London, I’m Coming Home (Qype does London)

London, I’m Coming Home
Chris Osburn
Qype does London
January 11th 2009

I’m sitting here at Hartsfield International Airport (ick) in Atlanta waiting for my flight back to Heathrow (double ick). Despite the prospect of an especially sinister case of jetlag and an ever increasing pile of work waiting to gang up on me across The Pond, I’m more than ready to return. Three weeks is a long time to be away. I miss my wife, my kitties, my daily routine and the city I call home.

Read the complete London, I’m Coming Home post at Qype does London.

Book UK Airport Hotels with Airport-Hotels.co.uk

Every so often, I find myself with an upcoming flight taking off at the crack of dawn. When I’ve been able to spend the night before the flight at accommodations near the airport, it’s made those trips so much more relaxing than if I would have had to drag myself to the airport in the wee early morn feeling like a zombie.

Have you got a similar travel situation coming up? Consider booking a room at an airport hotel and cut down on any early morning stresses trying to make your airport.

A useful resource for booking your room near the airport is Airport-Hotels.co.uk, which lists every hotel available near every major airport in the UK. Whether situated within the airport perimeter (on-airport) and just a short walk to the airport terminal or off-airport and requiring a short transfer to the terminals, you’ll find the right hotel on Airport-Hotels.co.uk.

Airport-Hotels.co.uk compares relevant hotel prices from five leading hotel providers, including Holiday Extras, Superbreak, APH and FHR, helping to ensure you pay the lowest price for you room. With Airport-Hotels.co.uk, you can also choose to include dinner or breakfast, additional car parking or – of course – simply book a room. In addition to those features, Airport-hotels can be used to reserve hotel parking for up to fifteen days.

You also might want to keep Airport-Hotels.co.uk in mind to bypass any potential late night hassles associated with an upcoming flight arriving just in time for you to want to hit the sack. I’ve been in this situation a few times before too. And when I’ve been able to simply make it to a room quick and move on the next morning after a decent night’s sleep, I’ve gotten more out of my trip. Of course, should you have an upcoming business meeting near a UK airport, Airport-Hotels.co.uk is an obvious choice for booking as well.

Taking a Quick Look at Ferryonline.co.uk

Air travel annoyances and Eurostar hold-ups have me searching the web for alternate modes of to-n-fro. How about a ferry?

Unfortunately, I haven’t been travelling abroad as much this year as I would have liked. I reckon that, considering the shape of the economy these days, such is the case with a lot of folks. Fuel prices seem to be upping the costs of airfare – and budget airlines just add-on whatever surcharges they feel is necessary to ensure what looked like a cheap ticket is no longer a bargain.

Besides, air travel ain’t doing it for me anyway. I mean, even if I arrive at the airport hours before my flight, odds are I’m still in for some sort of unforeseen hassle and an almost endless wait in at least one winding queue of disgruntled travellers. Sometimes, as with the opening of Heathrow’s T5, the aggravations associated with air travel are enough to embarrass a whole nation! The last few times I’ve flown, the whole rigmarole left me wondering if the trips were worth the undo flight-related stress. Remember back in those pre-9/11 days when flights were cheap and you didn’t have to worry about how much toothpaste you had in your carry-on?

I’ve taken the Eurostar a couple of times this year as well and have to admit that I really love zipping through the Chunnel from St Pancras and shortly showing up in continental Europe. And, when I’ve been able to find a deal or book well in advance, I’ve found the fares to be exceptional value for money. However, with the Eurostar still operating an amended timetable following the “incident in the Channel Tunnel in September 2008,” this option is now a bit of a headache too.

So, ever-hankering to travel yet wanting to make the most of my money and time, I’ve been snooping around the web looking for alternative travel arrangements. One site I’ve come across in my research that appears to offer a valuable and reliable service (and has my brain buzzing with all sorts of potential travel exploits) is Ferryonline, which specialises in offering ferry tickets at low prices. Through Ferryonline, I could book ferries for any major European sea crossing. And check this out: for crossings where there are a number of operators, Ferryonline compares all the prices for me to see the cheapest price for the same route.

I’ve taken ferry trips before (loved ‘em) but only once in the UK and never anywhere to/from continental Europe. I’d be keen to try this method again some time in the near future and have no doubt that I’ll start my journey with a visit to Ferryonline first. The site provides the latest deals from all the leading ferry operators for both passenger and freight crossings, essentially providing folks with the option of booking any ferry journey in Europe from the comfort of their homes.

The hardest part will be figuring out where I’d like to go! Ireland, Holland, Spain, island hopping in Greece? Hmm … Whatever and wherever I decide, I’ll be sure to keep ya posted.

