Trains in Italy 2019, Part 3

In June, we headed to Italy and made use of the trains. Read all about the premise and planning in part 1, and our initial experiences of Italian rail (including high speed travel) in part 2.

Anyway, let’s continue…

The loco-hauled service from Florence to Siena

South from Florence

A single diesel unit operating a local service at Siena station

After travelling south on the high speed train from Bologna to Florence, we managed to make our connection to Siena with just ten minutes. On this occasion, all we had to do was pop down some stairs in the middle of our arriving platform, walk a few metres along the underpass and re-emerge next to our train. Trains from Florence to Siena run hourly and are locomotive hauled. The 85 minutes or so of the journey are not particularly efficient – the train first runs some distance to the west of Florence, before slowly winding its way through the green Tuscan hills towards Siena. Nevertheless, the train – busy on departure with people going home from Florence – emptied out as it ran and by the time we got to Siena there weren’t many people left on board. The most remarkable thing about Siena’s station being the way you exit it. Siena is a medieval town on a hilltop, while the station is in the adjacent valley. Solution – a long series of covered escalators to enable travellers to get up the hill. I’ve not encountered anything like it since I was in Hong Kong. After a pleasant 24 hours in Siena, we continued our way into deepest Tuscany on a local stopping service towards our halt of Sinalunga. The trains in use on this route actually appear to be quite new diesel multiple units – the sort of thing you’d expect to run into somewhere in provincial Sweden – but perhaps slightly rougher around the edges on board. Interestingly, service was negligible – there were no announcements or signs indicating which stops we were at, and for many of the stops they were very brief halts before continuing. You had to know where you were going! Nevertheless, we made it and after some communication issues managed to find out generous lift to our final destination.

The local diesel multiple unit stopping train

North to Bologna again

A warm morning at Sinalunga station

The two days of wedding party having reached their natural conclusion, we cadged a lift back to our nearest rural railway station in the town of Sinalunga. We had selected the best itinerary (in terms of time) available all day on a Sunday to travel between this town and Bologna. The first leg was unremarkable enough, involving a half hour run down the line to Chiusi Chianciano – something of a Crewe station of Italy. Upon arrival, an almost full train was dispensed onto the platform in the beating sun – evidently everyone was connecting onto trains that would not be there for some time. Many took cover in various parts of the station building – a newbuild (the station having moved out of town fairly recently) with not much to interest visitors. Some poor souls, looking a bit lost, remained on the platform – presumably melting. With ample time ahead of our connection, we beat a retreat to the nearest bakery and coffee shop across the road outside, where we were served with good cappuccinos and fantastic cannoli.

Cannoli

Eventually, we diligently returned to the platform to catch our train. This was an intercity service (rather than high speed), but we were booked in first class. When it rolled it, we headed for our coach, only to be stopped by the conductor who told us the air conditioning in our coach was broken and he would reseat us. After a wait, he moved us to a busy standard class coach and managed to find us seats separately. Fortunately there was air conditioning. Another hiccup became apparent – repeated announcements informed us that upon arrival in Florence, we would have to unexpectedly change trains. Work on the line our train was to have taken to Bologna meant we would travel on a rail-replacement train!

A Trenitalia intercity service – rather like DB

The journey to Florence’s Campo di Marte station passed fairly unremarkably, but on arrival the entire train emptied onto the platform and began to try and board the high speed train on the other side bound for Bologna. It had clearly swept up other trains too – it was already busy and by the time we were on board it was full and standing. For a journey of 35 minutes, this was just about tolerable – although the trains normally operate on a reservation-only basis, so they are not great for travelling on without a seat. Interesting observations from that train include: young Italians apparently won’t give up their seats for anyone (no matter how pregnant or elderly said person appears, and how much the decent thing to do would be to offer them a seat), and that on board crew apparently don’t deal well with criticism from passengers (an unhappy passenger was berated loudly for 20 minutes by a member of crew – adding to everyone else’s comfort levels!). The journey was smooth enough, running once again through the dark tunnels before arriving in Bologna. We were somewhat relieved to be off and back in daylight with fresh air!

All change! Cross-platform transfer at Florence Campo di Marte for the rail replacement train!

Bologna
Bologna had been chosen partly because it offered a direct flight back to Edinburgh at a convenient time, and partly because at the time of booking, it appeared that the brand new Marconi Express was due to be open by the time we arrived in mid-June. The monorail has been built to carry passengers bound for Bologna Airport from the city centre beside the railway station and has been finished for some months, but is struggling to get its final safety certifications from the Italian government to allow it to carry fare-paying passengers. This was a great pity, since the existing airport bus left a lot to be desired, taking half an hour (rather than 7 minutes for the monorail) on a rattly, old rust bucket.

A rather different type of train in Bologna

Some final thoughts
The high speed trains in Italy, which I’ve often heard rhetorically elevated to the status of some of the best in Europe, left me underwhelmed. As a passenger, I’ve preferred other options elsewhere – these felt like a pale imitation of DB’s ICE trains, for instance. The development of the high speed network in a country where it takes a long time to get anywhere makes sense though – all the local services we travelled on were slow, and frequently took the long way around.

The ticketing system was odd – I disliked not being able to buy a through ticket. The fact that we only once showed our tickets to anyone was equally odd – there ought perhaps to be more revenue protection. That being said, the use of electronic tickets was functional and seemed to work.

The network doesn’t seem well set up for carrying large volumes of people, people with luggage, or non-Italian speaking tourists. This is unfortunate given that in regions like Tuscany there are an awful lot of people like that. Customer service seems to be something they’re working on. Italo dealt horribly with its lengthy delay (including being extraordinarily rude to me and refusing to pay out the compensation legally due after travel). When trains run late, they do so seriously late.

All in all, the Italian railways did what they had to – they carried us safely between our various itinerary points – but I’ve encountered better.

Read Trains in Italy 2019, Part 1
Read Trains in Italy 2019, Part 2

Trains in Italy 2019, Part 2

In June, we headed to Italy and made use of the trains. Read all about the premise and planning in part 1.

Florence Santa Maria Novella

Florence to Bologna on Italo
My first train in Italy was to be on high speed line from Florence Santa Maria Novella to Bologna using Italo – the competition! Being diligent, we departed our hotel for the station in good time to ensure we didn’t get lost or confused en route (despite the station being all of 10 minutes away). As we arrived, I received an email from Italo informing me that the train was running an hour late – and the rather unclear departure boards inside the station confirmed as much. We took a look around the station building – a rather stunning example of interwar modernist architecture – including the diorama of the station itself. Fun fact: the previous station on that site was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. We headed for an impromptu lunch in the in-station pizzeria, luxuriating on their terrace beneath the water sprayers.

