meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

August 28th - A Funny Kind of Amber

Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

The Independent

Places & Travel, Leisure, Society & Culture

3.6628 Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2021

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I warned you yesterday of a bank holiday squeeze on the railways this weekend – well, I’m caught up in it.


What to do when it all goes Tango Uniform on the trains


And Jamaica goes a funny kind of amber.


Sign up to Simon's free weekly newsletter at independent.co.uk/newsletters and all the very latest is available 24hrs a day at independent.co.uk.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello, it's Saturday the 28th of August and thanks for joining me for the latest on travel

0:07.1

and destinations from the Green List and the Travel Desk of the Independent. Today, well, I warned you

0:13.6

yesterday of a bank holiday squeeze on the railways this weekend. I'm now caught up in it on a

0:19.6

delayed train to the south west of England.

0:23.8

What to do when it all goes tango uniform on the trains? And Jamaica goes a funny kind of amber.

0:32.0

Of course, this podcast is completely free, as is my weekly travel email. you can sign up at independent.co.uk

0:39.9

forward slash newsletters well everyone knew that the trains were going to be extra busy

0:47.0

over the bank holiday weekend because well clearly since the pandemic began toate, or at least we were able to travel more freely,

0:58.5

weekends have seen far more travellers than have the middle of the week trains.

1:04.3

So it was always going to be busy.

1:06.8

Now, on GWR, the train company I'm on, as well as I think all the rest of them, it is no longer

1:14.7

necessary to have a reservation. We have a so-called walk-up railway in the UK, which means

1:21.4

that if you've got a valid ticket, you can get on a train. And you might have to stand all the

1:26.8

way to Penn's Ants but you're still allowed

1:29.2

on board. Of course it's much more sensible to get a reservation and I've got a flexible ticket

1:36.9

but with a reservation attached to it it came in when I booked online at gwr.com.

1:43.4

If you haven't though or if you have got a flexible ticket and you decide to travel on a

1:48.0

different train, well it's quite straightforward. I just wait until everybody's got on.

1:53.7

I then go through from the back of the train seeing people seats.

1:58.7

For instance, there's one just here which says uh booked from paddington to

2:03.7

talkie well that person never showed up so you can be sure that that train is going to be okay

2:10.1

that seat is going to be okay what's made things more difficult though is that uh we've got a lot of extra people on board that's

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Independent, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Independent and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.