Return to Whitstable (Qype does London)

Return to Whitstable

Chris Osburn
Qype does London
September 15th 2008










Although it’s only some 60 miles from London, Whitstable seems like it’s a world away. The train trip’s scenic too. Whitstable’s train station is within walking distance of the town centre and beach - with the Pearl Fisher B&B essential equidistant between the station and the beach. I’m sure I’ll find myself back in Whitstable yet again. The delicious seafood and fresh salt air (all just a short jaunt away) are just too good.

Read the complete Whitstable post at Qype does London.

Le Eurostar weekend (Qype does London)

Le Eurostar weekend
by Chris Osburn

Qype does London
August 3rd 2008










I’m sure the Eurostar has its share of imperfections (one time about a year ago, my Paris-London train was delayed for what seemed an excruciatingly long couple of hours), but for the most part I’ve had pleasant experiences zipping through the Chunnel. Taking the Eurostar to/from any of its destinations is certainly more civilized and a lot more logistically sensible than getting to/from any airports these days!

Read the complete Eurostar weekend post.

Whitstable Weekend (Qype does London)

Whitstable Weekend
by Chris Osburn

Qype does London
July 14th 2008










While there, I was really blown away by the seafood. Whitstable is famous for its oysters and early into my stay I found out why: there’re delicious!

Click here for complete post.

Freshly Packed Suitcase Full of Misery at T5

Fresh baggage woes at Terminal 5
Hopes of Heathrow's Terminal 5 operating its first full schedule of flights have been scuppered by a new glitch with the baggage system.
BBC News
Page last updated at 13:19 GMT, Saturday, 5 April 2008 14:19 UK

Airport operator BAA's computer system which sorts bags before they are loaded onto flights malfunctioned and manual sorting had to be carried out.

Click here for complete article.

British Airways to Cancel More T5 Flights

BA to cancel hundreds more flights from T5
By Kevin Done, Aerospace Correspondent
Financial Times
Published: March 30 2008 17:33 Last updated: March 30 2008 17:33

British Airways expects to cancel hundreds more flights at its global hub at London Heathrow airport this week, as it battles to overcome baggage handling and other operating problems at its showpiece £4.3bn Terminal 5.

Click here for complete article.

T5 Nightmare Continues

What did go wrong at Terminal 5?
Seventy flights have been cancelled in the last two days as teething problems at Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 caused chaos. But what actually went wrong?
BBC News
Page last updated at 18:43 GMT, Friday, 28 March 2008

The problems appear to be due to a combination of factors.

Click here for complete article.

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BA promising Terminal 5 fix soon
The Press Association - 1 hour ago
BA has moved to reassure air passengers contemplating a third day of travel chaos at Heathrow's Terminal Five (T5) by revealing that just 37 flights would ...

British Airways boss Willie Walsh refuses to quit after Heathrow chaos
Mirror.co.uk, UK - 1 hour ago
Arch-rivals Virgin Atlantic stuck the boot in, saying BA had been given a wonderful gift with T5 "but they couldn't unwrap it properly". ...

Disruption at T5 enters third day
BBC News, UK - 2 hours ago
Cancelled flights, a temporary suspension in luggage check-in and baggage delays blighted the opening day of T5 on Thursday, leaving many passengers ...

Day 2 At T5 .. And It's Business As Usual
Glasgow Daily Record, UK - 3 hours ago
Scheduled flights from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen were axed as T5 saw a second day of long queues, cancellations and baggage delays. ...

SEEING RED IN STYLE
Mirror.co.uk, UK - 3 hours ago
In fact the staff at T5 were faultless - impossibly patient, relentlessly cheerful and endearingly helpful. All in all, it was a very British day out - 18 ...

COMPO TO COST DEAR
Mirror.co.uk, UK - 3 hours ago
The T5 debacle will cost BA millions - but it may try to get some of the cash back from the British Airports Authority, which technically runs the building. ...

ERRORS PILED UP ALL DAY
Mirror.co.uk, UK - 3 hours ago
When they finally got into T5, a programming error meant staff could not log into the baggage handling computer. Passengers arrived to find check-ins ...

T5 Nightmare

Baggage halted at new £4.3bn T5
Flights from Heathrow's new £4.3bn Terminal 5 are departing with hand baggage only after luggage check-in was suspended due to technical problems.
BBC News
Last Updated: Thursday, 27 March 2008, 19:43 GMT

British Airways, which has sole use of T5, announced check-in of all hold luggage was suspended until Friday. The airline has already cancelled 34 flights because of baggage system problems and passengers have had to wait up to four hours for luggage.

Click here for complete article.

Heathrow's T5 Opens to Public

Heathrow's T5 open to passengers
Heathrow's new Terminal 5 has opened to the public as British Airways begins operating from the building.
BBC News
Last Updated: Thursday, 27 March 2008, 07:59 GMT

A BA flight from Hong Kong was the first to arrive at the £4.3bn facility. The first departure was at 0620 GMT, when a service left for Paris.

