If you squint, a cafe and a food truck might qualify as shops? Lots of people sleeping in their campers on the parking lot across the street. Is the day ferry cheaper or why didn’t the sleep on the boat?)
There is a direct service from the port in Harwich to London, but they didn’t sell advance tickets for it and it doesn’t have first class. So a quick three minute change at the lovely, quiet junction station of Manningtree it is.
London Liverpool Street. I need to be at Waterloo in four hours and have not the faintest idea what to do. I guess I’ll just start walking and see what comes up.
There’s some sort of wayfinding marathon going on. People in running gear with paper maps all over the place. They are too quick to read what it says on their starting number label.
If you visit a big city, consider not doing museums and sights but just wander around. This is so much easier now with maps on the phone – you can plot routes through cute back alleys rather than always walking along crowded main streets. But you get to see the city, breathe the city, and get a glimpse into living the city.
Why is it called “Southampton Airport (Parkway)” if the airport is right be the station? I thought “parkway” was the euphemism for a station away from anywhere useful?
The Boat is reporting to travel from Zeebrugge to Southampton but is currently 30 or so miles south of Dorchester heading west? Are they chasing a nice sunset over Devon?
Good morning from a sunny Southampton where I now have five hours to kill. Let’s start with the statue of Isaac Watts, inventor of the … gravitational steam engine, maybe?
German word of the day: Fotowolke. Lit: photo cloud, the cloud the moves in front of the sun seconds before the train you’ve been waiting hours for passes on an otherwise scorchingly sunny day.
Boarding was fairly airline-y except that the security checks were staffed with pensioners for some reason and nobody is in a hurry. Someone misread my boarding pass and send me down priority lane, so it was all done in no time at all.
Ahoy from 3158 nautical miles later and the other side of the Atlantic. Quite sad to leave the ship, really (and not because I’ve been stuck in US immigration for hours now).
If you fancy crossing the Atlantic by ship but have your doubts about the whole cruise aspect of the voyage, don’t worry about that. Cunard sure do their thing with the dress code and the Gala dinners and the theatre performances and all of it, but they also make very sure you don’t have to take part. And the ship is big enough to always find a quiet corner for yourself.
But stepping outside at any time and seeing nothing but the endlessness of the ocean for days is quite the experience.
Since I couldn’t get a decent picture in Southampton, I took the ferry to Governors Island in New York. Here she is, then, the world’s only remaining ocean liner.
Grand Central Terminal may be grand, but Grand Central Platforms are cramped, dark, hot, and noisy. Which isn’t helped by these diesels sitting there not quite idling (presumably to keep the train’s aircon running).
But back to walking. I’m only down to 42nd street – it’s a long way to the tip of Manhattan at South Ferry. Well more than 42 blocks, in fact. There are plenty more streets south of 1st street but they are older than the grid and have names.
Turkey is promoting itself as a partner in sustainable development by driving gas-powered trucks with LED billboards through the already grid-locked streets of Manhattan. You can’t make this stuff up.
Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Click.
They say we're young, and we don't know,
We won't find out until we grow.
#RandomTrainToiletDecorations
Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •“Welcome to this service for Manningtree. We will be calling at: Manningtree. The next stop will be Manningtree.”
So, Manningtree, huh!?
Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Well that was a hell of a lot of fun! And I didn’t even manage to do Westminster. Guess we’ll have to come back some other time.
Back to trains now.
Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •were staffed with pensioners for
some reason and nobody is in a hurry. Someone misread my boarding pass and send me down priority lane, so it was all done in no time at all.
Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •If you fancy crossing the Atlantic by ship but have your doubts about the whole cruise aspect of the voyage, don’t worry about that. Cunard sure do their thing with the dress code and the Gala dinners and the theatre performances and all of it, but they also make very sure you don’t have to take part. And the ship is big enough to always find a quiet corner for yourself.
But stepping outside at any time and seeing nothing but the endlessness of the ocean for days is quite the experience.
Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Elevators are the motor car of vertical transportation: very convenient but also horribly inefficient.
(Sent from the lobby while the two cars are dancing around in the double digit floors.)
Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •Martin Hoffmann
in reply to Martin Hoffmann • • •