Italo at Florence

After eating at a leisurely pace and keeping an eye on the delayed train via the app, we headed towards the platform at the appointed time only to find it was getting later. I took photos of other trains. We chatted to some Canadians. More train photography. Indeed, the departure board continued to add a few minutes at a time until the train was a very substantial 108 minutes late – a lot of photos indeed. Once on board, we at least found we had some of the best seats in the carriage. We were travelling in Prima class – the second highest on Italo. The run to Bologna itself was something of a let down. The route is mostly through tunnels which means views are limited and it’s hard to get a sense of how fast the train is going. In terms of the on board experience, there was little in the way of service (despite having expected some based on class of travel), WiFi was non-functional, on-board screens were muddled and the train full. However, it definitely only took 37 minutes once we got going.

 

Bologna to Florence on Trenitalia
The return journey on the Bologna-Florence high speed line had been booked with Trenitalia in order to compare products. Conservative schedule planning meant we had arrived in Bologna with plenty of time on our inbound service from Ravenna. Once again, a lunch pizza was sought out nearby. Returning to the station, we followed the signs towards the high speed platforms, which was buried a long way beneath the main station and involve multiple sets of escalators. We headed all the way down to trackside to watch trains.

Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa 1000

The exciting free catering

In due course, ours arrived and we boarded. It was also fully booked, although many fellow passengers seemed to struggle with this notion. Luggage space seemed limited, despite many passengers travelling with luggage. There also seemed to be issues with on board toilets not working, which caused some consternation. Once again, on board WiFi was not working properly. The seated experience was mixed – we were on a table of four with two strangers. Given we were in Business Class (again, the second highest on Trenitalia’s high speed trains), it felt like we were too close to our fellow passengers in what was ultimately quite a generously proportioned carriage. The seats were not especially comfortable, and the floors were (oddly) vinyl-covered, making it seem a bit hospital-like. Where Trenitalia did succeed was on its service proposition – a trolley did manage to appear, offering a welcome drink and snack. We accepted the two smallest glasses of prosecco ever seen, in addition to bags of snacks. The journey was quick and straightforward – back through the dark tunnels. We arrived on time.

 

Italo or Trenitalia?
In the straight choice between Italo and Trenitalia, it is difficult to tell who is the winner. The timings and stations are all the same. The trains provided by Italo are more comfortable, but the service seems poorer. Their pricing appeared to me to be keener, but trains were less frequent and delays more common. Trenitalia had a product that was less appealing and cost more, but the ability to follow through on a service proposition (however mediocre a thimbleful of prosecco is) is definitely desirable.

The local to Ravenna

Local trains to/from Ravenna

On board the local

Upon arrival to Bologna, we believed we had missed our connection to the hourly service to Ravenna and the Adriatic coast. However, a glance at the departure board showed that the train we wanted to catch was running 40 minutes late which meant that by rushing we were able to find the train on its allotted platform and board. It was by far the most run down rolling stock that we encountered in Italy, although it was still comfortable enough. There was plenty of space, even if the air supply wasn’t much to write home about. For the initial 20 minutes of the hour-long journey, we barrelled through the countryside east of Bologna in Emilia Romanga – managing a fair speed. However, once we left the mainline the branchline was suitable winding, bumpy and slow. We were conspicuously forced to wait at a couple of stations for long stretches because we were waiting for a train coming the other way to clear. This was only a little odd given that Ravenna is actually a port and upon arrival it transpired it had a fair amount of rail infrastructure. The return trip from Ravenna to Bologna a couple of days later was less noteworthy, with the train in a better state and departing on time. While there was no on board WiFi, 4G coverage was good even in remote areas making it easy to surf and work while on the move.

Ravenna – city of mosaics

See part 3 for more trains and some concluding thoughts on travelling by rail in Italy.

Read Trains in Italy 2019, Part 1
Read Trains in Italy 2019, Part 3

Trains in Italy 2019, Part 1

The Pubblico Palace on the Piazza del Campo in Siena

The Premise
A friend’s wedding in Italy during June seemed as good an excuse as any to see a little more of the country and to take some trains. Other than a quick trip across the border from Nice to Ventimiglia in 2004, I’ve never been before. I have no Italian and no ability to drive, so it was trains or nothing!

Planning
Planning travels around Italy from several months out was something of a challenge. With little experience of the country, there was a need to pick where to go as part of a mini-tour before we headed to the wedding, and a need to work out long to spend in each place without really having the energy to plan a fuller itinerary ahead. Consequently, we ended up with the somewhat arbitrary plan of starting in Florence, moving on to Ravenna, then back south to Siena. From there, we were to head to the rural agriturismo in Tuscany that was the appointed wedding venue, and we would wrap up our trip in Bologna before flying home. Take a look at a map and you’ll see that this isn’t exactly the most obviously order to do things in. Getting to Ravenna from Florence involves going via Bologna, while getting from Ravenna to Siena involves retracing all your steps back to Florence. Before doing it all again (via a slightly different route) back north to Bologna.

I was particularly satisfied (once this mad itinerary had been settled upon) because it meant there would be ample opportunities to try various iterations of the Italian high speed network. The network has two operators: state-owned Trenitalia and private competitor Italo. In practice, they both serve the same stations, travel takes the same time and so on. The distinction becomes on of price (both have a range of advance fares) and class of travel (each has four different classes of travel!).

Planning was aided by the excellent Man in Seat 61’s page on Italy, but I couldn’t help feeling it was all a bit eclectic even as I tried to piece it together. I made the decision to book via Italia Rail – Seat 61 was positive about it, and the interface seemed to work well. Annoyingly, for a third party booking agency, they didn’t offer Italo tickets. However, unnervingly, most tickets for the dates in question during June were not available as we were travelling just after the national timetable publication in Italy. My friend assured me that I needn’t worry – all locals just buy their tickets immediately prior to travel as they don’t get a discount for l. This did not suit me – and we did eventually arrive with a bundle of tickets ready to use for our travels. Apart from the high speed services, which are reservation-only, tickets in Italy are effectively just route-based and pre-validated if bought online. If buying in person, you then stamp them on the platform and they are valid for four hours.

Our Italo tickets were booked via Italo’s own website, which was perfectly functional. Tickets were delivered by email to use as a PDF (either on screen or printed). Similarly, all tickets from ItaliaRail for Trenitalia came as easily used PDFs (in English). The frustrating element was that there were no through tickets on offer. This meant that while we could plan schedules beforehand, we had to buy each part separately. This may work for some – but didn’t suit my British rail-sensibilities.