Click here for complete article.

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'Hassle Heathrow' new terminal opens
CNN International - 44 minutes ago
With 60 aircraft stands actually attached to two new buildings, "T5" can handle dozens of planes at the same time -- including the new Airbus A380 ...

Terminal 5 opens its doors
Guardian, UK - 7 minutes ago
Travellers on the first arrival at T5, flight BA026 from Hong Kong, reported no major problems with baggage or long queues at immigration - two of the ...

Heathrow's T5 Adds Passengers, Fails to Stop Delays (Update1)
Bloomberg - 1 minute ago``T5 was actually designed in the early 1990s and so is already out of date,'' Steve Ridgway, Virgin's chief executive officer, said in an e-mailed response ...

BAA axes T5 fingerprinting plan
Guardian, UK - 4 hours ago
Airport operator BAA will not be taking fingerprints of passengers using Heathrow's £4.3 billion Terminal 5 (T5) following doubts over the legality of such ...

Flash mob demo expected as T5 opens The Press Association
Heathrow T5 opens amid tight security Reuters UK
Protests planned as T5 opens for business ITN
TeleText - MSNBCall 321 news articles »

Cheap Flights to London (Travelocity and United)

From the Travelocity website:

Round-Trip Flights From $341+
As the days grow warmer and that famous fog begins to lift, London bursts into full bloom. Now is the perfect moment to visit this storied city with United's round-trip flights from $341+. Book today and take a jolly holiday before the summer crowds arrive.

- Tickets must be issued by March 26, 2008.
- Outbound travel must completed by May 15, 2008.
- Fares are valid for travel Monday - Wednesday.
- See Terms and Conditions for advance purchase requirements.

Click here for more info at Travelocity (and let me know if you're coming for a visit!).

Supersonic all the way to Oz (in only 5 hours!)

The hypersonic plane designed to reach Australia in under five hours
UK firm unveils exploratory plans for 3,000mph eco-friendly passenger jet
Steven Morris
The Guardian
Tuesday February 5 2008









... a hypersonic passenger plane that could fly to Australia from northern Europe in less than five hours has been designed in Britain. With funding from the European Space Agency, a team of engineers and scientists has come up with the A2, a plane they believe could carry 300 passengers at a top speed of more than 3,000mph.

Click here for complete article.

Londonist Shortlisted for 2008 Bloggies (Please Vote!)

As some of you may know, I became Londonist's Food & Drink Editor a few weeks ago. The cool thing is, I accepted the position just as Londonist got shortlisted for the 2008 Bloggies in the category of Best European Weblog category!

Click here to read the original Londonist post about the nomination.

Voting will close at 10:00 PM EST on Thursday, January 31. The winners will be posted on Monday, March 10.

Click here to cast your vote (please).

London to Mongolia ... in an ice cream truck!

Rum, raisin and rotten roads
To drive from London to Mongolia takes some doing. To try it in this ice cream van, stopping to serve cones to passers-by and border guards along the way, is one step beyond.
BBC News
Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 July 2007, 12:24 GMT 13:24 UK

Backpacking just isn't for me. Everyone goes backpacking, or so it seems, I want a proper old-fashioned adventure and to do something nobody has ever done before. And so we are pushing back the boundaries of ice cream vending.

Click here for complete article.

UK hotels most expensive in Europe

Bath hotel rooms 'most expensive'
Hotel rooms in Bath have beaten London as the most expensive in the UK, a new survey suggests.
BBC News
Last Updated: Tuesday, 27 March 2007, 15:27 GMT 16:27 UK

The cost of a hotel room in the UK now averages £98 a night - the highest in Europe, the survey says.

Click here for complete article.

British Airways strike called off

(Whew!)

Airline Strike Called Off
Sky News
Updated: 16:05, Monday January 29, 2007

A planned strike by thousands of British Airways cabin crew has been called off.

Click here for complete article.

Here are more recent articles about the last-minute deal which averted the walkout:

British Airways Strike Canceled, Agreement Reached (Update6)
Bloomberg - January 29, 2007
By Tracy Alloway and Chad Thomas. Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- British Airways Plc averted a strike by flight attendants, reaching an agreement on pay and sick ...

BA says T&G cancels strike plans, but flights this week will still ...
Forbes, NY - January 29, 2007
LONDON (AFX) - British Airways PLC said a UK trade union has called off strikes that could have wiped out many of its services from London this week and ...

British Airways strike averted; too late to avoid disruptions
USA Today - January 29, 2007
LONDON (AP) — British Airways said Monday it had reached agreement with a union representing cabin crews to head off a strike scheduled to begin at midnight ...

