So this blog is about transport.
My favourite mode of transport is the train. As a youngster, after I had decided that I didn't want to be a footballer or speedway rider, I decided I wanted to be a train driver. I suppose most of us of a certain age had the same dream. It didn't last that long before I began to harbour thoughts of a more sensible nature which started off with being a maths teacher which I decided against because I couldn't stand algebra or trigonometry and so I eventually settled for journalism.
I'm sure being a train driver is nowhere near as romantic as it sounds unless it's as a volunteer on a heritage railway such as the Mid Norfolk or North Norfolk. Most of the time you are just staring out at miles of track ahead of you.
But I still love being on trains, apart from the vomit express from Spain to France which I described a number of blogs ago.
I have no idea why trains are so attractive to travel by.. I guess it's just watching the countryside flash by which is what it does in Europe as the trains hit over 200 mph. You can move around a bit in trains, something you can't do in a car or bus. You can relax and you can read.
I can't read in cars or buses as I start to feel travel sick. Perhaps there's a bit of claustrophobia in there. As a child I got car and coach sick and it was a very unpleasant feeling as anyone who has suffered knows. But I have never suffered from travel sickness on trains. It's very much a go with the flow kind of travel.
I tolerate air travel. It's often cramped and uncomfortable but is a means to an end it's ok. We have done quite a lot of long haul flights to places like Vietnam and Cambodia, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia and probably more that I cannot recall at the moment.
On planes you usually get food and there's plenty of entertainment on long hauls but it doesn't have the appeal of train travel. That's partly because train stations are usually more pleasant than airports. It's also better to keep your feet figuratively on the ground rather than in the air.
We've done a lot of cruising and that's slightly different because the journey is the holiday in many ways whereas trains are a means of getting from one place to another. I love cruises, although they can be rather dull from a "I went to sea and all I could see was sea, sea, sea, sea, sea" kind of way. There's not a lot to see when you are on an ocean.
River cruises are different. We had one down the Nile and one along the Yangtze and there were hundreds of working boats along each. It was fascinating to see so much happening.
But above all I love a train journey. I feel cheated if it's a short journey. I like to get settled in, get a book out, have a cup of coffee from the trolley that comes round and gaze out of the window. Throw in a bit of a snooze and it's all very laid back.
I feel cheated if the train journey is a short one. Yesterday we set off for a quick visit to see our son and his fiancee in Eastbourne. There are a few ways to get to Eastbourne from Wymondham but probably the best is Wymondham to Cambridge, Cambridge to New Cross or Gatwick, New Cross or Gatwick to Eastbourne. The problem is none of those three legs is very long. The first to Cambridge takes just over an hour, the second to New Cross about an hour and a half and the third to Eastbourne around another hour - scarcely time to get settled in before you are there.
The Cambridge to New Cross is particularly enjoyable as it goes right into the heart of London and then right out again. I just sit there and watch the people crossing Tower Bridge, or is it London Bridge? Watching the workers going on their daily grind whilst us retirees sample the good life!
One of the alternative ways to get to Eastbourne is to go from Wymondham to Norwich which takes all of 15 minutes and then Norwich to London which is roughly two hours and London to Eastbourne which is about an hour and a half. But that journey entails getting across London by Underground which is never pleasant with cases.
Later in the summer we are going to get a three day East Anglian train pass and visit places like Cambridge, Ely, Woodbridge and a few more. It's amazing how much you can cram into a day. My favourite train journeys are those in Switzerland where the scenery is outstanding. Armed with a rail pass we have had holidays where we have just got on a series of trains and not worried about where they were going. As we pass a delightful looking town we have been known to get off, have a wander round, a cup of coffee and then get back on the train and go somewhere else. Switzerland is small - about the size of Wales - so you can't get lost and around late afternoon we just take out a map and work out how to get back to where we started from.
Last time we did this we were staying in the mountains above Interlaken and had to get a very small train from Interlaken up to a place called Svendi (I my have got the spelling of that wrong). I called it a grumbly train because it rumbled upwards through some extraordinary scenery.
But enough about travelling. Tomorrow I will tell you a bit about our trip to Eastbourne.