Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Bedfordshire

Belgrade Trip – Luton Airport and Big Smoke Restaurant

I mentioned in my last post about my new acquisition of an unlimited Priority Pass card, so my first usage of it was at Big Smoke Restaurant. The deal is that they give you £18 to spend as a dining credit at the restaurant on anything that you want. It’s not a huge amount, so it’s not going to get any traveller a three course meal and a smorgasbord of drinks, but it’s a decent snack. The service element was a bit fiddly, but it didn’t help that I asked to sit at the bar as there were power points and I didn’t want any of my devices low on battery. This meant that they didn’t have any waiter service to take my order, which might have made the process smoother. I tried to order at the bar and I was told they needed to find a staff member from the restaurant area to pre-scan my Priority Pass card, which they did.

I then tried again to order and this was going brilliantly until they realised that had left some breakfast menus out, and I needed to order from the lunchtime menu which started at 11:00. Again, it was sorted quickly enough and everyone was helpful, although this is a slightly fiddly arrangement all round. Here’s the main menu and it’s evident how far the £18 will go, or not go as the case may be.

I went for Smoky Chicken Wings and a pint of Electric Eye. The food took 12 minutes to arrive, it was neatly presented and the chicken was tender and fell off the bone easily. I decided I’d eat the celery for some variety in my life, which was particularly healthy of me. Would it have been worth the £17.20 that it would have normally cost? Probably not to be honest, I’d have likely gone to Boots next door and got three meal deals for less money. However, the dining environment was clean and comfortable, the service was polite and I was able to charge all my devices up which ensured that I wasn’t overly stressed for the rest of the day. I’ve got a new battery pack to avoid issues, but I try and remain fully charged when about to travel somewhere new, just in case something goes a bit wrong.

For an airport location, the prices aren’t unreasonable and I merrily listened in to other customers to see if they were happy. In general, they seemed to be and given the absence of a Wetherspoons here, it’s likely one of the better pre-flight options. As for the Priority Pass, it’s a handy option for those on unlimited passes, but it’s poor value for those on limited visit pass as it’d be cheaper to just pay at the restaurant.

September 10, 2024
Belgrade Trip – Luton Centre to Luton Airport

Before I start this, I accept that this post is, well, rather niche and a bit prosaic. But, I quite like reading back on the connecting parts of trips and since it’s my blog, I might as well write the stuff I want to remember. I’ve walked from the centre of Luton to the airport on numerous occasions and I have to say, it’s rarely an inspirational meandering through beautiful landscape and undulating hills. I’m quite proud of myself for this photo, which I think is the most beautiful spot along the route. Although, if truth be told, it’s actually in a traffic island (the underpass is visible at the rear of the photo), but it does show the little river that weaves its way through the town. It’s the River Lea, which becomes much bigger by the time it hits London and is also the origin of the town’s place name (Luton I mean, not London).

Last time I walked by here, the Luton DART hadn’t been completed. It’s a ludicrous fare of £4.90 to get to the airport from here, which is a minor walk (for me, I don’t speak for anyone else). When I get a train ticket that includes Luton Airport station, it does though include the DART ride. Not that I’ve had a situation where I’ve needed to buy such a ticket, but maybe one day.

I walked over these steps once before realising it was much less hassle just to cross the road. This is always my sign that I’ve reached Luton Airport. Other major airports have an old plane or something similar on display, but I like this little bridge. One point of this post is that if anyone does want to just walk to the airport, it’s only a thirty minute expedition from the town centre and so for anyone with a backpack and no walking issues, it’s some free exercise before the flight.

And here we are, London Luton Airport. Does travel get more decadent than this?

September 10, 2024
Belgrade Trip – Dragonfly Bus 610 from Hatfield to Luton

It was easier than I expected to get from Hatfield to Luton, it’s a short walk from the Travelodge to the Galleria and the bus stop is just opposite the front of the shopping centre. Some sensible urban planning.

