Train Report: LNER, Central London to Edinburgh (August 2019)

Trip Report: LNER Train, Central London to Edinburgh
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I was traveling from London to Edinburgh and this trip can be made either via plane, bus, or train.  I usually enjoy train travel in Europe - it is usually so much more convenient and connected than in America - so I decided to take the train one way and a plane on my return (I traveled British Airways on the return and you can check out that review here).  LNER - London North Eastern Railway - is apparently the only operator of the train between Central London and Edinburgh.  Online it was very to see the various timings of the trains, select the one that fit my schedule, book the ticket, preselect my seat, and manage my reservation.   You could preselect your seat online and the train had a variety of seats - either 4 around a table or two individually.  Since we were three in the group, we decided to book 3 of the 4 group seats.   

The train that I had booked departed London's King Cross at 3:30pm and would arrive into

Edinburgh at 8:13; considering it was going to take about 5 hours, I assumed that the train would make multiple stops throughout the journey.  Even though I was able to print out my ticket online, as well as have a mobile ticket, I still arrived at the train station about an hour prior to my departure to give myself enough time.  Unfortunately, the car dropped us off at St. Pancreas and we had to go to King's Cross but eventually we made it to King's Cross and looked at the timetable only to be informed that they do not provide the track number until 15 minutes prior to boarding.  This means there is a long waiting period, a lot of staring at the screens, and then all passengers rushing towards the track as soon as the track number is announced; it is not fun.

We made it onto the train, loaded our luggage onto the luggage compartments, and proceeded to our seat.  As I said, we had booked 3 of the 4 seats that are around a table.  My previous experience traveling on trains in Europe has been in Switzerland, and again we book 3 of the 4 group seats and the seats were nice, comfortable, spacious, and the 4th seat remained empty no matter how many stops we made.  On this trip, the 4th seat had been occupied by another passenger (even though there were plenty of empty seats available), the seats were tight in terms of both width and seat pitch, and after 5+ hours they were a bit uncomfortable.  The table in the middle was also very close to the seats and it made getting in and out of the seat very difficult.  One positive aspect of the seat was the on top, on a small screen, was each individual's stop; it helped to know when the other passenger was getting off but it was bit of invasion of privacy.  The train made many stops throughout the journey, and the announcements were not very clear especially for the smaller stops.  In terms of services for the passengers, there was a dining car available as well as restrooms - there were no usb or charging ports and while wifi was technically available, it was spotty and almost never worked.   

As I said, my previous experience in European train travel as been in both Switzerland and Belgium so that was my base of comparison.  Also, on this route the train competes with the airlines - ryanair, easyjet, and BA - all of whom have the same or lower fares and can make the journey in a faster time.  Taking into account all these factors, as well as the narrow seat pitch, it was a disappointing rail journey.  The seats were a bit uncomfortable, especially towards the end, the wifi was spotty, no charging ports, and generally it felt like I paid for a general economy seat - which is fine but then I paid the same price for my return airfare with BA (check out that review here) and that took less time so what is the incentive to ride the train?  

Stay Report: Residence Inn Edinburgh (Edinburgh - July 2019)

Stay Report: Residence Inn Edinburgh

comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

We were a group of 3 traveling to Edinburgh and so we needed at least two double beds; however most of the hotels in the city only offered either one double bed or two twin beds.  The only hotel that I could find that offered the opportunity for all of us to stay in one room was the Residence Inn Edinburgh.  Residence Inn are Marriott's suite hotels and I have stayed in them before and enjoyed all the suite benefits - larger room size, generally a separate bed and living area, a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and complimentary breakfast.  Given my previous experience with the brand, and the fact that they offered two double beds, I booked the hotel through the website.  

