I was lucky enough to have my friend Surabhi take me to the train station. I had two very heavy suitcases, an even heavier duffel bag, and a mammoth back pack. As we sat at Leuchars (20 minutes early), it started to feel a little like being on platform 9 3/4. All the St. Andrews students with their massive suitcases waiting with friends for the train to take them back to the muggle world. Of course, I kept searching for an owl but never found one.
Inside the train was a continuation of what I imagine the Hogwarts Express would be like. Bags piled on top of bags, on top of crates of stuff. The seats were packed and I had no where to put my stuff. Luckily I had a ticket and a reserved seat, but it was naturally taken by some guy. I kicked him out of the seat, but felt sort of d-baggy about it, because then I just heaved my duffel and backpack on it so I didn't have to hold it until Edinburgh. So commenced my 6 hour train ride to London.
At Edinburgh Waverly, quite a few people got off; enough so that I could put my bags away in a proper bag area. I sat down and enjoyed a few hours of peaceful reading...or so I thought.
Two hours later, the train stops. I look around at the grassy fields surrounding me and realize this is definitely not the York train station. So the train "guide" comes on the speaker with some muffled speech that I can't really understand (partly because of the screaming baby in front of me and partly because of that damn scottish accent). Anyways, I get a translation from the girl next to me: the train will be terminated at York.
"Oh is that close to London?" I ask innocently. She just laughs. Apparently I now have to lug three suitcases around a train station to catch another train from York to some rando town, to get another train to Sheffield, to get a final train to London. That would be three changes...times nearly 200lbs of luggage equals way more than I bargained for.
And remember that Hogwarts express, well the next train turns into one of those cross country Indian trains with the people on top. We basically smushed the passengers from two full trains into one. Thankfully, I met a woman along the way: a fellow American from the Philly area. All I'm gonna say is this woman talked me down from the ledge of a few major break downs. When we transferred, she invited me to the first class cabin where she had a ticket; paid for my "upgrade fee" when the ticket taker came around, and bought me a bottle of wine for the trip. I guess there is always a silver lining to the most hellish situations.
But then today my NEW camera died. Not really a big deal. I only paid 30 euro for it, but still. Its three weeks old.