As usual, I got to the bus stop 25 minutes early for my bus. Fortunately, the previous 610 bus was delayed by 20 minutes and so I was able to board the bus after just a couple of minutes of standing at the bus stop. Sometimes the bus Gods smile nicely…. The cost for this journey was just £2, many thanks to the bus cap which I still think is one of the best policies that the last Government managed to think of. The current Government are refusing to extend the cap, which otherwise runs out at the end of 2024, but it would be a serious blow for public transport if they fail to do so. I checked what the bus fare would have been before the price cap and back in 2019 I would have had to pay £9 to use the service.

This whole arrangement meant that I was in Luton around 60 minutes after setting off from Hatfield. My entertainment was boosted by two separate passengers asking the bus driver if she knew that her bus was late. It transpired that she did realise that the bus was late, but it was nice of the passengers to check.

September 9, 2024
2023 Lisbon Trip (Day One – Wizz Air from Luton to Lisbon)

Before I start writing about my flight, I have to mention the enormous common sense shown by Steve. Using his initiative and experience in the car industry he had managed to acquire Bev a stick at Lisbon Airport. This seemed a good idea at the time, although we heard Bev stomping around with the stick clacking about for the entire weekend. We were very tolerant though of course.

That was my flight, the Wizz Air W4493 18:30 to Lisbon. I was slightly nervous here as it was 17:44 and it was saying that the gate would be shown at 17:40 and my experience from BA is that when the time is reached it means there’s some kind of problem. Fortunately, a few minutes later the gate was announced.

We were departing from Gate 26 and the airport has a lot of these gates downstairs to give them extra space. Some of the gates are a bit of a walk from the main terminal, this one was only around five minutes.

I managed to be third in the non-priority queue which gave me no benefits at all.

Well, other than I got a seat in the non-priority section after they had checked my passport.

The whole arrangement was efficient and well thought through, I liked the professionalism of Wizz Air here. It’s not glamorous, but I like knowing where I’m supposed to wait and they do make it clear. Wizz Air work their planes hard, this was the fifth of six sectors that the A320 was making that day. It’s aircraft G-WUKF which they’ve been operating since March 2018, their fleet is generally all modern and I feel they’re a very safe operator. Their customer service reputation is somewhat all over the place, but that is true for many budget airlines and I’ve never experienced any negative issues with them.

I didn’t get fortunate with the seat Gods insomuch as I got randomly allocated a middle seat, but all was well and there was sufficient space. The crew are much more ruthless in terms of timing than with BA, they want backpacks under the seats and larger cabin bags in the overheads as quickly as possible. I appreciated that efficiency, it meant that we landed in Lisbon on time with the flight taking just over two hours and thirty minutes.

The flight wasn’t too bad in terms of being sold stuff, as Ryanair traditionally go a little over the top. There were a couple of food and drink runs with the trolley and I think a call for duty free, but for much of the time they dimmed the lights perhaps in the hope of sedating the passengers. The aircraft was clean, the pilot making the announcements sounded competent and the crew were all friendly. Bearing in mind that this flight cost me £11, I can say that I received decent value for money.

One thing that I’ve never really understood about so many passengers is their rush to leave the aircraft. They’ll get up before the seatbelt lights are off, they’ll barge others and then push their way onto the coach that took us to the terminal in Lisbon. I don’t mean every passenger of course, but a good number and that’s been on every flight I’ve ever been on. I have no idea why some people seem so much in a rush at this point of their journey.

The reason I don’t understand it is that everyone then just meanders around so slowly to get to the border control desks. If you want to rush, my aviation top tip is just dither about on the aircraft and then walk quickly when in the terminal as you can just walk around everyone or use the stairs when others use the escalators. I know that not everyone can walk quickly, but for those that can it means getting to the border control desk ahead of everyone else and that’s what happened to me. I’ve digressed again though in my airport observations, but passengers so often seem stressed and hurried when disembarking. As an aside, after I navigated the extensive queueing system the border guard had a smile and it was good to be back in Portugal, my second time in the country and my first in Lisbon.

