Globaliser

This local doesn't encourage people to use phones or watches to pay for travel on TfL services in London. One of the most aggravating thing is being stuck behind someone doing that and taking 5, 10, 15 or 30 seconds to open the gate because they're using a phone or a watch to pay. If you use an Oyster to pay as you go, you almost don't have to break your stride as you go through the gate. Contactless cards take something like 10 times as long to read, but usually they only involve a pause. Phones and watches, though, in the hands of people who don't know how to use them ... 🥵

I don't think that you really have a choice if you must go from Southampton Central to London Paddington as one journey. Off the top of my head, I think it has to be CrossCountry from Southampton to Reading, then Great Western Railway from Reading to Paddington. In theory, you could take the Elizabeth Line from Reading to Paddington, but I'm not sure that you can buy a through fare from Southampton to Paddington that's valid on the Elizabeth Line. Nor would there be much reason to do this, given that the Elizabeth Line will probably be rather slower than some GWR trains that you could take.

Air New Zealand makes a big thing of serving Aussie wine? I have many friends (on both sides of the Tasman) who'd be shocked!

Does anyone really need an excuse to add a slice of cake to a coffee? 😉

I agree. But it must be three / four months or more since I last bought anything with cash here. So a visitor could easily get away with not having any if they're only here for a couple of days. Places that don't take cards are very rare now, but places that don't take cash are pretty common. I was at a service at St Paul's Cathedral this morning. The collection basket came along my row at the appropriate point, but it only managed to accumulate about five pounds' worth of assorted shrapnel. However, there was a decent stream of people using the contactless reader to give as they left.

If you've signed up for emails, you'll probably be able to tell us before we find out by any other means. I don't think there are any wiser words than these:

Meeting the driver at about 9.30 pm should be fine. If you're using one of the usual suspects, they will be checking for the flight's actual arrival time, anyway, which is as much of a variable as the time it takes to clear immigration, collect bags and clear customs.

I've sometimes had the first flight of the day cancelled, and sometimes the last flight of the day cancelled. Sometimes that's been the same flight, when the airline only has one flight a day between those two cities. (Or sometimes that flight is the only flight of the day between those two cities. Or those two countries.) Whatever your plan, you really should make sure that it allows for contingencies. Booking the earlier of two flights doesn't give you that much protection against a cancellation. If the first flight is cancelled and the second flight is already full, then the second flight is as much use to you as a chocolate teapot.

When you're in a market in which most fares are priced on a one-way basis, even if you're going there and back, there aren't that many candidates any more for "good reasons to buy a round-trip ticket" - especially if you have a significant stay at the destination between the two halves of the air travel. See for example this very recent thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3016882-one-way-vs-rt-msp-yvr-on-delta.

This all depends on which fares you're being quoted. Different fares have different rules from each other, even in the same direction on the same flight. If you're prepared to post the dates and flights that you're looking at, and the prices that you're being quoted, some of us have access to information that may allow the full fare rules to be retrieved, and then see whether there are any differences in the rules and whether they're significant. But I would expect the most significant to be shown to you during the booking process anyway (refundable / non-refundable; change fee / no change fee; included baggage / no included baggage; etc). And how much effort are you prepared to put in to saving $45, how important is that $45, and how important is knowing exactly what the differences are? After all, if you're booking the cheapest fares, you already know they're going to have pretty restrictive conditions whatever their detail.

Yes, that's what I would do. That entrance is primarily for the Elizabeth Line, so it'll be really easy once you get inside the gate line.

In theory, the fare rules could be different if you buy two one-way tickets, and this could be to your disadvantage. But that's very dependent on what you're being offered each way around (and I couldn't immediately reproduce what you describe using random dates). Also, if you have to change or cancel the trip, you could be liable for two lots of change or cancellation fees (although your fares may not be refundable at all). In addition, if the airline makes a change in one direction that entitles and causes you to cancel (perhaps to book with some other airline instead), you wouldn't automatically be entitled to cancel the one-way ticket in the other direction . But with the duration of a cruise between the two flights, that seems unlikely to pose a real problem. But the bottom line is that you could for perfectly legitimate reasons have bought two one-way tickets on different airlines to begin with, and doing the same thing but with the same airline in this situation really isn't very different.

If you do this, my suggestion would be to get the cab to take you to the western entrance to the Elizabeth Line station. This is actually situated here on Moorfields. You need to get the cab to drop you off at this point, which is the closest that a vehicle can get to the Elizabeth Line entrance. That drop-off point is outside the entrance to the Northern Line, but don't go in through that entrance. The Elizabeth Line entrance is on the other side of the street and a few yards further, and it's very easy to see. This is what it looks like. It's all step-free; the construction work around it has all gone and the building (Deutsche Bank's new London headquarters) is now finished. (If you pull the image around to the left, you'll also see the signs for the Northern Line entrance.) Using this entrance should be easier than the more convoluted route at Liverpool Street Station itself. The Elizabeth Line platforms are basically situated between Liverpool Street Station itself and Moorgate Tube.

