Day 79: The Long Road to London

Very very long day of travel today. Unfortunately for us, entry into the UK with a dog is actually quite difficult - the Eurostar (passenger train from Paris to London) is basically the only train on the continent that doesn't allow dogs in the cabin, and you can't fly into the UK with a dog in the cabin either. He'd need to go in the cargo hold again, and we got rid of his cargo crate for that. We can't drive either, since there's only one car rental company that allows driving between France and the UK, and of course they charge an enormous premium (mainly because the side of the road switches). So the ferry was our only option!

Up at 6:30am, where we packed hurriedly and left the house around 6:50. Grabbed a couple of croissants from the nearby bakery as we headed to the metro station. First train was a single stop on the RER to Gare du Lyon, then we changed onto a metro train to travel across the city to Saint-Lazare. Changed again for a longer country train northwards to the city of Rouen which took an hour, where we changed again for another country train to the city of Dieppe (about 40 minutes).

Finally we arrived in Dieppe, where we shared a taxi from the train station to the port with an English man doing the same thing (though without a dog), he seemed to cross the Channel by boat fairly frequently. Checked in at the ferry wharf and waited around for nearly 2 hours before the ferry was ready to go. About 30 foot passengers were joining us, along with quite a few cars and trucks down below in the hold. Large boat too, almost the size of the Spirit of Tasmania!

On board we dropped Schnitzel off, as unfortunately we weren't allowed to keep him with us. He seemed fairly settled with his blanket, some water and the carry-bag, so we headed upstairs. The boat set off fairly soon afterwards, and proceeded pretty smoothly across the channel. Not much to report as we were a long way from land and there was nothing to see! Cafeteria had reasonable food, we both had a very large serve of fish & chips for a by now late lunch.

Eventually after about 3 hours of sailing we arrived in the port of Newhaven. Collected Schnitzel who was very happy, then worked our way through passport control and into the town where we boarded a train heading north. Only a few stops on this train before we changed again, this train was an hour's worth going all the way to Victoria Station in London.

But we still weren't done with public transport! From Victoria Station, we changed to the underground and the Victoria line, going four stops to the north then changing to the Northern line at Euston Street for the last two stops to Angel. Finally we emerged into the late evening light, for the 10 minute walk along a pretty canal to our apartment.

In the end we arrived within 5 minutes of when we'd told the owner to expect us! Though it wouldn't have mattered, as she lives downstairs anyway. This room is much nicer, it's a large studio with a separate washing room and bathroom, plus enough space for a couch, kitchen and small table. Everything smells and looks very new which is nice, and definitely a nice change!

Spent a bit of time settling in then headed up the street to a convenience store where we grabbed some spaghetti and pesto. Neither of us felt super hungry so we just cooked that on the stove and headed to bed fairly early. It's been a very long day - one of the longest! All up about 13 hours of fairly constant travelling.Read more