Train Ride to London
Thursday, April 28th
We started our first real day in the UK by traveling via train from the East Midlands area to London proper. The very first thing I noticed was that people here must not have babies/infants or be handicapped because there were no facilities to assist them from one side of the station to another. There were signs basically stating that you would be taking your life into your hands if you needed to use the access path across the tracks - they have unbelievable High Speed trains that pass through and the only way to guarantee safe passage from one side to another was to use the Upper Walkway...3o or more steps up and down. Oh what fun with all the bags and the defective stroller!
The joy continued as we got on board to the announcement that the Reservation System was was down and since they could not prove who had purchased Reserved Seating (God forbid they actually READ the tickets which state this) it would be open seating. So glad that I spent the extra money on seats for the kids! Ben and Alex made it into an actual car compartment while Logan and I were in the passage/doorway with a jump seat that I had to get out of at each stop. Oh and I cannot forget to mention that I got to move the stroller around quite a bit since each station platform was on a different side.
The icing on this journey was when I saw Ben coming my way and motioning to Alex to stay put - which of course did not happen. He was looking for wipes since Alex had been sick and he had used up his supply already. I took her into the bathroom and cleaned her up good as new. However the only thing she was upset about was that she had ruined her Brand New Barbie Magic Activity Book which she had received from our friend Lyuba and we had saved special for this trip. Now we had to look for a stroller and a replacement Barbie item as soon as we hit London!
Along the way we were treated to some very lovely picturesque scenes of English countryside, hamlets, and small burgs. Evening it out were a few spots that could easily pass for Oslo's backyard (Keeping Up Appearances for those not 'in the know') but it was simply gorgeous for the most part and made me wish that we could have a country home here....or just move in general :)
Logan slept for almost the entire ride which canceled out the purpose of his first "Thomas-like" experience but a sleeping Logan probably made things easier on the whole, plus he woke up in time to witness the absolute beauty of St. Pancras - Yes, it IS beautiful - so he got to see many trains and it was most likely an entire Isle of Sodor moment for him in the end.
With just a bit of an issue we were able to get all of our baggage off the train and begin our London Experience. So all we had to do now was find our way out of the station, find our hotel, try to find a new Barbie Activity Book, find a new stroller, and pray that there would be no more issues. The stress-free holiday I was hoping for was slipping through my fingers...bu it was still early so there was hope!
We started our first real day in the UK by traveling via train from the East Midlands area to London proper. The very first thing I noticed was that people here must not have babies/infants or be handicapped because there were no facilities to assist them from one side of the station to another. There were signs basically stating that you would be taking your life into your hands if you needed to use the access path across the tracks - they have unbelievable High Speed trains that pass through and the only way to guarantee safe passage from one side to another was to use the Upper Walkway...3o or more steps up and down. Oh what fun with all the bags and the defective stroller!
The joy continued as we got on board to the announcement that the Reservation System was was down and since they could not prove who had purchased Reserved Seating (God forbid they actually READ the tickets which state this) it would be open seating. So glad that I spent the extra money on seats for the kids! Ben and Alex made it into an actual car compartment while Logan and I were in the passage/doorway with a jump seat that I had to get out of at each stop. Oh and I cannot forget to mention that I got to move the stroller around quite a bit since each station platform was on a different side.
The icing on this journey was when I saw Ben coming my way and motioning to Alex to stay put - which of course did not happen. He was looking for wipes since Alex had been sick and he had used up his supply already. I took her into the bathroom and cleaned her up good as new. However the only thing she was upset about was that she had ruined her Brand New Barbie Magic Activity Book which she had received from our friend Lyuba and we had saved special for this trip. Now we had to look for a stroller and a replacement Barbie item as soon as we hit London!
Along the way we were treated to some very lovely picturesque scenes of English countryside, hamlets, and small burgs. Evening it out were a few spots that could easily pass for Oslo's backyard (Keeping Up Appearances for those not 'in the know') but it was simply gorgeous for the most part and made me wish that we could have a country home here....or just move in general :)
Logan slept for almost the entire ride which canceled out the purpose of his first "Thomas-like" experience but a sleeping Logan probably made things easier on the whole, plus he woke up in time to witness the absolute beauty of St. Pancras - Yes, it IS beautiful - so he got to see many trains and it was most likely an entire Isle of Sodor moment for him in the end.
With just a bit of an issue we were able to get all of our baggage off the train and begin our London Experience. So all we had to do now was find our way out of the station, find our hotel, try to find a new Barbie Activity Book, find a new stroller, and pray that there would be no more issues. The stress-free holiday I was hoping for was slipping through my fingers...bu it was still early so there was hope!
posted by Pam at
9:45 AM
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