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Travel help, advice, suggestions, and love.

18:19 / 24.06.06

I looked at the other travel help threads and they all seemed very specific. I'm hoping this thread can be used by many travellers...

I'm thinking about taking a 2 day course in Burley, New Forest, Hampshire UK in late July.

While I research my options online does anyone have any RL suggestions on how to get there, do I need car or can I take trains? ( I have emailed the folks holding the class for suggestions as well.)

18:22 / 24.06.06

..I should add as an American I'm not even sure which airport to fly into...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:30 / 24.06.06

Dunno about getting to Hampshire, but we don't have many airports- you'll probably be able to get there from any of them, really, without it making too much difference.

We are the UK! We are tiny...

All Acting Regiment

19:36 / 24.06.06

There's a London airport which will be closer than Manchester airport.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:44 / 24.06.06

Yeah, but to anyone from outside the UK the difference will probably not seem so large.

But yes, that would be closer. Slightly.

All Acting Regiment

20:46 / 24.06.06

I was thinking about the awful summer motorways!

Hmm. Paris from Manchester, how'd I do that?

21:30 / 24.06.06

Around half of The New Forest is a national park, and much of the rest of it is effectively a big park two, 90% owned by the crown. It is like a chocolate box version of a chunk of England's rural past preserved in aspic, and as such is probably just the sort of place an average American might imagine when thinking of England, over concrete and tower blocks.

There are a few towns and villages in the new forest, but their growth is trightly controlled, there are only a few A and B roads goiing through it from what I recall and I can't remember any rail links. So, yeah, I don't think it will be the easiest place to get to without a car.

there might be some kind of coach service there operating out of Victoria, I'm not sure. At any rate, you'll probably be flying into London anyway.

Anyone with better advice?

22:29 / 24.06.06

Er, well, if you were to fly into Gatwick Airport, there’s a dead easy/piece of piss/difficult to miss direct train to London Victoria, I think. Which is only a short trot away from Victoria Coach Station IIRC, which is the big station for all buses and stuff going to the south/south-west sort of thing. And then - someone might know better, correct me if I’m wrong here - but I think maybe then you’ll want a coach going to Ringwood, which would be the nearest big-ish coach stop to Burley - there’s a journey planner here for National Express coaches, who do this sort of thing. And from Ringwood coach station it'll be a local bus or a taxi or something, and yeah, it's the New Forest, man, so all the locals will be really everso friendly and helpful by the time you get to that point. Probably.

(It’s entirely possible that that’s awful advice. I haven’t caught a bus out of Victoria for about a decade and a half, and back then I was going to Bournemouth anyway. But hey.)

13:18 / 25.06.06

thank ye!

It looks like if I go I'll be flying into Gatwick then taking a bus then wandering around in a wooded area hassling the locals trying to find the other crazed class members.
I've only been to London (for the UnCon and the Slimelight) twice so my perception of the UK will be completely skewed by getting lost in the scenic aspic chocolate box....

"WHERE ARE ALL THE HOT FETISH CYBER GOTHS!?!?!" I'll demand of the tourist compliant farmer types...

It's an adventure!

13:45 / 25.06.06

Tip: Try and book your train ticket NOW. UK rail prices are hideously fucking expensive, but by booking this far in advance, you will (hopefully) be able to pick up a discount. This is normally about 50% of the fare, so it's worth doing.

15:50 / 25.06.06

It may even be plausible to travel down from gatwick to southampton and find some coach service from there to the new forest, but I know nothing of the details such a venture would entail...

16:06 / 25.06.06

Illmatic: thank you for the heads up that's a great thing to know.

sleazenation: you know more than I!

I'm waiting to hear back from one of my penpals in Poole as she might know about buses/trains etc being within spitting distance of Burley.

I'm lucky that some of my good pals just moved outside of London so I have a ready supply of hugs and emergency chocolate/cheese if I go.

Thank you for your advice!

Goodness Gracious Meme

17:58 / 25.06.06

There would appear to be some direct coaches from Gatwick to Ringwood, whih is probably yr best bet for public transport to Burley, from where there might be a local bus, but if not, a cab will probably be order of the day.

Otherwise, you're best off going into london as Bedhead suggests above.

If you do a search here, for coaches for Gatwick, South Terminal to Ringwood, you should get the details, and maybe find a good flight/coach connection.

20:04 / 25.06.06

GGM,

YAY!!!
MAD BUCKETS OF UNDYING ADORATION POURING FROM MY HEART DIRECTLY ONTO YOU!!!!!

