Admittedly, it was an ambitious plan: an overnight flight from New York to London, the Tube to King’s Cross Station, then a train up to York. We needed good timing. We did not get it.

A Flight Cancellation Sets the Tone

First, our flight was canceled 48 hours before departure, pushing everything back five hours and forcing us to rework the rest of the schedule. Fine — done. That should have been the day’s one hiccup.

Chaos on the Rails

Then a fatality on the tracks that morning halted all northern rail service for more than four hours. Chaos. We ended up only 40 minutes delayed in the end, but it was wall-to-wall people the entire time we waited — good thing we’d built in a 90-minute buffer for good measure. Our train, the first with service to York all day, was standing room only. Nothing quite like a two-hour train ride standing in the aisle with luggage after a red-eye flight.

Finally, York

But we made it. We checked in, showered, and headed out for dinner at a local pub, The Duke of York. It never really feels like England until our first pub dinner — especially when it’s fish & chips.

The Shambles

After dinner we took the route back to our hotel through the infamous Shambles on our way to much needed sleep.