[canucklad]

Hi NIRScot, hope you won’t mind my comparison report,forgot that I said I would post a wee comparison of 1st travel in the UK. So here goes….

Scotrail commute to the Waverly –on time and a pleasant conductor, easy on a Sunday night!

East Coast Lounge :
My advice forget it., the last time I was in it I left feeling totally under whelmed, dirty cups, no biscuits, papers strewn and crumpled, and ran out of tea… Sad and depressing place, it suits being hidden around the corner, out of sight and out of mind !!
A pleasant pint of Dunbar’s finest whilst I waited for my 7.00 departure from the pub is my preferred option..

After a quick visit to M&S for a wine, boarded an almost empty coach M and took my allocated table seat, shared by 2 ladies.
Considered moving to an empty table but the young lady opposite had already engaged in conversation.

Thankfully I was only heading to Newcastle and not Hinterzarten, I’m a sociable yap, but my god…..I now know so much more about hubby to be, wedding dresses and cats.

7.05pm…“Eh no tea or coffee for me ta, I’ll stick to my M&S glass of wine. (No alcohol served at weekends in 1st)

Yakety yak, something about her cats, radiology & the NHs, more cats, , moving to Glasgow, wedding, Misty, cakes mother-in-law and dinner, hubby to be, Jason, Hubby & cats,

7.15pm…..Dinner is served…Aye right,. You can have a cheese sandwich or an egg sandwich? .…”Cheese please” …refused the biscuit because I didn’t fancy Shrewsbury, I wasn’t given a chance of the alternative on show., nor a napkin, just a cellophane wrapped cheese sandwich…Bland but edible….

Tabby this, Tabby that, state of the NHS, Hubby has a rash, anxiety complex probably, cakes and OMG diet for dress(wedding) rash not the cats, well not Marmalade, studying for radiology degree, blah de blah.

My numbskulls inform me that we’re only at Berwick!! Train pulls out, guard makes incoherent message about a broken door and Wi-Fi!
Persian cats, long haired cats and moving 3 cats to Glasgow, and boyfriends rash, something about perfume, Blue, mother in laws Macaroni!

7.50pm…. Stewardesses repeat pattern, post Waverly departure, but don’t stop at our table, focus on ghosts that boarded at Berwick. , way back stopped to top other victims tea up, and take away sandwich wrapper!!

“Moving to Glasgow, stressed cats, litter trays, cat boxes, camomile lotion, not sure for cats or rash? Weightwatcher points, Whiskas’s tins…

Never see the trolley again as it’s a crew change at Newcastle…which is a shame because they were polite, smiling and pleasant enough, but I’m also presuming that East Coast has instructed them on the finer points of portion policing!

Pull into Newcastle bang on time, 2,456,987 “Oh really’s & “that’s interesting’s “” later.
Fearing for the waiting boyfriend’s eardrums / sanity I disappear into the night with a sudden urge to watch a Disney film called………..”The ____” LOL

[flier74]

Thanks for making me laugh out loud canucklad. Glad I was on solo seats the whole joutney today and minded my own business,reading, watching a movie etc, but then again it is midweek and the trains were not busy at all.
The InterCity was very pleasent too, newly refurbed with ICE style leather seats and chairside service offered by the train staff (for a fee). Thats something which is different on most european trains in First, no cpmolimentary service,but some operators seem to improve on that too.
All in all a very pleasant journey, if you are not in a rush.

[LuganoPirate]

Canucklad. Big 😉 did she invite you to the wedding at least?

Flier, sounds a wonderful journey. Much more civilised than European air travel I think. Thanks for the report though I was surprised they charged a fee to bring the food to you. It used to be for free and still is in Switzerland in First class!

[flier74]

Hi LuganoPirate,

Thanks for your comment and I agree Canucklad’s review really made great reading. Yes Deutsche Bahn still charge for food and drink onboard, so do many other companies, like SJ and ÖBB, but lately they have a special area for First Class Passengers only, in selected larger DB Lounges, offering free sandwiches and drinks of all kinds. Maybe/hopefully the onboard product will change some time in the future, but guess sometimes with frequent stops this may be a challenge.
What did make me giggle was on the ICE International today, when a standard class passenger “sneaked” into first class and filled his briefcase with every newspaper available on the stand. I have seen that before and it just makes me laugh when I see how pleased they are with themselves when they are not challenged or “caught”.

Now Switzerland is on my wishlist, so is a journey from Hamburg to Stockholm on the ICE train which drives on and off the ferry and then the swedish highspeed X2000 from Copenhagen to Stockholm.

[JohnHarper]

Great review NIRScott.

I’m looking forward to my next travels with DB in May.

[LuganoPirate]

Sorry Flier, I misunderstood, I thought you meant they charged a fee for bringing the food. They always have charged for food as do the Swiss, though it’s interesting they offer free snacks in the lounges which I’ve never used as I’m usually at the station just 5 minutes before departure.

The journey to Stockholm sounds great and something I must do. You’ll enjoy the Swiss trains and if you pass through Lugano do let me know.

[SealinkBF]

Hello! I used to be NIRscot.

For some reason, Business Traveller blocked my account and didn’t reply to my emails asking why.

So here I am. My posts as NIRscot weren’t that controversial where they?

[LuganoPirate]

Welcome back. From memory I can’t think of anything you said that was controversial!

[MartynSinclair]

only controversial part, was you temporarily “leaving” – good to see you back… :))

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