Memories from before the lockdown (part one): Christmas Holidays

These are exceptional times. Most of the world has been in some form of lockdown for months, and although we are easing ourselves out of it, travel and holidays remain a fantasy for most of us, something that can still only be played out in our minds, either by imagining what we can do in the future, or reminiscing about trips from the past.

Luckily I made a few trips quite recently that are still quite fresh in my memory, all between the end of December last year and the end of February this year. It does seem crazy to think that only a few months ago a trip to Germany felt as normal as a walk in the park does today. While I was in Germany, the first case of Covid-19 was reported there, but even then I had no idea just how extreme the effect of this would have on general life both in Germany and here in the UK.

So I've decided to make a few posts about these trips, a sort of reminiscence of recent travel, in lieu of the journeys I won't be able to make this summer.

The first trip was something that has become a bit of a tradition for me and my girlfriend, Alison; an annual holiday to the German Christmas markets, or 'Weilnachstmarkt's. We generally try to visit a different city each year, and I always push very hard to travel by train. Last year it was a particular struggle to find the time in to both our schedules, however, so as it was one of our favorite cities (with some of the best markets), we opted to return to Cologne. Cologne is one of the easiest cities to visit from London, with just one change at Brussels and two high speed trains. The entire journey takes less than 5 hours.

As we could only fit the holiday in literally just before Christmas (returning on Christmas eve!), I have to admit that I broke my non-flying commitment on the way back, but only on the self imposed condition that, as this was still in 2019, I would make 2020 a completely flight free year. I flew straight to Dublin to visit my family, while Alison flew to her home town of Newcastle upon Tyne. And this brought about my next interesting journey...

Although technically I guess I could have still flown - it was the 30th December - I opted for the sail and rail option to travel from Dublin to Newcastle, and rejoin Alison for New Year's eve. We returned to London a few days later, and I was now obviously totally committed to using the train. But I would never fly from Newcastle to London.

Leg one: London to Cologne

London to Cologne is a journey I've discussed on here before, and will do again (as part of longer trips). It's incredibly easy to do from London. Unfortunately there is an ongoing dispute of some sort between Deutsche Bahn and Eurostar about booking systems, and I believe DB's 'Sparpreis Europa' fares from London to Germany are not available at the moment, which is obviously a great shame. At the time of booking, I was aware of the dispute, but knew the fares should still be available. I struggled to complete a booking though; every time I got through to the payment stage, the process kept failing at the final hurdle and I couldn't complete the booking... I did start to worry, but after trying a few websites and apps I finally managed to find a reasonably priced option for the dates we wanted, but it was only available in first class. This was a treat, though. It was a Christmas holiday for us both, so I booked it.

And so it was that just a few days before Christmas we ended up at St. Pancras international for our annual Christmas holiday.....

A first class Deutsche Bahn ticket entitles you the 'middle tier' of "standard premier" on Eurostar, which is still great. It's I've used it a few times before, the most memorable being when the very kind Eurostar staff bumped us up after explaining how a delayed German train made us miss the Brussels connection, Thalys refused to let us travel on our ticket, and we spent half the day racing across Belgium on local trains with no catering. They definitely took pity on the slightly disheveled and more than a little stressed looking couple that just wanted to know if there was any room on the next train. The irony is that, having not eaten since breakfast, the kitchen on that train was out of order so the free meal they bumped us up for wasn't even available.

But everything was running as normal that afternoon out of London. That is until we got to Belgium. Not long after we left Lille and crossed the border the announcement came. It was that most tragic reason for a delay. In the UK they call in 'a person under a train'. Someone had decided to take their own life on the tracks in northern Brussels and the line was currently closed.

It doesn't matter how important my journey is, how much of a rush I'm in, or how much I've paid for my ticket. When I hear that, I stop. I take stock. It's really not that important... my concerns are a just matter of logistics. It's not life and death. As a fairly frequent rail traveler I sadly know just how common it is, and I think the one thing we can all do in that regard is to pay more attention to metal health. It's possibly particularly potent in the current climate of a very real and physical health pandemic. The immediate threat is a very real one, but mental health is a silent killer, that cannot be underestimated. I fear we will see a spike in mental health issues this year. But at the same time, the world and society is making strides in recognizing and de-stgmatising mental health issues. I o have a lot of hope for the future.

