Train and bureacracy..just shoot me, train lesson for my readers

Well...the week of the train saga continued from ridiculous to the absurd.


I ventured into London and stayed with a friend, D there just outside London on the train ( lots in a future blog on what I got up to)....and while it was lovely there and toodling about London, the big concern were my tickets to prague and the lack of tangible evidence they existed.

I went into the office, as advised to do, on the Sunday...also advised they would be open and the internet said open etc...etc...you can hear where this is going...
IT WAS CLOSED!!!!!!!!. I was soooooooo mad, but I called the call centre number posted on the closed door,( yay cell phone working) and managed to convince a nice woman to let me atleast book and put on hold my tickets......whew....she did thanks to having a UK zip ( thanks reading Room Cottage) I leave London at 17:59...whew...

I planned to go back into london again ( trains each way..then a bus) Monday morning....get tickets...run back to house on train bus etc..pack and have a visit with another friend and then leave for 4:00pm on train, bus again and get started on trip to Prague....whew...okay have plan will travel..good!

Come to Monday morning, I am up and out and at the door to office at opening time 9:00am.......ummmmm they can't book anything til 10:00??????? WTF????? Sooooo I get a coffee and wait.....finally I am in the office.. yes they have my reservation...all is processed and now paid for, and I am going through paperwork......WAIT A MINUTE......WHERE IS THE LONDON TO BRUSSELS CONNECTION>????????????

Yup, that's right....the woman on the phone who read all the connections out to me that I wrote down, read them incorrectly and instead of leaving London at 17:59, I was supposed to be leaving Brussels at 17:59, meaning I would need a connection umm in an hour from London.

OH MY FREAKIN GOD!!!!!! I just wanted to cry, I was sooooo frustrated after almost a week of trying to sort this part of the journey out. I sat dumbfounded while the agent tried everything, including spending the night in Cologne.etc...etc....nope....no way could it happen.......realizing I needed to push the whole thing back to depart on Tuesday and heavy hearted, I called D and told her my woes and my need to stay one more night in her hospitality...sigh...the kindness of people makes it all a little easier...

I then booked the same trip, 24 hours later including the London to Brussels part...gotta hold of my lodging, "the Castlesteps" in Prague who graciously did not charge me for the cancelled night and found me for me for the extra night on the end of the week....


I tell ya.....everwhere else I have been has been smooth and without incident....until England...all this nightmare because they wouldn't take my credit card on the phone and note to all.....you have to book your tickets in person at the regent St office to get anywhere out of London internationally, and the office IS NOT OPEN SUNDAY, no matter what they tell you.

Just shoot me!