oh and is with the luggage tagging? how do i do that? i read that the police will take it away at the border if it's not tagged? i will have one laptop and a large roller, i assume there is a special area for them in every car?

St Pancras Domestic and ST Pancras International are all part of the same station. The Eurostar platforms will be signposted from St Pancras Domestic so just follow the signs. It shouldn't ne more than a few minutes walk.

As regards to the tagging, they do ask that you put an address tag on your luggage (and I think with your seat number as well) if you're leaving it in the luggage racks at the end of the carriages. There are also luggage racks above the seats so if your luggage isn't too big you can use them.

You pass through French immigration and customs before you get on the Eurostar at St Pancras so if there is a problem with your luggage they'll tell you about it then. When you get to Paris (or Lille or Brussels) all you do is get off the train and leave the station as normal without having to pass through immigration or customs as you've done that in London.

I've never tagged my luggage and no one has taken my luggage away when I've used the Eurostar. I think whoever told you that may have the Eurostar confused with another train service.

The only thing that might delay you is the world's longest champagne bar. Nice way to start a journey!

Paper luggage labels are available at the information desk inside the Eurostar terminal after yo ave checked in.

How far in advance of your actual train time out of St. Pancras is it advisable to arrive to take care of all the checking-in processes?

Wramwinds,

Check-in is normally a minimum of 30 minutes before departure but with the current slightly reduced timetable after the recent fire they are saying, to quote from a press release "All travellers are strongly advised to check in as early as possible, ahead of Eurostar’s minimum check-in times, to help station staff ensure that they catch their trains."

Thanks. I guess one should also factor in morning traffic getting to St. Pancras by taxi when choosing a time for your train, too.

But there's something that really puzzles me...I always thought that tracks from the train stations radiate in the direction FROM London where they are located...so how can a train to Paris (south) be located on the north side of London? Waterloo used to make sense...

Actually, Eurostar have recently reverted to normal check-in procedures. If you go to eurostar.com/UK/…questions_answers.jsp and click on the item "Normal Check In resumes for Eurostar services", you'll see their latest advice. There are files attached to that message which show how existing tickets are being reallocated in cases where the ticket is for a train which is not running.

Warmwinds: Waterloo didn't really "make sense", as you put it, becauase the only way out was over slow and congested rail lines in South London. Hence a new fast line was needed, and St Pancras was a convenient under-used station which could be developed into the new Eurostar terminal. The platforms face north, but the line turns east straight away, so you're not really going the long way round. In fact I believe the journey is slightly shorter (and certainly quicker) than the old route from Waterloo.