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#TravelSicknessProbs

11 December 2015

By Oisin

Given that it’s nearly Christmas, the vast majority of students are getting ready to travel home, if university has not already finished. I live on the Wirral, near Liverpool, so it is fair enough that my parents don’t want to drive up to Newcastle (to be fair it’s about four hours each way) and so that leaves me to get the train. So what’s the problem? I get travelsick. If you’re a fellow bad-traveller you have my pity, and if not I will try to describe the ordeal to you.

First thing: seat position is key. Forward facing is okay, while sitting backwards is hell. You can reserve seats on most trains nowadays (which is advisable because train tickets are cheaper if you book in advance); however, annoyingly you cannot pick which direction you face with every service provider, including the one from Newcastle to Liverpool. So I have a 50/50 chance of getting a front facing seat and having a relatively smooth journey, or having to scramble to find an unreserved front facing seat elsewhere.

The next issue is the embarrassment of actually suffering from travel sickness. It sounds pretty pathetic, and there isn’t an awful lot you can do about it (other than take medication). Obviously you can’t get off the train, and there are only so many times you can ask the person next to you to move so you can go to the toilet. I tend to stare out the window while focusing on music blasting through my headphones, which leads on to my final point: the boredom of sitting on a three-hour train journey, unable to do anything other than listen to music. Obviously there is one very simple solution to all these problems: don’t travel home. However, the prospect of having to cook my own Christmas dinner is even less appealing than travel-sickness!

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