...and back.

Now, I was working on the outskirts of Paris, in Marne la Vallée, and had changed my return, so thought I'd try the Eurostar Plus journey back; that is, a TGV from Chessy Marne la Vallée (aka Disneyland) to Lille Europe, and the Eurostar back to London from there.

This route is a handy one. It also stops at Massy TGV in the South of Paris and CDG. But, because your ticket says Marne la Vallée, restrictions for Leisure fares, which apply to Paris-Nord, are waived. So, my ticket is cheap, and I'm in 1st class. How do I find 'em?

I get the RER from the business park at Noisy-Champs out to Chessy. This is easy. I grab a quick coffee at Chessy station, then am on my TGV. No check-in, no security, just nice and simple. Nice airy, modern station, with electronic guides so you can locate your carriage before the train arrives.

TGV 1st gives you the option of many different seating arrangements. I have a single airline-style seat, which suits me perfectly. There's various others, including a 'club room' at the very front of the train. The seats are very well padded, give you a nice amount of space, but don't recline. It's very comfortable, though. The seats are done out in thin black-and-white stripes, and look good, but the carriage does look a little worn through use.

Anyway, we stop at CDG, leave the Paris region, and then the engines kick in. Wow! At 300km/h, the country zooms past. Overbridges barely register. The foreground outside your window is a blur. The autoroute next to the railway line looks almost stationary. The sun sets over Picardy, and a mere hour later, we're 130 miles away in Lille.

Now, I like Lille a lot, but have no time now to explore. You have to check-in for Eurostar 30 minutes before departure. I have no idea what happens if you buy a Eurostar Plus connecting ticket and you miss check-in, but luckily, I don't have to test this. We file through French and UK passport controls, airport-style security and sniffer dogs, and are kept in a holding pen. We are released down to the platform and the impressive, bulbous yellow and grey train rolls in from Brussels.

Not too busy in Lille, so boarding is a civilised affair, and I wait by my seat (which is facing someone in the middle of masses of paperwork) until we leave, so I can grab a single seat.

1st class on Eurostar services between the UK and France includes a hot meal, which is served immediately on departure from Lille. This train stops at Ashford in Kent to let passengers off, so the meal service must be finished by then - less than an hour from departure from Lille. Trilingual menus are handed out (the train's coming from Belgium) and I have a smoked salmon starter, a delicious pork and creamed leek main course with potato purée. This is followed by some nice goats cheese and a decent chocolate mousse. There's some decent wines on offer, judging from the appreciative murmurs around me, but I don't drink, so settle for some Badoit...

I notice that the menu is laid out so that dessert is before cheese in English, but vice-versa in French. Nice touch.

The carriage layout is similar to the TGV. The seats are harder, and done in a dark brown/grey, but comfortable, and with good headrests. They recline, and cleverly - the person behind is not at all inconvenienced. The seat bottom moves forward, and the headrest stays in position while the seat back goes at an angle. Nicely designed, and makes for a very comfortable journey.

By now, we've gone past Ashford, and are on to the UK's first high-speed (300km/h) stretch of railway line. This is a welcome, albeit very delayed arrival. We speed along, now in the dark, extremely smoothly. At this point, I'm regretting the removal of the smoking carriage, although I understand why it happened. It was stupidly designed. Firstly, it had barely any ventilation, so no smoker would choose to sit there, but rather in the adjacent carriage, thus making it a waste of space. Then, they decided to place them next to the buffet car, meaning that any 2nd class passenger wanting a drink had to walk through it. Not at all clever. Putting a well-ventilated carriage (or sealed compartment) at the end would have been far smarter, and would have avoided the current situation of people smoking in vestibules and delaying trains by getting out at intermediate stops. Anyway, I can wait, and we reach South London...

...and the usual happens. We transfer on to the South London commuter lines, and get stuck in traffic. These are ancient, busy lines, full of ancient, busy trains. Roll on the high-speed line all the way to London. We get to Waterloo 30 minutes late, and go through yet another passport control. I hop on a bus, and am home half an hour later.

Very nice journey: comfortable, good food, good price, and convenient locations. Shame about the delay. The Eurostar Plus interlining is excellent. It's a shame about the excessive check-in time for the Eurostar, though, and the poor quality of the security holding areas.

All in all a more relaxing experience than flying, but not without the queues and security checks that you'd hope to avoid with rail travel. End-to-end in 4 hours.

On balance... Well, I'm not sure. If I were going from work to a hotel, the LCY option would probably be faster, but less relaxing. If I had to do some work on the way, Eurostar + TGV would certainly make like easier.

So, ultimately, it's going to come down to price. Which will vary each time. Still, it's nice to have the choice.