It’s like a Train To Malta in some respects, ..,
I didn’t sleep well last night, probably due to concern about getting to my train on time. On the positive side, that did give me the opportunity to watch a documentary about the London fish market, possibly Basildon, and a chunk of a thing about Royal Marine Commando trainees.
Woke up a bit before my first (5am) alarm, which wasn’t really the plan, but it did mean that I was pretty much ready to go when the second (6am) one went off.
I had been concerned about trying to get from Royal Victoria to Euston during what I’d assumed would be workday commuter time, but it wasn’t that bad; Got a seat on every train, and the enormous black bag wasn’t too much of a problem on the stairs at Bank & Euston.
The route I took was Docklands Light Rail from Royal Victoria to Shadwell, another DLR from Shadwell to Bank because the Royal Victoria trains only go to Tower Gateway or Stratford International, neither of which connect to the Northern Line.
At Bank, change to the Northern for the trip to Euston.
I’m kind of regretting the big black bag; It’s doing the job OK, but wheels would be nice. Then again, it was selected to cover the worst-case situation, based on The Coworker’s experience with a broken escalator, a huge suitcase, and a spiral staircase, which clearly left an impression upon the man.
As a result of the early start, I ended up at Euston maybe 2 hours before the train, which was, I think, overdoing it a bit.
There’s someone I know on this train who’d had the opposite experience, possibly due to much luggage. Finding the lifts took time, changing trains took time, and they only just made it on board.
I suspect they’ll need a hand for the Train-to-Ferry transfer, and suspect that a shared taxi to the hotel may well be in order.
Did I mention that I got a window seat?
Norman & Leanne maybe didn’t need help with the many many bags, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
Following the signs with a little ship on them solved the problem of finding the ferry, though we did stand in the wrong check-in line for a while. After finding out that the guy ahead of us had no idea what he was queuing for, I checked ahead, & moved us to the Irish Ferries line, instead of the Stena Line one.
Getting on board was pretty easy, and involved a trip in a little bus to get onto the ferry; It’s a car ferry, so the little bus just drove on.
We set up in some comfy chairs by a window, & simply didn’t move, except to get lunch, which we took back to said comfy chairs. Talked, looked at the lack of scenery, wondered what was showing at the on-board cinema, and played a game of Fluxx.
Getting off the boat was a little odd.
I passed through gates which had ‘EU’ & ‘Non EU’ signs on them, but the booths were unmanned, and nobody seemed at all interested in the notion that we might not be citizens. I’m honestly not sure whether I’m in the country legitimately or not, but if the return journey is anything like this one, it won’t matter.
Getting a taxi took a while, as the system seems a bit haphazard, and someone in one of those quasi-SUV things clipped a curb while waving to someone, and exploded the tire. First one of those I’ve seen.
Hotel check-in went very smoothly, and came with a cookie & a rather nice room, comparable to the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. I’m chillaxing there now, drinking the complimentary water (still and sparking), and summoning the energy to go back to the lobby & see whether they have free wi-fi.
Not free wifi as such, but there is a Hilton Honours network which will let you use the Internet without actually giving them a membership number. It’ll drop you as soon as you look away, but it seems to work for now.
I ended up wandering into what I’m assuming is central Dublin with Leanne, who was looking for a cellphone SIM card. We did find some stores, but everything was closed, so we grabbed non-hotel dinner instead.
Turns out that she was involved with the Chicago WorldCon in 2012, and so was able to shed some light on a comment made by someone talking about a future Chicago bid; “And it won’t be at the fucking Hyatt”
The Hyatt, it turns out, were not good to deal with, on a pretty epic scale. Changing one part of a contract at the same time as the part that was being negotiated, so that the whole thing, with known & unknown changes, would get signed off on.
This, I am thinking, is why Contract + Variation exists.