Day 1 (September 14, 2025): Basel - Glasgow
(By Josefine, Irma and Stina)
Today at 6am our journey started at Basel SBB. Thankfully everyone arrived on time, although some of us had only slept 2-4 hours. The first train we took brought us to Strasbourg. Everyone was a bit sleepy yet excited about the day. And after a few blinks or one and a half hours we arrived in Strasbourg. There we sweetened the waiting time with some beautiful piano inputs. And why did some of us not know that Strasbourg has more residents than Basel!?
Next up, we went to Paris. We were tightly squeezed together with all our luggage, and it was a bit stressful, we had assigned seats and everyone around us seemed to be in a hurry.
Nevertheless, these one-and-a-half hours flew by while doing all our favourite activities: be it playing a round of wizard (which is described as the best game in human history), talking to each other about how excited we are for the trip or listening to music.
In Paris, there was long lean over which we had to pass in the train station. The food was way too expensive, and the seating was rare.
Boarding the Eurostar was a much bigger hustle than we expected it to be. They wanted so many things from us: first, the reservation, then the human passport control, then the machine passport control, then the parental slip, and lastly a luggage check like the one you know from the airport. Some of us were asked a few questions about the reasons of our trip. Finally, we were all allowed to enter the UK (Question for the Boston class: How about you? Did everyone get in?). For boarding the train, we split up into two groups because of the different coaches and only got together again upon our arrival in London.
The Paris-London train ride was marked by the tunnel ride which was, for some, shorter than expected and for others, much longer than expected. When we finally saw the daylight again, we immediately knew we were in England because of the many sheep. This ride also took only about two hours.
In London, we changed the railway station from a pretty one to an ugly one. Luckily, we got to spend some time in the various shops in the pretty one. Pro tip: a local told us you shouldn’t go to Marks&Spencer because it is so expensive. Mark‘s expensive.
The following train ride was the longest (four and a half hours!) and it could be very energetically draining. While a group made friends with a local English guy, sharing AirPods with him and watching Harry Potter to set the mood, others were sleeping. The last hour was the most exhausting one. It took so long and we just wanted to go sleep in a real bed. Finally, after a very long time of staring out the window and watching the sheep, the sky, and the dark English looking monuments (why does every English city look like the picture of the industrial revolution (it also smells like that)), we arrived at Glasgow Central.
Having our spendings in mind, we took a taxi to the hostel. No, it actually was cheaper than taking the bus (Was it? We‘re almost sure one of the taxi guys scammed us (it was only one pound, but still)).
Now we all want to sleep, in fact all went to sleep, except for us finishing dinner and writing this blog (This is also the reason why this text might not always be to the point).
Favourite activities on the train ride:
• Sleeping
• Eating
• Trying to sleep
• Looking at sheep
• Talking to seatmates
• Constantly checking if the interrail pass is activated
• Regularly panicking because of a lost phone (which was always in the bag)
• Playing games (wizard ofc)
• Goofing around with the flashes of the approximately ten cameras we brought along with us
We hope you had not such a long day but also as much fun as we had. Have a nice evening!
Tears of laughter, joy and a pinch of craziness because of sleep deprivation (we were in fact the ones with the 2-4 hours of sleep) were shed over the writing of this blog.
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