We knew that were going to Bath right after leaving the airport and wanted to train the rest of our travel, so we purchased Brit rail passes for four days of train travel used within a month. That worked with the places we were going to so those were purchased in advance. Specifically they actually had to be purchased before we left the US. The day before traveling by train we just had to activate them and they were good all day but they warn about scanning the barcode to make sure it is used correctly.
Since we were behind by two plus hours, I was concerned that the trains we planned on catching were not there. First was just the train to get to customs from our airline terminal. Making it through customs has changed so much since I had gone through it 28 years ago. No form, no one to talk to, they scan your passport, they take a picture, and you go through the nothing to declare line (unless of course you have something to declare).
The start of our Brit Rail journey began with getting on the Heathrow Express and getting to Paddington station.
When we arrived there the next train we needed was to Bath. The information was on the screen but there was no platform. It was 4:30pm and the train was supposed to leave at 5pm so I went to the information desk thinking there was information we needed first. No, I was told, they just didn’t know yet which platform it was leaving from. I had not realized until then how many other people were watching that board. At five minutes to 5pm it updated and there was a mad dash to get through the stiles scanning your barcode to open the gates. Hundreds of people were racing down the platform. The first bunch cars were completely full of people, almost overflowing. I do not know how many train cars were still in front of us but we found a car the looked like it had some space. We jumped on and got our suitcases situated and sat down in the first two empty seats. We quickly realized that the red and green buttons with travel information were seats that had been reserved.
We moved down the train car until we found two seats together that had green buttons. It was at a table that sat four people facing each other. We joined a dapper-ly dressed gentleman with flowing, curly, red hair who quickly started snoring while sitting up as soon as the train left the station. Our journey continued for the next hour and a half-ish through countryside. We easily disembarked the train at Bath and walked the ten minutes to our hotel. Awaiting us there were lovely folks who were helpful and friendly. There was even a cute surprise on our bed.
To finish out this long day we headed out to find dinner. Easily enough there was a pizza place right across the street with live music. I then decided we needed to go to the grocery store around the corner because I was sure there were interesting foods we had never seen before and should probably check it out. The Sainsbury’s did not disappoint. Who is eating this hotdog pizza?
We headed back to our hotel and passed out for the rest of the night after a long, busy travel day.
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