Every leg, every option, with times, prices and booking links. Recommended picks marked in green; the one thing already paid for is marked in navy.
Checked live today: at four days’ notice in peak July, Eurostar prices at £150 out, and the direct trains home on the 21st are sold out — leaving only an indirect Brussels routing at £330. Flying is less than half the price and the better journey.
| Eurostar (live) | Fly (live) | |
|---|---|---|
| Out, Sat 18 | £150 | £127 — Gatwick 18:00 |
| Back, Tue 21 | £330 · indirect | £115 — Gatwick 09:15 |
| Total | £480 | £242 |
Saves ~£240, keeps him in Brighton for a last full day, and gets him back early enough on the 21st to make Goldsmiths.
Both of you · checkout 11:00, so a midday train · ~1 hour
Jubilee line from Baker Street straight to London Bridge — no changes, which matters when you’re both hauling suitcases. Then Thameslink or Southern down to Brighton, roughly 1h05.
Trains run every few minutes, so a 12:00–13:00 departure is relaxed. Book advance singles today — walk-up fares on the day cost noticeably more.
Victoria → Brighton is the classic route (Southern / Gatwick Express, ~1h). It’s fine — but from Baker Street it needs a tube change (Bakerloo to Oxford Circus, then Victoria line), which is the one thing you don’t want with luggage. Only pick this if you happen to be near Victoria already.
Jennifer back to London · Fleetwood on to Amsterdam
Brighton, Gatwick and London all sit on one line. So there’s no clever choreography needed and no backtracking:
Jennifer travels up to London whenever suits her — Brighton to London Bridge / St Pancras runs constantly, about 1h05–1h20 direct.
Fleetwood stays in Brighton for a final day, leaves around 15:30, rides 30 minutes to Gatwick, and flies at 18:00. He doesn’t go to London at all, which is exactly right — London is the wrong direction.
The evening flight is the hidden win. No dawn start: he gets a full last day in Brighton, leaves around 15:30, Gatwick is 30 minutes down the same railway line, and he’s in Amsterdam by 20:20. Jennifer travels up to London on her own schedule.
| Flight | Times | Price | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| easyJet 8684 | 18:00 → 20:20 | £127 | ← take this |
| easyJet 8648 | 07:30 → 09:50 | £105 | needs a 05:15 start from Brighton |
Lovely journey — direct, ~4 hours, city centre to city centre, luggage included. But four days out on a peak July weekend it prices at ~£150 one-way, and the return leg is far worse (see the 21st). Eurostar’s advertised “from £51” fares are the cheapest bucket, sold months ahead — they do not exist at this notice.
Saturday departures, if you want it anyway: 08:16 · 11:04 · 15:04. Check-in closes 30 minutes before departure — hard cutoff.
Check Eurostar anywayShe’s already on the Brighton–St Pancras train, so she simply stays aboard, or hops off at London Bridge / Blackfriars / Farringdon depending on where the London flat is. Still to book: her London bed for 18–22 July.
Amsterdam → London · he must be in London by tonight for tomorrow’s LCY flight
Lands at Gatwick 09:15, putting him in central London by about 10:30 — which means Goldsmiths on the afternoon of the 21st is back on. That solves the clash we had.
| Flight | Route | Times | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| easyJet 8673 | AMS → Gatwick | 08:55 → 09:15 | £115 ← |
| easyJet | AMS → Luton | 08:45 → 09:00 | £96 |
| British Airways | AMS → Heathrow | 21:35 → 21:50 | £103 |
| easyJet 8687 | AMS → Gatwick | 20:55 → 21:10 | £115 |
Luton saves £19 but is a slog into London — not worth it. The evening flights get him in late with no margin before the Berlin flight, and kill Goldsmiths. Take the 08:55 to Gatwick.
Book easyJetThis is the leg that breaks the train plan. The direct Amsterdam–London trains on the 21st are effectively sold out, so Eurostar is only offering an early, indirect routing via Brussels at around £330 — nearly three times the flight, for a longer and more complicated journey, with a change that a 17-year-old travelling alone has to get right.
Both of you · already paid for
LCY 13:25 → BER 16:05. Ref ZRKU8W (Expedia 73489260120636). Free checked bag each. Mike lands separately from Marseille at 18:35; you’ll be at The Hoxton in Charlottenburg before him.