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Feb. 26th, 2006 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caithreamOkay, I am totally not doing this because I'm like, "DOOD, PLANNING," I'm just, you know, throwing out ideas and everything, and when your sitting at your laptop trying to write essays/stories/whatever, you think, "Oh! I should be doing this, so, no LJ!" but you want to do something at the same time so you don't just stare at Microsoft Word drooling or anything. So, I'm just looking, and stuff, and I love planning even if it falls through. It's just nice to think about. So I hope I'm not being too forward. Does this cover my arse enough? Geez. Sorreeee.
Okay! Judging from the response [here], it seems like May is a good month for everyone, except for Suj, which won't do at all! I know very little about airplane travel (and even less about travelling itself), so I have to wonder: is there any chance that tickets will go down in June or the rest of the summer? I don't know about everyone else, but for me it's a $500 jump from May to June, from Tampa to Heathrow. I guess it's switching to the summer season. So, that would be our #1 priority: figuring out when exactly. (And for how long, too? A week? Week and a half?)
Now, this is a bit of a jump to actually figuring out when, but I was looking up youth hostels in England. Now, seriously, I am completely naive when it comes to travelling at all, so are hostels a good idea? They're freaking cheap, man. I had no idea. [This site] has a ton of info on nearly all of them across England. Now, again, I have NO idea where in England would be good, but I found [this one in Borth, Wales], which is pretty close to Aberystwyth for only £12. But, depending on what we actually want to do, like, for example, have fun times in London, there are a whole bunch of hostels [in east England] and in the [heart of England]. But then there's ones like [this, in Llwyn y Celyn, Wales] and [Capel Y Ffin, Wales], in which the scenery just kind of kills me. Seriously, wow.
And then there's travelling by train; I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that's pretty commonly done? I can't judge distances worth anything, so how long would train rides be from the east of England to London, or Wales to London, or something?
So, I don't even know if hostels are the way to go, or if you guys are S-M-R-T in the ways of travelling or whatnot.
...And that's all I've got for now. OH. Except for maybe scheduling a chat? Nights are good for me, except this Tuesday and Wednesday (MIDTERMS OMG DIE). I'm sure we'll work something out, though. :D
Okay! Judging from the response [here], it seems like May is a good month for everyone, except for Suj, which won't do at all! I know very little about airplane travel (and even less about travelling itself), so I have to wonder: is there any chance that tickets will go down in June or the rest of the summer? I don't know about everyone else, but for me it's a $500 jump from May to June, from Tampa to Heathrow. I guess it's switching to the summer season. So, that would be our #1 priority: figuring out when exactly. (And for how long, too? A week? Week and a half?)
Now, this is a bit of a jump to actually figuring out when, but I was looking up youth hostels in England. Now, seriously, I am completely naive when it comes to travelling at all, so are hostels a good idea? They're freaking cheap, man. I had no idea. [This site] has a ton of info on nearly all of them across England. Now, again, I have NO idea where in England would be good, but I found [this one in Borth, Wales], which is pretty close to Aberystwyth for only £12. But, depending on what we actually want to do, like, for example, have fun times in London, there are a whole bunch of hostels [in east England] and in the [heart of England]. But then there's ones like [this, in Llwyn y Celyn, Wales] and [Capel Y Ffin, Wales], in which the scenery just kind of kills me. Seriously, wow.
And then there's travelling by train; I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that's pretty commonly done? I can't judge distances worth anything, so how long would train rides be from the east of England to London, or Wales to London, or something?
So, I don't even know if hostels are the way to go, or if you guys are S-M-R-T in the ways of travelling or whatnot.
...And that's all I've got for now. OH. Except for maybe scheduling a chat? Nights are good for me, except this Tuesday and Wednesday (MIDTERMS OMG DIE). I'm sure we'll work something out, though. :D
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/train
Date: 2006-02-27 06:47 am (UTC)Mostly everywhere you can go by train should have a hostel, whether it's "decent" or not.
I only was in London for two days, three nights. But I am totally in love with it. Props if it all goes according to any kind of plan.
I asked Andrea, and neither of us can remember exactly how long the high-speed train from Paris to London was, but it was between two and four hours.
Now, the trains throughout England won't be like the Chunnel train, but it's less distance everywhere.
