HEADING DOWN HOME for the weekend, or maybe on a nice little trip down the country?

If you’re taking the train, here are some of the perks and the pitfalls that await you…

Perks

A dog might get on

These dogs have all taken solo trips on the train in recent times:

This little divil took a trip to Connolly Station in March (Pic: Irish Rail)

Lady arrived a Malahide Dart Station just before Christmas, and ended up in a new home (Pic: Irish Rail)

Patch hopped on the train from Kilcock to Pearse Street before being reunited with his owner (Pic: Irish Rail)

You can have a sherry

Flickr/Creative Commons/rjw1

There are toilets

Because you’ll need them after all the sherries.

Flickr/Creative Commons/NedRichards

You can pick whatever name you want when you’re booking the tickets

Ed Smith/Mary Kate Murphy

You can plug in your phone/tablet/laptop

Flickr/Creative Commons/NedRichards

Pitfalls

Delays

Caused by things like this flooding at Waterford station:

Pic: Irish Rail

You might have to sit facing a total stranger for 3 hours…

… occasionally accidentally hitting your foot off their foot and muttering “sorry”.

You can’t have a sherry

Some people ruin it for everyone.

Some people have too many sherries

It’s fairly pricey

Booking a train journey of any considerable length in Ireland is not for those who are faint of heart or wallet.

The toilets may be challenging

Care to share your good, bad or ugly train experiences with us? Let it all out in the comments…

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