In the summer last year, my knee was giving me grief and the US political situation was giving me goosebumps. I thus organised the ultimate anti-US trip, with trains before planes and Europe over the Americas. As much as I enjoyed it, I was hoping to resume my annual hop over the pond this year, but a combination of factors —many of them stateside in origin— led me to postpone such a trip once again.
This left me with the conundrum of where to go. I’d fancied visiting Heidi and Loredana in Norway and Austria, but they were both coming to the end of their pregnancies and I still don’t feel prepared to deal with any little surprises just yet. I therefore decided to visit my friends in the south of England, as it’s been a while since I was around their way. I’m too old for discounts on the Interrail passes now, so it was back to my good old friend Ryanair to get me there.
From the airport in London, I took a train first up to Norwich, where Luisa and Sol are all settled into their first house. Luisa suggested a trip to Great Yarmouth, which I soon discovered was like the Blackpool of the south, which is to say that I absolutely loved it. There’s nothing better than a battered sausage on the pier and a ride around a rickety old wooden roller coaster, one which is still controlled by a guy who rides with you and pulls a manual brake when needed. As Luisa has turned her passion for crafts into her own business, another highlight was getting the chance to make a cool rainbow light box and some earrings with the Mercadona logo on them. It was a relaxed visit which was a lot of fun.
My second train took me down to London, where I spent a few nights with Rhea and Percy, her gorgeous new cat. On the first morning I woke to him snuggling with me in my bed and ended the day by watching Oh, Mary! in the West End. Talk about the perfect day.
As you can see, I might have flown out to England, but I was once again relying on good old trains to shunt me from one place to another. This was to continue as I headed for my next destination, which saw me take the Eurostar for the first time ever, but more on that next time…