I wager you won't be on any train more than two hours. England is itty-bitty compared to 'Merica. The longest you could take would probably be from London straight to somewhere in Ireland/Scotland on the north-end of the island. I bet you'll be puddle-jumping though, so don't worry too much. And trains are cheap and lovely! ♥
Re: /train
Date: 2006-03-01 01:12 am (UTC)Paris FTW.
Date: 2006-03-01 07:53 am (UTC)It still takes some time, but there will be GORGEOUS scenery. And you can stop along the way (like I said, puddle-jumping) and have silly misadventures. :D
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Date: 2006-02-27 08:49 am (UTC)As for hostels, you just have to research a bit - Kate is an expert at this, I watched her zooming through customer reviews of hostels in London because she had to overnight it there when she left me, and yeah, they can be cheap, so it's all good.
I say we definitely have to stay in London a couple nights (OMG I'm talking like I CAN actually go, it's all tentative, but I'll will it to happen if I can) and check out Billy's (and James's) favorite pub - which I've written down, hee! And darn it all I'd love it if we could all hit Scotland - we need to see if we can make this happen liek rilly.
I'd say you'll need a week and a half at least, though a week is manageable (you may be wiped out at the end though) - and two weeks is even better.
K, I'll see what the others say, and I'll scrape all my pennies together ...
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Date: 2006-03-01 01:16 am (UTC)So, yeah, I'm all for going as long as everyone pleases and where ever we can go. Weee!
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Date: 2006-03-01 12:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-27 10:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-01 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-27 01:07 pm (UTC)In terms of the flight over, there's no way ticket prices will go down for June or July, the summer is always pricier than the rest of the year. However, as a university student, you can find cheaper fares if you go to studentuniverse.com (cheapest mid-May roundtrip Tampa to London is $653, June and July jumps up $300). I don't know how much it would cost going straight through the airline, but it's worth checking out.
On the subject of youth hostels, yes, they're a super idea. I can't even count how many hostels I've stayed in, and every one is different, but they're far far cheaper than trying to find a hotel room, and if we were to get our act together and make hostel reservations at least a few weeks in advance, we could probably even try and get a 4-6 person dorm room for just our group. And there are hostels everywhere, even in smaller towns. (Like the one in Borth, Borth has to have more sheep than people in it, it's just a few miles up the coast from here.)
And it's the most natural thing in the world to take the train here. However, it can get a bit costly if you're taking the train a lot, so it would depend on how many places you wanted to see in a week or two (and the longer the better, of course). Of course, I know a few tricks on finding the cheapest tickets available, but we can talk about all that later. To get from London to Aberystwyth, on the west coast, takes five and a half hours, on a good day, and costs about £35 ($60) roundtrip with a youth card. It's about the same amount of time from London to Glasgow, but costs £60 ($104) roundtrip, unless you buy early and get cheap single tickets instead.
Alternatively, there's the National Express coach (bus) company, which adds a few hours to any journey (seven hours London to Aberystwyth), but costs considerably less, especially going from one big city to another (ie. London and Glasgow) where you can get "funfare" tickets in advance. Insanely enough, I just checked London to Glasgow in May, and you can get there and back for a measly £2 booking this far in advance, which is sort of way worth the extra time spent traveling, in my mind, particularly since you can get night buses for the longer journeys and don't have to waste your day.
Anyway, this is getting way long-winded, so I'll just hold off on the rest of my travel tips until we get together to chat.
*excited omg*
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Date: 2006-03-01 01:24 am (UTC)Okay, let's see.... There's this place at my school called STA Travel, and I passed it a few days ago, and a sign said that a roundtrip to London would be $220. I was like, "...wha...?!" I think that may mean like, if you buy a ticket now for December or something. Obviously it would be that cheap! Still. I think I'll ask them some questions.
Yay yay yay hostels! Any knowledge you could share on some good ones you've stayed at or something would be awesome. I guess, for now, we just need to decide on WHERE we would actually be going before we decide on hostels. But still, YAY.
Hmm... well, again, depending on what we'd like to be doing I guess we can decide on train or bus a little while
ifbefore we go. Train if we really want to get there quick, or bus if we're willing to go a bit slower but pay less, or some such thing. Oh, you are such a fountain of knowledge. :D!!!no subject
Date: 2006-02-28 02:13 am (UTC)AMENNNNNNN.
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Date: 2006-03-01 01:26 am (UTC)