Day 34 - Moving day Fort William to Manchester: The trip to Man City

As we have said throughout the blog, we are training our way around the UK. We do not board an airline until Friday. With trains come schedules, schedule changes, and adaptability.

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. We began in Banavie on a 7:20am train to Glasgow. We explained to the ticket taker that we had to switch train stations in Glasgow (a ten minute walk with luggage) and she mentioned if we got off a stop early, we would be on a train to Glasgow Central instead of Glasgow Queens. But, we would only have 7 minutes to catch the next train at an unknown train station. Decisions, decisions. We jumped on that move and as it turned out, we arrived at the same platform as the next train was scheduled for. We made our next train in plenty of time.

From Glasgow we traveled to Lancaster in a first class car. Wayyy better than our normal seats. Also way worth it! Although, due to staffing shortages, there was no service. Bummer.

At Lancaster we switched to a train to Manchester. Also first class and again worth it. Still no service.

Most of our tickets are coach because they are cheaper; apparently these weren’t too different.

My brother Pete told me about Railcards. I purchased a “two together” card for Martha and me for 30 pounds. We’ve saved about 30% on every train ticket so it was well worth the investment.

Once we arrived in Manchester we taxied to the hotel. The room is nice but it is beyond me that they don’t turn the air con (as they say here) on in the room prior to guest arrival. It was very hot for a good while.

Also, as you know, I’m a golf fan. It was extremely disappointing to realize I could not watch the Open Championship on tv in the room. Mexican hotels use this tactic as well to basically drive you to a bar. However, the don’t have a Martha who is smarter than they are and pulled it up on her surface tablet. She’s my hero.

Martha’s addition: our room in Manchester is very cool and is a two story suite with a staircase and there is a tv on both floors. I’m a tv person, so this is nirvana for me. However, the tv on the first floor is from the 90’s and I’m not even sure that the remote is actually tuned to that tv. The upstairs tv is brand new and I had high hopes that I could stream the Open on the big screen for Maggie. However, even though it is a smart tv, it is not connected to the internet because the hotel staff (the three that visited to help me) said they are trying to avoid people streaming porn on the hotel internet. And they said that no other guest had ever tried to stream from their computer. Really? So, other than having a fantastic picture, it is basically a big paperweight. Sorry Maggie has to watch the Open on a small computer screen.

Pics from the trip from Scotland to Manchester.