Entry for April 28, 2007
Trip South East England to Darlington, 2 days stay-over.
The trip went well, the St George's Hotel Teesside was nice, and nearly everything went well, which is a bit surprising for me. I travelled from Surrey to London on South West Trains, then London Underground to Kings Cross station, GNER rail to Darlington.
The local Darlington Taxis are ok, although 1 of the 6 trips I took was with a driver who (sic) smoked in the car - admittedly, not while I was actually in the car, but the car smelled awful, and it was sickening to see his microphone shoved into the nearly full ashtray ! eyeeeww! While we are talking Taxis, here in the UK, they look at you like you're a freak if you want to pay with a card - I dont understand that?
GNER - Though I boarded at Darlington, this train was running, I think , nearly an hour late. Didnt really affect me, it just happened to be the next train I could get from Darlington to London. The toilet was not flushing in my coach, sign on door on the next coach toilet saying " out of order", so I walked to the next coach, only to find that toilet not flushing, either. No water to wash hands either, so I assume the staff had other problems to worry about, what with late train and all. Its was a pretty poor show, though when you consider the prices charged for the journey, about £60. Internet Wi-Fi is available, about £8 for 2 hours,though its not very fast, I have used it with satisfaction a couple of times before, but on this particular journey, I could not browse or send emails - it was really slow, and kept on disconnecting.
