The Channel Tunnel

The Channel Tunnel offers three-hour trips between London and Paris, and a two-hour forty-minute service between London and Brussels. Over twenty Eurostar trains per day run between London and Paris, and ten per day between London and Brussels. Any type of seventeen-country Eurail pass, a Selectpass that includes France, a France RailPass, Brit RailPass, or Benelux pass will get you a discount.

- Having taken the Channel Tunnel a number of times, I would describe it as an engineering marvel administered by a bunch of drooling idiots. In order to maximize profits, the fare structure for the Chunnel trains is set up exactly like those stupid airfares already mentioned. For the round-trip London to Paris run, there are no less than seventeen different fares, varying in price from as much as USD 658 to as Little as USD 150 - though special offers can bring this down to USD 70.

All of the worst parts of airfare pricing, such as mid-week fares, Saturday stay-over requirements and nonrefundable/nonchangeable fares, can be found here. What a shame. The passholder discount is about 30 percent. To get this discount you must activate your pass, but it will not cost a travel day for those with Flexi or Selectpasses.

- A regular train between London and Paris will cost a passholder about USD 70 and a train-pass travel day, and it takes about eight hours, making the tunnel a good idea despite the complicated fare structure. Just remember to treat the Channel Tunnel services as you would if you were traveling by plane: call as soon as you knowwhen you want to travel, and watch those restrictions. For those on two- or three-week trips, it is definitely worth the price to save a day in Paris or London. Again, there are full details in Basics #2.