Trains suck, buses rule — Travel Notes (2)
A train ride between cities in Europe conjours up something of a Romantic image: The victorian picture of cute little red carriages with bronze metal reflecting the gentle sun that peeks above the horizon at the fullest stretch of the fantastic landscape on the other side of the window revealing forested valleys, snowy mountain peaks, and hillside villages.
The reality is unfortunately six miles away from the station, three hours delayed, and the connection to it has been cancelled. Catching a train in Europe has rapidly diminished from its place in my mind as the lustful dream for getting around to a freakish nightmare in which your old boss is sticking his speckled tongue down your mum’s throat.
It’s been over two months since me and my partner have been travelling now. Starting in Southern Spain — Seville — we made our way along the south coast into Portugal and then followed the coast up there back into Northern Spain. From there we followed the coast again into France and tracked the Pyrenees along to the west coast of France and up into Italy. There we travelled the entire northern breadth of the country to get to Venice.
In other words, we’ve come quite a way and taken our fair share of rides as we’ve gone. When we started in Spain and Portugal the only connections that made any real sense for our wallets and to get where we wanted to go was to catch the bus. It was hot and there’s not a whole lot of space between you and the seat in front but it got us where we were going without more discomfort than you can expect from riding for hours in 35+ degree heat.
By the time we got to France our tongues were wagging for the tranquility of a beautiful train ride through the country, sitting in spacious seats with our own tables to work on and the smoothness of a track the doesn’t swerve out of the way for beligerent and possibly tipsy Opal drivers.
With the trains seeming to connect more-so to our destinations we began to treat ourselves to the joys of train travel. It was fantastic! Space to stretch in (a privilege not to be underestimated for those over 6ft tall), the cool breeze of efficient air conditioning, the wonderful views of French countryside sliding past us.
After a couple weeks we quickly realised however that we were hemmorhaging money like a skydiving haemophiliac landing in a cactus patch. We found that one of our journeys might be easier to get by bus and started to compare what we were spending between the two again. The difference was astonishing.
We had been spending up to €50 to get between towns when we could have gotten buses for under €20. The luxury of the trains had been great but was it worth spending far more than double the price for what is essentially the same stretch of time spent goin somewhere?
Of course, if money isn’t an issue then the comfort of a train is easily preferable but when you’re on the road hoping to make the road last as long as possible and keep the inevitable brick wall of full-time employment as far on the horizon as possible, it makes a huge difference; especially when you’re travelling long distance with lots of stops as we were, meaning many different journeys.
Of course buses aren’t as comfortable and another thing to consider is that they will often take longer…
That is unless you fall prey to the horrifying potential and apparently commonplace disaster of mismanaged trains.
We found ourselves looking at buses more favourably after realising the cost difference but for the sake of an enjoyable ride, trains still topped the bill. Not anymore.
In the past week we have faced the apparently extreme fragility of getting multiple train connections between our starting point and destination. The first journey our train was delayed by a half-an-hour. Not so bad really, except that we had pre-booked our journey with three different trains and that delay immediately meant our connections were missed.
We got lucky with that one that our connection was held and left just as we jumped aboard. The next trip was far less fortunate. The first stretch was on a bus that was late but made up its time and so we were at the station for our connection onto a train, which then connected on to two more trains. It was a journey of many parts that required each of the others to be well oiled and functioning, but we thought that that is what you could expect from trains; you’re paying more for that, surely.
Unfortunately not. It seems the horrors of British trains — which you’re simply expected to wait potentially hours for — stretch far across the border. Our train was delayed by half an hour making our connection a case of sweatily running to the platform. Then it was decided it would be delayed by an hour, completely messing up the entire journey and meaning our expensive tickets were invalid.
We still had a chance to catch a different connection. “Had”. The train was then cancelled. The whole trip became undoable, our expensive tickets were voided, and we couldn’t make it to the hotel we paid for. The train service made it up to us at least by having a completely unusable website where the refund and complaint forms are inaccesible.
The day was topped off by the fact that hundreds of others had now had their trains cancelled and were getting the next one. We waited for the fourth train after the one we were supposed to get because of people fighting for a space so badly that people were stuck between the doors as the train scooted off, as full as fairground bin is of vomit.
The stations have been full of beligerent peoples missing trains, missing connections, being charged too much, and the heatwave surely hasn’t been helping all of the ambient rage floating around. All in all, it’s a miserable experience.
The following days we encountered more train problems but you probably want to read about them less than I want to write about them.
The buses we’ve caught have, in retrospect, been great. They have been almost always on time and when they haven’t, they’ve not caused issues by it. They’ve been more convenient thanks to going between more abstract places as they follow a road rather than specific rail lines, necessitating connections.
They may have less space and they may not always have the greatest air conditioning, but they get us where we’re going and they don’t charge an outrageous price to be overcrowded or late.
Hey, we even got screens with free films on one of our buses.
