We arrive at the National Rail Station and desperately look around for information about the train going to Blackpool by way of Preston. Right in front of us are huge departure signs. We locate the one with Preston as its final destination knowing that we'd have a transfer there for Blackpool and there is no platform number listed. Josh and I find a guy sitting in a booth helping an older lady by repeating the same information to her several times. I butt in because she's obviously not getting it and we're in a bit of a hurry. I asked the guy when the platform number was going to be available. He says, "when the train's ready." Logically I ask, "when will that be?" He says, "when it is." So Confucius was no help. I leave Josh to deal with this person and wander back over to the array of departure boards. All we can do is wait for it to illuminate with the platform number.

At 15 minutes prior to its departure time, the sign changes to show Platform 2. Just about everyone waiting in the station was going to be on the that train. Everyone filed out quickly to get the best possible seat on the train. I was sure it would be packed with all the people filing that direction but surprisingly it was not. Mostly everyone was hurrying to get the center seats with the cool fold down tables that have power adaptors for laptops or DVD players. We just wanted a seat.

Not long after everyone boards the train, we are off. The light was fading, I wasn't going to be able to see the English countryside. I was hoping to see it, too, thinking that it would be really pretty. I'm sure there are parts of England's countryside that are breathtaking but the view from the train from Euston Station to Preston, UK was just like the countryside in my home state of Ohio: basically flat with random farm animals and fields of grain. I was also surprised by the fact that the train doesn't really go that fast, maybe 60mph. It has to stop so many times, I suppose getting up a good head of speed is not possible. Anyway, as we set out, Josh decides to get up and explore the train a little bit. He goes left, then a few minutes later, passes me by and goes the other direction. About 15 minutes later, he comes back with a full report on the snack center and the best place for pottying. Good recon, in my opinion. It was about this time that I decided to start journaling our experience. I joked that this whole thing was turning into a saga and if I didn't start writing it down, we'd forget what happened, when and how. I got out the laptop and started writing this narrative. Soon, I was out of power but Josh discovered a power outlet behind me. I plugged in and plugged on. The train arrived outside Rugby where it slowed down quite a ways from the station. The train conductor gets on the overhead and says that there was some sort of breakdown of a freight train earlier in the day and that the last remnants of it are being cleaned up. Meanwhile, we are to sit on the track and wait for clearance. This waiting took close to 30 minutes. The only reason I was concerned about it was because Dave and Joanie and Karl were meeting us at the train station in Blackpool to pick us up and by the looks of it, we weren't getting in until close to midnight. I felt that we were really asking a lot of people I hadn't seen in over 10 years and Josh had never met.