Day 16: On The Fast Train

St. Pancras International

Having mastered my way around the UNDERground for the last two weeks, it was time to travel OVERground. 
I took the tube from Highbury and Islington, one stop over to the Kings Cross/St. Pancras Station and looked for signs to the Southeastern Rail Station. I was going to Kent. Kent is a borough about 50 miles out of London. A few years ago, the UK’s first, high speed domestic train service was built. Traveling up to speeds up to 140 mph, it could make the journey between London and Kent in 17 minutes! And I was going to take it. Excitedly, I bought my ticket. As I had about half an hour before my train was to leave, I thought I’d look around. 
The St. Pancras International Railway station is an enormous hub of activity. 

Highspeed Train

As it is the central tube stop for many connecting domestic and international trains, there was no shortage of foot traffic that morning. Roller bags of all sizes and colors could be heard weeling around the large station arena. 

Peyton and Byrne

Overhead messages announcing arrivals and departures to places like Canterbury, Brussels, Gravesend and Paris came one after the other. Enticing.   
Exuberant kids posed by the Olympic rings mounted on the far end of the station as their over-zealous parents snapped photographs before boarding the train. The WHOLE station was on an adventure, just like me. 

To Kent!

Where were they coming from? Where were they going? What were they going to do when they got there? I could only imagine.
As I walked on further through the station, the cupcake and tea display in the window of Peyton and Byrne, “an unabashedly British bakery,” was too inviting to pass up. I popped in for a latte, with 20 minutes left to go, I awaited my train. With suitcases and tickets in hand, the line in front of me spoke in tongues of French and German and Italian. Their multilingualism had one thing in common, the universal language of cake.With latte in hand, I made my way to the top platform. The train was relatively empty so I managed to procure a seat by the window. It was predictably freezing outside, despite my new hat, gloves, scarf and wool coat, so I was glad to get inside the warmth. 

Interesting train read

I sat down and readied my camera out of my bag. I was going to shoot the English countryside all the way to Kent. The final boarding announcement was made and the doors closed. I was ready for my first England overground train ride! With a smooth and quiet start, we were off. 

I guess it's still popsicle weather

The only clue to how fast we were going, were the blazing lines on the tunnel wall as we left the station, other than that, you would never have known we were traveling at 140 mph. The conductor passed by, stamped my ticket and gave me a warm “welcome aboard.” I finished my latte, fiddled with my camera, took a couple of pictures and then….we were there! Ebbsfleet International already??

What?!

That was one fast train.

There already?!

View from train