All entries for Wednesday 10 May 2006

SpringOne travel arrangments; Eurostar rocks :)

Writing about web page http://www.springone.com/display/SpringOne06/Home

So I am off to SpringOne in June and was googling for how much it would cost. Well the good news is that there are lots of hits on flying to Antwerp, some from £115 return :)

Only they aren't really that good. They either require leaving mid day on the Friday and take 7 hours because of 2 change overs(!!) or suddenly become £400 if you fly back on the Saturday.

Travelling from London City Airport is slightly better, although still quite expensive and painful to get to (from Leicester). Manchester is equally painful and East Midlands is a no–go.

I was basically faced with spending around £150 to attend at best a day and a half conference which is already costing me ~500 euros :(

After typing up a cancellation email, I noticed a link to train times to Antwerp… It turns out that Eurostar travels from London Waterloo to any station in Belgium from as littler as £29 each way! Bargain. They also arrive/leave at useful times as well. Eurostar drops you at the main central station in Bruxelles Midi, but it is only a one hour train to Antwerp, and I understand they are fairly regular. So, all I have to do is travel to London from Leicester by train. Initially, virgin are trying to charge me ~£50 each way, but I noticed a "value" link which when pressed shows you a list of really cheap tickets…those sneaky guys ;)

So, my travel arrangments are:

Leicester –> London Waterloo (£8!!!)

London Waterloo –> Bruxelles Midi (+ free ticket to any Belgium station) (£29.50)

way home:

Bruxelles Midi –> London Waterloo (£39.50)

London Waterloo –> Leicester (£8!!!)

A grand total of £85. That is cheaper than the cheapest one way flight to Antwerp that I could find (excluding air tax, travelling to London/BHam/Manchester etc.) and the journey door to door will be quicker and less stressful.

Long live Eurostar :)

: 10 May 2006 20:34 |  Tags: Springone |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem