Slippers and Shanghai

The travel agent in the hotel had said it was too short notice to get a train ticket: it wasn’t, he just wanted to sell me a flight instead. The journey was fantastic. The train only stops once during the 15 hour journey, so shortly after the train departs, everyone puts their complimentary slippers on, and its very relaxed. The restaurant car was also something novel for me, allowing you to get out of the cabin and sit in a normal seat. Maybe one day the UK and EU will stop subsidizing air travel so absurdly, and we’ll see train travel serving the function it could so well (London to Liverpool standard class, 2.5 hours, £215 anyone?). I really didn’t want to get off when we arrived at 11am the next day, saying goodbye to my slippers and fantastic view of the country.