Take the Train
Last weekend, I took a couple of days off and went to Scotland to visit friends, play golf and drink gin. I’ll bore you about the golf some other time. For now, I’m going to focus on the coming and going, and mostly, the wonderful experience I had on Britain’s rail system.
Let’s start with the decision: planes, trains or automobiles?
I could have done a discount airline like EasyJet or Ryanair from London to Edinburgh for £50 or so. But that would have meant taking a train to either Heathrow or Stansted, which, in either case, would have added another £30 or so roundtrip. Then there’s the time. The trip to Heathrow nets out to an hour. Stansted is much further. On the Edinburgh end, I’d have to hang around baggage claim for 30 minutes or more waiting for my golf clubs. So, all in all, I was looking at a door to door travel time of about 3 hours.
On the other hand, I could do the train. National Express runs a train from King’s Cross Station in London to Edinburgh and Glasgow every half hour. With a few stops along the way, it takes about 4 hours to get to Edinburgh’s Waverly Station. But there’s no security line, no limits on the use of electronic devices, and no cattle call for boarding.
Then there’s the experience. On the way north, I took a window seat. The journey through north England on a sunny, summer afternoon was lovely, with everything all in green. But that wasn’t the highlight. It was the trip from Newcastle, through Berwick-on-Tweed that was amazing. Every inch was along the rocky channel cliffs. The North Sea was just out the window. And the farms of southern Scotland looked lush with their alternating fields of grain and grazing sheep.
And did I mention the free wi-fi? I was online and getting juice from a standard power outlet throughout the journey.
On the return, I discovered the dining car. Every had a freshly cooked steak on Ryanair? I didn’t think so. But I had one on my southbound journey. Along with mashed potatoes and vegetables. And a salad. And dessert — fresh strawberries with cream and meringue. All of which was prepared for me in the fully stocked kitchen on board by a real, human cook. And I ordered my dinner from a diverse menu of selections. Tough to imagine a travel meal where you’re faced with a hard choice about to what to eat? It was for me, too.
Not everything was perfect. It is, after all, a train. The cafe car, where I chose to eat on the northbound trip, was truly abysmal. Microwaved panini and crisps just didn’t get it done.
So, what was the damage for all of this apparent luxury? £73 round trip. About the same cost as flying. (My dining-car meal cost about the same as a comparable London restaurant at £25, so add that in if you think it makes a more genuine comparison.)
On balance, the train so thoroughly thrashed its airborne competition, I am genuinely flummoxed at why anyone would fly. Moreover, its common practice for natives to complain about their train service. And in some areas, it is occasionally spotty. I’m sure I’ll experience some rail debacle or another in the coming months.
For now, however, given the choice, I’ll take the train.
P.S. — I wrote this post while beneath the English channel en route from London to Brussels on the Eurostar. Another example of rail’s superiority over air travel. I’ll bore you with the details of that trip some other time.
Tags: easyjet, Golf, national express, plane, ryanair, scotland, train