(..wait that sounds kind of er...sploshy....)

May you never lack for huggles!!!!

Disco is My Class War

06:23 / 26.06.06

I already posted this is another thread, but I just discovered Skype, easily the cheapest way to make international phonecalls if you're travelling. You need a computer with a miked headset, and you need to download the program from Skype, then you put credit on your account using a credit card, and bingo. Cheap calls, no phonecards, no lengthy codes and difficult-to-access international calling services. It's also clear as a bell, with no delay. The Thai kids in the netcafe I frequent all seem to use it for video calls with their girlfriends in between rounds of Quake. Ah, netcafes, everywhere the same...

Technology rocks.

08:00 / 26.06.06

There are buses that go to Burley, such as the Wilts and Dorset 176. Christchurch - Ringwood via Burton, Bransgore & Burley.

12:49 / 26.06.06

Squirmelia....

SMOOCH!

(Barbelith, your generous spirit of helpfulness has reduced me to a smarmalope)

14:33 / 26.06.06

Christchurch is on the rail link from Southampton along the coast, isn't it? I'm sure I've been there (the train got stopped on the line by a fox hunt, I think).

18:10 / 07.07.06

Also I'm not on crack thinking I can walk from Victoria Station to the British Museum?
About 30/45 minute stroll on a Monday morning?

22:30 / 07.07.06

It's a bit bloody far to walk esp. if you don't know exactly where you're going. YMMV, but I'd get a tube to Tottenham Court Road.

12:16 / 08.07.06

thank ye.

21:34 / 09.07.06

There's an island near to Vacouver and people who live there travel by ferry to the city; it's about a 15 minute journey. I think the island begins with a B but I've looked on Google Maps and I can't see it. Does anyone know what it's called?

22:37 / 09.07.06

If you are at Victoria tube station it is far easiaer to get a number 38 bus to Bloomsbury/New Oxford Street, than walk all the way - the bus even stops outside of a Hawksmore church + that bus stop is 2 minutes away from the British Museum...

22:43 / 09.07.06

Thanks!

The 38 looks like the suggestion from the journey planner thingy on the BM website too (link).

Can one ask a London bus driver to tell them when a stop is near something like the Musuem or is it all too busy and hectic crammed in like sardines? I've had decent luck with this approach in American cities...

22:50 / 09.07.06

Could it be Bowen Island?

Bowen Island

ONLY NICE THINGS

22:57 / 09.07.06

Also I'm not on crack thinking I can walk from Victoria Station to the British Museum?

Not at all. What I would do, if looking for the scenic route, would be to walk along Buckingham Palace Gate, then upon reaching Buckingham Palace itself cross the roundabout and walk along the Mall to Trafalgar Square (note - I'm going for obvious landmarks - there are quicker ways to do this, of course). At Trafalgar Square, walk up Charing Cross Road (National Gallery on one side, St. Martin's church on the other - can't miss it) to Tottenham Court Road Tube Station (the crossroads with Oxford Street, New Oxford Street and TCR, with Centre Point, a skyscraper, at one junction), walk down New Oxford Street, left onto Bloomsbury Steet, right onto Great Russell Street. It takes me about half an hour to 45 minutes, but I am a fast walker.

Alternatively, the vehicular options are much quicker, but less pretty. Victoria line northbound to Oxford Circus, Central line or walk to Tottenham Court Road, walk from there. Or take a 73 bus to TCR, but buses along Oxford Street tend to move at a walking pace anyway...

23:10 / 09.07.06

that's all together a very tempting route, thank you Haus!

ONLY NICE THINGS

23:17 / 09.07.06

The only word of warning would probably be that, while generally more predictable than bus or tube times, walking times have to be set the first time you do them. So, it may take you up to an hour to get there, whereas you could probably do it by tube in about twenty minutes, tops. I would favour the open air, myself - although we are having beastly hot weather at present, which may or may not be an issue depending on what you're used to - I'm afraid I don't recall where you're based offhand. The tube is usually hotter rather than cooler than the city (because it was built so early that it is impossible to put in air conditioning) and can be sweltering... An alternative might be to take the District line eastbound to Embankment (no changes and so no walking around undergroud), to walk from there up Villiers Place to Trafalgar Square (again, can't miss it - you'll know you're walking the wrong way if you fall into the Thames) and thence to walk the length of Charing Cross Road as previously advised.