Surviving a 12 hour train ride from Sydney to Melbourne

So, our flight was cancelled. There were no re-bookable flights today to Melbourne, so the train it was. Even if this is a twelve hour journey, we still get there much sooner than we would have if we booked the next available flight. I mean, if it is an experience I can blog about it’s well worth it, right?

So with that, here is my next travel update.

From the creator of “My Flight was Cancelled Because of the Rain”, here is:

I had way more fun creating that than I care to admit. But please, sit back, relax and allow me to describe how much fun I could have been having in Melbourne in these twelve hours if my flight wasn’t cancelled. Here is a little insight into my journey.

Now to be fair, we booked a first class cabin. Our seats didn’t recline like they would have done in economy, but we had so much more legroom and this was an absolute necessity on such a long journey. I am not sure how many, if any, in economy were also doing Sydney to Melbourne (there were plenty of stops in between) but to those that did, I salute you. There was room to move about throughout the cabins, but unlike a flight of such a duration, no on-board entertainment.

There was also no WiFi during the trip, so having enough data to see you through is a must. That or a good music selection. Or a need to sleep. Any of these will keep you sane.

I did like the little rooms we had and the corridors leading through the carriages. It reminded me of any movie I have ever seen featuring a long train journey. On a night time, travellers are allowed to close the curtains, but only on night journeys. Bunk beds can also be pulled out from above the seats, but again strictly for overnight commutes.

Having the door open or closed didn’t really affect the legroom as I could pretty much stretch my legs regardless. Closing the door added a little more privacy, but because you can’t close the curtains it didn’t make too much difference.

Half way through the journey we got peckish. What I really liked about the train is that anyone could wander down to the food carriage and purchase food and beverages. It had to have such a carriage on board of course with those in the same boat as us not having time to jump off and grab a snack at any of the stations. This was a few carriages down thankfully… any closer and I would have probably paid this man a visit a lot more often. Boredom and eating go hand in hand.

I call this stop ‘Dwayne’s World’.

We were told that this plug socket was only for shavers, however lots of people used laptops and phones and staff members walked by without saying anything, so we used them. It is crazy to think a train journey of this length wouldn’t have plug sockets for phones and laptops!

Now I mentioned no on-board entertainment earlier, that was the case until the driver got very angry with a certain passenger for smoking in the toilets, setting off the smoke alarm and shutting down the air con in some of the carriages. He talked to the passengers over the speaker system, unaware of who the culprit was and saying ‘whoever you are, you are an incredibly stupid and selfish individual and if anyone knows who it is, please give him or her a big thank you from me.‘

What a legend.

After this great speech (probably hour ten or so) I noticed a few rooms were vacant. I made the most of the space whilst my friend slept and enjoyed a room to myself.

The countryside reminded me of being back home. The lush green fields outside the window was like taking the train from Newcastle to London back in September 2017 for my flight over here. It was nice to be reminded of home.

And eventually after almost a whole day on the tracks and a million stops, we could see Melbourne on the horizon. And what a good feeling it was to see this great city! It sure looks huge, and despite only having a couple of days to enjoy it, I am sure we won’t run out of things to do.

Melbourne updates coming soon…

 

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Happy blogging,

Sam