travel from central London to central Girona, going via Stansted
Which is not possible and hasn't been since last year. Very few flights to the UK now from Girona and none to Stansted. MOL's ops from Girona are currently nearly all to Germany.
My fastest time by TGV door to door was nine hours, when due to heavy snow in the UK, Eurostar were getting passengers onto the next available train. Whether the train is faster (not faster than flying, just faster !) depends on where your start/finish point is. Ours is near St Pancras Ldn.
Mrs OFSO takes the train every 4/5 weeks to London, and every now and then I allow her to fly (or used to when there were flights from GRO to London every day of the week, which is no longer true), cattle class RYR, to see if she still thought the train was more comfortable. Last time she said "no contest".
An addendum: our nearest airport from which reliable airlines fly (reliable in this case doesn't refer to mechanical matters, but to withdrawal of Girona services by MOL in reprisal for losing part of a subsidy) is Barcelona, and times from our house to Barcelona to the centre of London are the same as taking the train.
Last edited by OFSO; 27th Jan 2013 at 12:49.