The new Line 2 tram at Florence Airport

Arrival
The point of entry for the Italian sojourn was Florence, courtesy British Airways’ summer route direct from Edinburgh. Consequently, this meant that our first interaction with Italian transportation on rails was in fact on the second line of Florence’s tram network. The tram network was only launched in 2010, with the second line to the airport only opening in February of this year. The tram was good – rather reminiscent of Edinburgh’s rolling stock – the ticketing less effective. Just one vending machine was available at the airport station to service a steady stream of arrivals seeking to buy tickets, and it was clunky at best. Pricing was keen, however. This was just the beginning of our journeys on the rails in Italy…

Read all about it in Part 2.

Read Trains in Italy 2019, Part 2
Read Trains in Italy 2019, Part 3

Reflections on Travel in 2018

A water taxi at Hamburg’s Fischmarkt

I wrapped up 2017 reflecting on my travel for the year, noting that I had little idea of what was on the cards apart from a couple of visits to London and likely trips to Sweden. Indeed, after a busy 2017, the beginning of 2018 saw little travel at all. It wasn’t until the end of February that I attempted to take my first trip of the year, only to find that the beast from the east stepped in to destroy my plans. A hasty replacement – a flying (and unexpected) visit to Bath took place in early March instead. As I noted at the time, I was surprised at the availability of keenly priced fares with just a few days’ notice and really pleased to find that this was a route that could operate smoothly, making door-to-door travel from Edinburgh to Somerset really quite speedy. This remained the case during the rest of the year: my best value travel purchase this year has to be the £45 paid for a one way ticket just 3 hours before departure. However, the route has the potential to go wrong too – and when it does it does so with gusto. I have received EU261 compensation on two different occasions this year on the Edinburgh-Bristol route, with substantial delays incurred.

Flying home to Edinburgh on a dark evening at Bristol Airport

In fact, this year was on where I enjoyed a range of luck in terms of punctuality. On a number of occasions when an on-time arrival really was essential, but the itinerary felt dicey, I was fortunate to have plans stick. However, I was a recipient of involuntary denied boarding compensation for a trip in July which had the rather odd result of SAS effectively covering all my travel costs. Storm Ali in mid-September also put paid to a day trip to London – regrettably only once I was in the capital. I was relieved that my travel insurer covered the costs of unexpected overnight accommodation and replacement travel on this occasion, as trees on the line saw my plans fall apart.

LNER service waiting to depart Edinburgh Waverley for King’s Cross at dawn.

In a reversal of the trends in 2017 when I travelled extensively on the ECML but didn’t make it to London, whilst making fair use of the WCML, in 2018 I didn’t make it to my old stomping ground of Greater Manchester even once, while I did several trips to London by daytime rail. These were all southbound (my only scheduled northbound trip got scrubbed by Ali). I enjoyed the more relaxing rail setting, and it provided an opportunity to work that travelling by air does not offer. However, the ride quality is not great at times – especially when trying to concentrate on work – and the journey times are extensive. The slower journeys almost feel intolerable – one Sunday night service I travelled on took more than 5 hours! That being said, the catering is appreciated. While others are excited about the impending arrival of LNER’s new rolling stock – the Azuma (currently delayed) – I’m not holding my breath. I had the chance to try the corresponding stock being used by Great Western during the summer and it was nothing to write home about – I sincerely hope we’re not stuck with them in four decades’ time!

A dreich morning boarding a Ryanair flight to London Stansted at Edinburgh Airport

I flew to London using Ryanair once following their infamous cancellation of an entire winter schedule between Edinburgh and Stansted during the preceding winter, without issue and for the bargain price of £12. I also flew to and from London City on multiple occasions using Avios redemptions. Several of these were in Club Europe due to availability issues, but truth be told there was little point given that the Embraers used by British Airways to LCY are wonderfully spacious and service remains strong in Economy. In contrast, I flew back from London on one occasion with BA in Club from Gatwick and was highly impressed at the lounge offering in the terminal and on board – especially for a cheap Avios redemption.

The (old) Caledonian Sleeper at the platform at Euston on the night the new rolling stock should have launched fare-paying service.

The Caledonian Sleeper saw me five times in 2018 – all going north from Euston. Originally, the final two bookings were to have been on new rolling stock – including an outing in the club room with a shower. Due to delays with the manufacturer, the launch has been postponed until the middle of 2019. Ostensibly, service remained the same – other than a few tweaks – and I remained happy. Indeed, since the change allowing passengers to board the sleeper from 10pm at Euston, I find the experience of travelling has improved significantly. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the new product arriving. (The less said at this point about the heavily delayed Crossrail, the better – its launch date had been in the calendar too!)

Flying domestically with Air Canada.

Further afield, I spent just over a week in Canada in late May and early June, visiting Toronto and Regina. I reflected on my experience of travelling to Saskatchewan here, as well as how to catch the bus in the Queen City. For reasons of logistics, I needed to be in Helsinki (I wrote up my reflections on Helsinki local transit here) two days after my final day in Toronto which meant that I ended up travelling with American Airlines and Finnair via New York. While I haven’t yet had time to write it up here, I was all too happy to pay a very reasonable upgrade fee from JFK to HEL to try out Finnair’s long haul business class product. On the whole, I was impressed by my experience with Finnair – I also found their short haul product from Helsinki back to Edinburgh was up to scratch. I can only assume that the outbound economy flight with BA to Toronto from Heathrow was fine – although I remember nothing about it!

Finnair aircraft pulling up to the gate at New York’s JFK Airport.

Travel to Sweden over 2018 was smooth and unremarkable, making use of a combination of Ryanair, EasyJet and Norwegian. I didn’t run into difficulties, and with the exception of one extortionate ticket bought with SAS (flown with Lufthansa, as explained above), prices remained reasonable. I had a lot of fun returning from Gothenburg to the UK using a combination of Brussels Airlines and bmi Regional back in May, not least for the nostalgia kick of flying on one of bmi’s Embraer 145s.

The Copenhagen-Hamburg train aboard the ferry.

My travel highlight of 2018 was undoubtedly in October when I visited Copenhagen before travelling home by rail. I outlined the journey in three parts: Copenhagen to Hamburg, Hamburg to London part 1 and part 2. The whole return journey covered multiple items on my travel bucket list. I was thrilled to finally make it onto the Copenhagen to Hamburg direct train using the Rødby-Puttgarden ferry. The new Eurostar rolling stock from Brussels to London was also a delight. (And I haven’t even mentioned Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg!). It might not have been as cheap as flying direct with easyJet, but it represented excellent value for many, comfortable hours’ train travel – I’m very grateful to my enthusiastic travel companion who did most of the intricate legwork and planning to ensure we travelled in comfort and style.

