Taking the Train from London to Manchester

Hopefully we won't have to worry about this leg of our trip.
According to GoEuro:

"Trains from London to Manchester run at a frequency of around 3 trains per hour. Trains run from the early morning well into the evening, with the frequency of departures decreases in the later evening hours. All routes during the week are direct, with the average journey roughly requiring between 2 and 2½ hours...All London to Manchester trains are run by Virgin Trains...London to Manchester train costs are 49% cheaper when booked 1 month in advance as opposed to purchasing a train ticket the day of."

Unfortunately when I put in our September dates no train options are available yet although air to Manchester is $47 and takes an hour while the bus is only $22 but takes 8 hours (you'd see a lot of country!).

TrainLine also sells train tickets online and it appears that you can buy tickets directly from London's Euston Station to the Manchester Airport with one change at Wilmslow (switching to the Northern rail line) just south of Manchester or transferring at Manchester's main station at Picadilly for the TransPennine Express.  You can buy both tickets on the Virgin Trains website.

TransPennine Express says tickets go on sale up to 24 weeks ahead of travel and are up to 50% off if you buy them in advance.  They even have a mobile app that sends the ticket to your smartphone.  If only we knew when we have to be at the Manchester Airport to catch a ride up to Newfield Hall in the Yorkshire Dales.  However the TransPennine Express allows you to change your ticket if you bought it online.

Unfortunately their new Japanese-built bullet trains won't arrive until summer of 2019.  Looks like we'll have to go back to England next year.

Trains to and from the Camino

I wrote this post at the beginning of March.  I'm still waiting to make reservations for the last leg of the trip from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid.  Renfe still doesn't have the schedules for that route and date.

Our flight to Madrid gets in at 8:20 am on Friday, May 1st.  But with our experience with flying US Airways to Rome in November, when both flights were 3 hours late, I want to allow plenty of time to catch the train.  The high speed trains to Leon are at 11:05 and 14:40.  When we flew to Madrid in 2007 with a 7:35 arrival time, we had made reservations for the 14:05 train to Pamplona and were able to change them to the 9:50 train.  That time we went first class and there was hardly anyone else in the car so I'm hoping that maybe we can do the same thing this year although it is May 1st so the train could be crowded.  At least if we go first class where there are fewer passengers, it should be easier to get an earlier train.  So we are on the first class car (117 euros for two) of the ALVIA 04141 train that leaves from Madrid's Charmartin station at 2:40pm and arrives in Leon at 5:40.
Here are the stations along the way:
Segovia (3:11pm); Valladolid (3:50pm); Palencia (4:30pm); Sahagun (5:04)

I'll have to wait until March 13th to make the reservation from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid since they don't take reservations more than 2 months in advance.  They have a 9:05 train that arrives at 14.56 (2:56 pm).

Here's a map of the train routes.

Getting to Sarria

We arrive in Madrid on May 1st (why do we always choose International Labor Day to begin our travels?).  In 2007 we took a very pleasant train ride from Madrid to Pamplona.  We hope to do the same to Leon this time and then we'll take a bus to Sarria, which is proving to be more complicated (sort of like the one bus a day - at 5 pm - from Pamplona to Roncesvalles). 

Renfe offers Alvia and Intercity trains from Madrid's Charmartin station to Leon that take about 3 hours.  The Alvia costs 45.30€ and the Intercity 37€.  We are scheduled to arrive in Madrid at 8:20 am but it is on US Airways so that could mean 11:20 am.  We'll have to get from the Barajas airport to the Charmartin train station so that might be another hour.  There are trains at: 10:30, 11:05, 14:40, 17:05, 19:00, 20:30.  Needless to say, we should have a hotel reservation in Leon since it is a holiday.  And we better make train reservations as well, perhaps on RailEurope.com.

Then to get to Sarria, it appears we will have to take a bus from Leon to Lugo on ALSA, and then take a different bus company, MonBus, from Lugo to Sarria.  There are two nonstop buses from Leon to Lugo that appear to run every day:  10:15 am (arriving at 13:30) and 16:30 pm (arriving at 20:15pm).  Obviously we would take the morning bus.  The fare is 17.54€ apiece.

The trip from Lugo to Sarria is much shorter, only 35 minutes, and there are 13 buses a day on weekdays.  There are buses at 13:45, 14:45, 15:20, 17:30, 18:35 (I might as well get used to that 24 hour clock).  So if everything ran on schedule, we could take the 10:15 bus from Leon to Lugo and then the 13:45 bus to Sarria, and if we missed that there's the 14:45 bus.  However, if we went on Sunday, there are fewer buses: if we missed the 13:45 bus, we'd have to wait until 18:35 for the next one.  The fare is 3.70€ apiece.  Monbus doesn't seem to service Leon, although it goes to Madrid, Barcelona, Burgos and many other cities.

How much did we plan ahead in 2007?  I know we bought our train tickets online and then were able to change them to an earlier train at the station.  But that wasn't May 1st.

