UK Chat → Accommodations Ideas

Looking for some subject input fm 25 April to 02 May. Yeah, bad timing (thought of asking them to postpone wedding ). In any case family of four anywhere in and around surrounding London area. Only caveat is to be able to easily access London. Preferabley with a fridge etc so as to be able to cut costs. If you know of someone living in a mansion with an unused loft over the garage (ha), or going to be away on vacation, or with a flat not being used etc... Perhaps you have a friend that runs a decent B&B or the like..... Assistance appreciated.

This could be quite a cheap option.....
»www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12692565.

this site has double rooms starting from £50 pn
»www.londontoolkit.com/ac ··· fast.htm

another link
»www.visitlondon.com/acco ··· eakfast/

I've used premier or travelodge from £28 pn.
That price was for a sunday in surrey (heathrow area),
and similiar in Ilford (East London/Essex)

Alternatively, I suspect you could simply get pissed at a local pub late each evening, spend the night in the local nick and continue your holiday when you're released the next day. Repeat as necessary.

Mind, I've no idea of the costs associated with this option.

But seriously, another option is to put up at the Travelodge in Reading (or in Oxford, etc.,) and then take a train in and out of London each day (or the shuttle bus to Heathrow). The Travelodge is clean and safe, but very basic. I seem to recall a TV, but no fridge. The Travelodge in Reading has a dining room, but I've never tried it. However, I can assure you that there's a Burger King in the Oracle shopping center.

Travelodge used to do a free breakfast at the Little Chef,
kept my cholesterol levels nicely topped up

Didn't I see an article in the Telegraph or the Independent recently dumping on Little Chef?

Wait a minute! Those holiday caravan parks featured in an episode of the Royles? Do those still exist? Are they cheap and are there any near London?

Too funny! I have a possible line on an apt type accommodation around Hyde park, will let you know how it turns out.

Little Chef have been struggling for a long time.
There was a tv programme about trying to turn them round,
Heston Blumenthal (a very unusual chef) was asked to help them I think.

Pontins (chalets and entertainment complex) went into receivership recently,
might get real cheap accom there.
There was a nice one at Camber Sands (Kent coast) I had some great times there, chalets were starting to get run down though.

Most interesting place we went was an independent complex on the Isle of Wight, very old basic chalets, they made a tv programme there replicating a butlins style 50's holiday camp, was so funny when we saw the programme they were using the same furniture we had in about 2002....and we had one of the better chalets the rougher ones had a big pile of rubbish in the middle of the room which was originally the roof!

Still we had a great time on this IOW site and went back quite a few times!

There used to be a site www.bnbserve.com which was helpful but checking just now didn't yield any results perhaps the site is down? Anyway, failing that, Priceline.co.uk and specifically, the section, name your own price (»www.priceline.co.uk/en/nyop.html)

Ah, yes, well. Could you just leave the particulars and your credit information for the rest of us? After all, one never knows when it might come in handy.

VA, is that in the UK?

By the way, the flat worked out not cheap but a 3 bedroom flat for 1,000 Euros (utilities inclusive (with kitchen laundry etc) for seven nights is not too shabby. Its in the Earls Court area near Hyde park so the location is pretty decent.

What I am fuming about now is that its IMPOSSIBLE for me to get tickets to futbol matches. I neither can get them for the ManU Arsenal Match, nor for the Chelsea Tottenham match. UK is starting to cheese me off. I was hoping to show at least one of my kids what a premier league game was like..... arggg. Now it will consist of fish and chips and a beer and a big screen in a pub. Okay minus the beer for the child.....

So I found viagogo ticket exchange...... okay so I have to be a blue member to even be permitted to buy and at that one ticket only AND, memberships are closed for the year.......

Does anyone know how to get tickets. Is it worth it to show up to games and see if any are available by scalpers......

I assume the query was directed to me? (Or are you now asking yourself questions? )

To answer, VA is still in the US, as I am at the moment -- and have now been for far too long. When in the UK, I'm usually out in the boonies, Shropshire, to be specific. On the other hand, the wife has family in and around London, so we go down fairly often. And, of course, I fly into Heathrow and then go out to Shropshire when I arrive from the US.

There is no way in hell that you're simply going to buy tickets for the Arsenal v Man Utd match, certainly not this year. As an Arsenal fan, I'm not optimistic, however.

Do a pub. Show up early for a decent seat, buy yourself a best bitter, give the kids a shandy (if necessary), and prepare to wait until the hooligans are off the streets before leaving.

Good luck, enjoy.

Sounds like decent advice!

I was rather surprised to find that Premier League football has a considerable following here in the DC Metro area. I've been running around (for months now) with an Arsenal car flag and I've been amazed at the number of people who know what it is.

Unfortunately, far too many of them are Man Utd or Liverpool fans, and I can get alla that in Shropshire!

I shall ruin the English by taking a DC United flag back to the UK with me. (Now, if I can just remember to routinely change the other flag on the English car depending on whether I'm in England or Wales. (From the house in Shropshire, it's a five minute walk to enter Wales.)

Along the border, do you know how to tell whether you're in England or Wales? It's simple; the roads are better (and wider) in Wales.