So I’m on the move again.
I am tired, but I know that the trip north today to Scotland will be
worth it. I’m looking forward to 3
nights in one place and chillaxing with Paps and Em and hope that the rest of
their friends like me. I was going to
avoid the debacle of my train trip to Brighton and I had double checked what
station I needed to get to this morning and made sure I gave myself plenty of
time for connections. It was also more
imperative that I was not late for these trains as there was only one train
this evening from Glasgow to Taynuilt and if I missed that I would have to
overnight and then catch one up in the morning.
This place is certainly off the beaten track. After handing in the shoulder bag back into
reception, I now had my wheelie bag packed for the next 8 days. Looking at what I had packed into this small
bag made me think of all the stuff and 3 other bags I had in storage and
wondered if I really need it all? Short
term and for a holiday the answer would be a big fat no. But I am moving and I need clothes, especially
as I know it will be difficult for me to buy clothes in Africa and I am not
sure when I will get my boxes sent from Australia and had to be sure I had
cruise clothes, work clothes, tour clothes, gym clothes and good clothes just
to tide me over till my belongings finally arrive. Yes I think I do need all that I have, but I
am glad that I only have to carry my wheelie bag around for the week. I asked at reception about getting a twin
room upon my return next week (they are bigger than the twins) but for them to
make a change they would have to cancel the booking costing me 10GBP and then
rebooking and paying the difference.
This is the hotel, they can’t make a change-stupid-but then I guess they
are a low cost hotel and with everything else there is a fee. They told me to leave it; they weren’t full
and then just pay the upgrade when I check in.
I’ll try my luck.
I was out of the hotel at 9.30am. My train wasn’t until 11.25am but I have what
I call snafu time and I will always want to be early than running late and having
the stress of missing the train, especially today. I figured out today that Edgeware Road is
closer than Paddington so with a 4 stop pass I found myself at Kings Cross station
at 10am. I found the ticket machines,
got my prepaid tickets printed and then checked the massive departure boards
they have with the train departures listed in time. It is a great system and the thing that
stresses me a little is that you can see your train on the board but the
platform isn’t advised till 10 minutes prior to departure, so once you see the
platform number I feel like I have to haul some arse to get there thinking that
it will take me more than 10 minutes to find it and then miss the train. It hasn’t happened yet, but I don’t like that
bit of the system, but I guess it works and everyone else is in the same
boat. I had an hour to kill so I was
able to buy a bacon and egg bap and found a seat to while away the time till my
platform was displayed.
I booked my ticket online 2 weeks ago and I had no end of
trouble trying to make the payment. I
had to do it like a 100 times for it to finally work and I was told that I couldn’t
make a seat reservation on the London to Edinburgh sector of the trip. So you can imagine my surprise when I got
into the first carriage and saw that 90% of the seats were reserved. How did these people manage to reserve seats? There were 8 carriages in total and each one
was exactly the same 90% of them reserved.
I walked the length of the train (not going inside yet) and I could only
see 2 seats that weren’t taken. Both
were an aisle as the window was already taken and the first seat I was advised
by the male passenger that he had a friend getting on at the next stop in 45
minutes, but I was more than welcome to sit there until then-no thanks and the
other seat was next to a female and she looked ok. Seriously where do people sit if all the
seats are reserved? I had popped my
wheelie bag in the luggage rack near the door and once everyone was settled I
saw that I could pop my bag in between the backwards seat across the aisle,
which was a great move when I had my laptop in my bag plus my travel kitty of
USD that I carry with me-yes this was a smart idea indeed. I hate my bag being near the doors as you are
always paranoid that someone is going to steal it when they get off.
There was an option to upgrade to business class as the
train departed the platform. Depending
where you were going starting at 15-25GBP.
I thought about it for a second but I was now all in and settled so
decided to just stay where I was. In
economy they offer you 15 minutes free Wi-Fi usage per journey. So I jumped on for the first 15 minutes on my
IPod and then I pulled out my computer and pumped out a blog and then used my
other email address to upload it to the internet using another free 15
minutes. Gee I am smart sometimes J it was then time to
look out the window and enjoy the scenery.
It was a suuny-ish day and you could see just how much rain there had
been with fields filled with water.
Trees and fences in the middle of small lakes. I am glad that I wasn’t joining the train at
other stops as people would just all pack on and then they all had to squeeze
past each other to find their seats and to find unreserved seats all carrying
their bags etc…. what a chaotic organised mess all at the same time. My chicky got off at 1pm-so I was able to
move to the window and my seat was taken by a mother that was travelling with
her husband and 2 small kids-and all 4 of them were in 2 seats. It reminded me of the Nepalese family on the
bus on our last travel day in Nepal and they were squished onto 2 seats with 4
family members. It goes to show all
cultures will try and save money where they can. Passing through some of the larger towns
Durham and Newcastle look like pretty cities and maybe worth going back to when
I have time down the track. I have to
say I enjoy train travel.