My travel-planning companion admires the new Eurostar rolling stock in Brussels.

Closer to home, much of the first half of 2018 was spent preparing to move home and settling into a new area. The result of this has been lots of exploring of new travel options in a new part of the city. One exciting day in June I got to visit the Port of Leith for a guided tour. I wrote about the launch of MyTaxi, a new app, back in May – things didn’t quite work as I had hoped. It remains the case that finding a taxi in Leith can be quite a challenge, and I continue to seek out the best solution without success.

My room at London’s Malmaison.

Most travel takes place on the basis of convenience and cost. I was very pleased to secure various hotel rooms in London for well under £50/night during 2018. I made use of the hotel booking app HotelTonight several times during 2018 and was generally pleased with the results: under £50 for a good B&B room in Bath booked on the day of arrival and under £100 for a night in the London Malmaison booked at 8pm rank as highlights.

The view from the Doubletree in Greenwich looking towards the central London skyline.

However, points and status did play a role at various times. My personal highlights included the Radisson Suite Hotel at Toronto Airport, which was a very cheap points redemption where I received a full 4-room apartment. I was similarly chuffed with the bargain redemption offered by the Hampton by Hilton at Bristol Airport. I was very pleased with perks offered at the Four Points by Sheraton in Regina, where my status secured me a good room and generous breakfast credit. The absolute winner for status-related perk has to go to the Doubletree by Hilton in Greenwich, which provided an upgrade to the top floor with floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the city of London to the west, along with 2 glasses of wine per guest and the requisite hot cookie on check in. While the location is a little left field, I really like Deptford and will try to stay there again. In terms of travel redemptions, I was most pleased with a late redemption in 2018 for LNER credit via Nectar, which represented excellent value – in addition to a great value redemption of my SJ Prio points 10 minutes before departure for a train from Lund to Halmstad.

SJ 3000 waiting at the platform in Halmstad.

So, what does 2019 hold in store? There is slightly more in the diary than last time. At least a couple of impending trips to London along with the likely outings to Sweden are lined up. In early June I will be visiting Vancouver – I’m looking forward to my first visit to the Pacific northwest and trying out BA’s A380 economy product for the first time in 4 years. A trip to Italy is also likely – and perhaps a few surprises. And who knows – if Brexit leads to a travel shutdown, I might get around to writing up my outstanding blog ideas from late 2017 and 2018.

The beautiful dawn view at the Fischmarkt in Hamburg.

Hamburg-London by Rail [Part 2]

Now: where were we? Ah, yes. Returning from Copenhagen to the UK by rail. Firstly by train and ferry from Copenhagen to Hamburg. Then on from Hamburg to London – in part 1 we had reached Brussels…

Our train, the 18:52 to London, stands by the platform in Brussels.

The unfortunate impact of our unexpected schedule amendment at Cologne was more time in Brussels than anticipated. The station is in a dead-end neighbourhood of Brussels. You would expect that after more than two decades of international high-speed rail services terminating there, things would have improved (I certainly believe that if you opened a major, international railway station in an obscure corner of London, it would gentrify overnight). This is not the case – having popped outside to look at the trams and stroll around some of the neighbouring streets (while noting we were definitely too far from anything to venture further afield during our connection), we returned to the station building and wandered the shops and eateries, feeling generally dis

Only a train and a travel companion to be seen.

appointed. Resigned to waiting, we headed to join the back of the queue for our departure long before was necessary. As we were travelling on DB tickets, which until then had worked well – barcodes being scanned by efficient personnel – we were directed to the desk for special people once we reached the front of the queue by the self-serve barcode scanning gates. We were issued with new boarding passes for Eurostar and invited to use the Business Premier security channel (a small win). Eventually, we were through to the rather bleak, windowless holding area at Bruxelles-Midi. Had I been travelling alone, I would have tried out the Eurostar lounge (courtesy of my credit card), but unfortunately no guests are permitted under this scheme and leaving my travelling companion behind seemed a little unfair. We slummed it on the normal, awkward benches instead. It wasn’t long before boarding was opened (for those of us who had already ‘boarded’) and being eager beavers, we streamed up the travellator to try and get good photos before the crowds descended. We weren’t disappointed: the platform was practically deserted.

 

 

Standard Premier seating at a table for 4.

We got into our Standard Premier coach and located our seats. While we had one of the few sets of airline style seats in the standard premier coach, the conclusion was that travelling as a pair this was preferable as it provided a degree of privacy in what is quite an open carriage. Leg space was excellent and seat comfort was good. The window view was so-so, but as it was dark it hardly mattered. More importantly, this was my first time travelling on the new Siemens Velaro e320 Eurostar rolling stock. My infrequent previous journeys on Eurostar have all been on TGV TMST, which was somewhat underwhelming. (My first trip on Eurostar was long enough ago to be from Waterloo!). This, in contrast, was really good.

Mandatory meal shot.

Eurostar features three classes of travel. Standard class, which is 2×2 seating and perfectly reasonable compared to air travel. Standard premier, which is 2×1 seating with a light meal and bar service at seat. And Business Premier which is the same hard product as standard premier, with a full, hot, three course hot meal served at seat. A DB London special ticket in first class books into standard premier on Eurostar as a matter of course. The at-seat service was polite, but it only passed by once for each element. We had gone to some trouble in requesting vegetarian meals via DB customer service (Eurostar customer service can’t touch DB bookings on their own services) – but it transpired that there was a straight choice between either a meat or veggie option onboard. For a ‘light’ meal, the spread was very good – and there was free choice from the bar. This was followed up later with a hot drink service. The crew then seemed to disappear – with no drinks tops ups – and trays being cleared towards arrival. That being said, it was some time from departure from Brussels before meals were served – which is surprising given that were very close to the galley and it is only a 2-hour service. On a comparable service, like London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly in first, I would fully expect to be eating my dinner by Milton Keynes. But this was not the case here. Nevertheless, the bar choice was good, and the meal was both well-proportioned and tasty.

An assortment of Eurostars – old and new – at London St Pancras.

Travelling in the dark – after a good nine hours of travel already – time began to pass fairly rapidly, as the view through the windows was pitch black. The difference between being above ground and in the tunnel was negligible other than a pressure change, all set against the backdrop of occasional, subdued announcements in French, English and Flemish – switching to English, French and Flemish once we had crossed the Channel. When we stopped in Ebbsfleet it was apparent we had lost some minutes as we were running late. But we made good time and we were only a few minutes behind schedule by the time we silently barrelled into London St Pancras. Disembarking, we were at the Brussels end of the train – but this just meant that for the second time that day we had the pleasure of walking the length of our wonderful high-speed train. We had made decent time: 11.5 hours from Hamburg to London, with time for onward connections. As we followed the trail through St Pancras arrivals, we had the peculiar experience of crossing an invisible border in a UK customs hall (officially, you clear immigration and customs for the UK at Brussels, but in this antsy pre-Brexit era, there was conspicuously two layers for this!) before emerging into the station proper.

