I woke this morning shortly after 2AM. And then saw the clock again after 4:00. And so on. By the time Bryan stepped out of the shower at 5:45, I’ll be honest: I was cranky. “I don’t want to be here.” The ludicrous thought floated through my head. Ludicrous because I’ve really been enjoying England. The weather has been warm, but beautiful. They speak our language, which makes traveling here dead - simple. And our phones work brilliantly for everything from contactless pay to e-tickets. 

Bryan mentioned he was looking forward to breakfast, and asked if I was going to get ready. 

“I hate everything.” I admitted

“Take a shower. You’ll feel better” he suggested 

“Do you think it will help?” I asked, not convinced. 

“I know it will.”

I wolfed down the meat from a club sandwich (I’d stashed it yesterday in the funky little fridge with the key) and drank the last of a bottle of water. 

As I emerged from the bathroom later wearing the complimentary robe, Bryan asked, “Do you still hate everything?”

“No” I responded sheepishly

“Just a few things?” he inquired 

“I love you.”

After I had blow dried my hair (mostly) we went down to breakfast. Today promises to be cooler, mid seventies, which will be a welcome break from the heat. 

When we got back up to our room I tidied it a bit in expectation of the cleaning ladies coming through. The glass water bottles look a bit like vodka and we giggled as I lined up six “empties.” I was glad to be back in proper traveling pants with a zipper pocket today. I ditched the money belt I’ve been wearing every day and simply zipped my cards into my pocket. We walked over to the train station through a part of town we’d not yet been through, and joined in with small groups of locals as the crossed the street - going with the “safety in numbers” theory. 

Once at the train station we started looking for Pringles. We have enjoyed them on previous trips to Europe and I was feeling like it was high time we added some to our now-depleted snack stash. (Having a snack stash is a way to save money as well as keep your spirits up while traveling. A little snack at the right moment does wonders!) We found Pringles in the fourth shop we looked in. Success! 

Then we sat and looked at the reader board. It had our train number on there, but no platform yet. So we waited as the arrival time grew nearer. “On time.” the board assured us. Finally, only a few minutes before the train’s arrival, Bryan said “Two” and we both stood up and walked swiftly to the platform. I had a bit of trouble scanning my e-ticket, but eventually managed. 

Soon after we were seated on the nearly empty train, it pulled away from the station. It was so good to be traveling by train again!  And very refreshing to see the views out the window change from city, to fields, horses and trees. I was interested to see that they were building new developments of houses with brick. I love brick.