independent travel planning

Getting the best out of long haul Business Class

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A friend's Mum has upcoming business class flights from London to Australia - so I thought I'd put together some suggestions for how she can make the most out of her trip. It's a mixture of generic recommendations and specific advice for her LHR - KUL - MEL routing.

Seating

Whilst Malaysian allow seat selection at the time of booking, it's always worth keeping an eye on the booking to see if you've been moved without notification. Aerolopa is great for looking at seat maps to identify where the windows, toilets and galley are. The best option is usually not beside a noisy toilet.

If there aren't any seats available that you want, then Expert Flyer will probably tell you if all the good seats are actually taken, or simply blocked. If the latter it's worth a call to the airline to try and nab one, or to find out when they will be released.

Check In

It's worth setting a reminder to check in as soon as it opens - in this case 48 hours before departure. This ensures you get the best choice of seats, especially for the 2nd flight where the passengers flying directly won't yet be able to check in.

Many airlines now offer additional meal options if ordered in advance - in the case of MH this must be done at least 24 hours before departure. Although there will still be a reasonable choice on board, so don't feel obliged to make a selection in advance if nothing stands out.

At the Airport

Almost all long haul airlines have separate bag drop queues for business class passengers - which should mean a quicker experience. Ask the bag drop staff if you need a voucher for priority security. Also ask which lounge they use and for directions. Sometimes the entrance to priority security can be separate to the normal entrance - it's worth taking the time to find the correct entrance as it can save a lot of time queuing.

For many business class passengers the lounge can be a big part of the experience - you're probably spending quite a few hours in both your departure lounge and transfer lounge. Whilst regular passengers don't hold back in terms of using the facilities, occasional flyers can feel awkward taking items from the lounge. It's absolutely normal to pocket some food and drink from the lounge to tide you over - you may end up with a delayed departure / onboard meal service. And if the lounge has magazines and newspapers that you'd like to read - don't hold back - they are there to be taken.

Many lounges also have a handful of private shower rooms. Apart from helping you feel refreshed, these can be really beautifully designed spaces and come with excellent toiletries. You often need to put your name down on a wait list as soon as you enter the lounge. So even if you're not sure if you want one, put your name down and once you're called you can decide whether to use it.

Your boarding pass will tell you what time your gate closes, so you can time leaving the lounge to minimise your time on the aircraft.

On the Aircraft

As you board the cabin crew will help you stow your hand luggage if the overhead locker is a bit high - don't feel awkward asking for help. Most airlines will serve pre departure drinks, so don't hesitate to ask for one if you happen to been missed out. Spend some time looking at the different parts of the seat - there are often slightly hidden storage spaces which can be very useful. And it would be a shame to only find them as you're leaving!

If the power sockets aren't working immediately, they will be switched on once the aircraft reaches cruising altitude - different airlines have different policies. Airlines are gradually converting from USB-A to USB-C so it's worth having both charging cables. You may also have free wifi - cabin crew will either give you a voucher code or explain how it works and help you if needed.

There will usually be an amenity kit on your seat waiting for you, but some airlines only distribute them on request. It's worth asking for one - as they will usually contain items that you (or your family) will enjoy. And they're a bit of a novelty. Make sure you have enough space in your hand luggage for the amenity kit from both your first and second flights - which may be slightly different. Amenity kit eye masks aren't always high quality - so it's probably worth bringing your own if you need it to sleep.

Between meal services, don't hesitate to ask for drinks / snacks - the cabin crew expect business class passengers to do this. They may have a mini kitchen set up in the galley for you to choose your own if you want to stretch your legs. This also means that you don't have to accept a meal when the cabin crew offer one - there will always be more food opportunities either on the aircraft or in the lounge - especially if you'd prefer to sleep.

If you want to use your seat in lie flat mode, the cabin crew will usually set it up for you (turn down service). Modern business class seats are complicated pieces of machinery - don't expect to be able to master the controls without assistance. Many airlines provide mattress toppers - which really help to even out the gaps in the seat, and will really help you rest or sleep. If a mattress topper hasn't already been provided, don't forget to ask if they have them.

Many airlines offer pajamas to business class passengers - and whilst you may not want them yourself, the novelty of airline branded PJs may amuse your family.

Cabin crew will usually provide a blank landing card if you need to complete one - and lend you a pen! It looks like this is not required at Kuala Lumpur for transit passengers - but cabin crew will confirm this.

In Transit

Business class passengers sometimes get priority transit, so it's worth asking airline staff if there are any services. If a private car is on offer, you might as well use it.

If you want to bring duty free alcohol to your destination, it's always worth waiting until your transit airport. Whilst your departure airport will provide a Secure Tamper Evident Bag - it's just not worth the risk that the transfer airport will object.

After any shopping / airport exploring you can then relax in the lounge - see above, especially the point about putting your name down for a shower! Also ask if your lounge has a nap area / sleep pods / cabanas - if you have enough time between flights for a snooze.

Some lounges also have lockers for you to store your larger hand luggage item - especially useful if you have two items, which almost all business class tickets allow. Having two items also means that you won't need to retrieve your main hand luggage during the flight.

Security at different airports can be very different to what we're used to. For example in Kuala Lumpur Airport they operate security machines at each individual gate. Lounge staff will suggest when you should leave - sometimes it's better to wait until boarding starts. Lounge staff will also tell you if there is an express lane for business class passengers.

