Getting to Camp

[pensnest]

People, please note that there may well be a change in the way you get to and from Camp. Beast and I are *hoping* to be moving to Norwich before June—nothing is yet definite, but things are in progress.

Which means that I won't be handily placed to pick anyone up from Heathrow. Or Gatwick. Or Luton. If you come into Stansted, I'll be able to collect you.

There'll be other options. If you come early, you can come and stay chez Pen, but you will probably have to get yourself on the train or bus to Norwich. A possible alternative is that there are daily flights between Norwich and Schiphol Airport, should that prove to be a handy and not too expensive option. All of you are of course are entirely welcome to stay with us, it's just not going to be as handy. Plus I should point out that Norwich is about as far across the country from Old Colwyn as it is physically possible to be, so it'll be a *long* journey, at least 6 hours in the car or minibus.

nopseud is planning to be able to make up for this. If she has also moved house by then, she'll have loads of space; if she hasn't you may be a bit more tightly packed, but either way she'll be able to receive advance visitors perfectly happily—however, you'll have to travel to the vicinity under your own steam. No pickups from Heathrow or Gatwick (or Luton, should it take your fancy to fly into Luton).

Of course there are also train options and other airports and what not. (There's a train from Birmingham to Colwyn Bay!) But basically, check with us before you book anything, okay?

Comments

[turlough]

It looks like I'm going to try the Copenhagen - Manchester route this year. Not only has Easyjet (which I usually use) many more flights than last year, they've also stopped using Stanstead almost completely. You also seem to be able to go from Manchester Airport to Colwyn Bay by train in 2 - 2 1/2 hour with only one change. And a single return is £47.80. (Here)

[ninjetti75.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to figure out what in the HECK I'm doing...airfare pricing is ASTRONOMICALLY ridiculous this year! (*meep!*) OTOH, it doesn't look like flying in on the Thursday or the Friday is making any significant difference, and there seems to be a number of public transit options from Heathrow to Norwich, so IN THEORY, I should be able to make this all work. (I do not like this theory. Or these prices.)

For giggles, I checked flights from O'Hare to Stansted...none of which were less than 5000 Pounds nor involved fewer than TWO layovers, so yeah, that's not happening. Bah.

[pensnest]

You may well be better off flying into Manchester or Birmingham if either of those is a possibility. From Manchester you can get to Colwyn Bay by train, from Birmingham nopseud will probably be able to pick you up and accommodate you until Camp. Negotiate with her!

Or, if Heathrow is your best option price-wise, you can get a coach from Heathrow to Birmingham or Coventry for only £12 if you buy well in advance (again, consult A for best options). I'm perfectly happy to have you at Norwich, but it's almost certainly going to be way more expensive—not to mention, involve a lot more travel hours for you.

It *might* be cheaper for you to fly into Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) and get onto the daily flight into Norwich. Although I suspect the savings you might make flying to Amsterdam would probably be negated by the cost of the hop across to Norwich. Worth investigating, though.

[fadedsouls.livejournal.com]

Flights to Birmingham will be way too expencive for me, and any Stansted options are also out. Gatwick is looking like my best bet. So, how difficult will it be to get myself to Norwich from Gatwick? One train, two? Train and bus?

The Amsterdam-Norwich option is also way out of my pricerange this year.

Anyone else need to fly in to Gatwick and want to meet up?

[pensnest]

By train, the usual Gatwick-London service, then across to (I think) Liverpool Street Station for another train to Norwich. If you decide to do this, I recommend buying the train tickets at least a week in advance.

There are also coaches from London (Victoria Coach Station) to Norwich. Likely to be a lot cheaper, but it takes between three and three and a half hours. See nationalexpress.com.

If you get the Thameslink train from Gatwick that goes through London (ie towards Bedford) you can change at Blackfriars and get on a Circle Line train to Liverpool Street Station. If you pick the coach option, get on a train to Victoria Station; the coach station is a short walk from there.

An alternative could be to go to nopseud's place instead, assuming her move goes ahead. If you arrive in the UK on the Friday, I think that'd be essential, as we'll have to start out quite early to get to Camp. It would also save you a lot of miles, in that nopseud lives about half-way between Norwich and Old Colwyn! Not that you aren't very welcome at my place, because of course you are, but it may be a bit exhausting.

turlough is looking at flying in to Manchester—would that work for you?

One other possibility has just occurred to me - might you be able to get on a boat to Harwich? I can happily pick you up from there.

[fadedsouls.livejournal.com]

Did some googling. You can get to Norwich by train and coach fairly easy. Train is two changes (Farringdon, tube to London Liverpool Street, train ot Norwich). Buss you can get direct to Norwich bus station.

If I choose to arrive on Thursday via train or coach, will you be able to pick me up Pen?

