It is 10:20pm on a Wednesday night in late August. I am on a train from Newcastle to Birmingham.
This morning I made the trek to Heathrow to fly up to Newcastle. I thought perhaps flying was a bit excessive.
Yes, it is only a 45 minute flight, but when you factor in getting to Heathrow, getting through security, waiting to board, boarding, taxiing, cueing for takeoff, takeoff, landing, taxiing, disembarking and getting from the airport, it is probably not that much less than the three-and-a-half-hour train journey.
But my doubts were today put to rest. Flying is definitely the way to go. The trip to Heathrow, albeit long, was smooth. Checking in online made the process at the airport quite quick, and getting on the plane didn’t take that long at all. Once on the plane, I was served drinks and snacks, as well as free newspapers. To get the equivalent treatment on the train would have cost a hefty first class ticket. And an hour later, I was “oop-North” in Newcastle. But I didn’t really make up my mind that flying is the way to go until an hour-and-a-half into my train journey down to Birmingham tonight. This is when I realised, that despite being on the train for what felt like forever, I still had 2 hours to go. At least travelling to and from the airports provides changing scenery. Sitting in a single train seat, especially when it is dark outside and there’s no-one interesting to look at inside the carriage, makes for a dreadfully boring trip. Especially when you have forgotten your iPod earphones!
The day up in Newcastle was good. My meeting went well, and I had some spare time to look around either side of the meeting. Despite being miserable weather today in London, Newcastle was actually warm and gloriously sunny. Who would have though the North could have a better climate?
I have a meeting tomorrow morning in Birmingham, so I am staying there tonight. Only another half an hour to go on this train!
