Trip Report: Hello Daytrip! Homeward Bound on the train (or three)

Trip Report: Hello Daytrip! Homeward Bound on Heathrow Express and Chiltern Railways

In this trip report…

• To Heathrow, British Airways Galleries First Lounge
• BA332 London Heathrow Airport T5 – Paris Orly West in Club Europe
• Would you like to heal your Pokemon? – The Paris Popup Pokemon Centre
• Other bits of Paris (or which scam is where!)
• Iberia Lounge, Paris Orly Airport
• BA337 Paris Orly West – London Heathrow Airport T5 in Club Europe
• Homeward Bound on Heathrow Express and Chiltern Railways
• Wrapping up the DayTrip – To catch them is my real quest, to train them is my cause….

With time not on my side, I rushed out of T5 and headed straight for the Heathrow Express. As much as I hate using it, I needed to get over to Marylebone quickly – or else its National Express for a long coach ride homeward.

And I’m not doing that when there’s a comfortable train I can veg out on for a two-hour ride home in peace.

The UK border queue was pretty long, so I opted for using the ePassport Gates. After a five minutes or so queuing up, and a minute processed, it was downstairs to customs and arrivals. With no bags to follow, it was a case of heading for North arrivals, and legging it to the ticket desks.

I got to the Heathrow ticket machines, and got a ticket for the connect service and headed down to the platform, where a service had just pulled out. This was actually pretty bad news as it messed with all the connections to Paddington.

This meant I would have to pay the full £21 to ride the Heathrow Express as opposed to £9.10 of the Heathrow Connect service – or else I would miss my connection home.

Annoying, but faced with a choice of that or National Express… the train wins for heading homeward.

Heathrow Express train at T5.

I sucked up the extra cost, and settled in for the 15 minute ride to Central London.

Seating

A very full train it seems…

With lots of room for luggage.

None the less, the service was on time, and zipped me to Paddington station for the short 15 minute ride

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Paddington Train shed

From Paddington, I headed down to the Bakerloo Line entrance to the Underground and got a new Oyster Card with £5 on it – enough to get to where I need to – it would work out the same to take a cab, but this just seemed simpler.

With that, it was time to head Underground and towards Marylebone station.

Useful travel tip if you’re even in London – Walk on the left, Stand on the Right.

Thankfully, the tube was working pretty well, with only a short wait for a service heading towards Central London.

Busy on the Bakerloo line as always…

A couple of stops, and it was back to the Great Central Train shed of Marylebone station

That way out.

Exiting the tube station brings you into the train shed, and towards the ticket machines which needed to be fed so I could get a ticket for the trip homeward. Another £28 later, and tickets spat out.

Marylebone station

Thankfully, I had 30 minutes or so before the next train back to Birmingham and homeward. The train was open for boarding, so I headed to the platform and jumped aboard.

The train waiting

Heading to the top of the train – an easier walk at the other end.

The train pulled out on schedule as I tried to stay awake for the final part of this trip.

Updated seating

Seating was a mixture of airline style and table style seating, with free WiFi aboard the train – always a helpful thing. I merely sat back and slowed down after a busy day of travel.

A busy evening on the last train to Birmingham

The train made good time to Birmingham Moor Street making various stops on the way (a normal last train of the night service)- arriving just before midnight, with my phone deciding to die in the process. Not that I needed it for much longer in terms of the day.

A bit wet out there….

Arriving at Birmingham Moor Street

After exiting the station, it was time to head to the flat. Thankfully, taxis were easy to flag down, and soon enough, I was aboard for the homeward back to the flat.

It felt like this when this photo was shot.

With the taxi driver doing his job, not more than ten minutes later, I was back at the block of flats I call home, and was at the front door to wrap up the journey.

And after heading indoors and to the smallest room in the flat, I looked down… and saw my wallet looking back at me.

Some things don’t change.

Next: To catch them is my real quest, to train them is my cause…