The first holiday of 2022 was in charge of Janet, who wanted to visit her dream Scotland.
London - Tower Bridge
We are leaving on Friday after work for Katowice, where we will fly early tomorrow morning. We buy our train ticket rather late, which brings the unpleasant discovery that the contingent of early cross-border tickets is already exhausted. This results in our particular train ticket no longer being available for purchase, and we are not even offered the most unfavourable international fare. There is therefore only one solution. The tariff 5 minutes of fear Bohumín - Chalupki. Otherwise, also splitting the ticket into Kolin - Bohumín and Chalupki - Katowice and relying on the fact that the short cross-border section will not be checked in time. This way you both get the ticket and save about 200 CZK per person compared to the early tickets. We do the same thing on the way back, when we rely on the fact that we have already been checked and the conductor doesn't remember that we have a ticket only to Chalupki and not to Bohumín. Moreover, they don't check after Chalupki anyway. Beware, however, of trains starting in Ostrava, they go directly without stopping in Bohumín and are accompanied by Czech conductors all the way to Chalupki.
We arrive in Bohumín with a delay and we will pick up another one thanks to switching cars and moving the train due to a destroyed switch after the crashed Pendolino. We successfully cross the Bohumín - Chalupki section in the black and after Chalupki we stand in a field and pick up another delay. In the end, the control didn't come at all and we get off with an hour delay in Katowice. From the station we run quickly to the nearest Biedrunka, for dinner, breakfast and snacks. From Biedrunka we go back to the station to find out where the bus to the airport leaves from, and we also buy tickets for the morning at the vending machine. You need a 90-minute ticket to the airport for 6 Zl. From the station we head to the Katowice Centre hostel, which met our modest price and location requirements as close to the station as possible. We take a shower of sparkling something like wine from Biedrunka and go to sleep.
Katowice - Charging mobiles hostel-style
We get up at 3:30 in the morning. The plane leaves at 6:30, the bus leaves at 4:05 from the tenth platform of Katowice railway station. The ride takes about 45 minutes. The tracks and platform are being finished in front of the airport, so next time we will take the train. There was a queue like a pig in front of the security checkpoint, until I started to worry if we would make it. At the checkpoint, Janet has an incident with a securitizer who must have slept badly and refuses to let her in, cosmetics because it's not just in one bag, even though, it meets all the limits. In the end, I had to take half of it on myself, but my deodorant didn't fit, which the securitizer threw theatrically in the trash. The rest of the check-in, including the flight, was fine. At London Lutton airport, the queue for passport control was practically from the gate. Fortunately it was walked, through the automated controls, so it went quickly. Even so, we still missed the departure of the bus we had reservations for. However, when we came out of the airport and saw another endless queue for the platform from where we were going, it was clear that we were going to take the first bus we could get on. Reservations were disregarded, and as soon as a bus arrived it filled to the roof and off we went. Only the third arrival came out like that. The ride lasted a little over an hour, and we got off at Baker Street about ten o'clock. Although the tropics are raging in the Czech Republic, the weather here is pleasantly autumnal.
London - 221b Baker Street
Here I will mention the continuation of our journey. When we planned it, the cheapest way was to fly to London then Edinburgh. Except that the flights from London weren't that expensive (about £2000 from Lutton on Easyjet) but they were on the wrong timings. I.e. we either missed our flight or it didn't leave until the evening. So we decided to use the train to get to Scotland. These are particularly expensive in the UK, but a month or two in advance and off-peak can be bought very reasonably. A 5:30pm train departure for about £1000 and a return evening train for about £650. In the end cheaper than Easy Jet on the same route. This is why we are now in London on Baker street. We have time, so we decided to use it to explore the city. Mostly we are taking the same route we took last time. That is, from Baker Street, we're heading towards Hyde Park. Since we are here during the London Pride march, the park and the surrounding area is full of gay men and rainbow flags until it seems to me that corporations and multinationals are competing to see who can be more rainbow in London.
London - Handsome
London - Fan
London - Cool
We reach Hyde Park corner and continue through The Green Park to Buckingham Palace, to wave to the then still living Queen. There are a lot more people here compared to last time.
London - Buckingham Palace
We'll walk along the Jubille Walkway and camp for a while in St. James Park. After all, we need to recharge our batteries after a busy morning and before the rest of the day.
London - Jubille Walkway
We stay in the park for an hour and continue to Westminster. Big Ben is finally repaired, so we finally see it live without scaffolding. There are so many people here again that it's hard to cross Westminster Bridge.
London - London Eye
London - The Palace of Westminster
Across the river, Janet remembers that she is hungry and I remember that we had lunch not far from here last time. I jump on my blog to remember where it was and then we head to our favorite Pizza and Chicken Palace, where we have a family-style menu of chicken and fries, just like last time. There's so much left over for dinner on the train.
London - Westminster Bridge Road
With full bellies, we continue through Lower Marsh and other streets to London Town Hall and Tower Bridge.
London - City
London - Tower Bridge
London - Town Hall
It's three o'clock, we can't do much more. We wanted to check out Primark on Oxford Street before we left. The bad thing is that there's no tube station nearby, so we have to run all the way to London Bridge station, which bites off more precious minutes. These are compounded by the clogged tube, when we only get to the third train. There's about 30 seconds of tact, but once it's missed the platform is immediately packed with people.
Let's make a quick run through Primark. Janet tries in vain to find a cape here, so at least she leaves with the Hellfire Club trick from Stranger Things. We get on the tube and head for Kings Cross station. We check the departure board to make sure we're really on our way and quickly rush to a nearby Tesco to buy a drink for the journey. Then we finally board the yellow and blue Hitachi Class 800 Azuma train from Lner. The tickets are electronic and there is no need to pick them up from a machine somewhere. The turnstiles were disconnected at that time, so there was no problem with them either.
London - Kings Cross - Hitachi Class 800 Azuma
London - Kings Cross
Interior of the unit
Right at the beginning I advise you to avoid this company if possible. Because this long-distance train has seats like a tram. Flat and uncomfortable for such a long journey. What's interesting about these units is their push-off, where the start-up is really dynamic. The journey took 4.5 hours and we arrive at Edinburgh Waverley ten minutes late at 10pm.
Edinburg Waverley
Edinburg - Balmoral Hotel
It's even colder here than in London and it's very windy. We take our time and go straight to our accommodation, which is in the student halls. There we wander around a bit because we can't find our room, but it turns out okay in the end. The end of the day is made more interesting by the fire siren going off at midnight. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. Then we go to sleep. Tomorrow we have Glasgow.
Useful links:
Czech Railways
PKP Intercity
Hostel Katowice Centrum
Public transport Katowice
Wizz air
Flights London
Flights Edinburgh
National Express (buses from the airport)
London North Eastern Railway (LNER)
Edinburgh Destiny Student Accommodation
More Edinburgh accommodation options
Other attractions in London