The hotel itself is outside the city center and is located near the University of Edinburgh and about a 5-10 minute walk from the National Museum of Scotland; its about a 15 minute drive up the hill from the main train station.  With its location, there are many shops, restaurants, grocery stores all within a short walking distance away from the hotel.  The hotel looks newly built from the outside and it does not look like a hotel, as all the surrounding building look like they were built together and some were turned into offices, some into apartments and some into hotels.  The entrance to the hotel faces the walkway and not the street, so there really is no entry way to the hotel; you park on the side, unload your luggage, and walk up the stairs to the entrance of the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel is very compact.  As you enter, there are luggage carts in front of you and you go towards to right for the check-in desks. In front of the door is the small waiting area and to the left is the business center with two computers and a printer.  Next to check-in desks is the bar and restaurant, and this is also where the complimentary breakfast is provided.  The check-in agent who assisted us was not very courteous nor customer friendly and it provided a bad start to the overall experience at the hotel.  We checked in, received our key, and went down a narrow hallway to the equally narrow elevators.  Based on the narrowness of everything, it seems that the 'hotel' was designed as apartments and then later turned into a hotel; however it was designed, it was not a great design for the hotel.


Once we got to our floor, the hallways for the rooms were also narrow so that only one direction of traffic could fit in the hallway at one time (again, not built as a hotel).  As you entered into the room, you entered into the mini kitchen which contained a sink, a microwave, a mini fridge, cabinets above and below, a countertop, as well as plates, cups, and cutlery.  It was more of a kitchenette but it had the basics and was a nice addition to the room.  In most Residence Inns, from the kitchenette you proceed to the sitting area and then to the bedroom but here it was opposite.  As you stepped into the main room, the beds were in front against the right side of the wall and against the left side of the wall was the sitting area.  We had a room with two beds and the beds were wide, comfortable, and provided a good sleep.  There was a nightstand in the middle of the bed but that was the only space to place things if you were in the bed area.  

Across from the beds was the sitting area and a desk.  The sitting area was a L-shaped connected couch that

could also be turned into a sofa bed.  The couch was comfortable enough and provided some nice seating areas or additional places to store luggage (as that was lacking throughout the room).  In between the couch and the window was a desk which faced towards the room and bathroom and had your back towards the window.  The window was nice as it was large, spanned across the entire wall, and let in air and natural light; however, the window faced offices which were occupied during the day and it was very close so you could see right across - opening the windows meant diminished privacy.  The room itself - with the beds and the sitting area - was spacious and there was a lot of room to move around.  NOTE: there was no AC in the room at all.  Edinburgh was going through a heat wave and it was EXTREMELY hot inside the room and all the hotel did was provide two small fans which really did not help cool the room at all.    

The bathroom, on the other hand, was tiny and compact.  To the left of the sitting area was the bathroom which was separated into two parts.  There was a small sink with a soap and lotion dispenser up top and towels on the bottom - this part was open to the room - and then there was a door that led into the toilet and shower.  The shower was long length wise but was very narrow, and the shower/toilet area was very small so that you could not open the door to the shower and the door to the bathroom - also the shower door would hit the toilet.  There was also only one light in this area and that was above the shower area so this left the toilet portion in somewhat darkness.  Given how spacious the room was, the bathroom was that compact and not well lit at all.  The bathroom amenities - dispenser next to the sink and body wash dispenser in the shower - did smell nice.

There are a couple of standard amenities that the Residence Inn provides including complimentary

breakfast, complimentary wifi, usually a gym, a business center, and complimentary parking.  I did not check out the fitness center but I did try the complimentary breakfast, the business center, and the wifi.  The wifi was complimentary but there were two wifis - one for the room and one in the lobby.  The lobby wifi worked well enough for email but was very poor for streaming videos while the room wifi was horrible in that the connectivity kept dropping and you could barely do any emails.  The business center had two computers connected to a printer and the printing was complimentary but the computers were slow and inefficient.  The breakfast was complimentary and was basic - complimentary muffins, cereals, some fruit and eggs.  It was not great and just provided the basics.

Overall, it was a disappointing stay at the Residence Inn.  Yes, the rooms were spacious, two beds were provided, and there was a kitchenette but these positives were outweighed by the negatives which included the compact bathroom, poor customer service, lack of AC in the room, horrible wifi connectivity, and generally poor design of the hotel. If I had to choose again, I would much rather pay for 2 rooms in another hotel then stay in one room in this hotel.  

