Snow & Christmas Travel

afatbollix

So theres a light bit of snow falling where I live at the moment but its not sticking. Ground is very wet so if it does freeze first before the heavy snow comes it will be sheet ice under the snow...


Where screwed in other words :P

Fysh

Yeah, we got a dusting of it outside, basically enough to have about half an inch to an inch worth of slush to trudge through. Ideal for falling over in

On the other hand, it's still an improvement on just having dreary grey skies and rain.

afatbollix

I wanted to go into the Hyde park Market today.. If the wind doesent pick up it should be a good day for it...

If any one is in the area and chance of a update?

IamtheWalrus

I'm in Borough and it's getting heavy. I have training with my running club tonight :eek:

LadyMayBelle

Wahey!! Working from home because of the snow! Was a third of the way to work when I got the call, but oh tis sweet!

afatbollix

Work said they would pay for a hotel.. Except I was on the night shift so they bloody woudent pay for me.. ****

Also on Tuesday I went to the winter wonderland market in Hyde park with it snowing.. It was awesome!!! You have to go in the snow wrap up warm and first thing you do is buy some mulled wine!

LadyMayBelle

Serious amount of snow falling in the West Hampstead/Kilburn area of London..looks beautiful, but getting anxious about flights home on Tuesday! What's the snow like in your area?
Pics to follow!

Sinall

I'm getting worried too! Was due to have a visitor from Ireland today but flights are cancelled. Fingers crossed we are all okay getting home next week!

D-Generate

My brother has a double whammy of hassle. Has to get from New York to London on Tuesday and then London to Cork on Friday. I now know 3 other people besides myself on the 18:05 flight from Heathrow on Christmas Eve. Here's to hoping they are flying.

Irish Halo

For anyone stuck I can vouch for SailRail I use it to get home most times (sick of airports) and so far neither the train from Euston nor the ferry from Holyhead has been affected and it's only ~£30. You can buy online at Raileasy

bluedolphin

Rail & Sail tickets (£30) are sold out. I was at Euston this morning looking for a ticket for Wednesday. All sold out up to and including the 24th. However, you can still book individual rail and ferry tickets (rail is about £75 [£50 with 16-25 railcard] and ferry £30) departing from Euston at 09.10 for the 14.10 sailing from Holyhead to Dublin Port. Also, Eurolines depart from Victoria at 06.30 and arrive in Dublin at 18.30 for the princely sum of £27 for young persons (up to 25) and £64? I think for adults. There are options other than planes so don't panic! Last year my flight was cancelled and I did the Rail & Sail -really not that bad and good craic on the train!

Good luck getting home; I'm sure the journey will be worth it! Merry Christmas

Fysh

Hmmm, my flight to Spain on Thursday afternoon may be an entertaining (read misery-inducing) affair...

That being said, this made me laugh about the current snow situation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQhDlbqY2RM

Sinall

Apparently Frankfurt Airport has hired four CLOWNS to entertain travellers stranded there...I don't think I will be able to cope if clowns appear in Luton Airport on Thursday.

1505 With travellers frazzled by hundreds of flight cancellations across Europe, Germany's Frankfurt airport has hired clowns to try to keep travellers happy.

'Four clowns are performing in the terminal halls,' the spokeswoman for Frankfurt's international airport told AFP.

The clowns were sent in after fights broke out at the airport on Saturday between stressed-out holidaymakers.


http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1220/weather.html

Irish Halo

bluedolphin wrote: »

Rail & Sail tickets (£30) are sold out.

:eek: didn't expect that, guess it's going to be a bit of a scrum on Wednesday then ...

m@cc@

Good luck getting home for all. Fingers and legs crossed for me for Thursday evening.

D-Generate

I hope that anyone who wished snow to come at any point this Winter wets themselves in bed and freezes to death tonight. You deserve it.

silvervixen84

Supposed to fly home on Thursday, trying to stay positive about it so far. If I'm stuck I could be back on here organising an ad-hoc Christmas Do for stranded boardsies!

ballsymchugh

Irish Halo wrote: »

For anyone stuck I can vouch for SailRail I use it to get home most times (sick of airports) and so far neither the train from Euston nor the ferry from Holyhead has been affected and it's only ~£30. You can buy online at Raileasy

i was driving up the m20 to gatwick a few weeks ago and the m26 was blocked. ended up going with the traffic up to swanley and then around to gatwick but the flight was gone when i finally got there. decided that since i had 2 days to go home that i'd try sailrail, since the price was 1/10th of the flights.
so got the train from euston at around 8 to manchester to change at crewe. about an hour on the way there was an announcement that the ferries were cancelled due to high winds, and the train was late anyway so missed the connection in crewe. ended up going out to manchester airport and got the first flight in the morning.

i really really really hope no one else has to risk this and all the flights start going soon.
safe home to the lot of ye that are travelling!

