We arrived on the Sea Cat (The Vomit Comet) at Ostend and drive 13
miles to Bruges where you are directed down a tunnel some miles out
of the city. After driving some distance underground, you are directed
into giant car parks and take the lift back to daylight, where you
arrive in the middle of a huge town square with Bars and restaurants
around the edge, and the latest shops within a short walk.
No Stress at all.

Sounds a bit like Canary Wharf.

Compare this with a trip to London where parking meters earn more that
a worker's minimum hourly wage and everything is designed to give the
maximum stress and the minimum value.

Talking of which, that gives me a strangely good idea on how to make a few
extra quid - anyone know if parking meters can be privately run?

Peter

The fare from my local station in Hampshire to London, 2 adults 4 children
is
£51.50.
How can I get to Paris for less?

Bloody hell, that's very reasonable. Is that with a Family Railcard (or
whatever the latest incarnation of that is called) or just standard fares?

I do like driving places, but I'm all for travelling by the best method for
the situation. "Best" being defined as the best compromise of time, running
costs, the need for sleep, etc. etc. A while back when I bought my van from
a bloke up in Glasgow, I briefly considered driving up, but only very
briefly. I looked up flight prices on all the budget airlines, and got an
early flight from Stansted to Glasgow for around the £35 mark including
taxes. Plus £15 for petrol for my mate to drop me off there, it came to
around £50 anyway (certainly within £5 anyway).

Left the house (Berkshire) at 4:30am, walked out the front of Glasgow
airport (no luggage, so walked straight out) at 8:00am, then aobut two quid
and half an hour later I walked through the front door of the co-op bank in
Glasgow at 8:30am. Not bad at all. I could almost commute it :-)

Booking in for the flight was easy enough, and hanging around time was 30-45
minutes at the most, and I must say the way the handle the checking in
queues at Stansted was excellent (a few people calling out "all people for
5:50 check-in" etc., enabling them to skip the queue and go straight
through). Got to read a paper and have a kip on the plane, and overall a
very relaxing journey, and one that would have taken at least 1.5x the time
driving up, not to mention having to put a friend through a very long day,
driving wise.

Peter

On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 19:04:55 +0100, JohnB wrote:


So where is the airport in Bruges and what's the flight fare?


The airport is Ostend -Bruges, 29Km from Bruges coach Xfer €5 each way

The fare is from £1.99 to London Stanstead according to the Ryanair
website.

DG

AstraVanMan wrote:

The fare from my local station in Hampshire to London, 2 adults 4 children
is
£51.50.
How can I get to Paris for less?

Bloody hell, that's very reasonable. Is that with a Family Railcard (or
whatever the latest incarnation of that is called) or just standard fares?

Yep, with a Family Railcard.

John B

derek wrote:

On Thu, 09 Oct 2003 19:04:55 +0100, JohnB wrote:


So where is the airport in Bruges and what's the flight fare?


The airport is Ostend -Bruges, 29Km from Bruges coach Xfer €5 each way

The fare is from £1.99 to London Stanstead according to the Ryanair
website.

That's not bad.
Unfortunately it would cost me and the family £80 return for the fare to
Stansted (4 hour-ish journey) plus the trouble of crossing London.

John B

JohnB wrote:
AstraVanMan wrote:

The fare from my local station in Hampshire to London, 2 adults 4
children is £51.50.
How can I get to Paris for less?

Bloody hell, that's very reasonable. Is that with a Family Railcard
(or whatever the latest incarnation of that is called) or just
standard fares?

Yep, with a Family Railcard.


God, it makes it not much more than three times the price of using a car.

--
http://www.speedlimit.org.uk
"If laws are to be respected, they must be worthy of respect."

"Grant Mason" wrote in message
...

So the OP's point was not rubbish, unlike your assertions.

Illogical ********.
I have stated what he said, your "proof" does not address those points.

"PeterE" wrote the following in:


JohnB wrote:
AstraVanMan wrote:

The fare from my local station in Hampshire to London, 2 adults
4 children is £51.50.
How can I get to Paris for less?

Bloody hell, that's very reasonable. Is that with a Family
Railcard (or whatever the latest incarnation of that is called)
or just standard fares?

Yep, with a Family Railcard.


God, it makes it not much more than three times the price of using
a car.

But you don't have to shell out several thousand for a car, money for
road tax, some for insurance, and more for maintenance of the car.

--
message by Robin May, consumer of liquids
Hello. I'm one of those "roaring fascists of the left wing".

Hacker is to computer as boy racer is to Ford Escort.

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 01:29:47 +0000, Robin May wrote:
But you don't have to shell out several thousand for a car, money for road
tax, some for insurance, and more for maintenance of the car.

For long trips or holidays to - say - the lakes, it's probably cheaper to
buy a £200 car with 2 months tax/mot.

You can always hire a car too

But you don't have to shell out several thousand for a car, money for
road
tax, some for insurance, and more for maintenance of the car.

For long trips or holidays to - say - the lakes, it's probably cheaper to
buy a £200 car with 2 months tax/mot.

Cheaper, maybe. I'd rather keep my eyes peeled for a car anywhere in the
sub-£2k bracket that's particularly well priced for what it is, and
something reasonably well sought after so that it'll be a doddle to sell on
afterwards, rather than restrict myself to a cheap £200 old banger. Having
said that, if you're lucky you can get a car in pretty decent nick for £200.

Peter