My yearly trip to the UK started not that well. I was down with the flu just before I left and still not feeling great when I departed.
Day 1 started in Ede to pick up a friend, whom I gave a tour in the city of Utrecht an hour later. Around noon we went towards Amsterdam. We were booked on a afternoon Eurostar towards London. As we were quite early this gave us sometime to hang around the IJ lake north of the central station, including going to the other city using the free ferry services. But after that the trip finally really started. Being Eurostar Premier passengers meant of course that our journey went pretty comfortable: enjoying some snacks between Amsterdam and Brussels, and a light meal service after we had passed Brussels. We arrived on time in London. Everything went smoothly as we made our way to the lower platforms to get on a Thameslink train heading south. Onboard we split up, my friend having to get to Waterloo station to head home, and me heading towards Paddington station for my next long-distance train.
We would both be leaving London on a train heading for Exeter, but I would do it in style.
Day 1 started in Ede to pick up a friend, whom I gave a tour in the city of Utrecht an hour later. Around noon we went towards Amsterdam. We were booked on a afternoon Eurostar towards London. As we were quite early this gave us sometime to hang around the IJ lake north of the central station, including going to the other city using the free ferry services. But after that the trip finally really started. Being Eurostar Premier passengers meant of course that our journey went pretty comfortable: enjoying some snacks between Amsterdam and Brussels, and a light meal service after we had passed Brussels. We arrived on time in London. Everything went smoothly as we made our way to the lower platforms to get on a Thameslink train heading south. Onboard we split up, my friend having to get to Waterloo station to head home, and me heading towards Paddington station for my next long-distance train.
We would both be leaving London on a train heading for Exeter, but I would do it in style.
The GWR class 800's aren't known for their comfort. But GWR's pullman-style dining service on board of the train did add to the experience in a positive way. I was invited by GWR and I was originally booked on a service a day later. I only found out when I arrived at Paddington station. But as I knew where my next train would depart from I made my way to the train. After a quick chat with the onboard staff I was allocated one of the two remaining seats for the dining service onboard the train to Plymouth. The train was eventually entirely full, with even first class passengers leaving the train as they couldn't get a seat any more.
The dinner service was great. The whole service and of course the food itself was great. I would say perfect to the details, except maybe the coca cola cans on quite some tables. Then again, my St Austell's can was on the table as well. Eventually the service ran to an end, however the train wasn't. We were delayed well over an hour, which was slowly getting close to two hours. My onward connection would be the train between Exmouth and Paignton, which I planned to take between Newton Abbot and Torquay, which runs more or less only once an hour. However if I'd be 2 hours late, I'd be past check-in time for my hotel. Luckily the hotel replied really quickly to my message: they'd wait until midnight. When my train arrived in Exeter the train to Paignton had just left. I hoped my faster train would overtake it at Dawlish Warren. Normally it would. But I wasn't that lucky and eventually I had to wait for almost an hour at Newton Abbot.
I arrived at Torquay 10 minutes to midnight. My hotel was, according to google maps, 12 minutes from the station. I might just be able to make it. During my planning stage I failed to take in account that the hotel was well uphill, so I arrived at the hotel totally out of breath only to find almost all lights out and the doors locked. I messaged the hotel like on the train, but no quick reply this time. I tried the phone, only to find out it was an outsourced callcenter in India. I was getting worried and about to look for another hotel when someone with a bucket came out. Luckily it was a member of staff. Apparently someone was sick and he was so busy cleaning their room that he failed to check the camera's for me arriving. We were both happy to get me checked in and to end the day. Although by that time it was already past the first hour of the new day. 18 hours to get from Nijmegen to Torquay.