British Airways Strike Canceled, Agreement Reached (Update5)
Bloomberg - January 29, 2007
By Tracy Alloway and Chad Thomas. Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- British Airways Plc, Europe's third- largest airline, averted a strike by flight attendants, ...

UPDATE 2-British Airways says cabin crew strikes called off
Reuters - January 29, 2007
Martin Broughton has been a Board Member since May 2000, Deputy Chairman from November, 2003 becoming non-executive Chairman in July, 2004. Safety. ...

BA says cabin crew strikes called off
Reuters.uk, UK - January 29, 2007
LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways said on Monday a 48-hour strike by cabin crew members of its largest union had been cancelled, although it still expected ...

BA reinstates all cancelled long-haul flights
Reuters India, India - January 29, 2007
LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways Plc said on Monday it had reinstated all long-haul flights that had been cancelled ahead of a possible strike by cabin ...

BA cabin crew strike is called off
Guardian Unlimited, UK - January 29, 2007
A planned strike by thousands of British Airways cabin crew has been called off following a deal to end a bitter dispute over sickness absence, ...

British Airways Strike Canceled, Agreement Reached (Update3)
Bloomberg - January 29, 2007
By Tracy Alloway. Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- British Airways Plc, Europe's third- largest airline, said flight attendants canceled a strike due to start at ...

British Airways says cabin crew strikes called off
Reuters - January 29, 2007
LONDON, January 29 (Reuters) - British Airways Plc (BAY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday a 48-hour strike by cabin crew members of its largest ...

British Airways strike update

Airport Chaos Expected
Sky News
Updated: 14:19, Thursday January 25, 2007

Thousands of passengers face travel chaos next week as British Airways axes hundreds of flights because of strike action.
The airline has cancelled all flights from Heathrow for two days next week because of strike action by cabin crew.

Click here for complete article.

British Airways Cabin Crew to strike?

It appears that British Airways Cabin Crew are gearing up for industrial action. Here's a statement from BA's website:

Following the announcement by the Transport and General Workers Union’s (T&G) cabin crew branch that its members will take industrial action on January 29, 30 and 31; February 5, 6 and 7; and February 12, 13 and 14 we would like to assure our customers that British Airways remains committed to resolving this dispute through continued talks. They are offering a change policy different to that of your ticket restrictions – as we have more details I shall forward them to you.

Visit www.britishairways.com for updates.

See below for recent articles about the potential strike:

More travel disruption as BA strikes loom
InTheNews.co.uk, UK - Jan 15, 2007
Thousands of striking BA cabin crew on January 29th, 30th and 31st will mean more delays for passengers just one month after heavy fog caused severe ...

British Airways cabin crew to stage 3-day strike
Boston Herald, MA - Jan 22, 2007
The union notified BA of its intention to call out cabin crew on strike again Feb. 6-8 and Feb. 12-14 if the dispute is not resolved. ...

BA seeks arbitration to avert strikes
Lancashire Evening Post, UK - Jan 22, 2007
BA says the union also wants the airline to combine its two cabin-crew pay scales, the newer of which was agreed to by the union a decade ago. ...

BA recruits third party to avert looming strike
Manchester.com, UK - Jan 22, 2007British Airways (BA) has called in conciliation service Acas to help resolve its dispute with cabin crew staff. Talks with cabin crew representatives from ...

BA cabin crew workers vote to strike
ATWOnline, MD - Jan 16, 2007
"BA cabin crew have voted to say the airline has gone too far. BA must rebuild the trust of its cabin crew by negotiating rather than imposing change and by ...

BA Cabin Crew Union Increases Pressure With Strike Vote
Aviation Week, NY - Jan 17, 2007
... British Airways now faces the possibility of a strike over a long-running dispute regarding cabin crew work rules. More than 8000 -- or 96% -- of the BA ...

Disruption threatened as BA cabin crew back strikes
Guardian Unlimited, UK - Jan 15, 2007
At the start of a meeting attended by more than 1000 BA cabin crew today, union officials announced that 8132 people had voted for strike action, ...

BA cabin crew plan protest
Trade Arabia, Bahrain - Jan 15, 2007
British Airways (BA) cabin crew have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in a dispute over sick leave, pay and staffing. ...

Huge majority of BA cabin crew vote for three-day strike
Independent, UK - Jan 15, 2007
"The reasonable men and women who are the BA cabin crew have been pushed too far and have had enough. The 96 per cent vote in favour of strike action sends ...

What? But, I already paid for my ticket!

Airports face chaos over tax rise
Air travellers are being warned of possible chaos at airports next month as some are told to pay a rise in tax despite buying tickets months ago.
BBC News
Last Updated: Saturday, 13 January 2007, 09:04 GMT

From 1 February, the Air Passenger Duty is set to go up ... Most airlines raised fares as soon as the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced the hike on 6 December. But some are demanding payment even for tickets booked before ...

Click here for complete article.