Trip Report: British Airways, Edinburgh to London Heathrow (July 2019)

Trip Report: British Airways, Edinburgh to London 
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I was traveling to Edinburgh from London, and on the outbound I choose to travel by train but for the return I wanted to travel by plane.  British Airways, RyanAir, EasyJet, and FlyBe all fly between Edinburgh and London but only Flybe and British Airways (BA) fly to London Heathrow.  I wanted to fly into Heathrow as I had another international flight from Heathrow the next morning.  Also, I had checked baggage and when adding that fee into the overall price the difference between BA and LCCs was not that significant (also, with BA you get 23kg checked baggage while most LCCs give you 20kg).  Booking the ticket on BA's website was very easy and my ticket included checked baggage, however my ticket did not include preselecting my seat (even though with the upgraded price it should have).  After booking my flight, it was easy to manage the reservation either through the website or through the app.

24-hours prior to departure I was able to check into my flight and select my seat assignment.  BA had already preselected our seats and luckily we were sitting next to each other, but we could also change the seats to any open seats in our cabin.  The ticket purchased included one checked baggage at 23kg and prior to check-in I could add another bag at a lower cost or add it at the airport at a higher cost.  We had a lot of stuff so I prepurchased another bag, checked-in, and received my mobile boarding passes.  Even though I checked-in online, I could later go to the computer and print my boarding passes as well.  When we arrived at the airport, the line to check-in was very long but the self-service kiosks had no line so we went there to check-in our bags.  We checked-in our bags, self-tagged them, and dropped them off to the belt with almost no interaction with anyone from BA.

After security we made our way to the crowded gate area and waited for boarding to commence.  Boarding was done via groups, with the first groups for Priority members and groups 3-5 for economy class.  We were seated in row 17 and following RyanAir's model, BA also boards from both the rear and the front of the planes with rows 16 and higher boarding from the back of the plane.  The enforcement of which side you board from is haphazard, as half of the rear of the plane boarded from the back while the other half boarded from the front; and BA should take note of seniors or others who would have difficulty going up and down the stairs instead of boarding directly through the jetbridge.  When we boarded from the back, there were two BA attendants there but neither of them made eye contact, neither were smiling or pleasant, and neither greeted any of the passengers.  We made our way down the aisle, put our carry-on bags up, and sat in our seat ready for take-off.  The BA attendant who was in the back came down to close the bins and was muttering to herself, somewhat loudly, about passengers behavior saying 'who is going to close this lid with the bags like this, seriously' and other such comments against the passengers -- poor behavior and service from the BA staff!

The operating aircraft was an Airbus A319 in a 3-3 configuration and the flight time was scheduled at 1hr 20minutes.  The seat pitch and seat width were decent given the seat pitch, however the seat was not very comfortable.  The seat itself was basic with no PTVs and had a pocket up top - for the magazines, the safety card, and the airline sickness bag - below had a tray table and underneath that had another pocket for your personal items.  It was a decent seat for a short intra-European flight.  There were video screens that dropped down throughout the cabin and the safety video was screened on these videos, and throughout the flight the flight path was shown on the video screens. There was no wifi and no screening of entertainment to your personal devices, so the flight path was the only entertainment provided.  Once we reached cruising altitude, the inflight service commenced.  Similar to LCC's, BA has started a buy-on-board service where everything from snacks to drinks needs to be purchased; nothing is complimentary, and I believe water also needs to be bought as I did not see complimentary water being handed out.  The FAs spent most of their service time in the front section of economy - those in 'economy plus' -  and given it was a short flight they did not have time to spend in the back section so just rolled quickly buy towards the back galley.  We started our descent into Heathrow, landed and deplaned, and then waited almost 45 minutes for our bags to arrive.

Overall it was a disappointing flight experience with British Airways.  On their intra-European flight it seems there is no difference between them and a LCC in terms of pay for extra services and buy on board product.  Given BA has to compete with LCCs on this route and with the train, one would think they would try and help them stand out by offering better onboard service but that is not the case.  Their fares are higher than both the train and the LCCs with the only advantage BA has is that they fly into Heathrow and are part of a oneworld alliance.  These two factors are not enough for me to choose BA again.