Here’s Lisbon airport terminal and all I had to do for the evening was walk thirty minutes to the hotel as I wasn’t going to pay €5 for the shuttle bus. I’m not made of money and I was conscious that the train from London had cost £2.90 (£1.45 after delay repay), the flight was £11 and so paying nearly £5 for a five minute shuttle was not good value.

Finally, all four of our little brigade were safely in Lisbon, but we were missing Gordon already who couldn’t come for reasons unknown, mostly ones we made up.

March 2, 2023
2023 Lisbon Trip (Day One – Getting to Luton Airport)

There was little to report from the other three over in Stansted Airport, but Bev was enjoying being pushed about and thought after her two meals in the JD Wetherspoon outlet that she’d have a Pret to wash it all down.

Whilst Bev was being treated like a celebrity, I’d completed my visit to the White Horse in Luton and I’ve written about that separately.

I didn’t realise that the bastion of journalism that is the Sunday Express has left Luton. Or, perhaps their sign just fell off.

It’s about a 40 minute walk to the airport from the town centre, but I managed to get lost and ended up meandering randomly around, although at least that means I saw more Luton streets than I could ever want to ever again. The reason that I mention this is that I walked by Luton Airport Parkway railway station and they’re near to opening the Luton DART, which has been in testing before passengers can use it from 10 March 2023. Some people have been more fortunate, King Charles III got to have a little ride on the DART last December.

There’s currently a shuttle bus to the airport from the railway station, or it’s around a 15 minute walk. I must admit to being quite astounded that they’re planning to charge £4.90 for this three minute journey on the DART and I can’t quite imagine many more expensive railway journeys for the distance travelled. The costs of construction are ludicrous, it was meant to cost £225 million and has gone soaring over £300 million already and judging by the local newspapers there are some slightly annoyed residents wondering where this money has gone. In the future, any ticket to Luton Airport Parkway will now include the cost of using the DART, but this raises the odd situation that I paid only £2.90 for my ticket from London St Pancras to Luton last week and so they’ll have to charge a fair chunk more for passengers who aren’t going as far (the parkway station is before Luton if travelling from London).

Anyway, I doubt I’ll ever use the DART as it seems completely unaffordable and as I won’t have any luggage, children or other things slowing me down, I’d rather just walk for 15 minutes. Maybe if Bev flies from Luton the matter might be different though.

After getting only slightly lost en route, the promised uplands of London Luton Airport appeared on the horizon. It’s a functional airport, but it struggles to cope with the number of passengers that it’s getting and it’s not really a sufficiently large terminal. To be fair, they want to change matters by expanding the current terminal and building an entirely new one as well. That would see an increase in passenger numbers from 18 million a year which they currently get to a new limit of 32 million. They’re already the fifth largest airport in the UK by passenger numbers and if they want to increase they’ll have to build that new terminal.

Inspired by Bev, I used my coffee subscription and charged my devices at the landside outlet of Pret. And, yes, I am getting onto writing about Lisbon very soon now. The screens were showing that my Wizz Air flight was going to be on time and just as I getting ready to go through security I heard that the others had landed in Lisbon. Leaving them just with one problem, they needed to find Bev a stick.

March 2, 2023
Luton – The White House (Visit 2)

I’ve written about this pub before, so won’t linger on its history again. But it’s the Good Beer Guide listed JD Wetherspoon venue, their only pub in the town as they’ve closed the London Hatter on Park Street.

It’s quite an attractive interior although there’s quite a lot of bouncing of the upper level floor when anyone climbs up the circular stairs. It’s peaceful and calm with numerous power points up here if anyone wants them. I didn’t really get to engage with any team members as I used the app, but they seemed friendly and helpful.

There were six real ales on, two that I’ve haven’t had before and this is the Going Loco from Tring Brewery from Tring in Hertfordshire. It was well kept and at the appropriate temperature, but it didn’t have much depth of flavour although would likely make a satisfactory session beer with its 3.9% ABV.

