Heathrow - for Londoners only?

[Clippy]

Good programme on BBC4 over the weekend about the plans to move the main London airport away from LHR in the 60s and 70s and to Foulness in the Thames Estuary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_estuary_airport, approved in 1973, scrapped in 1974.

It was part of a (very good) series called The Secret Life of the Airport.

Worth checking out on iplayer if still available.

[pzz76077]

The biggest problem that UK residents have is that you live on an island and you are pretty much stuck with flying just about anywhere outside the UK. That and the public transport is crap and expensive and the roads are always congested around popular centres.

In contrast, mainland Europe has an excellent public transport systems and a road network to match. This gives European folk travel options.

For example, I drove down from my house in The Hague to Vienna on Sunday in about 8 hours, 70 Euros in fuel, no body searches, train/taxi costs, baggage to carry etc.
If I flew, then 3 hours wasted getting to the airport, checking in ,1 and a half hours for the flight, another hour at the other end waiting for my baggage, taxi to the center of Vienna- not much of a time saving, considerably more hassle and cost.

Flying does not have many advantages for mainland Euope travellers, its the getting from UK to anywhere else that is the main issue IMO.

PZZ

[BoredBloke]

The biggest problem that UK residents have is that you live on an island and you are pretty much stuck with flying just about anywhere outside the UK. That and the public transport is crap and expensive and the roads are always congested around popular centres.

In contrast, mainland Europe has an excellent public transport systems and a road network to match. This gives European folk travel options.

For example, I drove down from my house in The Hague to Vienna on Sunday in about 8 hours, 70 Euros in fuel, no body searches, train/taxi costs, baggage to carry etc.
If I flew, then 3 hours wasted getting to the airport, checking in ,1 and a half hours for the flight, another hour at the other end waiting for my baggage, taxi to the center of Vienna- not much of a time saving, considerably more hassle and cost.

Flying does not have many advantages for mainland Euope travellers, its the getting from UK to anywhere else that is the main issue IMO.

PZZ

That has a lot to do with the extensive town planning which the Germans instigated in the forties.

[Sysman]

That has a lot to do with the extensive town planning which the Germans instigated in the forties.

It's not just town planning . Apparently the Germans instigated this business of registering with your local town hall within so many days of moving to a new address. When they go kicked out of France, the French thought that the system was quite good so kept it. I suspect that the priority from the right rule when driving was originated by the Germans too.

[Sysman]

In contrast, mainland Europe has an excellent public transport systems and a road network to match. This gives European folk travel options.

For example, I drove down from my house in The Hague to Vienna on Sunday in about 8 hours, 70 Euros in fuel, no body searches, train/taxi costs, baggage to carry etc.
If I flew, then 3 hours wasted getting to the airport, checking in ,1 and a half hours for the flight, another hour at the other end waiting for my baggage, taxi to the center of Vienna- not much of a time saving, considerably more hassle and cost.

Flying does not have many advantages for mainland Euope travellers, its the getting from UK to anywhere else that is the main issue IMO.

It gets better when you are in central Europe, though the drive back to the UK is obviously more of a grind. There are also night sleeper trains, which I fancy trying out just for fun (Agatha Christie being an obvious choice for reading material).

[NickFitz]

I live round the corner from Leeds/Brad.

Yeadon?

[NickFitz]

The biggest problem that UK residents have is that you live on an island and you are pretty much stuck with flying just about anywhere outside the UK. That and the public transport is crap and expensive and the roads are always congested around popular centres.

In contrast, mainland Europe has an excellent public transport systems and a road network to match. This gives European folk travel options.

If only they'd do something like, say, build a tunnel under the Channel.

[expat]

It's not just town planning . Apparently the Germans instigated this business of registering with your local town hall within so many days of moving to a new address. When they go kicked out of France, the French thought that the system was quite good so kept it. I suspect that the priority from the right rule when driving was originated by the Germans too.

I doubt it, Napoleon operated a level of authoritarian control that even the Third Reich could only dream of. The influence is evident in France to the present day: the government are the officers, the civil servants are the NCOs and are about as much "civil" and "servants" as any NCOs are, and the people are the cannon fodder. Go to a compulsory interview at a French government office and you will feel it.

[MPwannadecentincome]

It gets better when you are in central Europe, though the drive back to the UK is obviously more of a grind. There are also night sleeper trains, which I fancy trying out just for fun (Agatha Christie being an obvious choice for reading material).

Just beware of people breaking in with chloroform and having to wake up finding your wallet, credit cards and expensive camera and phone have disappeared.

[pzz76077]

If only they'd do something like, say, build a tunnel under the Channel.

Still far too much hassle and cost compared with the rest of Europe.

PZZ