Cotswold Eagle

JB, it comes up if you go through to do a dummy booking: "Due to refurbishment work at this hotel, our rooms will have restricted views from the windows as there is scaffolding to the exterior of the building. We also expect some noise from construction work from 8am. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause during your stay. There is no parking at this hotel. The Ultimate Wi-Fi upgrade is not available at this hotel. All twin rooms at this hotel consist of a double bed and a single sofa bed. Refurbishment work is currently taking place at this hotel. Our contractors will only be working on the exterior of the building, so your stay should not be affected."

Not necessarily expensive. The date mentioned is 19 August. There are Fixed Day tickets (their equivalent of Advance tickets) on the Heathrow Express available for £5-50 on that day. There may be valid reasons for not recommending the HEX, but cost should seldom be one for anyone planning well in advance.

😂 Still, the key point is there are non-FlyBe options, whoever actually flies the planes...

Sorry, to be more accurate, London Waterloo (WAT)...

Strictly speaking, doesn't only Loganair fly the route and BA has codeshares on those flights? 😀

No, it's Waterloo (WAT) for the Southampton service.

More details have just been released by the Palace, but still little information about the processions on the Saturday, pretty much just what I speculated above. Confirmation that the coronation will be in the morning. Sunday is focused around a concert at Windsor and also the now well established 'Big Lunch' concept, so probably street parties in many locations. The Monday Bank Holiday is the 'Big Help Out', with people encouraged to volunteer in their communities, https://www.royal.uk/coronation-weekend-plans-announced

To reiterate, no plans beyond the date, time and location of the coronation have been released yet. However, there is very likely to be a public aspect to the coronation, based on centuries of tradition. There will be two aspects - the arrival at the Abbey, which will involve carriages and cars, including the royal family, dignitaries, heads of state from around the world and so on There will almost certainly be a short procession from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey. It is traditional to have a large Coronation Procession after the service, to allow as many people as possible to see the new monarch. The late Queen's procession involved 16,000 people, including many military and civil units. It went along Piccadilly, up through Hyde Park, along Oxford Street and down Regent Street and took several hours. Details on this page - https://www.royal.uk/the-queens-accession-and-coronation The expectation is that King Charles' procession will be scaled down (not least because we don't have the size of military to support that number anymore), as will the coronation itself. Nonetheless, these will be large scale events.

The security check is before the passport controls. And before that, you pass through automatic gates by scanning your tickets - this is the check-in, so don’t worry if you are queuing for one of the later controls towards the last check-in time, you’ve already done it.

Oh, there’s plenty to see. The website below list 250 individual sites to visit. Most Americans with limited time will understandably tend to gravitate to Omaha Beach, the Overlord Museum and the American cemetery, which are in close proximity. But if you have an interest in a particular unit, battery, town or (for example) the airborne assault, you may want a different itinerary. https://www.normandywarguide.com/explore?

Of all the things that contribute to delays at AMS, getting there from the city is generally pretty much the least. There are frequent fast (around 15 minutes) trains to/from the airport from Central Station. The Sheraton sits right on top of the airport station, so it is convenient either way, I suppose - if you do stay there it’s very easy to get in to the city. No real need to stay out at Schipol unless you have a very early flight, in my opinion.

A couple of things here. - no need to bother with Business First on the HEX. Standard (‘Express’) class is comfortable and spacious, and it’s only a 15 minute journey. - although this may look as if it only saves you £7 pp (the full fare is £25 as opposed to £32 in Business First), there are cheap tickets if booked in advance (they are called Fixed Day). At six months out I would expect you to get the cheapest possible fare, £5-50, which is a real bargain. The inconveniences others will point out still exist, of course, but it changes the math! - but to answer your question, £32 pp in Business First if you book it now or buy a minute before you travel (ignoring possibility of a general fare rise, which is likely in the next six months I would think)

It varies day by day and hour by hour, like all airports. Schipol have live status on their website and a predictive tool for when you might be travelling: https://www.schiphol.nl/en/my-travel-day/today

That seems quite optimistic....

Regarding formalities, if you are US citizens you will not require a visa to visit Germany and your trip in October 2023 will be before the introduction of the ETIAS travel authorisation scheme, so it will be very easy. You will of course pass through an immigration and customs control on entry from the U.K. You could book your travel as an open-jaw ticket (US- London Berlin-US) and add a separate London-Berlin flight, which as mentioned are plentiful and usually quite cheap, or a multi-city trip taking in all the flights. I am tempted to ask “Why Berlin?”, but I recognise that people may have deeply personal reasons to visit. I find it an endlessly fascinating city, with some world class museums (and, I am told, amazing nightlife), but also in part gritty and challenging, particularly a lot of the 20th century history, of course. But I doubt it would be near my top ten destinations for a first European trip, to be honest.

