Train journeys

[View outside as we left London Euston. The red and blue train is an underground train.]

I like traveling by train.

When I was a kid, my parents would travel by train and I recalled sleeping on the top bunk in second class and peering out the tiny window all so excited. I would imagine being in my own world...

The top bunk is just nice for someone less than 5 feet tall, so I actually continued to sleep up there even in my 30s when I commute from Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur and vice versa. This was during my UTM lecturing days. Of course, now I have problems climbing up there, but I do sleep at the lower bunk, as it's easier to 'dress up' in them and put my calipers besides me, as the lower bunks are slightly bigger in size. It's all very cramp with your bags and shoes, but I like the rocking motion and the sound of the train, as they lull me to sleep. It costs about 40 Malaysian Ringgit plus, and although that is more costly than an express bus coach trip and also slower, it is more restful and better for the body to relax.


[Coach E was where I sat from London to Manchester on the Virgin Pendolino train with the plug-in piped-in music selection of 14 different channels.]

In the UK, I slept on a sleeper once, to Glasgow from London. This other office colleague and I got a 'present' from our employer and we were treated to visit a well-known architectural conference in 1988. That was nice, in the morning we had coffee and some biscuits while the train comes into Glasgow.


[Cambridge commuters going to London King's Cross on a Tuesday, train left station at 10:15 am.]


[Cambridge rural scene in the Summer]

Now I travel to London by train a lot as I have to finish off my interviews, and subsequently, wrap up my data collection stage. I often find myself able to do much work on the train, but with these new Pendolino trains that Virgin has, equipped with plug-in piped-in music channels selection, I cannot seem to concentrate that much. It is so nice listening to music while on the train. You should try it!

Just would like to share some more glimpses from the train rides that I had recently.