Bernie and Linda's Blog: Fernie to Bournemouth in 22 hours

Planes, trains and automobiles have been transportation modes that have dominated of our lives for the last 22 hours. We learned a few more things about travel on these three legs of our journey.

The first thing we learned was that it is much more difficult to travel with a lot of luggage. We brought one large duffel bag loaded with motorcycle gear, clothing, helmets, MC luggage, etc. We normally travel only with carry on bags so waiting for and then lugging around a couple of large bags was not much fun.

The Gatwick train station and airport are together so transitioning from plane to train is quite seemless, unless you have large luggage bags. Not only was getting to the platform a problem but we soon discovered that the trains that run though the Gatwick station are electric commuter trains that have very limited luggage capacity. We had to park the bags in the entrance area. On the first leg of our train journey we found a seat but on the second leg we stood with the bags at the doorway. We weren't the only ones who had large bags. Collectively we concluded that having trains with limited baggage space was not such a great idea for trains that pass through an airport,

However, the train ride was good fun... On the first leg sat we a group of guys our age going to Goodwood race track for an old motor vehicle show. We had a good chat with them and as bonus they had brought some beers along for the journey. On the second, but shorter, leg we chatted with the other large-bag travellers.

Once arriving a Poketown station (one of the Bournemouth stations) we hopped a cab to Clarendon Lodge B&B. We are located a few blocks from the beach and a few blocks from the high street. It is a nice big house in a good location. We are very happy with our room. £65. Including breakfast.

After a short rest we headed out to explore the high street and visit the beaches. First stop was to take care of communication needs. We have an unlocked iPhone 4s so we found a mobile phone store and bought a SIM card (£2) and a Vodafone pay as you go card (£10) it gives us phone and text capability as well as 500mb of data. This should last us for our 3 week stay. Nearly every place we have been in has had wireless internet.

After a walk to the beach we found a nice little pub and had a drink and a bite to eat. Prices are high here but some items are similar priced and some items are more expensive. Wine by the glass was too much.... £6.75 for a small glass of red. We settled for a pint of beer and a cider for Linda. These were priced similar to Canadiian tourist zone prices. We split a big burger and fries with salad and the total tab was £17.75.

A quick visit to a grocery store discovered that prices are quite similar to Fernie or Kaslo. We will likely eat our main meal at lunch time and the buy food and drink (wine, beer, cider, etc. ) at the grocery store for a light evening meal. As I write this I am sitting in the pal our room of the B&B sipping on a pretty good £4.5. Chilean merlot.

Below are a few quick fotos. ...