Our Eurostar from London to Brussels left London at 09.01. We were told to arrive at the station 90 minutes before departure to make sure that all form. This was to make sure all formalities could be done and all documentation checked.
So we arrived at St Pancras at around 7.30am. Thankfully we had stayed at a hotel, The Melville, just across the road from the station so we didn’t have far to go.
Check In
As I was travelling as an assistance dog, we had to go to the special assistance counter for check in where we had to show our QR code from the passenger locator form we had to fill in for entry to Belgium. Dogs aren’t allowed on the Eurostar, so we had to get special permission to travel. Check out my blog to see what is needed to qualify as an assistance dog.
At the check on counter they asked for all of my papers to make sure I had everything I needed. This included my microchip certificate, my vaccine records and my EU health certificate. She asked if we would be coming back to the UK and as we said we weren’t sure she reminded us that if we come back we need to get tapeworm treatment maximum of 5 days before hand. She also pointed out that my rabies vaccine and standard vaccines need to be renewed in May. Which was kind of her, as if we let them expire I will have trouble going anywhere else!
Security & Passport Control
Once all of my papers were checked we were escorted through security. All cases, bags and costs had to go through the X-ray and then I walked through the X-ray machine with the humans. Once we collected everything we went through passport control. As we were being escorted as special assistance we got to jump all the queues which was great!
At passport control we first did the Uk one to exit the UK where they just checked the passports. They weren’t sure whether to check mine or not but I don’t actually have one and we just told them that my papers were already checked and they were happy with that.
Straight after the UK passport control there was the Belgium passport control where we had to show the passenger locator QR code as well as our vaccine certificates. We just showed the QR code from the NHS app and that was fine. They stamped the humans passports and they were free to go.
Waiting Area
We were then taken to the special assistance waiting area in the departures terminal. This was a rank of 16 seats for elderly, pregnant, disabled and those travelling with assistance dogs. I had to stay here the whole time. As we had arrived 90 minutes in advance this meant waiting about 1 hour here. I started to get a bit restless so daddy asked if there was anywhere I could go outside but unfortunately they wouldn’t let me. So we just sat waiting until it was time to board.
Boarding
At 08:40 the Eurostar staff came to get us and escorted us up to the platform before boarding was announced. We waited a couple of minutes on the platform before boarding started and then we were the first ones allowed on the train to get settled before everyone else got on board.
My pawrents originally chose a table seat, however the seats got changed once I was added to the booking. This was in case the 4th person was allergic to dogs. So I was given a seat next to daddy and mammy was sat across the aisle. They did say we could move into any empty seats, but there were no table seats free and we were right next to each other anyway so we were fine to stay where we were.
As I had my own seat, I got out my trusty Scoot blanket and settled down for the journey. I slept pretty much the whole way.
There was a cafe on board and mammy went to check it out. The selection was pretty limited to croissants and sandwiches and a selection of hot and cold drinks including alcohol.
The journey in total took 2 hours which was super quick. We didn’t even realise when we were going under the tunnel! The Eurostar does a maximum speed of up to 300km per hour so it’s no wonder we got there so quick!
Arrival at Brussels
When we arrived into Brussels, there was once again someone to escort us from the train through to customs. At customs there was a green nothing to declare option and a red goods to declare. We had to go through the red section to declare that Wylie Westie had indeed arrived in Brussels!
At customs they took all my papers from me. They checked my vaccine book, my EU health certificate from the UK vet and took copies of all, along with a copy of mammy’s passport as she’s my registered owner. They also checked my microchip to make sure I wasn’t another Westie in disguise. It only took about 10 minutes of checks and then we were free to go.
As we had already done passport control before we got onto the train we were free to leave the station. From the station we found the Metro and got the 4 line to our Air BnB, which was only 4 stops away.
Conclusion
I had a great trip on the Eurostar. It’s a really easy way to get from the UK to Europe. I really wish they would allow all dogs on board and really not sure why they don’t. They could easily allocate one carriage for dogs and their owners so that it didn’t offend any none dog lovers as there are so many carriages. I am sure that most dog owners would happily pay for a full priced ticket for their dog to travel with them as it makes travel to Europe so easy.
I appreciate not all dogs are so well behaved, but honestly on this trip, there were so many humans making noise and disturbance. Whether it be crying children or adults talking loudly on their phones. Or playing games with the sound right up. No one even noticed I was there until it was time to get off.
So I really hope in the future that Eurostar will rethink their pet policy and make dog travel much easier between the UK and Europe.
Thanks to all at Eurostar for making my journey extremely pleasant. I hope to see you on board again soon 😄
Until next time, woof woof, Wylie x
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