It was to be my first Christmas away from my family home. My grandmother passed away in August and my parents moved to live in a small hamlet called Trisant, which is around 12 miles from Aberystwyth. I had never been to Wales before, except for a Tottenham Hotspur cup final in Cardiff ( they lost!) so I didnt know what to pack. Luckily I had bought a large camping backpack that thankfully fit in 2 weeks worth of clothing plus presents. I have my 2 cats to look after and I tried many catteries to house them but they were just too expensive and they wanted the cats vaccinated which I didnt have time to do so - so I was grateful that my uncle stayed with them over the 2 weeks I was away.
There are two options to get to Wales if you dont drive - train or coach. I have travelled on both and I the coach as you are guaranteed a seat but it is a 9 hour trip with a 20 minute stop in Birmingham. The train is around 5 hours
and you need to change at Birmingham for the train to Aberystwyth. Coach is cheaper but there is only 1 coach a day there and back, there are several train services from Euston everyday. Make sure you book in advance to get the best price and get there early to get your seat as there can be a lot of arguments ( I paid extra to book my seat and the train staff place a card on the top of the seat with your name on it) My first trip was by train and I had my tickets printed at my local station the week before and I put them in my jacket. On the day - I made sure that I had everything packed ( which I did the night before) and grabbed a few books to read. I left around 3 hours before the train departure time, I was on the over ground train into London, where I checked my new jacket that I had purchased the day before for my tickets - however - they were not there. I forgot that I had put them in my old jacket that was hanging up on the back of
my door. So I quickly got off the train, ran to the other platform and made my way home to get my the important tickets. Thankfully the trains were running on time and I made it back home within 15 minutes.
So - back I go to my starting station and had to wait 30 minutes for my train into London. I am so glad I left 3 hours earlier. There were delays on the underground due to a passenger incident and I made it to Euston with about an hour to go. I grabbed some food and drinks and sat waiting for the departure boards to display my train. As you would expect, Euston was packed full - both holiday makers, students and business people all waiting for their trains to in the attempt to avoid the rush hour crowds. Eventually, my train arrived and then the race for seats began. I didnt think too much about it as I had my seats on both parts of my journey. I booked a window seat ( I have always had a fear of not being able to see where I was going when travelling
- both in cars and trains....more recently, planes, when I found it - 1st carriage of the train as it splits up on its way from London to Scotland so I had to make sure I was on the first 5 sections. There was someone in my seat, I informed them that I had booked this seat to which the person was quite rude about it. I told them that there was a ticket on the top of the seat ( which was still there) with my name and booking number on it. The person swiftly reached for it and ripped it up and threw it at me. I went to stow my luggage in the big luggage section and stood in the doorway. A member of staff asked me to move as I was blocking the route - I explained the situation, showed them my booking information and approached the individual to ask them to move. The passenger refused to move from the seat and started to be verbally aggressive. Security was called and the passenger was removed from the train. Turns out they were drunk and had not purchased a ticket.
- it was time for the train to depart. The first leg of the trip was around and hour long with 2 stops between London and Birmingham.