As important an issue as it is, I'm digressing from the story... The Eurostar staff were excellent. I will never fail to have admiration for how well train staff deal with situations like this, and how they deal with passengers that, well, just don't seem to see the bigger picture. Back to the less important issue of logistics, and our own journey; and we basically had two options. We were definitely going to miss our planned connection to Cologne, but there was a Thalys train an hour later and another DB train two hours later. I shared my story about ticket acceptance by Thalys with the train manager but he assured me that Eurostar have an agreement with them, and gave us a HOTNAT ('hop on next available train') stamp on our ticket, which he was confident would guarantee us a seat on either train if there was one available.

I think it's a combination of my previous experience with Thalys not honouring their HOTNAT obligations (with a DB stamp not Eurostar), and also the sobering attitude that the situation instilled in us, but we decided to not rush for the Thalys train. The fact that I could easily log on to the Deutsche Bahn app and change our reservations to guarantee us seats on the train in 2 hours sealed the deal. We would be two hours late, and arrive in the evening instead of the afternoon, but we would get there.

In the end we even managed to get a Currywurst and Gluhwein in at the markets before going to bed.

First class on Deutsche Bahn was excellent. Unlike most long distance services in the UK, or Eurostar, catering is not complementary, but you do get a (chargeable) at seat service - I would recommend having cash - as even though they do accept card, paying by card involves handing your card to the attendant to bring to the bistro car and process payment remotely. What you do get, however, are some of the most comfortable seats and best legroom on any train I have ever been on I quite like to break up the journey by popping to the bar or restaurant carriage anyway, so at seat catering isn't really a priority for me. I really liked it.

Before moving on, I'd like to talk briefly about the Christmas markets in Cologne: I really can't recommend them highly enough. They are some of the most authentic in Germany, if not the world, and the atmosphere is amazing. There's Ice skating rinks, curling sheets, concert stages, brass bands as well as all the usual food and drinks stalls and the market stalls themselves.

Leg two: Cologne to Dublin

So... yeah, I took a flight. In my defense, this was the only flight I have taken in over a year now (and I used to be quite a regular flier!). And this was also still in 2019, like I said. Sure my commitment to make 2020 a flight free year has more or less been forced upon me now, but the commitment was very real, as is my determination to fly as little as possible in the future. To be honest it's also just a little tricky to get to Ireland without flying... going from London is one thing, but all the way from Germany is a bit more difficult. Especially when it's on Christmas eve!

It turned out that there were flights in the morning on Christmas eve to both Dublin and Newcastle from Dusseldorf - about half an hour by train from Cologne. Both departed around the same time, and crucially they were not the last flights of the day (an import factor when traveling on Christmas eve!).

Cologne to Dusseldorf is extremely easy, with a choice of ICE, regional express and S-Bahn connections, and a very cool driver-less 'H-Bahn' suspended monorail connecting the main train station to the airport terminal. There is also one S-Bahn line running straight to an underground station under the terminal. I'd love to be critical of the flying experience, but it was annoyingly pleasant. Dusseldorf airport was wonderfully quiet, I treated myself to an Aer lingus breakfast on board the flight (as far as microwaved breakfasts go it's actually pretty good), and arriving into Dublin airport at Christmas is always a pleasure.

On this occasion, I was greeted into the arrivals area by a full on choir belting out Christmas carols. Dublin Airport really does go all out at Christmas, and on more than one occasion it's brought a tear to my eye just how welcoming it is to arrive there. I think it's the tradition of welcoming the huge Irish diaspora back home for the festive season, but the many small touches they do make it one of the most welcoming places on earth at that time of year. From passport control staff wishing you a gentle "welcome home", to carol singers and the adorable touch of putting Santa's sleigh from the north pole on the arrivals board as 'SAN001'.

To top it all off, I ran into an old school friend at the bus stop, who had just landed from Berlin and was traveling home to Cork at the same time.

And so I spent a wonderful Christmas at home with my family. But it was only a short visit this year, as a few days later I left again, but this time I didn't fly...

