Nottingham to Berlin by Train, all in one day

The conference was lovely, my keynote well recieved. I learned a lot from the other talks, even some stuff I can use in my lecture this coming semester. I planned on taking all day Friday for the return back. I bought first class tickets (not that much more expensive) so that I could spend the day working and be home by midnight.

It didn't happen like that.  

I had a boring breakfast (not much selection for people who don't want English breakfast) and left the hotel at 8:15 for a nice, leisurly walk down the hill into town. No need to take a bus and good to get some exercise since I will be sitting most of the day.

I made it to the Nottingham train station in such good time I could have had an earlier train, but I just waited for the planned one. It was uneventful, a Midlands Railway Express, but the Internet didn't work. Oh well, I do have all day.

We got into St. Pancras on time and I wanted to look through the shops. Except they were mostly fancy-pancy designer places. I went through the bookstore, found a W. H. Smith's with actual newspapers and bought myself a Times and an Economist, and got some food at M&S. As they say, NEVER get on a train in Europe without food and drink! Although it was early, I decided to go through the security routine and just wait for my train to Brussels.

Pandemonium! I made it through security without event, but the waiting room behind it was PACKED with people! I managed to talk a woman into removing her bags from a seat and sat down. I didn't dare fight my way over to the duty free or the cafe, I had a seat and started to read the Times.  The place got fuller and fuller, as one of the Paris trains was delayed and kids were cranky and babies screamed. People were talking loudly with each other, as it was loud anyway, and this made it worse and worse. 

Finally, our train was called and 1000+ people pushed and shoved their way to the sloped people-mover that took us to the upper level. Again, a long train, but I was at least in a nice small compartment and had a seat to myself. It took half an hour for them to serve food, just before we hit the Chunnel. There was a little bottle of wine, water, coffee and a vegetarian meal. Not bad! But after all was cleared away: no stable Internet. 

Outside of Lille we stopped. And waited. Were told that we didn't have a platform yet. By the time we left Lille we had 15 minutes delay, I had 21 minutes to change in Brussels. The German DB sold it to me that way. And of course, we added minutes on the way in, so we were 22 minutes late and the train to Cologne did not wait. 

I got a piece of paper in the train stating that we were 15 minutes delayed, and asked in 3 places about getting a reservation on the next train to Cologne in an hour. I only got another piece of paper documenting the delay, and was told to contact the train manager on the platform. Which I did, finally finding the right platform. "We are fully booked," he said. I noted that I had a first-class ticket. "All gone. But I have one more seat in second-class." So I took it.

It was a cramped window seat next to a very large Frenchman who kept encroaching on my knee-space and arm-rest space. There was no Internet. A Brit in the row in front of me was loudly complaining that the Europeans couldn't organize a proper Internet. I kept my mouth shut, we were headed for Cologne. And indeed, we got there just a few minutes late. I needed to use the lavatory, but the next train from Cologne to Berlin was in 30 minutes, so I just got a roll with cheese and one slice of tomato for 6.20 € (!!!) and went to the platform. Just in case I booked a seat by mobile phone, as there were only 6 left, it seemed. This train was delayed by 5 minutes. Then 10. Then 15. Then 20. Then it disappeared off the board! We asked every human from DB we could find, no one knew what to say, other than: it is coming soon.  

50 minutes after the scheduled time the train pulled in—with no people on it, it was apparently a new trainset. There was PLENTY of room, I would not have needed a seat reservation. Oh well, I hit the lavatory, unpacked my food and drink, and dove into the functioning Internet. I might make it home by 1am, I thought. But between Hamm and Hannover there was a call on the intercom, if there was a doctor or nurse on the train. And soon we stopped. It was explained to us that there was a medical emergency, we had to stop. We soon continued, slowly, to a little train station where the train was apparently met by an ambulance. It seemed to take forever. Luckily I still had food and drink with me. 

We finally continued to Hannover, where we again had to wait - too many trains wanting to go in the direction of Berlin! Due to construction both north and south of Berlin, many trains have to take this route. Just before heading into Berlin-Zoo we stopped AGAIN, this time, no reason given. We finally made it, around 1:30 am (I was supposed to be there at 10:55 pm) and I hopped into a taxi. I did not have the energy to deal with the BVG.

So the trip to Nottingham: great! The trip back to Berlin: horror! I'll probably fly next time... 

Taking the Train to London

I have been following the Man in Seat 61 for quite some time now.  He travels throughout Europe by train (always trying to sit in seat 61) and blogs about his experiences. He has very detailed explanations on how various train connections work.

So when I was invited to give the keynote presentation at a conference in Nottingham, I thought: Okay, why not? The Eurostar goes from Brussels to London St. Pancras, and the Nottingham trains go from exactly this station. No fussing around with getting across London! It's a bit more expensive than flying, but it is more climate conscious, so let's give it a go.

I was a bit chicken about doing the entire trip in one day, German (and Swedish!) trains are notoriously delayed. So I took a train to Cologne in the late afternoon on Monday and spent the night in the Ibis right at the train station! I had a gorgeous view of the Cologne cathedral, the room was small but quiet and comfy, what more do I need?

I then got the 9:41 from Cologne to Brussels, no rushing necessary. The train was a bit crowded, but I had reserved a seat. However, in my chilled out state I got off the train at Brussels-North, not Brussels-Midi. No problem, the kind information guys told me what track to stand on and take the next train in 8 minutes. Good thing I had an extra 30 minutes in the schedule!

At Brussels-Midi there is a loooooong line to go through a metal detector. I was already saying goodbye to my pocket knife and my water... I was permitted to go through the priority line as I was walking with my stick. Turned out I was allowed to keep the knife, there is apparently one that looks like a Swiss Army Knife, but is in reality a switchblade. What a relief! Then we had to go through immigration, once with a human guard and once with a machine that took my picture and compared it to my passport (and probably is using the data to train some AI system).

Behind all this was a glittering "Duty-Free" shop, and then you landed in a large hall with airport seats, full of people! Construction was apparently going on, at least there were toilets. I convinced a German gentleman taking up 3 seats with his stuff to let me sit on one, so it was not too bad, just crowded and ugly. About 20 minutes before the train was to leave at 12:51 we were able to board the train. It had something like 20 cars! I currently don't have a seatmate, but we are stopping in Lille to pick up more passengers. 

As I went to plug in my computer I realized what I have forgotten: converters for the electrical outlets! I had thought of these one night, but my husband was sleeping in the room where we have them, so I told myself: I'll get them in the morning. Oh well, at least I know now what I forgot, I'm sure I can get one for a good chunk of cash in London.  

The Chunnel itself was very boring. I'm glad the Man in Seat 61 advised me that it would be about 20 minutes, there was no announcement made on the train. It just got dark outside shortly after we breezed through the station at Calais. Nothing exciting happened, we were exactly on time in London St. Pancras!

I spent some time looking around for buying a ticket for London-Nottingham. It took three tries before I was in the right place. Since I am coming back on a Friday before 10am I need a sort of flex ticket, more expensive than many of the other legs of the trip and no senior citizen discount!

Now, on to the Conference tomorrow!