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Original poster

how do you spend a train journey?

53 replies

crochetmonkey74 · 09/03/2023 14:08

I have a 3 hour train journey this weekend - no changes - i have had the busiest life recently that the idea of being captive on the train feels like a treat.
HOw do I make the most of it? If you have a regular train journey and love it- what do you do? Im thinking podcast maybe, some nice snacks...

OP posts:
youngestisapsycho · 09/03/2023 14:10

Radio 2 thru AirPods, snacks and puzzle book…. Possibly a lil snooze too 😆

FuckoffeeBeforeCoffee · 09/03/2023 14:10

Read or podcasts. Usually podcasts as the movement of the train causes my eyes to ache when I try to read.

bridgetreilly · 09/03/2023 14:10

I read. Knit or cross stitch. Snacks. Nap.

Womencanlift · 09/03/2023 14:33

If I am likely to fall asleep then I will listen to music, usually something from BBC Sounds

Podcasts if I know I will be alert enough to pay attention

VeronicaBeccabunga · 09/03/2023 14:34

Nice snacks, drinks.
Podcast, book.
Stare out of the window at other people's houses/weird agricultural stuff going on/nothing in particular.
Get Pokemon Go stuff at stations.

Ponoka7 · 09/03/2023 14:36

I read and game on my phone.

shrunkenhead · 09/03/2023 14:38

Mini bottle of wine, nice snacks, book, music maybe a little nap. I ❤ a train journey!

Babdoc · 09/03/2023 14:39

A nice long book, and some home made sandwiches and snacks. Avoiding all drinks, as I don’t like train toilets.
It used to be an endurance test when my train from London to Dundee university in the 1970s often took over 10 hours (occasionally 14 hours with engineering work en route) - I was always desperate for a pee on arrival each term!

BreviloquentBastard · 09/03/2023 14:40

I have to take a 4 hour train ride once a month or so, I always book quiet car, headphones in, podcast on, and nap! Love a good train sleep.

DramaAlpaca · 09/03/2023 14:40

Watch the scenery and have a snooze. Do Sudoku on my phone if I'm bored.

Minikievs · 09/03/2023 14:40

shrunkenhead · 09/03/2023 14:38

Mini bottle of wine, nice snacks, book, music maybe a little nap. I ❤ a train journey!

This. And me too!!!

DomesticShortHair · 09/03/2023 14:40

If recent experience is anything to go by, standing.

handsoffate · 09/03/2023 14:40

Stare fixedly out of the window in an attempt to keep motion sickness at bay. I hate trains…

Clarinet1 · 09/03/2023 14:40

I’m relatively low-tech so I usually take a book. Definitely a cuppa and a snack/sandwich either from the station or the buffet on the train.

purplecorkheart · 09/03/2023 14:42

I normally bring a coffee and some nice snacks from somewhere like M&S. I read a book on my kindle, I used to buy a glossy magazine to read but have given up on them as they are mainly ads and I can get them free with my library app.

saveforthat · 09/03/2023 14:43

I like to do a cryptic crossword. I never get time to complete one unless I'm stuck somewhere like on a train.

fortifiedwithtea · 09/03/2023 14:43

I pre book my seat. I like to be forward facing, have a table and a plug socket.

I like to look out the window, scroll on social media , play games on my ipad. If its very long, I get up and what I call train yoga. Just a few stretches in the aisle.

hattie43 · 09/03/2023 14:44

Podcast or kindle . I love a train journey can completely switch off

sewexe · 09/03/2023 14:52

Noise-cancelling headphones. Music player.

Glenn Gould; Goldberg Variations (1981 recording).

For longer journeys, first listen to the 1955 studio recording (remastered 2023). Compare/contrast.

Train delayed? C minor Toccata BWV 911: listen to Gould's version, compare with Martha Argerich's, maybe Angela Hewitt's, András Schiff's.

Soli Deo Gloria. (Even though there is no god; I consider this paradox as I watch the world go by).

BarbaraofSeville · 09/03/2023 15:00

If you're setting off from a decent* station, don't forget to build in time to have a look around before you get on the train.

*I can't be the only one who actually enjoys wandering around all the shops at somewhere like St Pancreas or the big one in Birmingham and buying books, food, drinks etc to enjoy on the train.

slowquickstep · 09/03/2023 15:00

Have a cuppa and sit and do nothing, such a treat.

limitedperiodonly · 09/03/2023 15:07

Staring out of the window mostly.

For work I used to travel by rail from London usually on the eastern side as far as Newcastle. I never got to Scotland, which is a shame. The office would book a window seat on a table of four in First Class. Facing direction of travel for preference but I didn't care that much.

I would take a novel and newspapers - Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph which I got on expenses - but mostly I would stare. Pulling out through London and then the suburbs and then fields with sheep or free range pigs in them in their little corrugated iron huts and in the spring and summer fields of yellow rapeseed and mauve linseed. I marvelled about how the weather would change. It would be brilliant sunshine and then chucking it down 15 minutes later.

On the return journey, particularly in winter, it would be dark so I'd read and I'd love stuffing the old newspapers in the refuse cart just before Kings Cross because that was a day done.

I also used to get a sit-down cooked breakfast in the dining car on expenses too. But if you have to pay for it yourself it still might be worth it because the breakfast car is First Class but anyone can go there if they want to pay to eat on tablecloths with proper cutlery and waiters and spend a good hour there.

I loved that part of the job.

Original poster
crochetmonkey74 · 09/03/2023 15:09

BarbaraofSeville · 09/03/2023 15:00

If you're setting off from a decent* station, don't forget to build in time to have a look around before you get on the train.

*I can't be the only one who actually enjoys wandering around all the shops at somewhere like St Pancreas or the big one in Birmingham and buying books, food, drinks etc to enjoy on the train.

I love this too

Loads of good ideas here

I hadn't been looking forward to going away and wanted to cancel but am reframing as a way to sit back and enjoy a nice journey

OP posts:
BlackForestCake · 09/03/2023 15:23

10 hours avoiding going to the loo sounds awful. Train toilets aren't THAT bad.

Justmeandthedog1 · 09/03/2023 15:37

Audio book through headphones.