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I’m going on the train

My wife and I had to take a train home from Gatwick via King's Cross back in December 2019 after missing the return BA flight back to Glasgow because of the then French air traffic control strike and what a shit experience the train was, cost us £340 odd and was absolutely terrible, people sitting with their feet up on empty seats, toilets filthy, train as slow as a week in the jail, never again.

I recently did a trip from Aberdeen to Hull with engineering works between Dundee and Edinburgh meaning a bus was put on. Absolutely awful on every level. Boy does our train system need some investment.

Regards

Richard
 
About 10 years ago a mate and I were inspired to go planet friendly and get trains from our respective homes in the N of England to Grenoble for a cycling trip. We were persuaded that it would be easier than wrestling the bikes on and off planes, to boot. It wasn't. It was bloody hard work, and I won't do it again. We spent all day getting to London, getting the Metro in Paris, delayed trains, and we staggered into Grenoble about 10pm. I think the Eurostar works very well if you want to go between London and Paris, after that I'll not bother.
Yes, I think for looong trips with changes, it can get a bit wearing. But a while back, I took the train down to Lyon on business, and Eurostar-Metro-TGV was flawless.
 
Yes, I think for looong trips with changes, it can get a bit wearing. But a while back, I took the train down to Lyon on business, and Eurostar-Metro-TGV was flawless.
The hard bit there is the Metro, or is it the RER from Eurostar? Once at Gare du Lyon, happy days. 200mph between Paris and Lyon. Factor in that you had a briefcase with a lappy and an overnight bag, and I was wrestling with a bike in a bag with a week's clothing, and you get the picture.

The A1 will get them down to Doncaster, and one day the section north of Newcastle may be upgraded from a cart track to a metalled road.
Don't take the mick, they've renewed some of the cobbles and everything in the Morpeth-Alnwick section!
 
After 47yrs I'd say it always was s**t and has only become more s**t with the passage of time, as I've said before, too may 'non-essential' flyers.
I prefer trains in other countries such as Holland/ France and Norway of which I've had recent experiences.

Contrast that with the trip up from Dundee to Aberdeen last year............

Regards

Richard

Flying used to be a joy. Pre 911, turn up less than an hour before the flight, quick drink in the lounge, nice bite to eat on the plane, no connectivity so watch a film or 2 in peace, have a snooze. Lovely. Nowadays, not quite so enjoyable to the point of generally avoiding, which is better for the planet of course!
 
Went to somewhere east of Dijon by train last year. The TGV system is very impressive, but coming from Manchester, Eurostar wasn't an option. It would have meant either an extra day's travel at each end, or loss of a useful day at destination. So we flew into Paris from Manchester and picked up the TGV from there. If you're in London, you have the luxury of salving your conscience as to the environment. Elsewhere in the UK, not so much.
 
My daughter and her husband honeymooned in Sicily last August/September, they got the train from Glasgow to London then flew from London to Florence >train to Rome>train and boat train to Sicily and then flew to Edinburgh back via boat to Naples.

They were meant to fly back from Sicily to London but easy jet cancelled their flight at the very last minute so they had to reorganise the return journey which involved a nine hour boat journey from Sicily to Naples then over night in Naples and home the following day.
I went to Calabria last September. Originally it entailed a flight from Gatwick to Naples with BA, followed by a five hour plus coach journey Tropea. A week before I was due to fly the tour company phoned to say they'd changed it to a Ryanair flight from Stansted to Lamezia, and a less-than-one hour coach ride. To make up for the inconvenience the company would cover my hotel and parking at Stansted.
Your daughter and her husband could have got a train from Sicily to Lamezia.
 
The hard bit there is the Metro, or is it the RER from Eurostar? Once at Gare du Lyon, happy days. 200mph between Paris and Lyon. Factor in that you had a briefcase with a lappy and an overnight bag, and I was wrestling with a bike in a bag with a week's clothing, and you get the picture.

Should have cycled across Paris ;-)
 
Flying used to be a joy. Pre 911, turn up less than an hour before the flight, quick drink in the lounge, nice bite to eat on the plane, no connectivity so watch a film or 2 in peace, have a snooze. Lovely. Nowadays, not quite so enjoyable to the point of generally avoiding, which is better for the planet of course!
It seems impossible that my favourite airport used to be Luton. Tiny place, rock up and park near the terminal, jump on a plane to Dublin. Now it's dreadful. My most recent fave was Southampton, but with the demise of FlyBe, there's nowhere to go apart from the Channel Islands.
 
