Mastodawn

#EuropeanRail PSA.
Travelling in #Eurostar Plus between London and Netherlands gets you more space, and complimentary and genuinely decent tea, but far more importantly, a whole raft of extra cartoon characters in the information/safety video. Withering look lady remains unchallenged as the queen of emoting just by blinking.
(See also #SweatChildOfThine if that makes no sense.)

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Ian May 24

Hello London, not actually that hot, tbh.
Hello chasing a 73 bus half a mile along Euston Road. Target acquired.
Hello chasing a 24 bus half a mile down Tottenham Court Rd. Target acquired.

Hello boarding confusion at Victoria Coach Station, where the dispatch person really did not make his announcement clear.
So hello chasing a Swansea bus down the M4 in a Cardiff-bound National Express.
Target… wait and see.

#SweatChildOfThine

Ian May 24

Hello England.
Hello terrible phone coverage for people on trains.
I do need you to know that I am still laughing to myself every time the #Eurostar cartoon lady blinks and turns her head.

#SweatChildOfThine

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Ian May 24

There are many small highlights to a #Eurostar train ride. I personally love the endlessly looping animated information and safety video.
Since the Thalys merger and rebrand, the man who lays golden turds (indicating how to adjust the seat) is no more.
My new hero is the forgetful guy who stumbles over a small bag, but is later able to shove out a smashed window then swoop out without getting glass bits in his arse.
Elderly couple nearby left to burn, it appears.
#EuropeanRail
#SweatChildOfThine

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Ian May 24

Hello, The Netherlands.
Hello Amsterdam Centraal station, where the Flixbus drops you 15m from the Eurostar platform – literally in sight – but suped-up passport procedures mean you take an hour to get there. #BrexitWin

Four hours on this train, mostly sleeping with luck, before the heat of London hits.

#SweatChildOfThine

Ian May 23

Hello Germany.
Hello glamorous Hamburg ZOB (central bus station) at 11pm on a Saturday night. Two hours to kill before the Flixbus to Amsterdam.
Enough activity and people around that it feels quite safe, but yeah, not the most comfortable of waits.

#SweatChildOfThine

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Ian May 23

Hello Danish rail replacement bus.
But hello first a beautiful moment of true, gradual déjà vu at Vordingborg Station.
I didn't recognise the name at all, but I cycled through here last August.

#SweatChildOfThine

Ian May 23

Hello Danmark.
Hello Europe's (imho) least pleasant station, Copenhagen Airport.
The stink of jet fuel greets you even before you leave your incoming train.
A breeze picks up as you wait on the platform and you assume the air will freshen. But of course that air is also filthy with jet pollution, so the only relief is when you stop noticing the noxious fog.
Never mind the climate emergency, why do we allow local air pollution like this?
#FlyingLess
#EuropeanRail
#SweatChildOfThine

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Ian May 23

Sleep well pal, in the city where – adverts suggest – dreams become reality.

I'm no mad dog and I'm definitely no Englishman.
So 1230 is picnic lunch in the rustling shade of a willow and a chestnut tree.

#SweatChildOfThine