Eurostar or fly?

I%26#39;m having trouble deciding on how to get to London from Paris or Barcelona.

My trip in Europe will be eleven days and I%26#39;ll land in Paris and depart from London. In between Paris and London, I want to go to Barcelona for two days. I like train travel and wanted to take the train from Paris to Barcelona, but the trip is too long considering this will be a short trip and flying on Ryanair is cheaper as well. I wanted to take the Eurostar from Paris into London, but it seems like a waste to fly back to Paris to spend the night to take the train out the next day. I%26#39;m also concerned with the prices of taxis adding up as my trip is also to the US and Asia so I have too many bags for commuter buses.

I still want to see the Eurostar and I thought about breaking up my nights in Paris and taking it anyway. However, the price to fly from Barcelona into Stansted is very competitive with the price of the train.

Can anyone tell me what they would do given these choices and why traveling by train vs. Ryanair is better or worse? Thanks.

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One thing which struck me was that you mention having %26#39;too many bags%26#39;, which is likely to be an issue for budget flights - do check the small print of the Ryanair rules and regulations as their excess baggage charges are punitive.

Have you investigated the Elipsos trenhotel overnight train to avoid wasting a night when you travel from Paris to Barcelona? http://www.elipsos.com/htm/default.htm?lang=3

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In your situation, I would not go out of my way to travel on the Eurostar if it meant less time in a place sight-seeing. While convenient, it is just a train at the end of the day...

Mez

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That%26#39;s an excellent suggestion, thanks. I read the site and it did mention that the train is non-smoking. The overnight trains I have taken in Asia will let you smoke in the back car, is there anywhere to have a cigarette on the elipsos?

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Sorry, I don%26#39;t know about smoking on overnight trains - someone else might be able to clarify?

Another thought - have you considered leaving some baggage with your hotel in Paris, then using a budget airline to fly to and from Barcelona? skyscanner.net shows flights with both Easyjet and Vueling which could be convenient, particular if you can fly from Orly which is more user-friendly than CDG.

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All trains in France are non-smoking.

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