Traveling to Europe recently I went out by train to Gent via Brussels then on to Köln where I flew back to England.
Going out I took an early train from Brighton to London arriving as the sun was coming up. The station at both ends has good shops that are open all the time the station is open. They are near shops that stops them inflating the prices too much and gives you a good choice of options.
The Eurostar checkin recommends you get their 30 minutes before your train should leave but could easily still get the train if you arrive with 5-10mins before departure. I got there a bit earlier, after about 10 minutes of queuing was through the gate, security and plenty of time to grab a coffee to take on board the train. Shortly after grabbing the coffee the gates opened and was shortly on the train.
A nice pleasant journey to Brussels where you can get up, walk around go to the bar / restaurant or as I chose stay put and drunk my coffee and read the paper.
Arrive in Brussels and a short walk to the correct platform and I was on a train to Gent. Arrived there feeling refreshed and in a good mood.
Then coming home....
Well to get to the airport you have to get on a train anyway. This takes you to the airport amusement park. Miles form anywhere you are a captive consumer. Barely any choice, overpriced goods. You are recommended to get there 2 hours before the flight, get there later than 30 minutes before the flight and you may not be let on the plane. If they let you through the boarding and security you would probably have to run quite some distance to get to the plane.
Typically you have to queue to check in, get through to security, at security, at passport control, to board the plane and to get a seat on the plane. Then more delays getting off the plane, hike to baggage claim and potentially a long wait for you bag. Then most likely a train to finish the journey.
To avoid one of these delays I decided to just take a carry in bag. Unfortunately unknown to me these no longer need to be weighed at check-in so I queued there for no reason, like the person in front of me, to be told I could have gone straight to boarding/security area by the nice German lady spitting the words out like we were all crazy.
Having not flown for a while I was not sure if the stupid no liquids rule still applied. There was noting about it in the printed ticket I has. Did not mention it on the DO NOT TAKE THESE ITEMS ON THE PLANE signs. Apparently it does then. I had a drink with me and was given the option of throw away, go outside and drink or give it to someone in the airport if anyone was seeing me off. Bin it was then which seemed a bit wasteful. When explaining that anything that he could turn upside down and would pour out is a liquid and not allowed in units of over 100ml. Then asked to check my tooth paste. Which I believe is a paste and not a liquid! Along with not being able to pop out for a smoke on the long wait until you actually get to sit down on the plane, other annoyances include having to watch the safety demonstration, keeping seatbelts on all the time (recommended) being interrupted by someone trying to flog you stuff you were not allowed to bring on three plane yourself and being told not to use electronic devices at take off and landing.
So if I get it right you must not use your phone because it could crash the plane but you are allowed them on the plane.
You are not allowed to take onboard your own liquids because the could be used to crash the plane but are allowed to buy overpriced replacements once on the plane.
Finally you are obviously more likely to need to know what to do in the event of surviving a plane crash than a train crash.
I and now wrapping up on the nice train trip back to the south coast and have cone to three conclusion that flying is like taking part in a survival game show, where as international trains are like relaxing and watching cinema.
In future I may just travel to paces I can get to by train...
No comments:
Post a Comment