Or at London Bridge, where they're starting from, paying the same through fare to include the London Bridge to Waterloo East bit of their journey. Which was a great piece of advice up-thread.

Unfortunately, that's where the problem occurs: SWR won't accept US addresses.

If for some reason there are no trains from London Bridge to Waterloo East (which may happen if there's weekend engineering work between London Bridge and Charing Cross), then taking the Tube is not nearly as bad as gumshoe958's reply makes it sound. When you enter London Bridge Tube, follow the signs towards the Jubilee Line, which will take you down escalators that go straight down to those platforms. You need a westbound train, obviously. When you alight at Waterloo Tube (two stops from London Bridge), follow the signs for National Rail, which will take you up escalators to street level. You don't need to leave the building. Ahead and to your right, there's one more (well signed) escalator up to the mainline concourse. A good proportion of people exiting the Jubilee Line will be heading in that direction anyway. Do not alight from the Tube at Southwark (one stop from London Bridge), even though there will be signs referring to "Waterloo East" there. If no trains are running to Waterloo East, then you will be in a world of navigational pain if you exit the Tube system at Southwark.

I agree with the latter, but not the former. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge about the way that air fares work will recognise that UK rail fares are an exercise in simplicity in comparison.

Not that steep. I've tried to dissuade CCers who would have to do it with full-size luggage. That wouldn't be a good idea. But if you're just visiting for the day and you only have minimal stuff with you, it's not really a steep hill. Buses go up it. You can get an idea by starting here on Google Maps and "walking" ahead, and then following the road around to the right and up the hill. You would normally be fine. It can happen that a Saturday train is really busy for some reason. For example, I think that the line to W&E Riverside goes through Twickenham. So if there's a match or other event at Twickenham Stadium that day, then the trains will be packed at least until Twickenham station and there's a very good chance that you'll have to stand until that point. But you can't reserve seats on these trains anyway, so it makes no difference whether or not you buy tickets in advance.

It looks like LNER. It's interesting that it doesn't price GroupSave. But Avanti West Coast and GWR websites will both give you GroupSave. FWIW, GroupSave requires that 3 or more adults travel together, so the £42.10 lowest price is fared for 3 adults and 1 child. There's no problem with a child travelling on a more expensive adult ticket.

A quick look suggests that it's normally only one ship on any one day. There are no ships currently listed on that site as calling on 13 February 2025, but on 20 February 2025 the site lists Explora I. So that may have allowed a slot for Celebrity Summit on 13 February 2025. On the other hand, Puerto Plata seems to be able to take multiple ships each day. On 21 February 2025, it lists MSC Divina (3,502 double) and Norwegian Jewel (2,376 double) already. There are even more ships the day before.

Sorry, it wasn't me, and I don't want to get into that argument again. The summary is that it is possible, but there are some hurdles. gumshoe958 has identified the main points.

LNER is a completely different train operating company. However, if it's selling tickets at the same price and description as the SWR website, then you will get the same SWR tickets as if you'd bought them from SWR. LNER is just basically selling them as an agent for SWR. The ticket format and ticket data are standardised across all of the National Rail TOCs, so there's no issue with interoperability of the ticket. All of the main TOCs will sell tickets for all of the other main TOCs. I think that there are a handful of edge-case exceptions where a TOC will only sell its cheapest tickets (or special tickets) itself, and you can't get them via another TOC. But if a TOC is selling a ticket for another TOC's train that's the same price and description as the operating TOC, it'll be the same ticket. FWIW, I am currently buying almost all of my pre-purchased tickets through LNER, whichever TOC is operating the train. No, www.nationalrail.co.uk is only a marketing site and doesn't sell tickets. If you want to buy a ticket, it will send you to a TOC website to do so, usually the website of the operating TOC. If it sends you to SWR, and you're outside the UK, you end up with exactly the same problem as if you'd gone directly to SWR. One of the ironies about SWR not accepting non-UK addresses is that it's one of the TOCs that's part-owned by a non-UK company ...

If that's a list sorted by price, then this isn't surprising. The TAP-based itinerary has 2 stops, but the next two are one-stop itineraries. It's common for this to affect the price.

The Fringe shows that are on while you are there (8 am to 5 pm on 5 August 2024) should be listed on this page (if the filtering carries through properly). Having a play with the filters suggests that shows can start from about 10 am. However, if by "out" you mean on the streets, like those you see in the photos, those are more likely to be artists who are simply promoting their shows (hence the leaflets they're handing out) rather than performing on the streets. For what it's worth, I'm not sure that Fringe time is necessarily extra crowded. I was there on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon in late March this year, and the streets looked pretty much like that. (Which, to a Londoner, isn't particularly crowded at all.)

A wild guess, but possibly fear of the traffic effects of the Notting Hill Carnival.