Fysh

silvervixen84 wrote: »

Supposed to fly home on Thursday, trying to stay positive about it so far. If I'm stuck I could be back on here organising an ad-hoc Christmas Do for stranded boardsies!

It's looking like we might be stuck here too and I was thinking along similar lines. May as well try and muster some Christmas cheer through a pub expedition and some nerdiness,eh?

Irish Halo

ballsymchugh wrote: »

... a few weeks ago ... there was an announcement that the ferries were cancelled due to high winds

You had me freaking out there, thought this was yesterday/day before. For anyone else planning on getting the ferry Stena and Irish ferries are running with extra staff and no delays currently.

Stena Lines updates

Irish Ferries twitter

joseywhales

Right I've a flight on Friday from Gatwick.

I'm now going with the sailrail contingency tomorrow. God I hope this works.

Jack B. Badd

Irish Halo wrote: »

For anyone stuck I can vouch for SailRail I use it to get home most times (sick of airports) and so far neither the train from Euston nor the ferry from Holyhead has been affected and it's only ~£30. You can buy online at Raileasy

Booked a backup ferry home if my flights are ****ered - it'll get me to Dublin at least and then my fate is in CIE's hands Cheers for the info!

Edit: Ah, just noticed that people were saying that SailRail was booked out - I booked via the RailEasy link though...

Sinall

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

Booked a backup ferry home if my flights are ****ered - it'll get me to Dublin at least and then my fate is in CIE's hands Cheers for the info!

Edit: Ah, just noticed that people were saying that SailRail was booked out - I booked via the RailEasy link though...

Have just done the same! Don't want to run the risk of not getting home.

Scarinae

Sinall wrote: »

Apparently Frankfurt Airport has hired four CLOWNS to entertain travellers stranded there...I don't think I will be able to cope if clowns appear in Luton Airport on Thursday

My friend was on a flight from Luton to Dublin this morning, and it actually arrived on time. Hopefully you'll be ok!

My flight is from Heathrow, feeling less positive about that

biZrb

I'm booked on a flight out of Heathrow on Friday, hope not only Heathrow is ok by then but also Dublin Airport, as its closed atm.

I tried booking a rail & sail ticket for Friday (can't go any earlier than that) but there doesn't seem to be tickets available. To book the train and ferry separably was just too expensive.
In the end I booked a rail & sail ticket for Tuesday, I might not make it home for Christmas but at least I'll make it back for a few days.

I usually don't really care about Christmas, but this year things were different as I've been away from home for so long that I'm really looking forward to it, so I hope I get home in time.

Irish Halo

biZrb wrote: »

To book the train and ferry separably was just too expensive.

Just so people know, I had to look into this for a freaking out friend, if you buy ferry and train separate, it is ~£100 with the train ticket being about £75 but as you are booking late and paying that much the train ticket at least is refundable (with a £10 administration charge) if you don't use it.

I'm probably getting into Dublin port tomorrow *fingers crossed* but the folks are "snowed in" (North county Dublin and not trust my Dad the drama queen) so may end up staying in GF's folks house

D-Generate

Do you know what we need right now?

Yup you guessed it! Some lovely industrial action!

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1221/aerlingus.html

silvervixen84

Fysh wrote: »

It's looking like we might be stuck here too and I was thinking along similar lines. May as well try and muster some Christmas cheer through a pub expedition and some nerdiness,eh?

I have Tekken and Singstar :pac:

Sinall

D-Generate wrote: »

Do you know what we need right now?

Yup you guessed it! Some lovely industrial action!

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1221/aerlingus.html

Seriously??!!!! For f**k's sake. I'm not travelling with Aer Lingus but that's just downright wrong. And mean.

Jack B. Badd

D-Generate wrote: »

Do you know what we need right now?

Yup you guessed it! Some lovely industrial action!

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1221/aerlingus.html

C*nts! I thought you were joking until I saw the link. I don't suppose a Spanish-style response is on the cards...

LadyMayBelle

Got home this evening Luton to Galway with a twenty min stopover in Waterford. Minor delay of an hour. Very acceptable! Biggest problem was getting a train to the airport though, as the amount of cancelled trains/delayed one /lost ones was a joke. My advice is to leave as early as you can, even if it means you sit in the airport for an extra few hours.

Good luck everyone!