I travelled by myself to England in October 2009. I had a great time travelling to London, Bath, and Oxford. After a week of travelling through England, on Sunday, October 18th it was time to go to Scotland for a tour of the highlands. I had booked all of my travel arrangements prior to leaving Canada. That morning my bus from Oxford to Edinburgh left at 9:30 am.
Or so I thought.
I checked out of my hostel at about 8:55 am. Then I walked to the Oxford Bus Station. I spent the next 25 minutes waiting for my bus to arrive. At 9:30 am the bus to Bristol pulled in.
This was not my bus.
I pulled out my ticket to look at it. The time on my ticket - 9:05 am. Okay, I missed my bus. Apparently it was time for Plan B. Except…I had no Plan B.
So I went to the National Express office to see if I could get on another bus. The man at the counter was not very helpful, even scornful at times. He even told me that it would have been a good idea to check my ticket before leaving for the bus station. Really? Gee, I hadn’t thought of that! It was too late at that point, though.
So I went to the National Express office to see if I could get on another bus. The man at the counter was not very helpful, even scornful at times. He even told me that it would have been a good idea to check my ticket before leaving for the bus station. Really? Gee, I hadn’t thought of that! It was too late at that point, though.
There was not another bus for another hour, but that would arrive in Edinburgh at 11:00 pm - way too late. There was an overnight bus which was not an option for me as I was a single woman, travelling alone. I wanted to be in Edinburgh that night because I had paid for my hostel in advance and I needed to repack my bags before I left on my tour the following morning. The only option he could offer me was a train that arrived at Edinburgh at 9:00 pm and had three changes along the way. He could not book it though. I would have to go to the train station and he did not tell me where the Oxford Train Station was. I was extremely frustrated with him by that point, trying not to cry, and did not want to deal with him anymore.
I left and went across the street where I had a breakdown. A very nice lady came along and asked me what was wrong. Amid my sobs I told her that I missed my bus and needed to find the train station. I had no idea where the train station was. She took my arm and guided me to the corner. She pointed down the street (towards my hostel) and said that I should go all the way to the end and the train station would be on my right.
So I headed towards the train station. I arrived and there was a small queue. Shortly, it was my turn and the man who helped me was very nice. He kept trying to sell me a return ticket for only £1 more. I declined because I had a bus booked from Edinburgh to London, and that ticket I was going to triple-check before leaving! For £126.50 (approximately $230 CAD), I bought a train ticket to Edinburgh, arriving at 4:22 pm, with only one transfer. It was a costly mistake! He told me to go outside and board the bus to Banbury. I had just bought a train ticket and I was being told to get on a bus! At this point I decided to just go where I was told, so I got on the bus to Banbury. While on the bus I prayed that everything would work out and that the bus was direct to Banbury. I had no idea what I was doing anymore, or where on the map of England I was! Fortunately it was a direct route. The bus pulled up to a tiny train station with a train waiting to leave.
One thing I learned very quickly about train travel in England is that you do not have to arrive really early to board the train - ten to 15 minutes is sufficient. I knew the train at Banbury Train Station would be leaving soon.
Unfortunately I did not have an itinerary for my train trip, so after Banbury I had no idea what train I was supposed to take or where I was supposed to transfer. I needed information. I walked directly the customer service wicket. There was another queue. The lady at the front of the line had a lot of questions, and then two girls ahead of me had not bought their tickets yet. Finally it was my turn. I was told to take the Manchester-Picadilly line, leaving from Platform 2. I had approximately ten minutes before my train left.
I dragged my luggage up two flights of stairs. An announcement over the PA system said that the train was now leaving from Platform 1. I dragged my luggage down two more flights of stairs and turned left towards Platform 1. The sign on the side of the train said Manchester-Picadilly. I boarded the train, stowed my luggage as best I could in limited space, and found a seat. The conductor made an announcement that the train would be arriving in Manchester at 1:15 pm. I was confused because I thought that I had to transfer at Manchester at 12:15 pm. I asked about this when my ticket was checked. I needed to transfer at Wolverhampton, not Manchester, at 12:15 pm. With that cleared up, I started to relax a little.
I arrived in Edinburgh at 4:22 pm - 3 and-a-half hours earlier than my bus would have arrived there. As a result, I was able to go on a ghost tour of Edinburgh’s underground vaults!
Sometimes the best laid plans do not turn out exactly as originally anticipated. But, if you believe that everything will be okay, you may get an incredible experience that you never imagined. I had a stressful start to my day, but…I was meant to miss my bus!
~Angie