Leg three: Dublin to Newcastle upon Tyne

Back on the rails, so to speak, I opted for the 'sail and rail' option for this journey. A fairly epic 11 hour journey across the Irish sea, welsh coastline and straight through the heart of northern England.

The sail and rail ticket is an absolute bargain. €47 for the entire journey. It's the same price to London, which I have done many times before. I bought my ticket a few days in advance from Connolly station in Dublin (only a handful of stations sell them), although you can just show up on the day at the port and buy your ticket for just a few euro more, or book through Irish ferries over the phone. Prices for the other way round (from the UK to Ireland) can be bought from national rail stations, or the usual apps/ websites (trainline, national rail...) but are slightly higher. It still only costs around £50, and again as it's a fixed price there's no need to book in advance

The 'slow' boat, or 'cruise ferry' (which is how both Irish ferries and Stena line market them), is a slightly cheaper option compared to the Irish ferries 'Jonathan Swift', a fast catamaran that takes around two hours to cross the Irish sea. I always take the longer (over 3 hour) option, as both the Stena line ships and the Irish ferries 'Ulysees' boats are just a lot more pleasant. This is a slow journey and there's simply no way around that, so I think if you decide to do it you need to enter into it in that spirit and enjoy the ride.

The morning departure is at 8am. So this is still an early start, but it's a lot easier to get to Dublin port by 7 (7:30 at the latest!) than it is to get to the airport for a red eye departure. And the whole process is a lot more relaxed and easy going. You still check heavy bags in as you would at an airport, but there's no weight restrictions, or liquid conditions for hand luggage, there's minimum security or border checks and the romanticism and nostalgic appeal of traveling by boat and train is undeniable.

Plus, once on board you get to go out on deck and say goodbye to Dublin as the sun rises over Dublin bay (during the winter at least!)....

I've made the crossing to Holyhead many times. Until 2015 I always used the Stena Line HSS, another high speed catamaran, as it actually ran from my home town of Dún Laoghaire, just outside Dublin. I could walk to or from my parents' house to the ferry terminal in about 10 minutes, making the door to door journey to or from London a genuinely viable alternative to flying. Unfortunately that service was cancelled, and I have to admit, I became a much more regular air passenger on the Dublin to London route for a while. I'm not alone, it's one of the busiest air corridors in the world - in fact if you include all 5 London airports, London to Dublin is the busiest air route in Europe, and the second busiest international route in the world.

The train and ferry route is not generally a popular alternative. Which is a shame, as it really is a wonderful journey. But it remains as a vital affordable link for people who need to travel last minute but can't afford the last minute air fares. Of course the ferry is also a vital link for motorists who are moving house, traveling with pets or on a caravan holiday, or for the ever popular coach trips to premier league matches in Liverpool and Manchester. And of course it provides an alternative for those of us who do not like to, or for whatever reason choose not to fly.

A word of warning, from my own experience, though; the Irish sea can be very rough! Another reason to go for the slow boat is that it is a lot more capable of dealing with the rough seas, it's more likely to run, be on time, and be a tolerable journey. I'm used to sea travel and don't really get seasick, but even I have been on some awful crossings. Especially on the high speed catamarans. The sight of looking out of the enormous windows of the panorama area at the bow of the enormous HSS craft, to see waves higher than the ship itself coming towards me and literally engulfing the entire window in water will stay with me forever. If the weather's bad, it really can be bad. But those days are rare, and you will know in advance. Don't travel during a storm, the summer months are a better time if you don't like rough seas, and like I said, the bigger, slower 'cruise ferry's are generally a lot more comfortable.

Which brings me on to the ship I chose for my journey to Newcastle, Irish Ferries' MV Ulysses. The Ulysses is a monster of a ship. Built in the year 2000, it was at the time the largest car ferry in the world in terms of vehicle capacity and made a huge difference to the Dublin to Holyhead route. I think it's simply the perfect craft for the route, as it can handle just about any weather conditions with ease. It's size also means there's plenty of room on board and decent facilities, although with so much space being taken up by the vehicle decks you might be a little disappointed. There's a couple of huge bars and a self service restaurant, and even a small cinema to watch a movie if you'd rather do that. For a crossing time of a little over 3 hours I think it's more than enough, and most importantly, in my opinion at least, there are decent sized outdoor decks, which are great places to watch the ship depart and arrive at the ports.

