This is it....the beginning of the end to a great summer. Neil is anxious and full of energy. Nancy is more teary. We got up on time. Jess was not feeling great because she had been coughing most of the night. Joey was her usual charming self. We had a big breakfast with streaky bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs and toast.
The cab was ordered. We were cleaned up and waiting. Neil shlepped our bags up to the front door without waiting for Pete who was getting cleaned up. As he said...lots of nervous energy. The taxi arrived a few minutes late, but arrived. All five of us and the luggage got into the cab for the trip to Glasgow Central.
We waited for the train platform to be announced. We could see it on track 4, but they had not officially announced it. There were trains that were actually cancelled this morning, including one to London Euston which would have been our station were we not avoiding London because of the Olympics. Our train which was to have left at 10:00 was finally officially given Track 4 a few minutes after 10. We said our good-byes to Jess and Joey. Pete helped up with our bags to our car and seats. Pete no more than got off the train, and the train started moving. They did not give passengers much time to get on board today.
In first class we had coffee and tea and a mostly empty coach except for one American couple three seats ahead of us who were loudly explaining / questioning their trip from Glasgow to Southampton to board a cruise ship. We asked about the transfer at Wolverhampton and were assured the train we needed would be on the same track about ten minutes behind ours and that we could get out and then get on with no problems.
The ride south from Glasgow was quick and smooth. We picked up a few more first class passengers on the way. At Wolverhampton we got our bags off and waited the requisite minutes after which the train arrived. However, the first class coach A was at the end of the new train and at the other end of the platform. We hustled our bags the length of the train, found our coach, and stowed our baggage. The rest of the journey south was pleasant with some new scenery. At Redding the train pulled into from the North and pulled out the station going back north. We soon angled west headed for Bournmouth. We arrived at Southampton Central right on time. The annoying American couple were there. She stopped me and wanted to know which cruise ship we were going on....not the QE2, the one they were taking.
Nancy had checked the route and used Google Earth street level to figure out how to walk to the Hotel Ibis, which we could see from the train station. We organized our luggage and headed out. We came to the roundabout which we had to cross. There were 5 different walk lights to get across and one crossing with no walk signals, but we made it. It was about 2 blocks from the train station to the Hotel Ibis.
We checked into the Ibis, discussed if they had air conditioning because it was quite warm in Southampton.....much warmer than the cool temperatures we had become accustomed to in Glasgow. The fellow at the registration desk gave us a room on the East side of the hotel and a fan. At least the windows opened. Our room was on the second floor, had windows that opened and the fan. It seemed to be cool enough. The elevator was tiny, and it took 2 trips to get all our stuff upstairs.
After checking out our room, we went for a walk. For dinner we decided on IKEA....one step above McDonalds, and much cheaper than TGIFridays which tend to be very expensive in foreign countries. We also thought it would be fun to walk through another IKEA and not actually buy any material goods. The IKEA was an easy walk...about three blocks. It was beside their gigantic four tier car park. The entrance was on the fourth level which was reached by a series of floating escalators that made both of us a little uncomfortable. Thank you Neil for being kind. Neil actually led the way. Nancy grabbed his shirt and rode right behind him with her eyes closed. We walked through the show rooms, but, of course, we did not buy a thing. We actually made it....2 IKEAS and not a single purchase. In the almost empty food court, we ordered our dinner---Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, gravy and ligonberry jam. It was wonderful.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Boots for a pill caddy and a candy bar. At the McDonalds we stopped for some Diet Cokes. Back at the Ibis Neil watched TV and Nancy struggled with the Internet connection. The Internet connection was one which you had to pay for. It was run by a company called Orange which apparently is based in France. This means that part of the directions were in French......not good, but manageable. I put all my information in and the sign in and password codes showed up for a whole 2 or 3 seconds and then disappeared. I didn't even have time to get a pen out. Bad news. I struggled a bit with it, and then got redressed and went down to the front desk to see if they could help me. The young man who checked us in was quite helpful. He helped me try to log into Gmail with the hotels system, but Gmail is a website the hotel has blocked. He took his own iPhone, logged out of Gmail and had me open my account on his phone. Guess what....he was correct. Orange had sent the password and login to my email which I could not open until I got an internet connection. I couldn't get an Internet connection until I had the email. An interesting conundrum solved by a nice person.
Bed and tomorrow we join Queen Mary 2.
Steps: 7, 494
Glasgow Central Station
Wolverhampton -- our change
Rebuilding of Reading Station
They really like metal animals
Reading, UK
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