The Brussels hotel was cooler in the morning, of course, and my room even offered a weak coffee from a Nespresso-esque machine, to wake me up while I packed and dressed.
I took the metro to Brussels Midi, which was simple enough, and had plenty of time for a surprisingly cheap coffee and croissant, a lovely raspberry sorbet cone, and a bit of barrel-scraping souvenir buying (since I can’t transport chocolate in this heat) before joining the long, long non-EU passport queue. I’ve had 1.5 litres of homemade raki with me since Albania, and I’m pretty sure you’re only allowed to take 1 litre in and out of the EU, but no one has ever raised an eyebrow at any of the border checks.
There have been improvements in the Brussels holding pen. There’s some kind of snack place that I didn’t use because I’d just had breakfast, and a Starbucks that I didn’t use because I’d just had coffee, and because it’s Starbucks. The train was delayed, which was only to be expected in extreme weather, and passengers from one of the coaches had to be redistributed because the AC wasn’t working there, but I was just glad the train was running at all. Unlike my German trains, Eurostar was perfectly cool, although they did ask us to keep the window blinds down against the heat.
We were half an hour late into London Kings Cross but that still gave me 45 minutes to catch my booked train, which thankfully was running! After Bari and the trip through Germany, the heat in London felt completely manageable. I had an iced coffee and sat in the shade listening to a busker then toddled off to get my train.
The London-Aberdeen train was overcrowded because of cancellations (although not in first class) and they suspended the first-class table service on the grounds of staff safety, but not before I’d had my lunch, so that was fine. The train manager was getting quite annoyed with people ignoring his instructions not to stand in the vestibules (because they’re not air conditioned, so the doors’ constantly opening heats up the carriages), but around Darlington it began to rain so overheating was less of a problem for the train. I changed from shorts to jeans (for the first time in weeks!) because it was actually getting quite cool.
We arrived in Edinburgh a bit late, but who cares at this point? I got a Burger King meal (I know, I’m being that annoying person who eats hot food on the train but I’ve been travelling all day) and hopped on the slow train that will take me back to Bellgrove.
So it’s time for the stats, for all you stats nerds out there:
The extra places and kilometers not in bold represent alternative routes that I chose not to take, or was meant to take but couldn’t.
And finally, a map with alternative modes of transport drawn in in fuchsia:
That was this year’s adventure. I hope you enjoyed it – I certainly did! But now it’s back to reality. Bye for now!
K C Murdarasi 
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