We drive to Cornwall every year but since Stan was born, we’ve not done any long car journeys. So this Easter, we thought we’d try the train (London Paddington to St Erth, Cornwall). I was a little apprehensive, firstly knowing that we had to pack sensibly and secondly that we couldn’t bring Stanley’s bouncer seat or bumbo chair (eeeeek). At least when you have the car you can take everything you need and more!! Our luggage consisted of 3 bags in total. 2 North Face holdalls and a Gruffalo Trunki. Does anyone else love the Trunki as much as we do? They’re deceivingly spacious, and particularly handy for Harry to take control of when our hands are full. We left him in charge of his own luggage..a responsibility that he quite liked!

Knowing there was a buffet car meant we consciously didn’t pack any additional snacks for the journey, which cut down on extra fussy bags. We were a bit of a ‘tag team’ because we had reserved seats but they weren’t table seats so when the platform number came up on the board we legged it to the ‘unreserved’ carriage to nab a table seat which we GOT (GO TEAM)! So much easier because that way Harry could watch movies on the laptop and I could spread all of the baby paraphernalia on the table.

There are a few bonuses of traveling by train:
– Getting to appreciate the views is definitely at the top of the list- and some views they were.
– Kicking back and relaxing, which isn’t always quite possible in the car, depending on who’s driving.
– Taking a stroll to stretch your legs (and people watch in my case!!)
– Toilets at hand for little boys with weak bladders.
– Free WIFI
– Buffet car for your endless hunger needs and WINE of course 😉

We had to change trains once, which was a little annoying it has to be said. Wouldn’t have been if it was just the two of us, but with children, loading and unloading isn’t very fun. So it was GO TEAM all over again to try to get seats together. This time round on a much smaller train from Plymouth to St Erth.

We arrived at our destination on time roughly 6 hours later totally upbeat and not at all dishevelled. All in all it was a relaxing 6 hours and because the journey was broken up, it really didn’t seem that long at all, with the bonus of it being super fun and no uncomfortable 8mth old baby. I think if Stanley had spent 6 hours in a car seat (even with a couple of breaks), he wouldn’t have been happy and his indigestion would have been an unbearable nightmare!

Having tackled our first family trip on the Train, I would **highly recommend it as a great experience and we will certainly be doing it again… Car is way overrated! (Did I actually just say that???)