A Kiwi comic whose prepare journey to Edinburgh was an 11-hour nightmare has emerged with loads of new materials and necessary journey ideas for anybody taking public transport abroad.

“Lean into the Kiwiness” is the recommendation of James Nokise.

A “she’ll be proper” angle and the flexibility to see the humorous facet of issues helped on the odyssey by Scottish backroads in a shared taxi throughout the small hours of Tuesday morning – “my first time altering nations in a cab”.

It was a journey that was adopted by 22 million individuals on social media, as Nokise live-tweeted each twist and switch.

It has been a wild week, says the stand-up comedian and sports activities reporter, who’s at present protecting the Rugby World Cup. All of it kicked off on Monday, when his northbound prepare from London was cancelled by Avanti. The UK rail operator sought to repair this by ordering 75 taxis for passengers – and dispatching them the size of the British Isles. Sharing a global taxi experience with three strangers was a situation straight out of a sitcom.

“I like British trains after they work,” says the 40-year-old Nokise. “The important thing phrase is ‘when’.”

A surreal reminder of how inescapable public transport is – and that his 600km nightmare was actual – was seeing his story coated the next morning by Metro, a free paper distributed on UK buses and trains.

The journey from London to Edinburgh is one he has taken many occasions. He had a equally unpredictable journey to the Edinburgh Competition Fringe final yr.

“I ended up on an overpacked prepare that needed to cease in Doncaster whereas the conductor tried to persuade individuals to get off.”

Regardless of some difficult episodes, trains are an effective way to get round Europe on a funds and – maybe – on time. His solely recommendation to anybody planning a visit on public transport abroad is to journey gentle.

“I feel the important thing factor for travellers is don’t overpack. You don’t know whenever you’ll get caught out, and generally it’s exhausting for a giant suitcase to slot in an emergency taxi.”

Nokise says he’s a fan of Europe’s embrace of prepare journey and New Zealand’s tentative revamping of passenger rail – although he’d wish to ask KiwiRail to “please repair the tracks so we will have quicker trains”.

Nevertheless, any future New Zealand rail expertise may be taught a factor or two from the UK, particularly its errors.

“It appears dumb, however truthfully: clear communication is golden, even when it’s unhealthy information,” he says.

“Persons are gonna be lots much less offended at workers after they know that there’s nothing they’ll do about it. Delays suck, however what breaks individuals just isn’t understanding why issues are delayed.”

Because the producer of the podcast Truthful Sport: Pacific Rugby Towards the World, Nokise has been bouncing between France and the UK on trains for the summer time.

“I used to be truly on my method to Edinburgh after being in France all weekend,” he says. Whereas the northbound prepare from King’s Cross in London is a really completely different prospect from France’s high-speed TGV trains, it has offered him with “a complete misadventure to try to flip into new standup materials”.

He’s already trying ahead to heading again to the New Zealand summer time. If it weren’t for the rugby, he wouldn’t usually be in chilly Scotland at the moment of yr.

“Regardless of how scorching the place you’re going is, sneak a thermal within the baggage in case you get stranded on the prepare again residence!”