From a very small child I have been fascinated by trains. I love that form of travel and the sense of excitement of an impending journey. Therefore, travelling on The Orient Express became number one on my bucket list of things I wanted to do.
The journey I chose is the route from London to Venice. I asked my daughter, Susie to accompany me.
I’m a person who likes to preplan as much as possible, so well in advance I booked what looked like s nice hotel in Venice, the Savoia and Jolanda.
As the first part of our journey was on the Belmond Pullman from London Victoria Station, I booked us into the Grosvenor Victoria Hotel.
We were due to leave London on 5th May so we needed to travel down on the train the previous day. It was only when I came to book the train ticket to London that I realised travelling might not be as straightforward as normal. The train from Chester, leaving at 13.55 was going to take 5 hours and 4 changes to London, due to engineering works at Euston. Between us Susie and I were taking two large suitcases, two cabin bags and clothes” carriers for the glamorous clothes we were wearing on the train,
The morning of our departure for London I approached the day in a leisurely and relaxed manner savouring the excitement I felt about the impending journey, After a morning of beauty treatments I was pottering about waiting for my grandson to take me to the hairdresser as I had lent my car to my granddaughter, when he suddenly came rushing in and said you have to go now or I’ll call you a taxi. My daughter’s husband had been out riding his motorbike when a gang had driven up in a car and stolen the keys from his bike. Dan needed to go and rescue him. My lovely relaxed day was no longer. Dan dropped me off at the hairdresser and charged away in his car. Susie picked me up after the hairdresser and dropped me back home. As she drove away I remembered that I had changed the keys of my house to the bag I was taking away with me and that was inside the house. I was locked out and the taxi was coming in twenty minutes.
I knocked on my neighbour.’s door and like a “Knight in Shining Armour” he came to my assistance. He brought a very long ladder from his house and managed to open a window in our upstairs conservatory. I watched as my despair turned to hope as he scurried up the ladder and through the window. A few minutes later I was in my house. Dan returned home five minutes later and we were on our way to the station picking up Susie en route.
After a minor panic over tickets at the station we boarded the first of our five trains; the one to Crewe. The first two changes were relatively painless, but the second train was delayed at Birmingham New Street and this impacted on our change at Banbury. Susie carried more than she should and hurt her shoulder. We took a taxi from Marylebone to The Grosvenor Victoria Hotel. Relaxing with a Gin and Tonic in the bar an hour later I finally felt my holiday had begun.
S
More please! xxx