The early evening of Friday 17th January saw me back at Brunel’s railway cathedral, London Paddington, having finished work for the week and ready to head to Bristol for a weekend with friends. Due to the timing of my trip, I was unfortunately not able to travel first-class, however I was able to try one of GWR’s new ‘Superfast’ services in standard class.
After a couple of days in Bristol visiting friends and exploring the city, I was back at the wonderful Bristol Temple Meads station for my journey back to London. Temple Meads was originally opened in 1840 as the western terminus of the Great Western Railway from London Paddington. As with the rest of the railway, Temple Meads was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, although his original station is no longer part of the current operational station.
The last planned trip of my busy August and September was a couple of days in Bristol, travelling to Bristol Temple Meads (TM) station and back with Great Western Railway (GWR). GWR run four trains an hour to Bristol, with two an hour heading to Bristol TM via Bath and two calling at Bristol Parkway en route to South Wales.
Southampton Airport (SOU) is located to the north of the city of Southampton in the town of Eastleigh. With the site’s aviation history starting in 1910, there has been over a century of flying from what is now the largest airport serving the central south coast. The airport handled just under 2 million customers in 2017/18 and in 2019 was ranked third out of 30 UK airports for customer satisfaction by Which?
Having arrived in Vienna on a flight from Kiev, I had a couple of hours before my onward flight with Austrian back to London. After letting the chaos of disembarkation happen around me, I was one of the last of the aircraft, however I quickly made my way through the transfers process and was back in the departure lounge about 10 minutes after alighting.
After a fascinating time in the Ukrainian capital, it was time to head to the airport for my flight home. Having flown to Kiev with Lufthansa, I opted to fly home with another of the Lufthansa Group subsidiaries, and fellow Star Alliance member, Austrian Airlines. Austrian are one of the mid-sized European flag carriers with a fleet of 82 aircraft (compared to the 300 of its parent) and, from its Vienna hub, offers flights to a range of destinations across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America.
Flights & Times 