Kortrijk; Friday, 05 June, 2026

Unlike the late evening departures from Heathrow where there is a degree of stress is making sure you get to the airport in time, for St Pancras it’s not the same issue. I can catch the train just after I finish work, or even one half an hour later and still make it with time to spare, so after finishing work for the evening I grabbed my things and headed down to the station to catch the train into town.

The check-in and security process at St Pancras was the normal scrum, but the immigration experience was a breath of fresh air and an indication of what the European Entry and Exit system should be like. A quick swipe of my passport by UK border control confirmed I was good to leave the UK, and that I was fully registered for EES, so I was directed round to some eGates.

A quick scan of my passport and photo, almost identical to the UK eGates on entry into the UK and I was through into Schengen – no passport stamping and no need to speak with a border officer. It took less than 90 seconds from reaching the UK border to getting all the way through, including waiting for two people ahead of me to get through, so it does look like things will be smooth, once the mass registrations are complete.

I had about an hour wait for the train at St Pancras, which I was able to sit out in the lounge thanks to access via my credit card, which is always a lot more comfortable than the cattle pen that the departures hall has become with too little space for the number of passengers.

A little bit behind schedule our train was called for boarding, but as it was the last Brussels trains of the night, and only one Paris train later, it was a pretty quick process to get everyone on board and we ended up actually pulling out of St Pancras a couple of minutes ahead of schedule.

It was a very smooth journey down to Lille, arriving just as the sun was setting, and barely 80 minutes after leaving St Pancras. By pure luck the door closest to my seat was also right by an escalator, so I was quickly up off the platform through the station and out into the late evening in Lille.

The walk from the station to the hotel took less than 10 minutes with a very smooth check-in and long before my train reached its final destination in Brussels, I was already in bed.