There was a little bit more going on with the Ossian from Inveralmond Brewery who are from Perth in Scotland. Hoppy and full in flavour, it’s a 4.1% ABV golden ale. Well-kept again, the pub feels like it deserves its place in the Good Beer Guide and the beers were both priced at £1.23 for a half.

The pub is generally well reviewed on-line, although I was amused at this:

“Generally when someone orders a meal in any restaurant and it isn’t available either a refund is given or a substitution of such . I do not understand why if a meal of beans on toast is ordered then given as just toast that you have the cheek to refund the beans as if it was and extra”.

That’s not really ideal, I’m with the customer there. If you sell beans on toast and only have half the core ingredients, it’s probably best not to just bring out half the elements required for the meal.

“Was just starting to eat my breakfast at around 10am. I was watching a film on my phone while eating my breakfast as there was no music. This bar tender came over and asked me to turn the volume down. The volume wasn’t that high and didn’t see anyone going to complain. Unless there people praying there I can’t understand the point as being a pub where music is normally played and sometimes can’t hear what you are saying, I found it insulting. There are are better places to be treated properly. I’ll take my money else where.”

I’m entirely with the pub, I’d personally say that team member was spot on. Music isn’t normally played there for a good reason…..

Anyway, definitely a safe bet for anyone wanting real ale in Luton.

March 2, 2023
2023 Lisbon Trip (Day One – Windmilltwomealgate)

Luton’s railway station general ugly exterior isn’t helped by their new plywood doors or whatever it is that they’ve got going on there. I tried to find some quotes about Luton to add some spice to this post, but there don’t appear to be any which is slightly disheartening. Instead, I asked ChatGPT to tell me the best thing about Luton and it replied:

“Luton is well-connected to other major cities in the UK, making it easy to travel to and from the town”.

It’s not really selling the place if I’m being honest. I instead asked for a fun fact about Luton and was told:

“The town is famous for its hat-making industry, which dates back to the 17th century. Luton was once the largest hat-making center in the world, and at its peak, the town produced over 70% of all hats made in the UK. The traditional Luton hat, made from felt, was popular with both men and women and was exported worldwide”.

That’s a bit more exciting. Actually, I’ve been using ChatGPT for useful purposes over recent weeks, and not just asking for things such as funny jokes about Luton.

“Why did the tomato turn red?

Because it saw Luton’s traffic and got embarrassed!”

OK, I did ask it for a joke about Luton…. Moving on.

This is a little more uplifting than the railway station’s frontage and is visible to those walking from the station to the town centre.

I’m slightly confused about the branding that’s going on here, although it all looks quite exotic for an American diner.

There’s my destination, the White House, the JD Wetherspoon pub. There was relatively little choice for me here, it was one of a very few Good Beer Guide pubs in Luton that were open at lunchtime.

At this point I heard that the others had safely arrived at Stansted Airport and Bev was being pushed around by Steve. Just like me, he’s a very competent carer and Bev realised just how fortunate she was.

And just cutting into this at the same time, Nathan sent me this photo of an Amiga at The Centre for Computing History helping me relive my youth. He had been able to have a nice sit down to recover from being scared from Bev, he was being very brave.

The rather pleasant surroundings of the White House pub, but as this is a Good Beer Guide it can have its own post.

Steve was a true gentleman with all of his pushing and he showed great tolerance when Bev demanded to be taken into the Windmill Wetherspoons at Stansted Airport. She decided to order at the table using the app, but due to technical error (or user error as Steve called it) she got all muddled up and also had Susanna order her food at the bar. What happened then is that two meals turned up, which to me is just a clever ruse to not look greedy when ordering two meals. Apparently a discussion then took place and Bev is writing to the Head Office of JD Wetherspoon or something, but I don’t get involved with such things. I’m pleased that I didn’t experience any such issues. I suspect that Steve was wondering what he had taken on at this point.