Fiumicino (FCO) to Termini on the Leonardo Express

OF COURSE we are going to take a train from the airport into town!  We aren't chickens and did fine in Paris, where my French was as bad as my Italian...  We also did well in Madrid at the start of the Camino, getting from the airport to the train station on the metro.  It was when we took a taxi that we didn't do so well.  Can't trust those guys.  We might take a taxi going back to the airport because then there will be 3 of us.

Ron in Rome has step by step instructions for getting to the trains at Fiumicino Airport from Terminal 3, where he says that most US flights arrive.  He also has step by step instructions for getting through baggage claim and passport control but I'm hoping we'll have our luggage with us, which should save us a half hour or more, unless they take it away from us on the flight to Philly.

Here's Ron's map of Terminal 3 and the tube that goes to the trains (yellow/blue arrow).  He says there are signs all over so we can't miss it. 

"Upon arrival, look for the signs to Train Station – the route is well marked. If you’re arriving through Terminal 3 – as most flights do – then you’ll exit through the frosted doors and turn right. You will walk through the lower level of the Terminal 3 Arrivals Area until you come to the first escalators you see – on your left. You’ll see the “To the Train Station” signs directing you to go down the escalators. You’ll go down under the road, and then up escalators to the train station."

We'll be taking the Leonardo Express because that's the train that goes into Termini.  The less expensive Regionale doesn't go there.  Ron says it's very easy to buy the tickets at the train ticketing windows (biglietteria), at tabaccherie in the airport and at the kiosks.  The Leonardo Express leaves every half hour at 8 minutes and 38 minutes past the hour (so 10:08, 10:38, 11:08, 11:38) and it takes 32 minutes to arrive at Termini.  The cost is €14 per person.

Although it is first class travel, there are no assigned seats so rush in and pick one quick.  We'll hope that all the other Americans arriving early Sunday morning will be taking taxis.   Oh, but WAIT!!  You say you forgot to validate your ticket??!!  Get off, get off and go do it now!!  At one of those little yellow machines on the platform, so the train police don't catch you and fine you €100 on the spot.  "Make sure the machine “clicks” when you insert your ticket… and make sure a time stamp prints out ON your ticket."  And hurry up because your ticket is only good for 90 minutes. 

Oh wait.  He says FCO will have introduced a new system by now which is like the Metro entry system that validates the ticket as you go through.  Shucks.  I was hoping to get some practice using those yellow validating machines, which are now green and white in some places.  In the meantime I'll practice watching this YouTube video.

Ron says: "The Leonardo Express usually arrives on track 2 (the middle track) at the FCO train station. You’ll see the logo, the red, white, and green coloring, and name on the side of the train. Once the train has been emptied the entry doors will be unlocked. If a door is not open, just push the round button to open it. Again, as all seats are considered first-class, and it’s open seating, sit wherever you can."

Ron says the Leonardo Express now arrives at Track 24 in Termini, Binario 24 in Italian, abbreviated Bin on the overhead monitors.  Binario 24 appears to be in the northwest corner of Termini, according to the map, so it will be very convenient for us, if that is indeed where it stops. 

Ron also says to be sure to collect ALL your luggage when you get off, but we will try to travel light.  Rick Steves has a suggested packing list at the back of his Rome guide:

1. 5 shirts, long and short-sleeved
2. 1 sweater or lightweight fleece
3. 2 pairs pants
4. 1 pair shorts
5. 1 swimsuit
6. 5 pairs underwear and socks
7. 1 pair shoes
8. 1 rainproof jacket with hood
9. tie or scarf

We'll have to adjust that for winter, replacing the shorts and swimsuit with a heavier jacket.  But what if the shoes get wet?  Are two pairs of pants really enough?  And what's he wearing to bed??

Rome, Here We Come!

For better or for worse, we've booked our dividend miles trip to Rome and we hope it doesn't rain every day.  Rome couldn't have rainier or colder weather than Pittsburgh at any rate.  So do we stay the whole time in Rome and do day trips?  Or do we try to stay in  another city?  But that means we would have to come back to Rome to fly out, although technically we could take an early train to Rome (Papi says "No!")

For the 3 of us the train would cost ($27x2)x3=162 total to Florence and back.  That's for the direct train, like the Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) pictured above (talk about a mix of languages).  There are "slower" ones beginning at $13, but then one is looking at connections or longer travel times than the standard 1 hour and 32 minutes.   A trip to Naples is even shorter: 1 hour and 10 minutes but the same price.  Didn't you always want to see Mount Vesuvius?  I looked at the possibility of a day trip to L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, but there's no direct train there and the shortest trip would be more than 3 hours - it's not on the Frecciarossa line or the Frecciargento or the Frecciabianca.  Going over the Appenines is apparently a big roadblock.  Was it Rick Steves who had a list of day trips in the back of his Rome book?