The last time I attempted to travel to Belfast to give a seminar, in 2019, it didn’t go very well. This time it went better, in the sense that I’ve actually arrived in Belfast. The Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast has doubled in frequency since 2019 and the price is still modest, just €17.50 each way, including a seat reservation, which is the full fare standard price. Unfortunately the train that arrived in Dublin to take us to Belfast was much smaller than the regular one – only four carriages, presumably owing to a fault on one of the usual trains, so it was crammed – and there were no seat reservations on it. I did find a seat but many people didn’t and had to stand. The train started to empty at Dundalk and by Newry most people could sit down. Other than that, it was fine.
The trip from Dublin Connolly to Belfast Grand Central took about 2 hours and 10 minutes, by the way, which. You would be hard pressed to make a two-hour journey by train in England for the equivalent price.
I’ve successfully visited Belfast a few times over the past few years, actually, but not for work reasons.
It’s quite chilly in Belfast tonight, a good few degrees colder than Dublin, but my hotel room is warm, and being on my own I think I’ll just stay in and finish the book I’m reading. I’ll get up early, hopefully to publish a few OJAp papers, have a cooked breakfast and then venture forth to find Queen’s University Belfast, which I failed to visit in 2019:
