York and a Family Meet-up

Crowded train from Birmingham to York, standing room only from some segments. I had a seat. Thankfully people yield their seats to “old people”. Ha! Never think of myself as old but there you have it!

A very nice young man and his partner helped me with my bags all the way from the train to the Way Out. Wow! Such kind people! They just returned from a visit to Illinois. I just hope Americans are as kind to visitors as people are to me. I offered to buy them something to drink but they declined as they were off to see her supervisor in hospital. I offered to pray for them, they accepted my offer so we prayed in the crowded York pub and they thanked me. Such sweet encounters!

I decided to reserve seats for my jaunt to Stirling on Thursday, seeing that these routes are very popular (commute for some I think). I was able to reserve a seat but couldn’t figure out how to upgrade my standard class Britrail pass to First Class. Oh well, I will survive the 3 1/2 hr. Trip to Stirling with only one train change in Edinburgh. There is a direct train to Stirling but it is later in the day than I prefer to travel. Oh well, with 15 minutes, I should be able to change platforms.

After all was completed at the station, I only had 40 minutes before my sister and family’s train arrived, so just waited and we all took a taxi together to our Airbnb.

The Airbnb here is another of those Georgian townhouses divided up and turned into a short term rental. Lots of stairs! This one is three stories with a full bath on the ground floor and one on the 1st floor, which the 2nd floor has to share. Definitely not friendly for those who get up in the middle of the night!

Important: if you are runnng a boarding house or Airbnb, take a suitcase and stay a night or two in every room. Right away you will see things that can make a traveler’s life a lot easier, and things that you can let go as they don’t add to the experience or just clutter up the space. Double check your instructions to make sure they are up to date and don’t assume everyone knows how to operate the different features; life in other parts of this country and the world is quite different. What is “normal” in one place is baffling in another.

 

We do have a washer so everyone is catching up on a bit of laundry. Kitchen is modern, so much that we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the electric range. Thanks to my brother-in-law who diligently searched online, he figured out it is touch sensitive so wherever you put a pan, that burner comes on when you press a button. I don’t imagine we will do much cooking but nice to know in case. A perfect example of the differences we run into when traveling.