A bit of a come down after the delights of Eurostar

Our journey was at an end. Only it wasn’t. A hasty descent into the subterranean to travel on the tube to Paddington followed, my travel companion eager to catch an onward connection to the west country (caught with 15 minutes to spare). I slowly retraced my own steps back to Euston to await the Caledonian Sleeper north. This was the source of some sadness. Originally, I was booked to travel on the first night of revenue earning service of Caledonian’s new rolling stock – but with just 3 weeks’ notice this has been postponed, replaced by standard, old stock. No ensuite for me! The Man in Seat in 61 was supposed to be travelling (and confirmed he was), but I didn’t see him either. Having spent some time slumped in the 1^st class lounge at Euston, I boarded the sleeper just after 22:00 (thank goodness for the new, earlier boarding times) and I was asleep before departure. It was a smooth journey and I was woken up by my porridge being delivered just before 07:00 on what a very cold and frosty morning. We pulled into Waverley on time at 07:19 – a mere 22.5 hours after I left Hamburg.

My northbound Caledonian sleeper – very much not the new rolling stock

Reflections: I was thrilled to try travelling all the way home by rail from afar – the last time I did so was in 2013, when I returned from Stuttgart by rail. It worked well, it was good value. It was fun. The compartment on a standard DB intercity train made for one of the more pleasant travel experiences, but there’s no beating the experience of DB at high speed on an ICE. The new Eurostar rolling stock is also a major improvement on what went before. 1^st class service on DB is nothing to write home about, but it ensured we were taken seriously as ticketed passengers. Standard premier on Eurostar is very good, especially if snaffled in a sale or as part of a DB package – although it would be even better if there were top ups. Conclusion: we do quite well in first in the UK on routes like the East and West Coast Mainlines, although they don’t go as fast. Ritter Sport improves everything. Would I travel from Copenhagen to the UK by rail again – absolutely!

Hamburg-London by Rail [Part 1]

Hamburg at dawn

As the Denmark-UK guide on the Man in Seat 61 outlines, it is not possible to do Copenhagen to London in a day – an overnight stop has to be built in somewhere. Having travelled from Copenhagen to Hamburg by train and ferry, an overnight stop in Hamburg therefore ensued (including a very fun visit to Miniatur Wunderland and a dawn visit to the Fischmarkt). Having made a bright and early start, we had no trouble getting to Hamburg Hbf to start out long day of travel.

With double decker trains and Ritter Sport banner ads, Hamburg Hbf offers something for everyone!

As was the case with the tickets from Denmark to Hamburg, a little careful planning had ensured that the booking from Hamburg to London was made when DB released their London spezial fares, which meant that €129 per person bought a first class ticket from Hamburg all the way to London St Pancras (including protected connections). In practice, this meant we had first class seats on a standard DB Inter City service from Hamburg to Cologne, followed by first class seats on a DB ICE service to Brussels, and finally seats in Standard Premier on Eurostar. Departure from Hamburg was at 09:46, with the final arrival into London at 20:03. All on a Sunday, and with a couple of hours built in for a quick wonder around Cologne during our connection.

Our train arrived on schedule – a very pleasant loco-hauled Inter City train, from before the era of high speed. Between Hamburg and Cologne, the time saving for using high speed was negligible, so it seemed a good opportunity to try the older stock. Some careful planning using the Man in Seat 61 and various DB seating plans meant we had been well-informed when it came to selecting reserved seats. We were booked in a first class compartment – distinguishing itself from standard by having just 4 seats in a space usually used for 6. We had the compartment to ourselves as far as Bremen, which leant it the air of high class seclusion from the masses that would ordinarily only be found by connecting your own private car to a train in the USA. Once we were joined by two strangers, the vibe changed a little. While it wasn’t uncomfortable, it obviously feels different to chat in front of others who in a confined space with you. We felt empowered by the fact that we had been there first, which meant we had already set the tone of the compartment for the journey. The lighting levels were good – there was a full window from the compartment, and the corridor was walled off using glass, ensuring plenty of light and views in the opposite direction too. On board service was limited – we could pop along to the buffet car for DB’s snacks – or wait and see what happened. A very nice attendant popped along with a tray of fresh coffees, which we were able to buy for the princely sum of €3 each and consume along with our own chocolate goodies. The quality of the ride was very good – comfortable and quiet. Service friendly and polite, albeit with no freebies as one might expect in 1st in the UK.

We had wisely stocked up on snacks before boarding at Hamburg Hbf and consumed many of these over the course of our rather lengthy journey to Cologne. It was clear over the course of the journey that the train was filling up (we had been warned that the train was ‘full’ between Bremen and Osnabrück) and all seats in our own compartment were filled from Bremen as far as Cologne, where all occupants alighted.

A combination of Germany’s finest self-catering and onboard catering.

Crowds getting off our inbound train at Cologne Hbf

In Cologne, we had to deal with an unexpected change to our plans that we had received a little advance notice of. A week before our travels, we had been emailed by DB with the news that our departure from Cologne at 15:43 had been cancelled and that we should travel on any suitable, alternative service. As we had a connection in Brussels to maintain, it was clear that we should eat into the two-hour window we had built into our itinerary in Cologne and depart an hour earlier on the 14:43. The email had told us we were on our own when it came to seating reservations – a little unfair given we had gone to some trouble to select seats we liked! We hot-footed it round to the DB travel centre, and after carefully explaining our predicament to the travel centre dragon (entry to the centre proper was not permitted until you had justified your presence there), we were provided with a ticket for the erste klasse queue. Hurrah! We entered, and waited about 2 minutes before being served in English by a rather officious member of staff. Having explained that we would like a reservation on the train an hour earlier, having been unceremoniously bumped off our train, we received some good news! Our train wasn’t cancelled – it was just leaving an hour earlier. Indeed, it was the train an hour earlier we were aiming for. Our reservations were still intact – all we need do was get on board and sit in them.

Train spotting at Cologne Hbf

We popped outside, with little time to idle, to take in the cathedral and take up a prime vantage spot for watching trains departing the station via the bridge. Yet, before we knew it, we needed to retreat back inside the station building to seek out our train – not cancelled, just leaving one hour earlier – and our special seats. Foreseeing hunger, we procured a couple of somewhat questionable sandwiches from a German railway station bakery before heading up to the platforms to find our carriage. It was across the platform from a matching DB ICE service bound for Amsterdam – but our Brussels-bound service looked the best. So sleek. So beautiful. They do not build trains like this just anywhere. As luck would have it, we had emerged at the wrong end of the platform and had to walk the length to find our reservation – dull for most, but quite exciting for train lovers. Having turfed the chap who had settled down in our prized seats out of them, we took up position.