I can imagine my substantial readership of two is now wondering when I’m actually going to write anything about Lisbon. But, patience, only a few more posts and I’ll be at the heart of the action writing up about an industrial estate near to Lisbon Airport.

March 1, 2023
2023 Lisbon Trip (Day One – Getting to the Airport)

I had a little local difficulty at the weekend which primarily related to a problem with this bloody blog. I don’t mean a local difficulty like Matt Hancock having all of his WhatsApp messages sent to the Daily Telegraph thanks to Isabel Oakeshott, but a slight issue with a server. I’m glad that all of my WhatsApp messages haven’t been sent to the Daily Telegraph, it’s not clear that they have enough journalists to scour all my photos of food and messages containing gossip.

There are some blog posts currently still missing, but fingers crossed that just about the whole lot will be back over the next few days as I think that they can be recovered. But, there are two posts that have been lost which were the first two documenting the Lisbon trip that four of us went on this weekend. These can probably be recovered from one of the grand total of 22 people who subscribe to this blog by email updates, but I want to rewrite them in the past tense otherwise they sound odd. Well, these posts sound odd anyway, but let’s not get distracted with that.

The above photo is of St.Pancras railway station in London where rather unhelpfully all the boards had gone down again. I was travelling to London Luton Airport (nowhere near London really) from London, whereas the other three (Bev, Steve and Susanna) were on a Greater Anglia rail service to London Stansted (also nowhere near London). There had been minor incident already which is that Bev had forgotten her stick that she needed to be able to walk around. I did note privately to myself that it seemed odd she only realised the lack of her stick so late on, but I don’t like to comment. Although there’s plenty more stick gossip to come in this blog…..

My train was the 11.45 to Corby, stopping at Luton Airport Parkway and Luton. I was going to Luton and walking back to the airport as otherwise I’d be too early, but so far the day was going marvellously and the train looked ready to go. This was a bargain fare, costing just £2.90 for a single ticket.

After boarding there was an announcement from the guard that the train didn’t have a driver. I’m not necessarily an expert on trains, but this didn’t seem entirely ideal. There were frequent announcements that the driver would be here soon, then after 25 minutes it was announced that the train service was cancelled. Fortunately though, they just operated the next service as normal, so everything was exactly 30 minutes behind schedule. And yes, I’ll be claiming the 50% Delay Repay which means this journey cost £1.45. Very thrifty.

Meanwhile, the other were now on board their train to Stansted Airport and had just reached Cambridge. When Bev looked out of the train window she saw Nathan and a friend, who were going to Cambridge for a drinking trip, fleeing the scene as it had transpired they’d all been on the same train. Bev banged on the window as hard as she could, so it’s a slight surprise that it didn’t cave in under that pressure. Nathan ignored the situation, thinking that he was under attack I suspect. If I was a betting man, which I’m not as I like certainty, I’d suspect Nathan and his friend had been hiding in the toilet for the entire journey as it seems strange to me that they didn’t bump into each other before then.

Anyway back to the trip, all was going well, as we were all on trains heading to our respective airports ready for an exciting adventure in Lisbon.

March 1, 2023
Thursday : London to Luton by Train

Starting the day at the Linton hotel in Luton, I was moderately perplexed why they installed all the power points the wrong way up. Not that I suppose it matters much in the grand scale of things, but I like having things to be perplexed about. It’s a slightly strange set-up throughout the room, they seem to put the beds up against the wall when they’re not in use.

Breakfast was included in the room rate and it was all a bit odd. I got just about the last table, even though I was there at 07:00 when they started serving. There were juices and bread to toast, which took about four minutes in the toaster (not the juices), whilst the rest of the meal was cooked to order. There was no choice, the overwhelmed staff member went from table to table saying “what would you like for breakfast?”. He was polite, but just about everyone replied they hadn’t seen the menu. He replied “there’s a full English breakfast or toast” which a couple of people declined so I assumed they expected something else.

It’s not my favoured choice of breakfast as it’s all a bit stodgy, and it was a little barren on the plate, although the quality was OK, but it was nothing particularly exciting.

