h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I need to go to Office Max today and buy some temporary signs for the restroom doors to tide us over until the ones we ordered get here. Anyway! It's next door to a book store. I'll pick up my travel guide. And try to get a list to you before the mini-meet tomorrow.

I shall make up an A list and a B list. There will be so many things on those that a C list won't be necessary.

When all of you come to Webb City to visit me - which is on everyone's wish list, I'm sure - you won't need a list.

Tartarrone, please, can you come? Please, please?

Has anyone said to visit Bath yet?

If not, I recommend at least a day in lovely Bath

As soon as you mentioned the Turner/Whistler/Monet exhibition I developed a serious case of deep green .

>>Any chance at all of you getting a cheap flight over Tartaronne? You could stay with me?<<

I'll definitely try to see if I can work things out. Sig. S and I have for many years talked about going away on our own without children but never done it as yet.

Allthough he thinks I'm spending time with people via the internet I might be able to combine the two plans.

Finances and both our job-situations are unsure for the time being, so I won't know anything for certain before much closer to the Hyp-visit-dates.

* crosses fingers, squeezes eyes shut and wishes very, very hard that things work out and Tartaronne can join us

*wishing she lived somewhere more picturesque or useful than just off the M1 in rural Northants*

Mol

Coming to a Salonista meet will be dependant on my exam timetable. Will know after easter.

Today I bought England for Dummies and one about day trips from London. I'm about to make myself a bubble bath and read one of them.

Bath sounds lovely.

I am not Z I am Ben - I just cannot be bothered to sign out and sign in again.

I am v happy to do Stonehenge as well as Avebury. My car sits four with a degree of civilisation and five if they are already good friends, so that trip could be Me, Hyp, and Mr & Mrs D, and Z if he's around at the time.

Ach, I am up for some but probably not all of the following:

Oxford
Stonehenge and Avebury (they work well as a single trip)
Bath
Hidcote

Not London though. Been there. Know what it looks like!

Ben

Teuchter - give it a rest once in a while or you'll get .

*Becomes all warm and mushy inside with all the friendliness*

Since the meet up today is at Ben's, I have e-mailed her concerning the trip planning. My wonderful idea for lists has already proven impractical as every single attraction in England has made it to the A list.

I think we have the bones of a plan beginning to form? Not set in stone so can be adapted/reformed as necessary.

I will meet Hypatia at Gatwick and host the first week. Ben will host the second week and Kelli would like Hypatia to stay with her on the last Saturday to see Windsor Castle and will then do the Heathrow bit.

Once we know what Hypatia wants to do/see, we can factor these in as we go along and want to include everyone who can get involved.

Loosely speaking, I'll do the gardening and London bits and Ben will do the history. And Meet Supremo, Z, will organise something for the weekend of 28/29 May.

I have space for any other Salonista to stay during that first week.

We talked last night about the possibility of a Punting/picnic/pub Meet on Saturday 28th, in the Oxford area. Any takers?

Amy - I wondered if you'd like to stay over with me after the Flower Show and then go with Hypatia to do the Oxford stuff?

Apologies to anyone who feels I might be wearing my 'bossy boots' - I'm really excited about this but don't mean to trample on anyone.

I have an idea. If it isn't practical, just say so.

Since I'm looking forward to riding a train - granted you guys do it all the time so it's no big deal to you, but it's a big deal to me - I was wondering how long it would take to go from Ben's to Scotland on the train? Is there a neat place in Scotland near the border we could do as a day trip? So I can tell everyone I've been to Scotland? I know Wales is much closer. That should be easy to dash over the border, have lunch, and dash back.

Thanks for the offer of the car Ben, don't worry if things are a bit snug... After being on the back seat of a Micra with two other people, especially given that none of us fall into the 'sylph-like' category, anything else should be a doddle.

Hyp, trains to Scotland can be problematic as there are very few lines that go straight there, it can take a whole day just to get there.

There are east coast and west coast lines to Scotland and it's possible to do Kings X to Edinburgh in about 5hrs - ditto Euston/Glasgow - assuming no problems, of course.

Unfortunately, the bit just over the border is the least bonny or interesting.
Also, train tickets are very expensive though there are cheaper deals for apex bookings if you can book far enough ahead.

It would probably be more do-able to get a cheap flight from Luton or Southampton to Glasgow or Edinburgh and have a day there. Loads and loads of fabulous stuff in either city - and mucho picturesque.

Just checked Flybe from S'hampton/Glasgow - Day return allowing 6hrs in Scotland - about £51.
And Easyjet from Luton/Edinburgh - day return allowing about 7hrs there, about £50.
Info on train ticket prices is difficult to ascertain, even on the net, and you can't book more than 3 months ahead - but a single seems to cost about £32. So it would seem that a return would be dearer and take 10+ hrs out of the day.

If it in't practical, it isn't. Enough said. But can we take a train sometime while I'm there?

Mr. D - glad to know you aren't slyph-like. I wouldn't want to be the only person of substance on the trip.

Do you have to book the flights to Scotland way in advance? Or can we wait until the rest of the schedule is worked out. There may not be time anyway. Flying up there for the day does seem much the better plan.

Flying anywhere from here is a great hassle like that. You can't go anywhere directly from here unless you drive. You always have to go someplace else first and then make connections. Even bus trips from here are difficult. So I perfectly understand that travel times can be prohibitive.

Doing Chelsea on the 27th and Oxford on the 28th seems like a tall order to me since both require a lot of walking and energy. If we did Oxford on the Sunday or Monday (29th or 30th) instead, and then Hypatia came North with me, we could do York one day and then go to Edinburgh and back by train.

Flights are generally cheaper the further ahead they're booked.

Amy - would you be up for punting on the Cherwell on Saturday 28th - should be fairly sedentary if enough others can do the energetic stuff.
I'll leave you to liaise with Ben and Z about the other stuff since she's 'hosting' the second week and Z's hoping to organise a Hootoo Meet for Hypatia.

It would be a shame for Hypatia to go to Oxford and not see any colleges and the boat house for punting is not close to the colleges, so a great deal of walking is going to be involved. Oxford is not car-friendly. It's Hypatia I'm thinking of, not me. A full day at Chelsea followed immediately by a full day at Oxford is just not sensible.

How about punting on Saturday - and colleges etc on Sunday?

As I said, I'll bow out of the organisation of that part of the visit and leave you to liaise with Ben.