris with Czech Airways was not until 12.25pm and our airport transfer was at 9.30am. So there was plenty of time for us to find where we needed to be. Tomas was the tour guide looking after us at the hotel and another Tomas was our driver. It was a bit over the top, the vehicle we rode in to the airport, but no doubt that is what we paid for, or got because we are Platinum members of APT. Tomas helped us into the airport with our cases, but then we were on our own and Pete was about to get grumpy! He has lost his sense of adventure! But then he probably has good reason to be grumpy. He was the one that had the back-pack and two cases to manage, plus lift my overweight case on and off the train!

Yes I got slugged for being a couple of kilos over. We got a new girl when we checked in and after checking with the girl alongside, she said she was "So sorry but we had no luggage allowance on our tickets"! One needs to check everything when they pick up their travel documents. Merrilyn how did you not pick up on that? We have experienced that these smaller flights and luggage can be a bit tricky. Something similar happened in Canada. By the time we got our heads around the fact we actually did have no luggage allowance, which is ridiculous when we are travelling for 74 days, and we were definitely going to have to pay, I think the girl had forgotten Peter's case was under the allowable limit. I was over it all by then and not about to ask that she be a little more reasonable. Just keep paying! Tomas had said "It depends on the girl you get and it's a good idea to put the lighter case on first".

With that behind us we found the area where we needed to be and waited until about 20 minutes before we were to board, for the airport to decide which gate we would be boarding through. They only put A, B, C etc up 20 minutes before the flight is due to leave.There is only the one airport in Prague.

The flight to Paris was a little bumpy going up and we either had to take food onto the plane or purchase it. The roll we purchased was very ordinary! At Charles de Gaulle airport we waited over 15 minutes in a queue of planes to get a stand to park at. Having left Prague a little late, people catching connecting flights were getting a bit anxious.

Now to finding the train and getting to Central Station in Paris! I was about to work out the ticket machine when a young couple asked us if we wanted to purchase their all day tickets for 10 euros each. They had paid 24.50 euros for an all day pass and were finished with them. We were a bit dubious, but they seemed genuine enough and when asked where they were from they said "The Ukraine". They reciprocated the question to us and spoke good English. They said they would make sure we got through the turnstiles with the tickets. Also helped us with our cases. We were a little apprehensive because one of the passengers on the ship had been helped by a young girl with her cases at the train station in Belgium. When she checked her handbag later, her purse was gone. Then we had heard of another pic-pocket story that happened to another of the passengers in Paris. Huge phone bills to both women getting their credit cards cancelled. Made me realise how lucky I had been and I have been clutching the zips of the handbag even tighter since. Back to the ticket purchase. I have checked on the net and it seems it would have cost us 10 euros from the machine. So good business for them to resell their ticket and I guess we helped a young couple with their finances whilst travelling.

It was about a half hour trip to the underground Central Station in Paris and with the help of a dark fella with a big smile, we found the lift. After two visits to the Information desk, the girl decided it was easier to get out from behind the desk, and come and open the gate we needed to go through herself! By then time was moving on and we had to get through customs to get on the International Eurostar train to London. So up the escalator we went with the cases. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

With forms filled out, passports stamped and luggage through the security check, we made it to the queuing area with 20 minutes to spare, so all good. Then we had to go down an escalator ramp to the platform to board the train. Merrilyn had upgraded our ticket to a carriage with a bit more room for our cases and that was a good move. We were in carriage number 16 which just happened to be the last carriage. Before we left the station, staff came with a light evening meal and complimentary drinks. So we sat back and enjoyed quiche and salad and a wine.

The train trip took two and a quarter hours. We travelled at speeds in excess of 300kph at times and the fastest speed we did was 334.7 kph. The Chunnel is 50.45 kms long and 75 metres below sea level. The train travels at 160kph in the Chunnel so we weren't that long travelling with everything dark outside. These are some of the construction facts about the 'Chunnel'. Ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel. It wasn't until 1988 that construction was started and it was finished in 1994. The completed cost was well over budget at 4.65 billion pounds. Working from both the English side and the French side of the Channel, eleven tunnel boring machines or TBMs, cut through chalk marl to construct two rail tunnels and a service tunnel. Ten workers, eight of them British, were killed during construction between 1987 and 1993, most in the first few months of boring.

It was a very pleasant and comfortable rail journey. The London International Railway Station at St Pancras is far nicer than the one in Paris. So the British can chalk that one up on the French! Next part of this adventure! We could have been adventurous and caught the underground to Victoria Station, which is within walking distance of the Grosvenor Hotel where we are staying for two nights. But that would have been expecting a bit much of the over 60's, so we caught a cab! The Grosvenor Hotel is a very old hotel on Buckingham Palace Road right in the middle of the Victoria district. It was built in the 19th century.

We can now tick the crossing of the English Channel by train off the 'Bucket List'. How easy it would be to go to Paris for the weekend or come to London. I think the experience was worth lugging the cases, but I'm not sure Pete is convinced! But I did say "Pete has lost his sense of adventure"!

We checked out Victoria Station after we had settled into our room and although we didn't feel all that hungry, we had a snack and brought back a pastry to have with a coffee. Got ourselves some English pounds and changed our euros and korunas to pounds. Also decided to queue with so many others and purchase our tickets to travel to Coventry on Wednesday. So that job is now done and we look forward to taking in the London sights tomorrow. Victoria Station is undergoing major reconstruction which will not be completed until about 2018 I think. There is a new level of shops and above that a level of restaurants, bars and fast food outlets. It will be very flash when it is finished. The taxi driver did tell us we would see lots of changes! "London changes every day" he reckoned!