Cotswold Eagle

6 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Interesting. As an ETIAS will be valid for 3 years,  I thought the purpose of an  EES was to register arrival into and exit out of, the EU due to the number of days stay in the EU being regulated with a maximum number of days capped at (I think ) 90 days in a period of 180 days, but I am no expert and this would need to checked on official websites.

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!

19 hours ago, SubmarineMark said:

Thank you everyone, we have decided on a hotel in London center close to a hop on hop off station, and are staying two nights so we don’t feel rushed. Great insight from everyone.

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!) 

21 hours ago, Harters said:

Your comment prompted me to look at my usual London PI (Euston), which I've not stayed since pre-pandemic. For the night of 22/6, it's £248 which I would very much have a sharp intake of breath over. It used to be around £150.

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 🙂 

29 minutes ago, ski ww said:

With all the fraud going on how do you know you are using the official government website?

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. 

41 minutes ago, nini said:

Is it easy to board the train from LHR?

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. 

40 minutes ago, Harters said:

Perhaps oddly, it focuses mainly on the American contribution. 

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. 

3 hours ago, emarismom said:

Has anyone done this tour from Rotterdam?

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! 

2 hours ago, craig01020 said:

I've used their website before and always found it very user-friendly, but something is obviously broken here.

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.

8 hours ago, CruiseSter1ing said:

I happened to be traveling on July 20.  That's the last day that EuroStar is going from Rotterdam to Brussels.   🙂.   After that the trip will be on only on SCNB which is about 2hrs rather than the roughly 1hr on Eurostar.  We have 1.5hr layover in Brussels.  So not too concerned if first leg is a little late.

I suspect that’s just the current limit on Eurostar (Red) bookings. 

7 hours ago, markeb said:

One interesting article pointed out that having multiple monarchs in circulation at the same time was the norm historically; Elizabeth II's reign was so long that her predecessor's currency "wore out" and only currency with her image remained.

This will be true of coins, but Elizabeth II was the fist monarch to appear on Bank of England notes. (George V was on some notes issued by HM Treasury during the First World War, but they would have been long gone by the time the Bank issued their first notes with the Queen on in the 1960s).

27 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

That itinerary actually has 1:44 between trains at Brussels. (NB: EST9328 actually departs Rotterdam at 0958).

 

Interestingly, this journey doesn't seem to be bookable on the Eurostar website at the moment. It's not offering through booking for any Saturdays around that time, although you can book the individual trains separately. For the day before, you can book the 1058 Eurostar Red departure from Rotterdam connecting to the Eurostar Blue train to London at the same times, which is the itinerary with the 44-minute connection, but the website doesn't offer the 0958 departure from Rotterdam.

Ah, yes. I just picked a random date, and all the offerings had short connections, which seems to be the Eurostar default, with no way to book the earlier service on one ticket. 

1 hour ago, CruiseSter1ing said:

Afterwards, I did the research on the Eurostar is still traveling from Rotterdam to Brussels and then can get the Brussels to London connection.  From what I can tell a 45 minute platform change is all that's required.  Here's the schedule we are going to do: 

•  

  • Rotterdam to Brussels Train #ER9328 9:59 - 11:08

  • Brussels to London Train #ES9135 12:52 - 13:57

•  

This is the suggestion I made upthread. To be clear, your first Eurostar train is the service formerly called Thalys, the trains that run between Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. They are now owned by Eurostar and have been rebranded as such. Colloquially, they are known as Eurostar Red because of the train livery. 
 

You second train is a “proper” Eurostar, so to speak - i.e. a direct train to the U.K. Unlike the former Thalys routes, these have immigration and security controls before boarding. The published suggested arrival time at Brussels Midi is 90-120 minutes before departure for most passengers, and the gates close at 30 minutes. So what Eurostar insist on calling a 45 minute ‘platform change’, is in fact a tight connection. 
 

That said, they continue to sell these tickets as the only options on their booking engines and I assume the single itinerary gives some protection in case of delay.  I have done it at least once, and it is a bit of a scramble to get to the Eurostar check in at Brussels and there were a lot of stressed people in the queues, some not understanding that everyone is checking in for the same train or that the 30 minutes cutoff is at the check in gates, the first thing you pass through.  Security and the immigration controls are after that. 

If you have a few days, I'm not sure there is much value in doing something during the transfer - the distances are so short. Delft is well worth a visit, but is only 10 minutes by train from Rotterdam. 

You could well spend two hours there, I think - depends if your interest lies in the War Rooms, Churchill or both, if you see what I mean! 

I would absolutely book for a visit in late August. This from the IWM FAQ should give you some comfort (as Globaliser says, it's a traffic calming measure, rather than a strict limit on entry):

13 hours ago, KKB said:

 

Here is the link to Stagecoach's routes: 

You actually used a link to a downloaded copy on your computer, just for info. 

43 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

the Stagecoach website says it will run from "30th April until 24th September 2023 (and corresponding dates in subsequent years)"

It also adds, "and when cruise liners call at Kirkwall ", but that's certainly the page to keep an eye on.

10 hours ago, SbbquilterUT said:

Of course, Friday night in August so the hotel prices are pretty high.

Compared to what? We are talking about one of the most expensive cities in the world at the height of the tourist season, and I think folk are still adjusting to a post-pandemic reality of higher prices. 
But as mentioned by Globaliser above, that area may have less weekend demand. I picked a random Friday night in August and saw rates (for example at the Indigo) with free cancellation around £250. I’d reserve something at that sort of price and hope rates might fall between now and then - keep checking and cancel and swap. If you get below £200, great. Around £150 would be an absolute steal 😀

The Four Seasons will be insanely priced come what may, though 🤣🤣  The night I picked it was close to £1,000. 

13 hours ago, TouchstoneFeste said:

The book removal is a temporary measure for cleaning. When we entered my wife said she wished we'd been around for the book sale. In fact, they've replaced books onto the first few shelves so you can get a good visual of what the library would look like full. Best thing we saw in Dublin.

I don’t think that is quite right. They left about 10% of the collection in the first few bays, as you say, but as far as I know there is no intention to bring back the rest before the whole library closes at the end of 2025 for redevelopment, including installation of environmental and fire protection systems.  

7 hours ago, ontheweb said:

 

When we were in Dublin, the one can't miss attraction was the Book of Kells at Trinity College. Off the ship we were near the front of the line waiting to get in and were soon in.

Visiting the Book of Kells and the Old Library is by timed entry, bookable  in advance online. 
The vast majority of books have been removed from the Old Library as part of a massive conservation and redevelopment project. It is still a fabulous space, but a great library without its books must be a strange sight. 

8 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

About a 15 minute walk down the Strand you find yourself at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese-- one of London's great preserved historic pubs.

Worth a visit, but not what it once was in my opinion. 
If I was staying in Bedford Street, I’d check out the Coal Hole in the Savoy buildings or the Nell Gwynne (up a little alley between the Adelphi and Vaudeville theatres on the Strand) as my locals 😀 

7 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

If they reopen Simpsons in the Strand by the time you are there its a great option for a traditional roast in a beautiful historic room

I fear whenever Simpson’s reopens, it will not be the same, not least because they flogged off the fixtures and fittings in a two-day sale a few months ago (despite it being refurbished only three years before it closed in 2020). The writing was on the wall for me when it stopped doing what was one of the great London breakfasts when it reopened in 2017. I never went back 😂

No doubt they will give the space to some executive chef, but Ramsey has apparently said it’s not going to be him.