Our service standing at the platform in Cologne

Our swanky seats

Proof it was heading for Brussels

Departure was quiet and smooth – like most of the journey on board the ICE. Whether it was running at high speed or slowly on suburban Belgian tracks, it was offered good ride quality. We were pleased to have chosen seating in the open carriage for this leg – the compartments on the ICE trains look a bit confined. It was lucky we had bought snacks too – the bistro was closed (so much for Germany efficiency). Indeed, announcements in four languages (German, French, Flemish and English) became progressively less apologetic about this fact – where Germans were undoubtedly promised heavenly reward for their endurance, we were informed in English that we were out of luck – no bistro. Never mind! We made rapid progress and it wasn’t long before we crossed the border into Belgium. The reason for the confused timetable and one-hour-early departure? A diversion that meant we did not call in Liège as might be expected, but in Angleur – deep in the Liège suburbs. I particularly enjoyed watching eastern Belgium fly by outside the window – I’ve previously enjoyed the transition to the red brick housing of Belgium from Germany’s more austere appearance, and I did so again. Conversation (and high speed travel) meant that the 2.5 hour journey was soon drawing to a close. Most of the passengers got off at Bruxelles-Nord, but we hung on to Bruxelles-Midi – given we were connecting onto Eurostar.

Come back for that soon.

 

 

 

 

Copenhagen-Hamburg by Rail, aka Ferry Train!

The view from Copenhagen’s Rundetaarn.

I was in Copenhagen for various events in late October, including the book fair. My original, intended date of departure lined up poorly with flight options – and with no pressing deadline to return home it seemed a good opportunity to consider alternative options. A conversation with a friend in the same boat including the half joking suggestion of returning by rail quickly snowballed into a genuine proposal. While returning from Copenhagen to the UK by rail in one day isn’t possible, a little research courtesy of the Man in Seat 61 and Deutsche Bahn showed that it was easily done in just over a day. The most exciting element of this was, to my mind, that I had finally found an opportunity to travel on a train using the Rødby-Puttgarden ferry. This has been on my train bucket list for some time, and has a limited shelf life given that the Danish and German governments are working on a tunnel across the Fehrmarn Belt due to open in 2028.

 

Rail replacement coach at Copenhagen central station.

A little careful planning meant that we were able to book our tickets for travel from Copenhagen to Hamburg on the day of release 3 months prior to departure, using DB’s excellent Sparpreis Europa fares. While the Man in Seat 61 argues that 1st class isn’t worth it, we felt that the benefits made the modest additional sum worth it. It wasn’t entirely smooth sailing though: it was not possible to reserve seats on the service, and the reason for this became clear in early September when DB’s ticket office got in touch to note that DSB had announced that they wouldn’t be running a train between Copenhagen and Rødby. Instead, we were to travel by rail replacement coach departing half an hour earlier. The good news was that they could reserve us seats on the train (we got good ones right at the very front!) and that we would board the train in Rødby before it went aboard the ferry. The purpose of the trip was not lost!

 

 

Self catering…

Fast forward to the allotted day and there was much excitement as we headed to Copenhagen central station to look for our rail replacement coach. We soon tracked it down and were relieved to see that it was at least to be a fairly comfortable journey (no guarantees of that in the UK!) – albeit that there were a lot of people waiting. After idling in the grey October drizzle for a while, we began boarding the coaches. Luggage was stowed in the hold by a cheery driver who double-checked not only that we had our tickets but that we had brought our passports. We took our seats on the upper deck of the coach, and settled down with some of our own tasty refreshments for the 2-hour drive from Copenhagen to Rødby. The coach, fully equipped with loo, wifi, charging points and so on, was perfectly comfortable – and the empty, flat motorway meant it was a smooth trip through the yellow leaves and grey skies of southern Denmark in autumn.

 

Sunnier skies at Rødby Færge

On arrival in Rødby, things were a little less organised. After disembarkation, it became apparent that no one would help retrieve luggage, and passengers seemed helpless. Once I had reached the front, I began passing bags out and people soon got the idea. We were fairly early for our train, which meant we had ample time to take in the sites at Rødby Færge station – not the most exciting outpost on the Danish railways! Some people chose to wait inside the station building (joined to the ferry passenger terminal), but we headed out onto the platform to stand in the bitterly cold wind where the sun was slowly peeking out. In due course, our train turned up – a double set of DSB 2-car DMUs, looking very smart, but almost certainly some of the oldest rolling stock on the Danish network. Despite this, it was pretty smart looking and comfortable on board.

 

Rødby Færge station

1st class seating on board the DSB service to Hamburg

The train pulled out of the station and very slowly drove onto the waiting ferry. There was a noticeable clunk as the train left the ‘ground’ and joined tracks on the metal ramp onto the ferry, and seconds later we were creeping inside the bowels of Scandlines’ Schleswig Holstein. We slid past assorted lorries and coaches already parked up on the car deck, before coming to a halt at the far end of the ferry, the front of the train almost touching the roll-on-roll-off door (here’s our video). Having been previously told via an announcement in Danish and English that we would be on the boat and would have to get off, we were once again reminded of this. Like most other passengers, we left our luggage behind and got out onto the car deck, heading for stairs up to the rest of the ship. It was striking how tight a squeeze it was for the train on the car deck, with passengers having to follow a narrow gap to reach the stairs. It was clear that loading the train was one of the last things to have happened before departure, and by the time we were upstairs we were already out of port.

The ‘platform’ on the car deck.

The crossing – which lasts about 45 minutes – was passed with an exploration of the inside of the ship (boring, but snacks were procured for later), a visit to duty free (boring, but chocolate procured for later) and time spent on deck watching other shipping. Having been a miserable day in Copenhagen, it really was lovely by the time we were at sea. A few minutes before arrival in Puttgarden, there was a tannoy announcement instructing us to return to the car deck and we headed back down – naturally taking the opportunity to take plenty more photos. Safely ensconced in our seats, we discovered had a prime view of events as the front door opened on the ferry to let us roll off – last on, first off – into Puttgarden station just a few hundred metres from the quayside. There was a nominal border check at this point (despite this being an intra-Schengen service) as German police boarded to check papers. In the case of 1st class, they briefly glanced into the compartment before moving on – but they appear to have been more scrupulous with other passengers.

