Travel Day to London + 1 Night in London
Posted on December 29, 2023 • 10 minutes • 1925 words
No actual stress, which is VERY surprising considering the number of transfers and shear amount of travel time, but we did have my super power of traveling karma on our side.
We knew we had to give ourselves extra time for our train from Brussels to London, so with nothing planned that morning, we had a breakfast in, wrapped up packing and grabbed the tram to the Ghent train station. Uber never responded and really the tram was so easy before. Walked in and hopped on a train with only waiting about 3 minutes…and NO running. Trains ran every +/-20 minutes, so not that surprising. Quick 25 minute or so ride to Brussels. Always enough time for a partial game of Uno.
We got dropped into the station right at the left baggage area. No line and they didn’t charge us for the extra 45 minutes over the 1 week we had paid for. Now a bit more loaded down, so I stuck everyone against the wall while I went to see if we could get on the 12:55 train, not the 14:52 train. It was currently 11:10. I asked one person, got sent to another, then another and finally to a kiosk. I put in our info and tried to click on the earlier train and it wouldn’t let me select it. I went back to the third person and asked if he could look up why it wasn’t an option. Maybe the train was full? He looked us up and said ‘you are on the 12:55 train’. What? No! (But secretly happy) My email clearly here says 14:52. I call Dan and tell them to come immediately as we are within the 2hr cutoff…later found that to be BS as it was actually 30 minutes before departure that the close the doors…supposedly. He is so confused and responds with ‘What? How? I don’t even know where you are!" Fair. I then race back to them and we all go into the Channel Terminal and I look at my email again. Hold on, it for sure says 14:52 departure, so I decided to go verify with the guy again before we all pile through. I show him my email and he shows me his computer. I finally say, “so my email is wrong?” He chuckles and says, “well, my computer is not wrong.” He printed me out tickets with seat assignments and now we are feeling good. We also confirmed that there is no rush to get through the gates as it’s still an 1:30 minutes from departure. We decide to go get food and coffee. Good call on the food as there wasn’t much on the other side of customs, but carrying coffee with all our stuff was a struggle. Kids saw sushi and end of story. Happy kids. Although they weren’t thrilled I wouldn’t let them eat by themselves with chopsticks in the train station.
Loaded up on food, we now proceeded through security, border control to leave Belgium and border control to ender the UK. Once through, it was a crowded area! I think it was a 16 car train and about 90% of people were probably already there. I finally ate some food (poke bowl) and drank my coffee. The most exciting thing…we found a UNICEF donation center to put in all our currencies we from all the countries we’d been to! No matter how hard we tried, we always found currency after we’d left the country.
After sitting for a bit, we got the announcement to board the train. Imagine loading 3 Airbus 380s at the same time, through one gate. That’s pretty much what it was. We found our car and there was still room on the luggage racks for out big bags. So happy to be seated on the train and even took advantage of the buy 2 beers/ciders save a couple pounds. With 3 drinking adults, Dan got 2.
My first trip on/under the chunnel. Ironically, the kids had asked if our train was a subway and I told them it was the ULTIMATE subway. Didn’t even realize you were in a tunnel and then next thing we knew, we popped out. We came to a crawl/stop and got an announcement that the tracks ahead were experiencing flooding and we were going to be delayed. Then we were delayed more when they announced that one side was bad and they were doing one way traffic on the tracks. Not a big issue, just added about an hour to your trip. Finally got to St Pancreas Station and it was a mess! SO SO SO crowded. We slow walked for a bit to just get off the platform and down through some area. I love train stations. I love the architecture, the efficiency of them, the fact that trains take you in all directions. But really, I love the roofs. Massive spans and usually exposed so you can see it all. And who doesn’t love a giant clock?
Finally in the main section, I volunteered to hold the fort with ALL our bags so Dan, Tara and the kids could go check out platform 9 3/4 right next door at Kings Cross. I guess since he did read 99.9% of the books twice, he won that opportunity.
And a giant Christmas tree decorated Harry Potter style.
Back together, we got tickets to get us to Heathrow (where our hotel was…or at least it was close). More walking with a million people.
