It was time to go back to the hotel to pack up and check out. As I gathered my belongings, I got a notification saying that my train to Liverpool was canceled. Crap. The UK (and basically all of Western Europe) was experiencing record breaking heat and as a result travel was a nightmare. Tracks were melting, people were suffering heat stroke, there were cancelations and a multitude of delays. As someone who plans everything ahead, this was an absolute nightmare. Since my train was canceled, I was able to switch my ticket, at no charge, to a later time. I realized that with the weather and possible future delays, there was a good chance that I would miss my scheduled tour in Liverpool and my heart broke a little. No time for that though. I fought back the tears and sprung to action. Determined not to miss my tour, I quickly gathered my gear and checked out of the hotel. I had to make a mad dash to the tube before they closed more stations for service.

I arrived at the train station and approached the desk to inquire about switching to an earlier train. I explained my dilemma and why I had purchased so many tickets…

Let me stop there and go back in time. When I was going through the process of planning the trip, I came down with COVID. Those who have had it, I’m sure know about the brain fog that comes along with it. So, one foggy day, I decided to buy all my train tickets. I bought a ticket to Liverpool and was adding it to my itinerary when I realized that I had purchased it for the wrong day. Ticket #1. I wasn’t able to exchange the ticket so I had to purchase a new one.I double and triple checked that it was the correct day. When I saw it was, in fact, for the correct day, I bought it. Ticket #2. As I went to put it in my itinerary I was shocked to see that while I did purchase it for the correct day, this time however the time overlapped with my Beatles tour in Liverpool. Not wanting to purchase a 3rd ticket, I tried to exchange the Beatles ticket… no exchanges or refunds. You have got to be kidding me. Sigh. So, I booked a 2nd Beatles ticket. So if you’re keeping up…that’s a lot of tickets.

Ok, so now we are back in the train station and I am verbal diarrhea-ing to the poor guy behind the desk about my ticket woes. When I finished, he sighed and said, “First of all, stop buying tickets.” I laughed out loud and replied, “Thank you, I needed to hear that.” He said since my original ticket was canceled through no fault of my own, I could just show that ticket and board another train. And what good luck, there was a train departing in 10 minutes!

45 minutes later (damn delays) I was finally able to board. I was finally leaving London! Liverpool, here I come!

Tips, Links, and Locations

No links or locations here, just a tip:

Don’t rush to buy tickets, just take a beat and check (maybe even double check) that what you’re getting is actually what you need/want. Don’t be like me, the girl who had too many tickets and nowhere to go.