Live tracking on board the ferry.

The mouth of the ferry opening in Puttgarden.

Upon departure from Puttgarden, our on board crew were provided by DB, with announcements being offered in German, very-German-Danish, and very-German-English. But all clear enough. A full ticket check occurred and we got to work on our snacks. What was clear was that this corner of northern Germany was more picturesque than the rather grey island of Lolland we had left behind in Denmark. The run from Puttgarden to Hamburg only took around 90 minutes, and before we knew it, we had reached the end of the route.

It was striking how much time on the route from Copenhagen is spent on the ferry crossing – the completion of the tunnel will make a significant difference to journey time. We had already lost half an hour as a result of the rail replacement coach, although the way the journey was broken up meant that it was less noticeable. While there was no significant benefit to travelling in 1st (none whatsoever on the coach!), it provided substantially better views of the action on the ferry, and provided a modicum of peace and quiet on what was in fact a very busy train.

I would recommend the Copenhagen-Hamburg route to anyone with an interest in trains – there aren’t many scheduled rail services still using ferries like this, and numbers will surely only continue to decline. I’m very glad to have had the opportunity to go on the ferry train – hopefully I will get the chance to do so again at some point.

An involuntary denied boarding adventure

Summer 2018 in Haverdal

After my reflections about accruing EU261 compensation on delayed flights this year, I thought I would share my other compensation experience of the summer – that of involuntary denied boarding.

Off on summer holidays

The decision was made really rather late in the day during July that we would attempt to get away for a week to Sweden for some sunshine and relaxation at the beach. Attempting to travel on the final weekend in July with just a couple of weeks’ notice is not something that is easy. After much to-ing and fro-ing (would you like to pay £225 per person to fly one way with Ryanair for 90 minutes?!), we settled on a peculiar itinerary leaving after work on a Friday with SAS at 20:40 for Stockholm, with an overnight stop before continuing on to Gothenburg the next day. Ordinarily, this would be mad – both in terms of cost and timings – but it really was the best of the bunch to ensure we got away. Being a strange itinerary, it wasn’t even bookable via SAS itself – it had to be booked through a travel agent.

 

The first hint that something was afoot was when online check in for the flight opened and we were unable to check in. This remained the case after sleeping on it, and I could see that the aircraft for the day was already out and about and functioning as it should. I tweeted SAS, who were blithely ignorant of any issue. My gut was churning – and I was right to be concerned. At around noon – 8.5 hours before we were due to fly and still no boarding passes in hand – I received an email from SAS informing me that they were unable to accommodate us on the flight that evening and that we would be rebooked. A few minutes’ later another email followed with details – we were going to fly Lufthansa at 18:10 instead. To Frankfurt.

Mainz seen through the window on approach to Frankfurt

SAS’ email made it clear this was a case of involuntary denied boarding, stating that we were due compensation and reimbursement of hotel costs in Germany. Nevertheless, the departure time 2.5 hours earlier than expected was a real pain and I spent some time in crisis mode on the phone to SAS attempting to get alternatives. The problem is that most things were sold out, and that SAS won’t rebook onto BA, which was the best alternative option at that late stage. We were stuck with the rebooked schedule, so we made the best of it, scrambling to get to the airport early – which included pulling one person out of work.

A diorama of the Sheraton at Frankfurt Airport… inside the Sheraton at Frankfurt Airport. A great way to blow €300 of not-your-money.

While at Edinburgh, we booked a hotel at Frankfurt Airport, which was fortunate as when we arrived (late!) it was mobbed. Our room was pleasant, but hardly work the €280 they had the audacity to charge! The next morning, we had a leisurely start to the day, watching aircraft arriving at Frankfurt from the roof of our hotel before heading into the terminal to catch our flight on to Gothenburg. We actually arrived at Gothenburg 15 minutes before we would have done on our original SAS itinerary!

 

A321 boarded from the apron

So, what to take out of this: well, two things. This was the first time in many years that I’ve flown with Lufthansa. For shorthaul out of Edinburgh, they tend not to be a viable option on grounds of cost. EasyJet, Eurowings and Ryanair have a number of German airports covered from Edinburgh, while the real benefit ofter by Lufty is connections to their wider network via Frankfurt. In my experience, they have never come out cheapest. My impressions were not poor: our flight to Frankfurt was on a rather elderly A321, but the cabin was in reasonable condition. Our onward flight to Gothenburg was on a CRJ 900 (my first, I think) and was perfectly serviceable for a small regional jet. Onboard service was very German. While it’s lovely to still be fed for free, a cheese sandwich with a brick of cheese slathered with cream cheese is a bit much. Serving beer in full-sized glass bottles also seemed a bit much! On this basis, I wouldn’t rush to book Lufthansa in future if prices don’t improve.

Secondly, involuntary denied boarding cost SAS. Not only were they obliged to reroute us with a few hours’ notice on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, but they also covered the cost of our expensive hotel at Frankfurt Airport (very much welcome given we had planned to pay for a hotel at Arlanda, which we were able to cancel our reservation for). What was more, EU261 dictates that involuntary denied boarding (which is what this was) means the airline must pay €400 compensation per passenger, in addition to accommodating them elsewhere. To be clear: SAS paid us €400 each, paid for an overnight stay we had planned to pay for ourselves, and got us to our destination earlier than they could have done themselves. In what realm this made sense to the person/computer tasked with adjusting the load on the evening flight from Edinburgh to Stockholm I don’t know…

CRJ900 at Gothenburg Airport

Are the levels of compensation being paid out under EU261 sustainable? Perhaps, perhaps not. Rumour has it that the regulations may be overhauled to be more realistic and less generous. What impact Brexit will have is unclear. In the meantime, be suspicious if you can’t check in online at T-24 and make sure you file your claim in full when it does all go wrong!

When Bristolian travels go wrong

Bristol (with the Severn bridges visible in the background) by night from the air

Having written about how impressed I was by the efficiency of flying with EasyJet between Edinburgh and Bristol back in March, chance has seen me test this theory over the subsequent months with a number of flights on the route. Several of these have gone smoothly, and it remains the case that EasyJet offers the best journey times between Edinburgh and Somerset, with multiple departures and keen pricing. (I bought a ticket 3 hours before departure during September for just £45). However, these trips have not all been uneventful, and it appears that when things go wrong they do so with gusto on this route.