We arrived into Edinburgh 10 minutes late at 4.20pm. It is so weird to see it get dark here so
early, today was at 3.50pm. I am glad I
had a 40 minute window here to get my bearings and find my new platform for the
50 minute journey to Glasgow. Waverly
Station is massive and I have to say their signage is a little confusing. I did stop at the information booth to double
check where I needed to get to, found the platform and only had 10 minutes to
spare. The good thing about getting to
the platforms early is that you are one of the first onto the train and you are
90% sure you will get a seat. Not really
thinking that at 5pm it would be full of rush hour shoppers and workers’
heading home, the train was packed. I
worked out that my wheelie bag fits in the overhead rack, so I was able to keep
an eye on it till we arrived into Glasgow at 5.50pm. I then had 25 minutes till my next train to
take me to my final destination. I
decided I should use the bathroom facilities here and there was a charge of
30pence for the privilege. I am happy to
pay than to wait and use the train for free, so after my pee stop I bought a coke
and then my train was pulling in and ready to board. If nothing else all has gone to plan so
far. This section from Glasgow to
Taynuilt was on a reserved seat basis and after finding the right carriage I
got to my seat to find people already sitting in my seat, and it was a goodie,
it was at a table. I was hoping to get
some blogging done. As per the first
journey, 90% of seats were reserved-so the 3 of us were all looking at our
tickets trying to work out who was supposed to be sitting where and it looked
like I had their seats and they had mine, so we just decided to stay where we
were and got comfy for the 3 hour journey to Taynuilt. The couple across from me were Scottish and I
had to really concentrate to understand what they were saying. They were going through to Oban, the last
stop. I was travelling backwards, so I
could see the automated sign telling you of all the stops and I couldn’t see my
stop listed on there and I started to panic.
I asked the couple across from me and they said don’t worry the train
divides and then your station will show up.
WHAT THE TRAIN DIVIDES? How will
I know which train to get on? They said don’t
worry they will let me know and I said well worst case I miss my stop and you
will have a guest for the night. I found
it funny and they laughed but I may have seen a glint of concern as well that I
may have been serious.
I sent Em a message to let her know where I was and I was
on time and she replied back exactly ‘are you coming tonight’? ARE YOU KIDDING? I would normally have thought that it was a
joke straight up, but last time I came to visit I told them I arrived into
their station at 6.45am and Em thought that it was 6.45PM at night. So when she cracked this funny, I initially laughed
and then she played it on and then phoned me and kept playing on that I finally
believed it and they weren’t expecting me till tomorrow and I had an image of
me at this small village station and nowhere to go! I normally hate answering phones on buses or
small confined spaces as I hate people listening into my conversations but Em
called and I felt I had to take it as I was devastated that I wasn’t due. I asked Em about the train stops and listed
them all off to which I got a few giggles from the locals as my pronunciation
of the names was obviously not right-have your laugh-I’m okay about that and I
am glad I have ‘my couple’ across from me keeping an eye on the stations. Em’s advice was to just get off at 9pm. That would be the right stop and she then let
me know that it was all a joke and that her or her mum would be at the station
to meet me at 9pm. I really would have
cracked it and got on the next train back to London. I was so tired and was just glad that she had
just been kidding!!!
I did arrive at the RIGHT station at 9pm and Em’s mum
Rosie was there to meet me. There were
only 4 people that got off there and it was slightly raining and not much
cover, so I was glad when Rosie came over to me and asked if I was Bernie and
knew it wouldn’t be hard to find me. Em’s
family home was only a 5 minute drive from the train station and as I put my
bag down and entered through the door there was a massive table of people all
just sitting down to dinner. Talk about
an entrance and it felt a little daunting that I didn’t know anybody. I hate that first initial reaction of smiling
when inside you are going what the hell knowing you don’t know anyone. But Em swept me up, found me a seat at the
table and before I knew it I had a bowl of soup in front of me followed with a
plate of crusted salmon and vegetables and I was in a comfortable conversation
with Katie to my right and George to my left.
Throw in a few glasses of white wine that was flowing freely and desert
to follow I felt I was going to be okay this weekend. Em and Paps friends all seem like a nice
bunch and I got to know them all a bit more as we played a few games as the
night wore on. The last of us went to
bed at 2.30am and I was shown to my room on the 3rd floor where I
would be sharing with Pap’s sister ‘girl’ when she arrived tomorrow.
So it was MASSIVE travel day-I was tired and knew I would
sleep well. I am surprised I lasted till
2.30am and was told to not worry about waking up early in the morning-sleep
till I could sleep no more was the wise words of Em as we all climbed the
stairs and I swear the second my head hot the pillow I was fast asleep. What a way to spend the last Sunday of 2012.
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