Adventure to Brighton and Back

Finally got out of Wales for a bit to see England. I went to Brighton for a New Years Eve party with a friend of Justin's who I can now officially call a friend of mine, named Becky. She invited us to come over and party with her and some of her friends. I saw no reason not to go. We decided to go by train on the National Rail, though the tickets were £70 because it was new years; there and return. Usually they are like £30.

I have been told by many that Brighton is known as the place were all the

gays go :S lol

That just meant more girls for us.

GOING TO BRIGHTON

My entertainment on my iPhone.
OH YAH!!.

Justin has never been on a train outside of a subway and nor have I really. I have only been on a subway train when I spent a night in NY on my way to Mexico. The trip to get there takes about 4 hours from Cardiff Central to Brighton. If you don't plan to sleep on the train i strongly recommend taking your MP3 or something with earphones. There is bound to be something making noise that will just piss you off. There was this damn cat that would not stop meowing. I seriously wanted to go shoot it with a tranquilizer.

We had no idea how or what to do aside from getting our ticket. Nothing is clearly labeled and if so, it's confusing to understand what you'r looking at sometimes. The ticket does not show what platform you have to be at. Workers at the stations are friendly enough to ask, though at times their information can get vague. Cardiff Central is small so it's not hard to get around. We were pretty much standing were we needed, platform 4. This train does not take you straight to Brighton, but takes you to London Paddington. Than you transfer to another train to take you to a station called Victoria where you transfer to get on the National Rail. Unfortunately we didn't know this information.

1st Time Getting Lost

I looked on the map at the station, on this app I have on my iPhone, and Justin asked someone for what train to catch. We got on a train as per what everything said and this train took us to the suburbs. We stayed on all the way to the end which was in some place called Brixton. Got off went out to ask someone else for further instructions, because like I said the works help but are vague. We were supposed to transfer to the National Rail at Victoria. We were able to make it back down to the train on time before it left. It was amusing to see people literally running to make it to the train.

Getting lost is not always such a bad thing. This can be a good thing because it makes the trip more exciting. Plus, getting lost can be good I think because you learn how to get to places you didn't know were and you learn how to do things right next time.

2nd Time Getting Lost

Got back to Victoria than asked someone for some directions. Got to a point and was lost again. We asked another worker who was just a little help. He showed us that we were at the right place but he had no idea when it was leaving or what platform. He told us it would show up on the display monitor. The monitor was useless as it didn't say the time or platform, just that its "on time". Used my iPhone to tell me what time it was to come, which was 15 minutes but didn't know what platform. When we were looking at the schedule there was maybe about 6 other people. We went get some food real fast and when we came out it was like 30 people. Than before you knew it, there was tons more. It was the most weird thing to see. Nobody was moving, just looking in the same direction like aliens were descending on the earth, or it was a race.

----Starting Line----

Everyone just steering

----Race Track----

----The Finish Line----

I soon came to find the reason as to why everyone stopped and was steering at the display. I looked at it as well to see what was going on. Everyone was looking and waiting till the monitor told them their platform. People started to break off after a while. I figured the info they needed came up. WHERE THE HELL WAS OURS??? We had like 5 minutes left before it leaves. It finally told us the platform that we are to depart on and OMFG. It literally turned into race. Everyone was running to make it to the train, myself included, well it was more like a power walk.  A few people came flying cross me.

SUCCESS

Caught the right train, got in Brighton, met with Becky and her flatmate named Carla in their flat and just relaxed for a bit. Than we had the house party which was lots of fun to bring in the New Year. We all went to the club that we bought tickets for to end the night. Woke up chilled for a bit, cleaned than went in the car to drive to London. Stayed with Becky's family for the night than headed back to Cardiff.

GOING BACK TO CARDIFF

Becky drops me and Justin to Paddington Station in town. Justin had to buy another ticket because he didn't get the same type of ticket that I got because the person that served him told him some BS, mine told me to get it with the return for just another quid (pound). I got food while he did that. Met back up and once again had to figure out where the hell were we supposed to be. We had a half hour to do it, which is tons of time. So we look on that stupid monitor thing again and it told us that we had to catch the train thats going to Swansea and there is a change at another station. I think it was Swindon Station, I cant remember. Guess what it did not tell us though...

THE DAMN PLATFORM. 

Do they really have to wait to the last few minutes to tell us what platform? We set on some bench near a monitor to eat while we waited. Got on the train and I slept a good bit of it because I have not been getting much sleep.

3rd Time Getting Lost 

We got off the train to go transfer to the next train. When we went look for the train to transfer to, there was none. Saw someone that worked in the station and asked them and they said it was pretty much the same train that we were on. We were not supposed to get off the train. I guess that switch was like a transfer for those who needed it. So we ran to go catch it and as soon as we got to the top of the steps the train was leaving. We had to wait I think 45 minutes for the next one. So I listened to music from my phone as did Justin. Train came, we got on, I took a nap till we got back in Cardiff.

WE WERE FINALLY BACK. We were too tired to walk home so caught a taxi.

Got to love life's little adventures!!