Cotswold Eagle

Your implacable opposition to the Heathrow Express is impressive, but it remains the quickest and most comfortable service to Heathrow, and the only one that has trains actually designed for travellers with luggage. With a bit of advance planning, which I realise the OP doesn’t have time for, it can also be the cheapest. Even that “painfully expensive” walk up fare is no more than the price of a couple of pints of beer more than the Elizabeth line. For this London and Cotswolds resident it remains first choice. OP, your plan of using a Paddington area hotel effectively as an airport hotel is sound. You have the choice of two direct services (HEX and Elizabeth line) to the airport, which provides a bit of resilience, although as they converge at Heathrow there are points of failure that would disrupt both.

I was at the Beaconsfield services on the M40 the other day, and noticed that the compressed air machines there now have contactless payment! OP (and others) I know the feeling of wanting some good old fashioned cash in hand, so have a little (and you will be able to spend it if you don’t want to take it home), but don’t overthink it. Incidentally, the internationally recognised code for pound sterling is GBP. (I know the £ symbol can be tricky on American layout keyboards). I was wondering about the relevance of boarding passes (BP) when I read this thread title and BSP defeated me for a while (British sterling pounds, maybe?) Or, you know, just say pounds 😀

This is a very important clarification required. I think @barbarapga said at one point near Heathrow, which might imply the one at Hatton Cross (which is simply called HGI London Heathrow Airport), and advice might change then. Previous suggestions are based on staying at the HGI London Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3, which is on, rather than near, the airport.

There's a really good thread on here that will give you loads of ideas....oh, wait a minute 😂😂 Likewise, good to see you and bon voyage!

You are probably going to have to flesh this out a bit to get meaningful help! A key part of that plan will be how you intend to get from continental Europe to the United Kingdom - your options are flying, various ferry services or the Eurostar train from Brussels, Paris or Lille. Depending on what you want to see, you may be better sticking to trains and not renting cars (and there MAY be rover tickets that make sense, rather than individual tickets for each trip), but impossible to generalise.

That walk will take you past West Brompton underground station, so you could change at Earls Court and take a District line train heading to Wimbledon one stop to there, to shorten the walk if you have significant luggage.

Noooooooo!!! 🤣🤣

To add to the excellent advice from @gumshoe958, the line at St James’ Park is only just sub-surface, not deep. There are just two flights of stairs (about 30:steps in total) to ground level and they are relatively wide and shallow staircases compared to some on the network. So not horrendous with luggage, given no mobility issues.

Or stay at Paddington, book an advance purchase ticket for £5-50 and enjoy a cheaper, quicker and more comfortable journey on the Heathrow Express.

Which station? Those two hotels are in very different parts of London.

You should be able to know before you travel if you will have access, rather than hoping! An alternative might be a day room at one of the airport hotels, but that's probably an expensive way to get a shower....

Why would this be more authentic? Performances in Shakespeare's times would have generally been earlier than this, in the afternoon. The evening performances are lit as if during the daytime - the productions at the Globe Theatre do not use stage lighting as we know it today, but the house is lit to simulate daytime in the evening. I suppose that might be more reliable, but it is arguable that the afternoon would be be more authentic 😀

To be fair, the news articles are based on a D66 statement, which is a bit short of detail and nuance! https://d66.nl/amsterdam/nieuws/cruiseterminal-cruiseschepen-amsterdam-haven-klimaat-brug-co2/

I can think of no more convenient railway station at any airport I have been to. It is literally an extension of the terminal.

Wow, just, wow....

What?! This will come as as surprise to the train drivers on the Waterloo and City line, who only go 1.5 miles 😂 You can also use the Oyster on National Rail and Transport for London train services (as listed by m'learned colleague above) within the London travel zones. These are often trains that don't go particularly long distances....

There are two Clermont's - Victoria and Charing Cross. Both are attached to the railway station they are named after, so yes if you are staying at the Clermont Victoria, that's the station you need - the national rail station is on top of the Underground station, so multiple options (note that Victoria Coach Station is about half a mile down the road). Globaliser has given you the best directions for getting there by public transport from LHR.

Some banks do have a policy of doing small exchanges for non-customers, even though they don't have to. Do you remember which one you used? I believe Virgin Money may do it, and the Halifax - both of which have branches in Southampton that the OP could try. But there is no guarantee, I'm afraid.

But you were talking about using cash instead of a credit card (which would be charged in sterling) 🤷‍♂️ Anyhow, if you're not prepared to spend a couple of minutes filling out a form, copying two bits of ID and the time it takes to pop Into a post office in Southampton to mail them off, then I think you are all out of options, I'm afraid. It really doesn't seem that much of a hassle to me, even for a relatively small amount.

I’m curious how this makes one “a good tourist”? No one appears to have mentioned the option to send the notes into the Bank of England by post. They will pay the sterling amount into an overseas bank account, but of course there will be foreign exchange rates and possibly bank fees at your end. But probably your best back up - prepare the documents in advance and mail them in Southampton, if nothing else works. Personally, I’d pop over to Portsmouth on the train and visit some of the attractions there, making a day of it! All options are detailed here: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes

I’m afraid that is a semantic distinction that eludes me 😀 But thank you for confirming that when you said “skip the lines” you only meant the line to buy tickets, not e.g. those for entry, security or exhibits, and therefore, as I said, the London Pass offers no advantage here over a pre-purchased Tower ticket.

The time slots system only operates during certain periods - school holidays, for example. If you go to the Historic Royal Palaces ticketing site and select a date, if time slots are required they appear below the calendar (for example, they are not required next week, but are from the week after). If not, your ticket is valid at any time that day.

There is no Fast Track at the Tower, so not sure what you mean by this? Of course, you don't need to queue to buy tickets, but then neither do those who have booked in advance. And because the London Pass doesn't have a time slot, it is theoretically possible you may need to wait for an available time slot.

Two different stories may be getting conflated here. Yes, the Regal Princess decided to skip Portland at the weekend, due to planned protest and counter-protest (of course, protests are disruptive, but do not mean unrest, and there are no asylum seekers on the barge yet). Earlier in the year, the cruise calendar disappeared from the Portland Port website and replaced by the current message: "All cruise calls are proceeding as scheduled at Portland Port. For more information about individual visits, please contact the cruise line involved." Some reports suggest this was to make it harder for protesters to know when cruise ships would be in port, which would be obvious dates for disruption at the port for maximum publicity, as happened at the weekend.

I'm not sure what this means to you (in some true classic pub experiences you wouldn't get food other than a stale sandwich and pickled eggs on the bar!), but I'll open the bidding with the Hung, Drawn and Quartered. It's a Fuller Ale and Pie House, which means you should get a decent pint (London Pride would be my recommendation) and some fair grub (not all pies). And it look like a classic pub, even though the building was nothing of the sort for most of its long history - this is a common theme in this chain of pubs, old buildings, new pubs!