The morning of our first day started with my walking from the bargain priced Travelodge Brighton Seafront to Jonathan’s more decadent hotel.
A free breakfast courtesy of Jonathan’s accommodation arrangement. Jonathan was going to Gatwick via Flixbus on a bargain priced service which goes from the centre of Brighton. The journey was absolutely perfect in many ways other than they cancelled it, part of the reason that I didn’t book it in the first place.
Jonathan decided to get the train, although his options were somewhat reduced at that point. I had got a £4 rail ticket as part of the national rail sale, but that went from Brighton station to Hove station before connecting to another service. This station opened in 1840 and is mostly still there, but it’s hard to see the original building because of later extensions.
Mine was the 10:13 service and I was pleased that it was operating as usual as a number of services had been cancelled due to over-running engineering works. Jonathan had already departed on the first service he could, better to be safe than sorry when getting to an airport.
They announce the platforms around ten minutes before the train departs with this one departing from platform two. There are eight platforms at the station and some very careful gate line staff who were carefully checking all the tickets, something which took a few minutes as the barriers were rejecting a fair number of tickets, including mine.
My Southern Railways train sweeping in. I had cut this whole arrangement quite tight (well, tight for me), arriving just a couple of hours before my flight departed, due to wanting to get the £4 fare.
I got settled in for the four minute rail journey. There were power outlets and I must have charged my device by around 2% during the extensive journey. The train was relatively clean and organised, with plenty of free seats.
And safely into Hove railway station, where I had a connecting train to Gatwick Airport which departed just three minutes after my train from Brighton got in. A few others were doing the same connection and it feels too tight to me for those who aren’t easily able to navigate the subway between the platforms.
Anyway, that was the first part of the journey done….