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Show me the way to go home!
Chronicle editor, September 12, 2008
They say if man (or woman) were meant to fly they'd have been given wings.
I'll be perfectly honest, I'm not a big fan of flying. It's not that I'm scared – it's the safest form of transport.
It's just the whole experience. The airports, security zones, hanging about in departure lounges, queuing to get on, then off – then it's being bored out of your mind in a confined space on board. It's just not fun.
Often there's little alternative to a plane so I grin and bear it – but if there is I'll give it a go. And that's exactly what I did a couple of weeks ago when I decided to head to Cologne in Germany, by train.
The arrival of Eurostar at St Pancras has opened up Europe by rail. The fast lines make the Biggleswade to Cologne journey in as little as six hours, including stops.
And on the way there, it was great. Leaving Biggleswade on the 5.45am, I was sampling bratwurst and beer under the enormous Cologne Dom by early afternoon.
You can read about my take on the city in a future travel section – and all was well until I had to return.
Setting off from a suburb of Cologne at 7.45am, I arrived at the main station to catch a train to Aachen. But it was late. Yes, a German train, usually a model of efficiency, was late.
Ten minutes late – but I should just make my connection at Aachen.
That was until it pulled up halfway along the journey – to let past the fast inter city train that I was meant to catch at Aachen. Needless to say I didn't.
So it was time to tackle the timetables and replan. So on to train three – to Leige – and then number four, to Brussels. Of course, by the time I'd reached there my Eurostar train had long departed, and the next one was three hours later.
Still, at the time I was meant to be home I boarded the Eurostar and settled back for a high-speed return.
We stopped at Lille, as many do. Waited. Waited.
Then the driver said there was a security alert. Everybody had to grab all their luggage, get off and go back through security before reboarding.
You know how long that takes for 200 people on a flight? Even a less-than-full Eurostar has 500 or 600-odd. It took an hour-and-a-half.
We got going, and the Eurostar staff couldn't have been more helpful – even offering a free ticket as recompense. Through rush hour, I arrived home five hours late – six trains and 12 hours after leaving Cologne.
A mad journey, and you'd think it would put me off trains for life. Never.
Trains run late, security alerts will happen, you just have to accept them.
A Eurostar train IS the start of your holiday. And the gleaming St Pancras station is an awesome place to begin.
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Weather for Biggleswade
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North