Despite being the middle of winter, my crossing was very calm. But being in the middle of the Christmas season it was also very busy, both with foot passengers and vehicle passengers. It ran slightly late. And there was the added worry that the UK had been plagued for the past few weeks with huge travel disruption on the rail network. This disruption was to dominate the rest of the trip, but it didn't ruin it. It made things a little more difficult, and I had to make some last minute decisions, but I still enjoyed it.

It's important to remember that disruption happens on rail networks all over the world, and often on a far worse scale than here in the UK. The staff on the UK rail network often have to deal with a customer base that have, in my opinion at least, an often far to high an expectation of what to expect in unforeseeable and uncontrollable circumstances. In my experience they deal with it exceptionally well, and that was my experience on this trip too - although I also think I made some good last minute decisions.

My first dilemma came as soon as I arrived in Holyhead. Holyhead station is part of the ferry terminal complex, so catching the connecting train is a breeze. The train I would usually catch was ready and waiting, the 'mail boat' train to London, an Avanti west coast voyager, although this one was still in it's virgin trains livery. I wasn't going to London though, so I had a choice. Shortly thereafter there was a transport for wales service to Manchester. It was later, it was slower... but it actually took me further on my journey than the London train, as at this stage I still planned on changing in Manchester. As my ticket was technically an 'open' ticket, apart from a specific ferry service, I was free to chose whatever route I wanted from Holyhead to Newcastle.

There was a huge crowd of passengers piling off that ship. And the London train already looked quite full. Once again, I felt it was time to embrace slow travel. I turned back, back to the departure board and along the adjacent platform to the wonderfully quiet platform 4, where the old fashioned, loco-hauled transport for wales train was waiting. Along the way I'm pretty sure I saw the Avanti staff start to refuse people entry to the already full London service. Another example of great staff doing a good job under really tough circumstances.

It seems most people decided to wait for the next direct service though, as after I settled in to my seat on the almost empty carriage, barely anyone else joined me. The train left on time, was basic but perfectly comfortable, and even had a trolley service of snacks and drinks. The train filled up along the route but was never crowded. And I sat down and relaxed and felt a sense of joy in my decision to take this train, as this is by far my favorite part of the route (this section is shared with the route to London so I am quite familiar with it). The train hugs the north Wales coast, ducking in and out of tunnels, appearing on top of cliff faces, or at conwy, seemingly emerging in the middle of a medieval castle, the scenery is incredible, and you get to travel on some amazing victorian engineering, such as the Britannia bridge over the menai straight.

As we approached Chester, my mood changed. I had been keeping a keen eye on the status of my next planned connection, a direct service from Manchester all the way to Newcastle. Annoyingly, but not that surprisingly given the number of delays and cancellations over the festive period, the train status had suddenly changed from 'on time' to 'cancelled'. I had a back up plan, and luckily I found out before I got to Warrington, as I felt the safest option was to hop on an Avanti west coast train to Carlisle and take the slow, old, but probably much more reliable local service all the way across the northern tip of England from Carlisle to Newcastle.

So off I hopped at Warrington, and crossed over to wait for the Glasgow pendulino. I knew this train would be busy. But busy was not the word. This train was packed like a sardine can. As the unbranded train pulled in I was genuinely worried weather or not I'd even be able to get on board. But I managed to squeeze on, and even found space to stow my luggage. I didn't even bother to look for a seat though. Instead I headed straight for the 'shop'. You guessed it, I had one thing on my mind, a thirst basically. I fancied a beer.

Luckily the shop was only one carriage away, so i managed to make my way through, and bought a bottle of 'tilting ale' - I don't think the staff quite expected me to just open the bottle and drink it at the counter though; but I figured as my alternative was to stand in a cramped vestibule and drink my beer I may as well treat the shop like a bar and drink it there and then. It's an important point I think, though. The shop concept leaves a lot lacking for the customer experience, and the small step of adding a cafe/ bar area to that carriage would add a really nice amenity for passengers. Some of my favorite experiences of European rail travel are striking up conversations with strangers over a drink or light meal in the 'bordbistro', 'le bar' or dining car. Unfortunately there are very few opportunities like this left on UK trains, with the sleeper services and the rather exclusive pullman dining cars on the GWR the only real examples left.

