This is the age of the train
February 15th, 2008Call me weird but I actually like travelling by train the length and breadth of the country. Yesterday it was Leeds. Bit of a brutal start as I was out of bed at 4.50am to get showered, shaved and off to Waverley station for the 6.05 train. You certainly find yourself questioning (albeit temporarily) your chosen career path when you are pulling into Newcastle station and it’s only 7.15 in the morning though.
Having done a fair bit of travel with work, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t beat the train. For starters you don’t have to strip down to your boxers and have the entire contents of your luggage examined before you get on the bloody thing. Air travel has become a bind because of this, especially when you find yourself minus shoes, your belt in your hand and your laptop being ’swabbed’ with an explosive detecting substance. Not that I don’t appreciate the good job these guys are doing for our security. It’s just fucking inconvenient.
That aside, the main reason I like the train is that I get to see this beautiful country. And it is a beautiful country. With Britain being historically a railway nation, not only is the countryside spectacular but there are an endless array of beautiful Victorian stations such as York and Darlington. When travelling by air, you miss all of this world of wonder and instead move from one sanitised island to another without seeing what lies between.
The train is quite simply a mode of travel much better suited to this modern gentlemen.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I totally agree with you. train travelling is the best. If tickets were not this insanely expensive I would be on a train trip every weekend, it is, as you say, a perfect way to see a country.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:55 am
On my daily commutes to Birmingham it is amazing to see the change in the countryside throughout the seasons. Your right we do live in a beautiful country, It’s just a shame about the certain people who live in it though!