Gdansk Trip – Luton Airport Back to Newmarket

I had initially planned to repeat my travel plans of the previous week, which was to stay at the Pret Landside at Luton Airport, then get the 04:30 National Express service to Cambridge and then get the first train to Newmarket. It was in many ways a sub-optimal journey. However, thanks to a particularly impressive early arrival from Wizz Air, a border with no delays and my ability to walk quickly, I was able to make the last National Express service of the day that would get me back to Newmarket.

And here she comes. Are coaches female? I don’t know, let’s say it is, I suppose there’s a comparison about a mother hen gathering up her chicks, just as National Express pick up passengers. I think that might be stretching the logic though and I’m digressing once again. I had paid £5 to transfer my coach ticket to this earlier service and that didn’t feel unreasonable for the convenience.

It wasn’t the busiest service I’ve been on.

I’m not sure if I’ve seen a request from a coach company about tipping drivers, even in the United States. Although I don’t envy drivers, dealing with this massive vehicle and edging it through traffic, battling roadworks and dodging kamikaze pigeons, all the time listening to the cacophony of coughs, sneezes and rustling crisp packets from passengers. They probably deserve a little extra every now and then.

The bus arrived at Parker’s Piece, perhaps most notable for being where the football games governed by the Cambridge Rules were played, the forerunner of how football is played today. It was pragmatic, there were plenty of students coming to Cambridge from various decadent private schools and it was only sensible that there were agreed rules on how to play the game.

I had to wait for my second coach, so it was time for a Titanic Cherry Porter in the JD Wetherspoon pub, the Regal. The beer is always a delight.

The gleaming beacon of cleanliness, it positively blinded me with its radiance, it must have been bathed in the tears of a thousand angels.

Changing to the next coach which turned up early, the driver seemed to take a dislike to another passenger and a shine to me, something to do with how I didn’t hassle him with my bag. I like being the favourite customer on board. It meant that I arrived safely into Newmarket at around midnight which was all rather lovely given that I had expected to arrive nearly nine hours later.