The hotel is keenly priced though, I would stay there again if I was in Luton and it was the cheapest option.

It’s about a twenty minute walk from the hotel into the town centre of Luton and it goes under this really rather well designed underpass. Numerous images representing the history and culture of the town, it was impressively free from vandalism. What is more impressive is that it has been there since November 1998.

Luton 2040 and the mission statement for the future is apparently:

“In 2040, our vision is for Luton to be a vibrant, fair, and prosperous town where people can live their lives to the fullest. We will all achieve our potential and reduce inequality. A town where no one lives in poverty.”

Very noble.

Luton town hall and war memorial. This town hall was completed in 1936, built on the site of the previous building, which had been raided and set on fire during rioting in July 1919. What was annoying for the authorities wasn’t just the huge loss of an asset, but the disruption to the provision of services to locals and also it took place on Peace Day.

There was a week-long court trial and a debate about whether it was technically a riot, but it was decided that it was. 28 men were sent to trial, 9 were found not guilty, 2 were bound over, 16 received prison sentences of between two months and eighteen months and 1 man was sent to prison for three years. The longest sentence, and for one of the most violent of the men involved, was Frederick Plater, a 27 year old labourer who was not only found guilty of destroying property, but also assaulting a fireman. He sounds nice… What is perhaps worse about Plater is that his child had been born the month before. He remained living in Luton until his death in 1943, so he saw the new building constructed. He lived at 69 Chase Street, so his route into the town centre was the same one that I took from the hotel.

Anyway, I had a train to catch. It’s not the most glamorous of railway stations. The railway station has been on this site since Midland Railway built it in 1868, although it was rebuilt in the 1930s. There was once another railway station (operated by GNR) located almost opposite, Bute Street which remained in usage until the 1960s when it was pulled down.

At least the waiting room had power points.

The East Midlands Railway (EMR) service from Luton to London St. Pancras, which only cost £5 as I booked in advance, which I thought was rather excellent value for money. The train also had plenty of space, although the interiors of these trains need ripping out, although EMR do note that “by 2024, we will operate our new fleet – which includes our state of the art Aurora InterCity trains”.

It had been a relatively busy service, the train I arrived on is on the right hand side of the photo. Those two trains on the left are the Meridians which will likely be withdrawn next year and replaced by the Aurora Class 810 trains. I’d add that I didn’t know that, I looked it up.

There was quite a wait to get through the barriers, and I’ve wondered before why we can’t be more like the European mainland where they rarely have barriers. They don’t really deter fare evaders, it’s easy to get through the barriers without a ticket.

I had a free Greggs coffee with my O2 app, which meant watching the world go by in St. Pancras for ten minutes.

A quick stop at the Euston Tap.

They had some rather decadent options, but they don’t serve in thirds, so I didn’t get the Fatal Deviation from Whiplash. Without wanting to sound like someone who is too easily annoyed, I must admit to thinking slightly less of them for not serving in thirds, it limits people from trying more beers, so I will probably find another favourite pub in the area. The staff are friendly and engaging though, there’s a nice atmosphere at this pub.

The Dennis Hopp’r from Mondo, a decent enough IPA.

Then off to North London on the delights of the 253 bus.

The bus interior, I noted quietly that the driver went through two red lights which didn’t seem ideal.

The Coronet pub, operated by JD Wetherspoon, in Holloway.

The grand interior of what was the Savoy when it opened in 1940, then later an ABC cinema which remained open until 1983. JD Wetherspoon have done what appears to me to be a excellent job here, very sensitive to the heritage of the building.

The Orange Zeus from Twickenham Fine Ales, not exceptionally reviewed, but I rather liked the orange marmalade type taste. It was well-kept and at the appropriate temperature, with the usual low JD Wetherspoon prices.

And this is where the post ends, I’ll pick up on the story of the following day when it was time for the big Hike Norfolk trip to Canterbury that I had sort of organised. How exciting!

