…It’s totally doable, and feels adventurous in a gentle, fun way.

So the thing about a lot of “I got there by train” articles  in newspapers is that you find out in the small print that the author was comped the trip and they did not once have to deal with a train company website or railway station ticket machine, or they do railway stuff professionally, or they travelled in first class. So, for the rest of us, this is how it actually works. Don’t necessarily follow all steps, unless you want the full Zoe can’t-take-her-anywhere experience.