Go by coach?
*Struggles to think where he was and what he was up to when he last blogged*
A lot’s gone on recently. I’m now based back in Devon, until around the end of September when the call of Part II Psychology will get too strong for me to resist. I arrived home the Friday before last, after a rather “interesting” day of travelling:
First:
Cambridge --> London KX --> Thameslink --> Gatwick Airport
(all train, obviously – departed 8amish, and arrived 10.15ish)
Then, within Gatwick:
South Terminal North Terminal (rather a lot of times, via their monorail)
I should explain that I was at Gatwick to meet Georgie off a plane from Honduras, where she’d been for 2 months. We had a few hours to kill, so sat in various cafes/coffee shops/waiting zones outside security.
Lastly:
Gatwick N Term --> Heathrow Central Bus Station (via various other terminals at each airport) ----> Exeter
(All by National Express coach, departing Gatwick at 3pmish, arriving to Exeter around 11ish; this was later than expected due to M25 delays)
A few thoughts on coach vs. rail travel: I’m normally a train person, and have gotten used to that. Coach felt weird as there was a much greater sensation of “I can’t get out of here”, though in reality it wasn’t much different to train. Coaches have much more variable legroom: the one that took me to Heathrow was a standard long tour coach with as many seats crammed in as possible, while the second was a double-decker coach with some tables, and generally about the same legroom as in a train. The coach was also a heck of a lot quieter than almost all trains I’ve used; people just seemed not to want to break the silence. You have to put up with slightly irate drivers on coaches, and (technically) not being allowed to eat.
However, given that the equivalent journey was a good tenner cheaper by coach (compared with quite a cheap in-advance rail fare), I would definitely consider using coaches again instead of trains. Yes, you might have traffic jams: but trains get delayed too. Yes, it takes longer than a coach journey: but you won’t have to stand up and you won’t have to worry about where you put your baggage. No, you don’t get the same level of customer service: but you pay less and you can read or work in peace and quiet. You can also change your journey at shorter notice, and not pay a penny extra – which I found to be *very* useful.
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