July 18, 2022
Monday and Tuesday : A Post About One Train Journey

Am I really going to post just about one train journey? Well, yes, I think I will….. After enjoying a healthy lunch of chips, battered sausage and curry sauce on Monday (and being very productive, which is why I’ve caught up on this blog amongst many other things) my Tuesday evening was all about getting the train from Norwich to Luton Airport Parkway. This blog has killer content, it really does, I can imagine the hordes of people wanting to read about such an exciting rail journey. Who needs stories about Amtrak journeys across the United States when you can read about a train journey from Norwich to Luton? Anyway.

The gleaming Norwich railway station at just before 21:00 on Tuesday evening. And to give context, my flight was on Wednesday lunchtime from Luton Airport and it’s an annoying airport to get to in the morning if not driving. There are no cheap rail tickets on Wednesday mornings as it’s part of the peak travel time, so going late the previous evening is really the only way.

This section of the Greater Anglia train always feels to me like part of a haunted house experience, or, at least when walking through it when the train is in motion. I also like the sign “through access only” as if there’s much else a passenger can do in there.

As it notes on the display, this is a service to Cambridge, which was the first part of the journey. I had partly hoped for a delay in the service so that I could claim Delay Repay, but as a spoiler, every part of the journey which involved three trains was on time to the minute.

Cambridge at 22:30, it’s not the busiest railway station at that time, but I like the slight eeriness that exists because of that.

There’s my service, the 22:44 to London King’s Cross. I did have a slight concern about power at this point, or I should specify I only mean mine, I was less concerned about the train’s general power requirements. I had charged every one of my devices at home and on the Greater Anglia train to Cambridge, but I knew that there were limited charging facilities on the final of the three trains and also at Luton Airport. And I knew I would be at Luton Airport for hours and hours.

The Great Northern train from King’s Lynn to London King’s Cross, which had about two people to each carriage.

The carriage had power points, which was a relief.

There’s a joke there about how hard northerners are, but readers can work out their own punchline.

The beautiful King’s Cross railway station. It’s nicer at night when there aren’t people faffing about everywhere.

It’s about a 40 second walk from King’s Cross to St. Pancras, so a delay to my journey here was unlikely.

The impressive station building of St. Pancras.

The final of the three trains, the East Midlands Railway service to Luton Airport Parkway.

No power points…. The guard on this train must have announced six times that passengers mustn’t put their feet on the seats and she then swept through the train warning miscreants who hadn’t paid attention to what she had said. I can see her point, it’s a problem which seems to be getting worse, passengers had their feet on seats on the previous two journeys, but there were no guards saying not to. I must say that the guard did get her way, I couldn’t see anyone breaking her rules. The train arrived in at 00:38, and as mentioned earlier, that was exactly when it was meant to, so no delay at any point for me. Given that I booked this train some weeks ago, and did wonder whether it would be caught up in strike action, arriving at 00:38 felt like a slight miracle.

One thing that isn’t made clear to passengers who get off at Luton Airport Parkway is that they can just walk the 15 minutes or so to the airport. I accept a lot of people won’t want to, especially if they have bags, but it’s very hard to find a way of the railway station at the rear to be able to walk there. There’s a big new development at the station, so it all might be getting easier, but at the moment, they try and get people to pay for the bus to take them to the airport. I got that once, but it’s not necessary for anyone who is happy to walk a relatively short distance. Anyone wanting to walk, just look out for the signs to Kimpton Road.

And here we are fifteen minutes later, the delights of Luton Airport. This will never be my favourite airport, but sometimes needs must….. That’s the story of that, no dramas, all very efficient and everything was clean and organised en route. As a side issue, if I won £150 million on the lottery (which is unlikely as I don’t end the lottery) I suppose that I would have just got the first train from Norwich to Luton Airport Parkway in the morning, but there’s something slightly more magical about travel that isn’t always easy and risk-free. Not that I say this journey was a piece of magical delight, but I do remember these pieces of travel so I must have some attachment to them.

July 7, 2022