You should have plenty of time, although “safe” is an absolute that is impossible to give 😀 National Express have services directly from T5. After you exit airside into the public arrivals hall, leave the terminal building through the way out directly in front of you, passing between the lifts for the car park. There are numerous numbered bus stands on the roads outside (it is still under cover) - National Express use 11-15, which will be to the left on the first road, so no need to cross any.

It is perfectly possible to walk, but the hotel is attached to T2. The official connection route is via the underground walkway that connects T2 and T3 with the various transport options, such as the station. This will be step free and pretty much level (from memory). I have no mobility issues and would expect to walk that in 10-15 minutes, if that helps. It should be possible to do it a ground level, but on the busy and confusing roads in Heathrow Central, which are not primarily designed for pedestrian use. I would not recommend this. There is a hotel inside T3, the Aerotel, which would be more convenient for you.

Is this on the Saturday for your tour to the Cotswolds - in which case do you mean the coach station? The railway and tube stations are very close to the affected area and will be busy (they usually remain open during State occasions). In the past, including the Queen’s funeral, the coach station has closed, because of the logistics of getting vehicles in and out of the area.

Other than the date, there are no other confirmed details as yet. Very difficult to plan at this stage, unless a venue already gives specific information, such as the performance mentioned by Globaliser. But for now, do not take lack of notification as meaning there will be none. Things will change. Important to consider the impact in central London and the rest of the country separately. There will be extensive disruption around the event (so the Westminster area surrounding the Abbey and Buckingham Palace), with road closures, other transport disruption, such as closed stations, and restricted access (some areas may be ticketed) and large crowds. London generally absorbs large events very well, but this is literally a once in a generation occasion. Elsewhere, there will not be the “mark of respect “ aspect that accompanied the late Queen’s funeral, but there will be local celebrations such as street parties and it is likely that some (who knows how many) businesses will close or limit their services so that their staff can at least watch the events of the day. Public transport will be running. I would expect Royal sites across the U.K. to be closed. For now, I would be reconfirming hotel reservations and any already made arrangements. Make other plans, but keep in mind that they may change. Keep checking back!

I am very happy that you had a good experience, but I fear you may be setting expectations too high for others! The days of railway porters with luggage carts for passengers are long gone on British railways and many stations do not even have luggage trolleys or any platform staff. Did you book (or ask for) assisted travel - this is generally for passengers with mobility issues, not just large amounts of luggage? As an aside 12 bags between two passengers (which I understand you had) would exceed the limit allowed under the National Rail Conditions of Travel, which is three items per traveller and which you are normally expected to be able to manage without additional help. I don't think I have ever seen this enforced, but staff would be entitled not to assist in such circumstances, A few additional details of your great experience would, I'm sure, be helpful for others.

Pretty simple to London (Marylebone Station), but I think only one (early morning) direct train from Stratford-upon-Avon these days. Most services require a change at Leamington Spa and take just over 2 to 2-and-a-half hours. To LHR considerably more fiddly - a short tube ride to Paddington from Marylebone, and a train to LHR from there is probably best off the top of my head.

There are gates at 13 airports in the UK now: Birmingham, East Midlands, London City, Luton, Stansted, Heathrow, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol, Cardiff and Gatwick Airport And at the Eurostar terminals in Paris and Brussels for the inbound controls.

Looking at both the 10th and 17th, this seems to be because of engineering work (or the possibility of engineering work), which is common for weekends. The xx.28 services are usually direct, as you will see from searching other Saturdays.

Thanks for pointing this out. Bits of it used to be, but apparently it closed completely earlier this year as part of a multi-year transformation into a "visitor attraction", opening in 2025.

I’m sorry you had a difficult time, but I hope the rest of your trip made up for it. Your unfortunate experience is a good reminder of the dangers of assumptions. In your case, as to how things work in unfamiliar circumstances. But also for those of us who advocate train travel in Europe not to assume that people know and to include caveats such as “if you can manage your luggage”. I know on this board links to videos that help people see for themselves have occasionally been posted. Travelling by train is perfectly possible with luggage, of course, but within limits, and taking account of the service and time of day.