Coach might be the best best. It'll take ages (like 6 hours) but is more than half as cheap, and there is a direct coach that arrives either 17:30 or 19:30 on thursday eventing. That's only like 20 pound one way. Train is 62, off peak, which I have no idea what means or even if it would apply.

Best option for a flight home is 20:45 on Friday (my usual flight, he he), but I don't think I'll be able to make that this year. Getting the early flight on Saturday at 08:40 means I may have to just either sleep at the airport or get a hotelroom from friday to saturday. Maybe there is a coach that goes in the night. As long as the airport is open in the AM I can wait if I must. I don't need no sleep!

There is a coach that leaves Norwich at 22:45 on friday, will arrive at gatwick around 4:50am. So not that long a wait until the 8:40 plane. And no hotel needed either.

Pen, this is long, will PM you, but leaving up in case anyone else is also looking at options with gatwick in mind.

[pensnest]

I can certainly pick you up if you get to Norwich on Thursday, no problem! A coach from the airport, while longwinded, would certainly be a lot less hassle than transferring in London.

For the flight home, we could probably drop you off in Bedford, where you could get on a train direct to Gatwick. It's very nearly on the way, and would be a bit pleasanter than spending half the night on a coach and the rest in an empty airport!

[adelate]

Alright! Here's my info, in case it helps anyone else plan any leg of their trip. I just booked my flights - I'm coming in to Heathrow Thursday (the 18th) evening and leaving Saturday 27th, also in the evening.

There's apparently a train from Euston that goes directly to Colwyn Bay (unless they changed that since I last looked) and that takes about four hours, so I assume I'll get on that at some point on Friday. (Is there anyone who could help me out figuring the off-peak thing, by the way? It's so confusing.)

I will have to spend a night on each end in London, so if anyone knows of cheap(ish) accommodation, preferably in the Euston/King's Cross area, that would be awesome (but I will be looking into this myself, too :)).

[turlough]

I've just booked my flight. I'll get to Manchester Airport on Friday 19th at 15:15 and should arrive at Colwyn Bay at around 18:45. My home flight is at 10:45 on the 26th and there's a train at 7:02 from Colwyn Bay that should give me plenty of time at the airport. And you can get the train company to mail you when their cheap advance tickets go on sale!

[nopseud]

I suggest you also check out options for the flight back that start with getting a train from Rugby station. That's a mainline station to London, so the direct trains are very fast and they start running quite early. Rugby's pretty close to my new house.

We should be back at my house by early afternoon (probably not later than 2pm.) That should leave plenty of time to get you on a suitable train.

Likewise, you're very welcome to stay with us on the Thursday night.

[nopseud]

Off-peak is basically 'not during rush hour' BUT as far as I know there is no fixed definition. (You can blame the idiots who privatised the railways here for our confusing and expensive train service.) You need to check if the ticket is valid for the particular train you're on.

So, anything that gets into a station before 9am is very probably not off-peak. Anything leaving a station between ~4-6pm might well not be off-peak, especially if it's a main station.

You're very welcome to stay with me, if you like, and drive up with us. We'll probably be getting the minibus this year. The direct train from Rugby to Euston takes a bit less than an hour, and you can get some good rates on it if you book in advance.

[fadedsouls.livejournal.com]

I think Pen and I got it sortet out. I'll take the coach (or train, but probably coach since it' way cheaper) from Gatwick to Norwich on Thursday. And then go with them from there.

The other option is Gatwick to you on Thursday. Looks like it's not a big deal either way, so we can see which fits best with everything else once the time gets closer. Will be booking flights once I get my paycheck on the 15th. But will probably not get coach/train in advance, as it is hard to tell which time would be right.

For going home Pen mentioned Bedford Station as a good option to get to Gatwick. Should be a direct train I think. And leave me with plenty of time to catch the 20:45 flight home Friday evening. My usual flight home, he he.

[adelate]

Oh I might actually take you up on that, thank you very much! It would definitely help not having to pay for two nights in a hotel in London, so even traveling during peak hours would be cheaper, hah.

[adelate]

I was just thinking back to what I commented earlier and realized I left out how obviously it would be nice to, you know, hang out as well. Sorry! I was commenting from work and more focused on the practical side of things lol but the offer is appreciated :)

[bubbleforest.livejournal.com]

Finally got my flights booked! I'll be landing at Birmingham 9.30am on Friday, is there a chance of a pickup? If not I'm told train options should be easy to navigate, so no worries. :) And I'll be leaving at 9.25pm on the 26th, could I possibly hang out at your place until it's time for me to leave, Anna?

[nopseud]

Absolutely! R or I can pick you up Friday morning, no worries. Birmingham Airport is only ~30 min from our new house. And you're very welcome to come back here on the Friday.

[bubbleforest.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, fantastic, thank you so much! Can't WAIT. :D