 

Lovely plane spotting on Midsummer’s Eve

Unexpected eats

Back in June, I set off to Edinburgh Airport after dinner in central Edinburgh to catch the last flight of the day at 20:55 to Bristol. I already knew there was a delay of an hour or so thanks to the EasyJet app, which was irritating. However, once I arrived at the airport, it gradually became apparent that this was going to be extended. Being the summer solstice, it was quite pleasant to wander around the terminal plane spotting through the windows, although I really did want to be on my way. 2 hours delay came and went, and refreshment vouchers were handed out, along with the news that our aircraft – already delayed due to air traffic issues in Portugal – had crew that were out of hours, but that a new crew were being sourced. There was a new scheduled departure time of 02:00, and suffice to say that many passengers weren’t happy. I was sanguine, preferring travel late to the alternative of cancellation. As it was, I settled down for some late night eats and waited. However, just before midnight it was announced that the flight was cancelled for the night, with a replacement due to operate at 11:00 the next morning. While most passengers joined queues to secure hotel accommodation and so on, I headed for a cab and went home for a handful of hours in my bed at home.

 

On the upside, I got to see this view from my house at 1am having gone home…

The next morning, I returned to Edinburgh Airport and we did it all again. Quirks of this experience – the new flight, with special flight number – operated on time were that a new boarding pass was required, and that by the time we boarded we had lost about 40% of the passengers from the night before (it had been an oversold flight the night before). Everything went off without a hitch and I arrived at Bristol a mere 14 hours late. (But had a very pleasant day).

 

Departing a mere 14 hours late the next day

Impromptu go round for our inbound aircraft

A little earlier this month, I feared that history was repeating itself when I arrived at Bristol for the last flight of the night back to Edinburgh – due to depart at 20:45. Everything seemed fine, but the aircraft was running a few minutes late. It then performed a go round on arrival, which added to its delay. However, we were all already penned into the gate area when the aircraft arrived. Ominously, there was a 20-minute delay after which the captain informed us that the plane was tech and that they were awaiting an engineer, but that there was a possibility a replacement aircraft would be needed. There was a muttered remark about crew hours. Fortunately we were released back into the terminal – now deserted as the Edinburgh departure is one of the last ones of the night. I was paranoid that a cancellation and overnight stop were in the offing but when refreshment vouchers were issued at 2 hours, a confirmed departure time of 00:05 was announced. This was to be operated by a replacement aircraft and crew scrambled from Gatwick. An aircraft eventually did turn up and we did travel, not arriving at Edinburgh until 01:30 (although some swift footwork and a cab had me home at 02:00).

 

Everyone looks thrilled to out on the apron at BRS at 00:30.

What to pull out of these two experiences? EasyJet has very little slack in its schedules and delays start to build up quickly, with a snowball effect. Edinburgh and Bristol may seem like busy EasyJet airports, but when planes go tech they do not have the reserve capacity to deal with this – and they do not have standby crews locally available. In the June instance, a crew was to be summoned from Gatwick – just as happened this month. This is time-consuming, as it is a lengthy process to assemble a crew at 10pm and fly them from Gatwick to another UK airport.

Information on the ground from EasyJet (and ServisAir, who are their ground handling agents in the UK) is poor – they don’t have any more information than passengers. The airline recommends the use of its app for updates (in addition to sending text messages to passengers’ registered numbers), and this works up to a point – however, the most effective source of information was the web-based EasyJet tracker, which tended to update with fresh information from EasyJet ops long before any of the others. This lack of synchronisation seems unfortunate.

What recompense? Well, £3 to spend on refreshments after 2 hours delay barely gets you anywhere in an airport. In Edinburgh it contributed to a burrito. In Bristol, Starbucks was selling all its coffees for £3 to make the most of having stayed open to serve a planeload of passengers. Both flights experienced delays in excess of 3 hours that were within the control of EasyJet, so I filed my EU261 claims. This meant that I received €250 in each instance (along with other limited out-of-pocket expenses). While this is nice as it dramatically helps to balance the budget of the trips, it really does feel like it has been earned the hard way when you have to give up and go home from the airport at midnight, or when you arrive at 01:30. While the airlines argue the regulations are too favourable to passengers, I reckon the average passenger on a route like this (drunk, tired businesspeople and inexperienced domestic travellers) is unlikely to apply for compensation even when advised of their rights (as we were).

So, what’s the solution? Well – go by train. Except that takes 7-8 hours and costs more. It too can be delayed. Only fly in the mornings? Doesn’t really work if you can’t travel until the evening or don’t want an extra night of accommodation. EasyJet to up their performance on routes like this? Clearly they have run the numbers and reckon they’re doing enough. The passenger has to go in with their eyes open – in most cases they will travel on time. But when it goes wrong, it really goes wrong. Keep your wits about you, stay well-fed, and remember to apply for compensation when it exceeds 3 hours. And relax – I don’t like being in the airport for hours beyond what I expected against my will – but getting stressed doesn’t help. Will I be receiving more money from EasyJet in 2018… only time will tell!

Should have gone by train?

Touring the Port of Leith

Waiting to load up

A typical view

A few weeks ago, a colleague pointed out to me that Forth Ports were advertising free bus tours of the Port of Leith to mark their 50th anniversary.The Port of Leith is the largest enclosed deepwater port in Scotland and it handles lots of cargo, lots of North Sea oil/gas logistics and quite a few cruise ships. As a privately owned, working port, the goings on inside are a bit of a mystery to locals – until now, I’ve only ever really been aware the shape/layout of the port thanks to the map and views when arriving by air from the east. Living 15 minutes walk from the port and having wondered what lay inside, this seemed like an excellent opportunity to find out. A booking was duly made and one very, very rainy Saturday morning in mid-June we pitched up at the Prince of Wales Gate to join our tour.

It was very nice to see that they had chartered two old routemasters. Of course, filled up with a busload of passengers and on a rainy day, it took all of two minutes to steam up all the windows. Open window cracks offered some respite, and clear photos. Wiping the glass every few seconds helped too – but there’s only so much you can do.

The Normand Pioneer – an offshore supply ship

Nevertheless, the tour, which lasted about 45 minutes was good. We received a running commentary as we drove around the docks – some of it slightly heavy on marketing copy – but plenty of it informative for the uninitiated. We stopped several times to be shown things, and received two ‘guest’ talks from speakers who got on. The highlight on this rainiest of days was probably seeing the lock gates used at the entrance to the port that ensure the depth inside remains the same regardless of the tide.

The lock at the entrance to the port. In front is the lock gate, on a series of wires (just visible).

There’s not much more to add. Of course, better weather would have been nice – and more time could have been good in places. I hope this is something they decide to repeat or even develop in future. I would love to do a walking tour of the port, but this would clearly open up a whole host of other issues in terms of distance and safety. More realistic is possibly getting the chance to take the tour when it isn’t bucketing it down and the windows are clear!

Another glimpsed vessel.

On the quay where the buses departed.