The Trying Train Travel Tour

Hello from Britain!


Thursday March 22nd

Today is our big travel day. We have to wake up at 7:30am (the earliest we've done so far on this trip!) and make our way to the train station. Our train leaves Biarritz just before 10:00am and we will arrive at our hotel in Northern England (Horwich, to be specific) at around 11:00pm. It will be a long day.

A few random observations as we get ready to leave France...
- I've seen several people wearing berets. Very cute!
- We almost ate at the "Steack" house near to our hotel but Ted said he couldn't do it on grounds of poor spelling.
- Automated stores: kind of like a huuuuge vending machine that looks like a store window on one side and an ATM on the other.
- Every French city we've been to has a carousel somewhere in it. Not a whole carnival, just the carousel.
- Each elevator has its own call button. There might be 4 elevators, but you call them individually.
- At restaurants, nobody comes by mid-meal to check on you. And they don't bring the bill unless you ask for it. I'm guessing the French might find our system at home kind of rude?
- Pelote Basque! Also known as Jai Alai. Why didn't I know about this sport? There are courts everywhere. Alain explained it to us. Emily's dad played professionally. Ted says it was featured in the opening credits of Miami Vice. Where have I been, under a rock?

Saw my first purse dog at the Biarritz train station. Wretched little thing yapped at every passerby, and according to Ted, bit her owner in a frenzy of madness. I have oohed and ahhed over lots of dogs on this trip, but not that one.

In Bordeaux, a bunch of police got on the train, looking for... we don't know what. But it did lead me to a bunch of bad jokes about the BoDoPoPo. The train ride from Biarritz to Paris was about 6 hours, and then we needed to change train stations from Paris Monparnasse to Paris Nord - not far across the city, but far enough. We had 2 hours to do it, or so we thought.

Our train was rather long and crowded, as everybody and their dog (quite literally) seemed to be going to Paris. When we got off the train (which had arrived in Paris 20 minutes late), we needed to walk the length of it back to the main part of the station, amidst all of the trembling smokers who immediately lit up after exiting the coach. Sheesh. While waiting at the taxi stand, I noticed a huge pile of cigarette butts on the ground too. Ok Paris, you seem to have combatted dog poop, now can you start dealing with people throwing their disgusting-habit-trash on the ground?

Our driver took us through the stop-and-go rush hour traffic as quickly as one could go, but when we arrived at the station it was only 30 minutes before our next train left. We still had to fill out our landing cards, go through France customs, go through English customs, and go through security. Oh wait... What's this? Our train is leaving 15 minutes EARLY?? What the...! What a nightmare. We were running through the station and didn't have time to stop and tell the attendant who said "we cannot guarantee that you will make the train" that it certainly isn't fair to sell a non-refundable ticket and then move the train time up without any reasonable notice. Not that more notice would have helped us anyways, we got from A to B as fast as we could have.

Anyways, we did make it on the train, with 2 minutes to spare. Unfortunately some girls had taken our seats and we had to wait for them to vacate before we could sit down. All was sorted out though. At some point Ted reminded me that because England and France are different time zones, the train ride was actually 2 hours instead of the 1 that our ticket seemed to indicate. So all in all, it will be a 14 hour travel day. And so far, no dinner...

When we arrived in London, we needed to walk a couple of blocks from the London St. Pancras station to the London Euston station. Once we got there, we needed to retrieve our tickets at a kiosk, but we only had a 10 digit code and they were asking for a 8 digit code (of course). Worse, the main office's computer was down, so they directed us to the general ticket area, which of course had a long line.

Anyways, we got our tickets with time to spare, I managed to grab some snacks from the Marks & Spencer at the station, and we headed down to the platform in anticipation of this 2 hour leg of our journey. We got on the train. People were in our seats. Of course. Then an announcement came on that said all of the reserved seating was messed up. So Ted and I spent our 2+ hour train ride standing in the alcove beside the toilet!! Ted did his best to calm me but I was choked. And tired. And hungry, but I didn't feel much like eating with people going to and from the restroom mere inches away. Sigh.

It was fine, though. We got to Manchester, took another train to Bolton and then another train to Horwich Parkway. By then it was 11pm. The hotel was directly outside the train station and was a welcome sight!

Tomorrow, we explore Manchester! Almost time to come home!
E!