As we standing at the entry gates to get through to the trains, Dan says that, with all our stuff, we should do the handicap/stroller turnstile. Please, we can do this! I had to scan, then shove a kid or adult through with bags and suitcases. Max was free, so when Ben went, I pushed him through after. Well the gates closed right behind him, but grabbed his backpack. He was stuck. It was kind of hilarious and I had to lift/slide him up to get him unstuck. Finally all through, we took a short connector train, transferred and then took the train out to Heathrow. It is out there! I knew it was far, part of the reason we didn’t want to deal with a taxi and traffic, which was giving the same travel time as the trains. We get there and to the kids’ delight, we grab a bus to go 5 stops to our hotel. Easy to find the bus, crazy to board. Kids of course wanted to sit up top, so Tara took them all up there and Dan and I attempted to man the suitcases below. Our driver was driving like crazy! With the rolly suitcases, and a lot of them, we were flying all over the place. A woman with a stroller was cracking up with us. It was the turns, but also the aggressive acceleration and stopping that was the worst.
Dropped off right in front and it was such a relief to walk into the Marriott, knowing that we didn’t have to search for a key box or look up a code or wonder if there were going to be the right amount of rooms as stated. The place was decorated to the nines and we really spoiled ourselves with a luggage cart.
Easy check in, dumped bags and thanks to my dad booking the rooms for us (Thanks again Dad!!) we had access to the executive lounge, so we went straight there for snacks. I was expecting some cheese, appetizers, etc, but it was a full spread and really good actually. 3 beers on tap and lots of desserts. Everyone was content.
Put the kids to bed and Dan and I sorted some stuff that we could send home with Tara and some clothes that we realized we just didn’t need, that we planned to donate when we found a place. Then we went back to the lounge for our last night out without kids for a very long time.
Anther great meal in the lounge for breakfast and then Dan took Tara to the airport while I finished up packing. He got back and Max, Sam and I went out to catch the bus to the car rental pick up. It was actually only a 20 minute walk, but it started raining and didn’t want to start the day all wet.
While waiting for the car documentation and stuff, I saw on the news that all Eurostar trains were canceled that day due to flooding. The same flooding that delayed us the day before had gotten worse! We literally made it through within 12hrs of is all being shut down. Got the car and yes, when I went to get in to drive I opened the wrong door. Even though I was trying really hard NOT to do that. Driving was going to be a struggle, but made it back. Loaded up and headed to Bath. As I’m on an onramp, Dan screams ‘Watch Out!!’ I panic and look for a car/person, but he was talking about the curb. Too late. :) I requested that if yelling about an obstacle, please be a little more specific. I don’t need ‘watch out’, I just need ‘CURB’. Well that was a bad decision, because I got about 20 ‘curbs’ before we made it to bath. I think I was doing pretty well and Dan was just being sensitive. :)
We needed food and Dan found a place in a little town. Best to not attempt driving in cities yet. Adorable drive to the place.
And the place was just as perfect as could be. Cozy in the rain, old couple running the place, menu on the wall, beers on tap.
Dan ordered the steak and kidney pie. When in Rome…
Back in the car we continued driving to Stonehenge. I had mixed feelings about going and even googled ‘Is going to Stonehenge worth it?’ Mixed reviews, but the gist of it was that you just can’t get that close. We decided to try it out. Being a blustery day and not summer we were hoping for not many people, but it was very crowded. Parked and walked over to the entrance with lots of rain. We accidentally stood in the bus line…there are buses that drive you out to the site from the entrance, or you can walk it. A heard a guy say usually 30 minutes, but it’s pretty muddy, so probably longer. And you could see a lot of people walking. The line was so long and Dan said we can’t deal with that. Okay, we can walk. I finally got in the right line, Dan went back to get an extra layer. In the right line, I saw the entry fee of about 75 pounds for the family. Considering we were just going to do it pretty quickly and we were already cold, I was kind of leaning towards ‘it’s not worth it’. Then Dan calls and says it’s gotten worse and he’s wet, just going back to the car. I told him the price and we pulled the plug. We can try it another day if we really want to. The 3 minute walk back to the car solidified the fact that we made the right choice. We just weren’t going to enjoy it. But we did get to see it!
The rest of the drive was very pretty and very green! It never stopped raining, but we arrived to Bath with no issues.
