Today we ventured outside of the London area, and how did we do it? High speed train!!!! We took a train from London's Paddington station to Bath Spa. We bought the tickets yesterday (if you buy over 24 hours in advance, you save loads of money), and just barely made it within the 24 hour window.
Our trip started out this morning at the Blackfriars station (sweet station name, eh?), we caught a District Line train and went to stops to Embankment and then hopped aboard the Bakerloo line. If anyone can read the entire population of station/line names for the London subway system and not crack a smile on at least 50% of the names, I would question if you have a sense of humor.
Anywho, after arriving at Paddington we had to go to the self-service ticket kiosk (basically an e-ticket check-in for trains) to pick up our tickets. Let me just make a few comments about this process. First, checking in for the trains here requires more identity verification then flying on the airlines in the U.S. Somehow, though, I managed to book the tickets under F. Louis instead of L.Bowers. After completing the check-in process, the machine launched like 10 different cards out. I was stumped as to what all of the paper was for. Turns out, one card has your seat assignment, another is a receipt, another is the ticket, and there are multiple cards that just say 'void'. Hello? How about you just print them on one larger card and make it so that a first-timer can figure out how to not look like a fool?
My only other complaint is that after going through an electronic ticket scanner and boarding, you must present your tickets (not just seat assignment card as learned today) to a conductor, and then go through a scanner to exit the station at your destination. Things would be different if I were in Parliament over here, fo' shizzle.
Wow, I apologize for discussing the above matters in such detail, but I've got to remember this for future purposes.
Onto the ride, all I can say is that it was totally sweet. I don't know how fast it actually went, but I have to estimate at least 120 mph, probably closer to 150 mph. Although it went by quickly, it was so cool being able to get out of the city and see how green the UK really is. It was a perfect day also (mostly sunny with some awesome puffy (cumulus) clouds). The scenery changes so quickly from urban to rural as you move west of the city, and when you approach Bath it changes almost instantly from farm fields to hills. I do need to mention that Christina slept the majority of the way there and back. Obviously this is no big surprise to me given the frequent naps she takes when I drive.
Bath is so scenic. There is a row of flats near the top of the hills which overlooks the city. Because the elevation of the train tracks is somewhat between the flats at the top of the hill and the remainder of the downtown Bath area, the view is stunning. At this point, I will reference you to Christina's post discussing our time spent in Bath.
Our trip started out this morning at the Blackfriars station (sweet station name, eh?), we caught a District Line train and went to stops to Embankment and then hopped aboard the Bakerloo line. If anyone can read the entire population of station/line names for the London subway system and not crack a smile on at least 50% of the names, I would question if you have a sense of humor.
Anywho, after arriving at Paddington we had to go to the self-service ticket kiosk (basically an e-ticket check-in for trains) to pick up our tickets. Let me just make a few comments about this process. First, checking in for the trains here requires more identity verification then flying on the airlines in the U.S. Somehow, though, I managed to book the tickets under F. Louis instead of L.Bowers. After completing the check-in process, the machine launched like 10 different cards out. I was stumped as to what all of the paper was for. Turns out, one card has your seat assignment, another is a receipt, another is the ticket, and there are multiple cards that just say 'void'. Hello? How about you just print them on one larger card and make it so that a first-timer can figure out how to not look like a fool?
My only other complaint is that after going through an electronic ticket scanner and boarding, you must present your tickets (not just seat assignment card as learned today) to a conductor, and then go through a scanner to exit the station at your destination. Things would be different if I were in Parliament over here, fo' shizzle.
Wow, I apologize for discussing the above matters in such detail, but I've got to remember this for future purposes.
Onto the ride, all I can say is that it was totally sweet. I don't know how fast it actually went, but I have to estimate at least 120 mph, probably closer to 150 mph. Although it went by quickly, it was so cool being able to get out of the city and see how green the UK really is. It was a perfect day also (mostly sunny with some awesome puffy (cumulus) clouds). The scenery changes so quickly from urban to rural as you move west of the city, and when you approach Bath it changes almost instantly from farm fields to hills. I do need to mention that Christina slept the majority of the way there and back. Obviously this is no big surprise to me given the frequent naps she takes when I drive.
Bath is so scenic. There is a row of flats near the top of the hills which overlooks the city. Because the elevation of the train tracks is somewhat between the flats at the top of the hill and the remainder of the downtown Bath area, the view is stunning. At this point, I will reference you to Christina's post discussing our time spent in Bath.
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View from the Bath Spa train station.
2 comments:
1. The train does not go that fast. I stayed awake long enough to know the max speed is probably closer to 60 mph. Louis's method of gauging the speed of the train was to compare it to how fast he flies when he's in an airplane, and whether the train felt faster than the Cessna.
2. I slept on the train because I was blogging til 3am London time.
3. They serve eggs all the time here. Any time of day. We had an egg and mayo sandwich this morning. Even Louis admitted it was yum.
Let it be known that I completely disagree with the above assessment.
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