I made it to Carlisle in one piece, and managed to retrieve my luggage. Only one train left, and although I knew it was quite a long and slow journey the end was not only in sight, I was also confident it would be a much less busier and stress free one. I had actually hoped my train would be one of the infamous pacer rail-buses as, unpopular as they are, I have never actually ridden on one. Their phasing out may be popular with most regular travelers but for me this might have been my last opportunity to actually use one.

Alas it was a rather more boring 'modern' DMU. A small 3 car unit, but ready and waiting a good half an hour before departure, and with an extremely friendly and welcoming Geordie train manager, who wasted no time in welcoming me aboard and asking me if i needed the toilet. Yes, I know, that's not exactly how you expect to be greeted on board, but it made perfect sense when you consider that the only toilet on board this train was out of order, and even more so when you bear in mind that it was an evening service a few days after Christmas.

It was some very welcome information for me actually, as I wasn't sure if I'd last the entire two hour journey, so I promptly asked if I could leave my bags on board and run off for a quick comfort break. The train also made an extended stop at Hexham (approximately half way and with toilet facilities) to allow passengers to relieve themselves!

The only other thing of note about this part of the journey was the same train managers bemusement at my old school sail and rail ticket, the type of which he admitted himself he had never seen before but was in his own words looked "smashin to me, mate!".

In the end I was only half an hour later than planned arriving in to Newcastle. So I appreciate that it took a long time, and you can fly from Dublin to Newcastle in a little over an hour, but considering the incredible value of the ticket price, that if I had made all my connections I would only have had to change trains once at Manchester (not including the ferry connection), and of course the scenery along the welsh coast, the more relaxing and enjoyable experience of rail travel and the massively reduced carbon footprint I would definitely choose the sail and rail option over a flight whenever time allows.

Leg four: back to London

So after celbrating New Year in the north east with Alison and her family it was time to go back to reality, normality, work and London. This is another fairly mundane journey, one of my regulars. It's a straightforward one train trip that as I mentioned before I would never even consider doing by plane. There is one final point I'd like to make however, which is about the price of our ticket.

One of the most common complaints I see about the UK's railways is the price of tickets, and while I agree that tickets can sometimes be ridiculously expensive, and that the system in the UK is far from ideal, I feel very strongly that the commonly held belief that UK customers always get a bum deal and pay extortionately more for rail travel than our European neighbors simply isn't true. This journey is a prime example of why that is simply not the case.

I paid £46 each for our tickets, in first class. The standard class price would have been under £25. There quite simply is no argument about it, that was fantastic value. Especially when you factor in that, as this was a midweek service, first class included free drinks and hot food. And yes, that includes alcoholic beverages.

This obviously wasn't a walk up fare, I booked about a month in advance, and we have a two together railcard, which gives us a discount when traveling together. But the railcard is available to anyone - a single trip can often give you more of a saving than the cost of the railcard. And cheap advance fares are something that I believe should be encouraged, it's a great way of allowing people to travel on a more limited budget, it allows the railways to compete with low cost airlines and... It's the way most of the high speed rail operators in Europe operate.

And perhaps most importantly, it's these advance fares, the ones that are often amazing value, and compare incredibly well and often much better than rail fares elsewhere in Europe, that are set by the private rail operators. The 'walk up' fares that usually form the basis of peoples complaints, and that are generally used to compare our rail ticket costs to those in other countries are the fares set by the state that the private operators have no say over.

So while the rail system in the UK certainly leaves a lot to be desired, I feel it is important to point out that it really isn't that much more expensive than other countries, and can often offer incredible value. It's also one of the most extensive and comprehensive networks in Europe, but I'm the first to admit that a huge investment and enhancement is required....

But I'm going to leave it there before I get into a rant about why we need HS2!

(that might be another post one day...)