Went to somewhere east of Dijon by train last year. The TGV system is very impressive, but coming from Manchester, Eurostar wasn't an option. It would have meant either an extra day's travel at each end, or loss of a useful day at destination. So we flew into Paris from Manchester and picked up the TGV from there. If you're in London, you have the luxury of salving your conscience as to the environment. Elsewhere in the UK, not so much.

It's a weird one. Living in London it's often cheaper, quicker and easier to get a train to somewhere in Europe for a few days away than it is to go somewhere in the UK. I'm ashamed to say I've never set foot in Manchester for example. If I can go to, say, Antwerp for a few days for the same price that's going to get my attention.
 
The A1 will get them down to Doncaster, and one day the section north of Newcastle may be upgraded from a cart track to a metalled road.

About three hours to Doncaster from Boulmer, on a good day. Trouble is, there are people commuting to Newcastle by the many thousands from Northumberland now. It’s not the quiet A1 it used to be up there.
 
I went to Calabria last September. Originally it entailed a flight from Gatwick to Naples with BA, followed by a five hour plus coach journey Tropea. A week before I was due to fly the tour company phoned to say they'd changed it to a Ryanair flight from Stansted to Lamezia, and a less-than-one hour coach ride. To make up for the inconvenience the company would cover my hotel and parking at Stansted.
Your daughter and her husband could have got a train from Sicily to Lamezia.

Probably but she had to be back for work so maybe that's why the wen't the Naples route, they said Naples is an absolute shit hole, loved Sicily though, think they're going back this summer.
 
Flying used to be a joy. Pre 911, turn up less than an hour before the flight, quick drink in the lounge, nice bite to eat on the plane, no connectivity so watch a film or 2 in peace, have a snooze. Lovely. Nowadays, not quite so enjoyable to the point of generally avoiding, which is better for the planet of course!

I'm taking maybe, 1982 here, back then there were huge French air traffic delays/strikes so people were getting stuck in airports for literally days and or up to 12 hours for flights to Spain (Bay of Biscay rings a bell re the strikes) anyway me and my wife were going to Salou in Spain on a Sunday in July (Glasgow fair) and turned up at Glasgow airport with sandwiches and a glass pint bottle of milk and our flight was called right away so we just handed the lot to family waiting on a queue with two small kids, try doing that these days and you've be in jail faster than you could say 'Ryanair are shit mate'.

I hate flying now there's absolutely no pleasure in it anymore.
 
i've only been the once, on the way to Pompeii years ago. I did find it kind of intimidating and certainly didn't feel safe. I wouldn't mind going back some day though, even if just to eat pizza : )

They stayed overnight in some shithole of a hotel beside the railway station my daughter was far from impressed with it.

Think the Naples Pizza thing is a bit of myth to be honest, apparently there's an amazing pizzeria outside of Naples but the ones that the art guy Jarozac (sp) went on about in that BBC programme are meant to be pretty poor. I did a bit of research for my daughter when they were going to Naples but I don't they left the hotel.
 
It seems impossible that my favourite airport used to be Luton. Tiny place, rock up and park near the terminal, jump on a plane to Dublin. Now it's dreadful. My most recent fave was Southampton, but with the demise of FlyBe, there's nowhere to go apart from the Channel Islands.
Loganair are running a very good service now from Southampton to various destinations. We recently flew to Edinburgh and then back from Glasgow on better faster small jets not Flybe's slow noisy turboprops.
 
Probably but she had to be back for work so maybe that's why the wen't the Naples route, they said Naples is an absolute shit hole, loved Sicily though, think they're going back this summer.

i've only been the once, on the way to Pompeii years ago. I did find it kind of intimidating and certainly didn't feel safe. I wouldn't mind going back some day though, even if just to eat pizza : )
Naples isn't as black as it is painted. Get away from the area around the station as fast as your legs can carry you. It's rough round there. You can then walk to the Centro Storico tourist bit, lovely. Like any city. London always used to be horrible around KX, I don't know now.
 


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