This Time it was Just Trains and Automobiles and One Overstuffed LL bean Bag

 It has to be said at very the beginning of this blog that the four of us are seasoned travelers. But yesterday, you would have never known it because we were really, really off our “A” game.  

We decided that we would take the train from London to England’s second largest city, York and then pick up our rent-a-car and head to the lovely, North Yorkshire town of Harrogate.  We bought our tickets once we got to the train station and we’re told that we could sit in any seat we want.  Great news for four middle-aged travelers, ie, the faster we find a seat, the better for all involved.

We have taken trains many times in Europe and so at least for me, I’m blaming my initial “Beverly Hillbillies-“ like actions on my LL Bean knapsack. One of its selling points is that it has so many zipper pockets for storing a multitude of traveling essentials.  I got on the train dragging my oh too heavy suitcase, my new over-the-chest robbery-resistant-proof purse (assuming that the zipper latch doesn’t fall-off like mine did) and my backpack. After storing our luggage at the back of the train car, we set out to find places to sit and were thrilled to find a table with four seats available.

And then the problems began.

While it was only a two-hour train ride, I needed to remove quite a few things from my backpack prior to the train taking off. My problem was that I couldn’t remember where each of the items was located. And so, the unzippering began, all while my backpack sat in the seat that Bob was supposed to be sitting in. As a result, he was stuck standing in the aisle and stopping our fellow travelers from passing. Charging  your phone, or in my case, my Fitbit takes a bit of planning while in a train—not only do you need your charger but also an adapter and frankly it took quite a few zipper unzipperings to find what I needed. And then I had to find the plug.  After some significant physical contortions, which was no easy feat for a nearly 63 year-old, I felt the socket under my seat, but I couldn’t for the life of me, get those three spokes in the holes!  Bob, while still blocking all traffic, thanks to the location of my LL Bean bag, took the plug from me, leaned over, which put him in quite a contortion, and successfully plugged in the adapter. Yeah!

One minute after the flow of traffic finally began to move, a little boy, not more than 8-years-old, came walking down the aisle, and stopped dead right in front of us and said to his father, “Those people are sitting in OUR seats!” Clearly, we were given some bad information regarding seating availability from the ticket teller.  Because we had spent the last five minutes with our heads under the seats looking for the damn electrical socket, we neglected to see the red lights above those seats that said, “Reserved.” Needless to say, we were horrified. We looked like the Four Stooges vacillating between multiple apologies and making sure we had all our electrical equipment and of course, my LL Bean bag. The car was quite full and being  neurotic Americans we were afraid to leave our big luggage in the back of the train car with none of us in it.  Judy and I took the first two seats we saw, even though they said reserved and hoped for the best. Fortunately, we were in the clear.

We arrived in York and were eager to set out on our Yorkshire adventure just as soon as we picked up the rental car.  The car we rented can only be described as “Too much luggage, too little car!” Besides all the backpacks, Judy and I had to hold the trunk’s top cover/overhang in the backseat just so we could squeeze our big luggage in the trunk. It was either that or one of those pieces was remaining on the curb of the York Train Station!

Today we had two very different experiences: A Sheep Festival in a small, rural Yorkshire town and the best meal we have ever eaten in our lives.  But that has to be tomorrow’s tale. Those sheep take a lot out of me, not to mention all the food!