Our summer trip for 2023 is going to be somewhat of an adventure, we are going to Turkey. I can hear the grumbles already, that isn’t much of an adventure, but hang on just read on… Most normal people would go to the nearest airport, jump on a plane and in a matter of hours arrive at their destination of choice in Turkey. Not us, no we are going from Bangor, Northern Ireland to Istanbul, Turkey without using planes. Imagine ‘Race Across The World’, well don’t as they won’t let us go on their TV show as Megan is only 10. However, that will give you an idea of what we are attempting.
Day 1 – Bangor to Istanbul.
Today we travelled from Bangor to London via Belfast and Glasgow. The last time we attempted a variation of this route, our boat couldn’t dock in Cairnryan and back to Belfast we went. Thankfully, docking in Cairnryan wasn’t an issue and after a mere 19 hours on the road we made it to our hotel in London.
Taxi – Bangor to Belfast.
An early wake up call, up at 5 am with a taxi ordered for 5:30 am to get us to the bus station for 6 am. We had hoped to stay in Belfast the night before, but hotels were not cheap and we had to just go with an hour less in bed. Our driver had a child who plays football so the conversation mainly about youth football for the short trip up the road.
Bus – Belfast to Belfast Docks.
We arrived at Great Victoria Street bus station in good time for our bus to the docks. In hindsight we probably should have got the taxi driver to drop us off at the docks. However, we had paid for this so we decided to use it. The bus station was just opening so nothing was open, that wasn’t an issue for us as we had been to Tesco the night before to pick up supplies.
The bus left on time and took us the short distance to Belfast Docks, we arrived in good time. This is just a shuttle services, so we got off the bus and boarded the boat.
I was having a bit of fear as we boarded the boat. The last time we took a sailing to Scotland we were trying to do the 4 capital cities of the UK in one day not using planes. We failed at the first hurdle and spent 8 hours on the boat, as it couldn’t get docked in Scotland.
Nothing to worry about this time, it was a smooth sailing, we chilled out watching the world go by, ate some of our pre made food and watched a movie in the cinema. A totally pleasant experience unlike the last time.
Myself and Megan also started our daily challenge, on this trip we are going to do challenges on a daily basis. Today’s challenge was to do 15k steps by the time we reached our hotel in London. You will find out at the end how we got on.
Bus – Cairnryan to Glasgow
I was dreading this part of the journey for a very long time. I absolutely hate this bus journey, I have done it numerous times and it never gets easier. The fact the bus didn’t have a toilet and I didn’t feel great the pressure was really on.
I watched as the GPS tracker brought is in the direction of Ayr, it was announced we would be stopping there in a few minutes and there would be no toilet stop. I had a quick look on trainline and realised a train went from Ayr to Glasgow quicker than the bus so off we jumped, and at least we would have a toilet… An extra £20 well spent!
Ayr- Glasgow
We arrived at Ayr Station which is just a huge boarded up building with a platform. After paying for our tickets, myself and Megan nipped over to ‘Subway’ for a sandwich and to use their toilet.
Nicola was not happy we didn’t get her anything, she literally never asked!
The train went smoothly up the coast and over to Glasgow, just a pity the toilet was out of order.
Glasgow
We had a few hours to kill in Glasgow before our train to London. Having been in Glasgow numerous times, we didn’t have much to go see. We took Megan to an arcade and let her play some games, and pottered around the place for a bit then headed to the train station. The weather was terrible which didn’t help the mood.
If you are looking a night out, then Glasgow is a great place for one. Loads of places to eat and drink. However, as a tourist destination it is overshadowed by Edinburgh. However, I much prefer Glasgow to Edinburgh.
Train – Glasgow to London
Our train left Glasgow Central Station at 4pm. The station is pretty class, proper old skool sort of station, which even has a hotel inside it.
The journey down to London was pretty nice, it took us through parts of England we have never been in before and we would perhaps return to visit. I will share this on my ‘YouTube’ channel, I tried to take photos, but we were moving too fast for that.
We passed the time playing some family games, these will most likely be binned by Nicola at some point. I have mentioned before, myself and Megan are very competitive, and the arguments started almost instantly – “He’s a cheater” echoed around the train a few times.
I got my steps up walking up and down the train, nothing to do with there being a bar on the train, just getting my steps up.
We arrived in London slightly late, but we had no connections to make, so it was no drama.
Euston to Premier Inn Kings’ Cross.
This took a lot longer than expected, and led to some bad tempers… We were heading for Euston Square, Nicola said there it is and we went down into tube system. However, it was the wrong station and lines! The guy at the gate said we would be able to do it via X and Y. I just wish we had got out and went to the right station. We walked for miles under the ground, and then sat on the tube for ages for what should have been 1 stop or a 15 minute walk. An hour and a bit later we arrived at our hotel.
As we have a very early start tomorrow morning, we decided to stay at the Premier Inn right next door to the Euston Station. The last time we stayed here was June 2021, just as England came out of lock down. I can tell you now, what I paid for 3 nights then was what I paid for 1 night. £258, absolutely sickening, but we had to do it.
Check in was as expected, and we made our way to bed after being traveling for 19 hours.
A great day of travelling, with hopefully more of the same tomorrow and yes we hit our steps target.
Good night and thanks for reading ‘Day 1 – Bangor to Istanbul.’
The Lewis Family.
Total modes of transport used –
Bus – 2
Train -2
Taxi -1
Subway – 3