Cotswold Eagle

I’m still not clear what you mean by this. What site did you book your tickets on? I wonder if you mean the ‘Railcards’ drop down, which is standard on most U.K. train booking sites - you wouldn’t expect to find Eurail there, it’s something else entirely (railcards in this sense are cards that give discounts of various types). To book a Eurail journey you would not go through this process - it’s done on their own app or by filling in the details on a paper Eurail pass.

I don't know very much about Eurail, but London-Southampton does come up on the Eurail journey planner, so I would think you could use them, but it may not represent good value for two of your travel days, depending on the pass you have bought? That's currently the cheapest option for those journey times. They are 'Advance' tickets, which means they are only valid for the service (train times) shown, but for two people return that's a very good price. Yes 😀

It seems this experience was in Copenhagen, not Amsterdam,

No need at all to take a cruise line excursion, just follow the earlier advice about walking up and taking a canal cruise when you feel like it - you can pick which one you like the look of! The price of that excursion seems to be about three times what the canal cruise actually costs.

Still there 🙂

There was a brief thread on this a little while back. Predictably, opinion here was divided between not doing HOHO in Amsterdam, doing the HOHO bus, doing the HOHO boat, doing the HOHO bus/boat combo or doing the HOHO Bus with standard canal cruise (so basically all the City Sightseeing options). Are there one or two sights you particularly want to see - as always, HOHO is good for an overview, but terrible for point-to-point transportation? The HOHO bus does stop at the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, so that is something to be said for it, if you are docking there. Personally, I think that Amsterdam is so easy to get around on foot and tram that I wouldn't bother with the HOHO (but definitely do a canal cruise). But as I say, opinions vary!

Consensus here is that would be quite tight- how's your risk appetite and what's Plan B ?😀 See this fairly recent post from JB (the query here was about a flight about 55 minutes later than the one you are considering). Definitely walk off and book a local car service.

As Globaliser says, Westminster station is definitely more convenient for the Park Plaza across the bridge. Not sure where you read this about stairs - there are flights of stairs at various entrances to the station, but there is a lift at the Bridge Street north entrance (opposite 'Big Ben' on the bridge foot) and then lifts or escalators down to the platforms. The bridge itself is a gentle slope. It can get quite busy with pedestrians, particularly when there are teams of 'cup and ball' scammers blocking the way!

Premier Inn breakfast menu is online here, if that helps. I wouldn’t book in advance - try it the first morning and see how it goes, maybe?

Good point, but I wonder if that’s on a per passenger basis 😀 Given its service record, you might think TfL would want to take some of the load off the EL…

It’s what the TfL journey planner throws up (I was curious, so I checked….) It will only show the much preferable Piccadilly/District Lines route if you specifically exclude the Elizabeth Line….They reckon it’s about 10 minutes quicker, hence the suggestion, and nothing to do with revenue at all 🤣

Fortunately, as this is one of the main purposes of the EES, they have this covered…. https://travel-europe.europa.eu/ees/tools-and-services_en

I'm not really sure what point you are making, but implementation of EES was always a necessary, but not sufficent, prerequisite for introduction of ETIAS. You mention "an EES" and "an ETIAS", which might be confusing - the 'S" in both stands for System. Official language is "an ETIAS travel authorisation" and as EES just identifies and registers entry/exit there isn't "an EES" for a traveller - you will simply be in the system. It will provide an accurate count of days, as you mention, so I'll finally be able to throw away my EU travel days spreadsheet!

That seem sensible and I hope you have a great time. Please come back if you have. questions about your time in London (but be prepared for a million opinions - it's a big place and so much to see and do!)

PI's quarterly financial update got some press coverage the other day and although the headlines were about the 'Taylor Swift effect' I noticed this: Revenue per available room (revpar) — a key industry metric — rose by 9 per cent, or 39 per cent, compared with pre-Covid trading, with high occupancy and strong pricing. That's a huge shift from pre-pandemic. Obviously their cost base has risen significantly too, but I suspect we will continue to see some PI rooms regularly well over £200, because they can sell them at that price point. That said, I'm staying at PI Heathrow T4 next month for £56 🙂

Well, for a start it has been posted twice in this thread and also the previous thread on this topic. For EU matters, look for the europa.eu domain:

Yes, it is EES that is due to start in October - this will mean collection of fingerprints and images at points of entry. ETIAS, the requirement to have a travel authorisation for non-visa nationals, is scheduled for mid-2025. See the FAQ at https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/faqs-etias_en We have warned before about relying on non-official websites. There is a high likelihood that they will turn into unnecessary, and potentially fraudulent, intermediaries once the requirement to apply for an ETIAS comes in.

Not really, which is why Globaliser clearly and carefully said "From central London".

I’d also urge you to have a hard think about what you are seeking to achieve by staying in London for one night. As I understand it, you are flying overnight, so by the time you get into town from Heathrow (that’s a transfer that will take an hour or so, and you’ll have immigration and baggage collection to clear first) it’s likely to be late morning. You’ll need an early check-in to your hotel in if you want to freshen up, of course. That only gives you a few hours to “tour London” (whatever that means), whilst dealing with travel fatigue and several time zones worth of jet lag.

Hi, Mark. There is a collective groan on this board when the word ‘reasonable’ is used, particularly when followed by US dollar amounts that appear to have been plucked out of the air! You’ll have got the message - stop chasing unicorns and deal with the realities of the post-pandemic London market 😀 Your most pressing need is a hotel room on a Saturday night (some hotels may have minimum 2 nights at weekends for their best rates) in high season in one of the most expensive cities on the planet. The Premier Inn chain was mentioned on your post on a different board. They are a large chain, with a very consistent product. No frills, but often with a bar and restaurant attached. Some people still think of them as ‘budget’ - I regard them as very price sensitive, with dynamic rates that reflect demand, and even if I’m not intending to stay in one (although I frequently do for a one night stay) I always check their rates, as it helps me to set expectations. Thier cheapest pre-pay rates are fully refundable up to 28:days prior, so I also think about locking in a rate and then looking for other deals with the pressure off! (Using a foreign card, you will lose a little on fees and exchange, but it may be a price worth paying for flexibility). One of their properties frequently mentioned here, London Waterloo (Westminster Bridge), is available on that basis now for £232 (around $296) on 22 June. Many people would balk at that - a few years ago it would be a ludicrous amount for a Premier Inn room - but to me it indicates that your $300 target is very challenging for anything higher end.

Not odd, really - Portland was an American embarkation point for the assault on Omaha Beach. Dorset was one big marshalling area for American forces. The museum is Castletown D-Day Centre.

It's not clear what tour you are referring to. Is this a shore excursion? As mentioned above, quite easy to do it yourself - frequent trains from Rotterdam to Leiden, and the combination transport from there and entrance ticket for Keukenhof available on their own website. https://tickets.keukenhof.nl/en-US/public-transport?journey=public-transport

I'd say by far the easiest will be train to Downham Market and pre-book taxi from there. Maybe the obvious place to think about picking up a hire car would be Stansted airport (train from London Liverpool Street), but that still leaves you at least 90 minutes driving to Oxburgh and back. Are you SURE you can't make this an overnight? Lots of good places to see up there in Norfolk!

Just a thought - have you tried using their app (if you have smartphone access) as an alternative to the website?

It should be very doable, probably about an hour each way. I would take either the X99 bus, the train from Dalmeny or a shuttle into Edinburgh centre and jump on the tram out to the Ocean Terminal at Leith. Alternatively, a taxi, of course. Please note the port is South Queensferry, not Queensbury.