My passport is off for renewal so I can't show the picture, but it was at Brussels, as I departed the EU on Eurostar. I was just looking for a picture I might have on my phone, but I don't. However, that helped me remember the chain of events.

I was departing the EU via Brussels on the Eurostar. When it was my turn to go through the entry to the UK (in Brussels), the border/immigration officer (British--and please excuse me if I am not using the right term) asked me why I was headed to London. I said part for holiday and part to present at an academic conference. The reason this was so clear is that he then asked me if I was being paid for the conference--logical question since I would not have had the correct documents to work.

I laughed (not rudely), and said, "I wish. Nope, I am paying them!" He stamped the UK "choo choo train" stamp that indicated the day I entered the UK. Another fellow was also heading to a conference, and he had heard my response, so he also stopped to chat with me and see if I was headed to the same one. I share all this because it wasn't just the routine border crossing, though it was perfectly smooth.

I'll still see if I can find/share that picture when I get my passport back (she says, anxiously awaiting every day! I don't need to explain on FT how having a passport out of one's possession feels slightly scary... ha!) But why that was so important is that when I was leaving Paris well over a month after entering the UK, the passport officer there at CDG saw my stamp from Helsinki--in June. It was now August, so the long stay made him question me. "You have been in the EU for several months...?" I said, "No, I entered the UK about two weeks past that stamp. There is a UK stamp from the Eurostar. I just came back a few days ago for sightseeing and my flight home." He looked for my UK stamp and instantly stamped me out with no further questions. "Ah, I see. Have a nice trip." So the UK stamp was really key because he was initially wondering if I had been there a full three months.

Just remembered an important detail. I knew to use eGates in London, but I was already #2 in line when I realized I could have gone to the eGates in Brussels too, so maybe if I had, I would not have had a stamp, but since the signage didn't tell me that the way it does at LHR, for example "USA PASSPORTS..." I just got in line. So maybe anyone looking for a UK stamp can get one that way?