On Arrival

Many airports give business class passengers access to priority queue for immigration / customs. With Melbourne airport it is an Express Path to get through customs, after you've been through normal immigration and collected your luggage.

Some airports have arrivals lounge where you can have some food and a shower before leaving the airport. This is often only available at major hub airports - but is well worth using if it's available.

Conclusion

1. Many of the smaller benefits of business class travel are only available if you know to look for them - priority security for example.

2. Many of the benefits of business class travel are only available if you ask - you've paid for them, so don't hesitate to ask!

Oneworld Alliance - Status by flight numbers

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Whilst Star Alliance is the daddy of airline loyalty alliances, Oneworld dominates some of their fifteen member countries.

With many airlines moving towards spend based loyalty programmes it's becoming harder for those of us on cheap tickets to gain status. However most airlines still allow a route to status simply via the number of flights you take - offering a way of avoiding the onerous spend requirements.

So let's look at where each of the Oneworld member airlines sets the bar. For context British Airways Bronze maps to Oneworld Ruby, BA Silver to OW Sapphire and BA Gold to OW Emerald.

Some airlines are clear about how many flights you need to take, others bury it in the terms and conditions. Beware of extra terms, such as Iberia's demand that all flights have an IB code and be eligible for points. Or Malaysia Airlines treatment of Premium Economy flights as Economy for tier points.

Full Disclosure: some of these segment numbers are not officially quoted, but sourced via other means or are reconstructed, and appear to be valid at time of publication. Please confirm these numbers before jumping into a new airline Frequent Flyer Programme!

Oneworld Ruby

Whilst many commentators scoff at lowly Ruby, it still has material benefits - such a 7 day advance seat selection on certain airlines.

The easiest flight segment route to Ruby is on Royal Jordanian with just 14 flights needed for qualification and 12 for retention. RAM is close behind with 15 flights - two of which must be on their own metal.

Oneworld Sapphire

This is where the magic starts to happen - with lounge access even when flying economy.

RJ is once again the leader of the pack with just 30 flights for qualification and 26 for retention. Most airlines own metal requirements will deter general Oneworld frequent flyers.

Oneworld Emerald

The benefits increase from Sapphire to Emerald isn't as big, but normally include First Class checkin and lounges.

RJ is the stand out winner again at 46 sgements, and once you qualify for RJ Platinum Hawk you can then average 40 flights a year over two years to maintain status.

Caveat Emptor

Before jumping into bed with Royal Jordanian frequent flyer program - have a look at real world examples and reviews of how the schem eoperates.

FlyerTalk has a moderately active thread about RJ with regular examples of the limitations of the airline's computer system and the scheme in general.

Don't expect to be able to do everything you do on your current frequent flyer account over at Royal Jordanian - or any other Oneworld program.

However, if you can survive the limitations (and the loss of Avios / points from crediting flights to a different FFP) - then your route to Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald is a lot quicker at Royal Jordanian.

Aer Lingus Business Class reward availability

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

The recent additional search facility on Avios.com allows a broad overview of reward availability on Aer Lingus flights. The clunky Aer Lingus search is still there, but the Avios website allows a month by month view - and the ability to filter by Business class.

Long Haul

Head For Points today looked at the dire state of business class reward availability for a pair of long haul seats. But I thought it was worth looking at availability for just one reward flight.

Whilst availability to Denver, Newark, Miami & San Francisco still draw a blank, elsewhere the story is more rosy. In fact this the 882 days with flight availability from Dublin is over an order of magnitude better than HfP's 79 days.

So is availability for one seat eleven times better than for a pair of seats?

No! Aer Lingus has presumably been shamed into releasing a boat load more seats today. Or else somebody forgot to run the code over the past few months.

Just to be clear this table is just for ex DUB/SNN outbound flights - not return flights.

Sadly it's unlikely to be a Damascene conversion for Aer Lingus - they have a history of responding to articles on HfP ... and then quietly reverting to their bad old ways.

Search Tips

On the Aer Lingus site the airport code LON does not work as a search term - you have to use LHR. The same is currently the case on Avios.com when searching for Aer Lingus flights.

When the Aer Lingus site originally launched it would crash out if you searched for a one way flight and there was no availability. This mode of failure has reappeared on the Avios.com site - so always search for a return flight - even if there isn't availability in either direction it doesn't crash!

British Airways peak analysis - 2027 edition

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Head for Points recently published the Peak dates for Avios redemptions on British Airways in 2027, so following my analysis last year, and the previous year, it only feels right to update my spreadsheet and bash out some analysis!

Insert Headline Here

138 days in 2027 attract the higher rate of Avios - this is the lowest number in the past five years, when BA shifted to its current peak pattern, beating the previous best by a single day.

2025 139

2026 142

2027 138

Eagle eyed viewers may note that the 2026 total has dropped by one since last year's analysis - this is due to 1st April 2026 being swapped to off peak.

Day by Day three things I pray ...

To avoid travelling on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays!

Weekends continue to be more peaky than mid week, but 2027 Saturdays drop to 29 peak - with three more off peaks than 2026. Two more Sundays in 2027 are classified as off peak, with Mondays picking up the slack, showing an increase of two to 17.

Midweek peakiness shifts around with Tuesdays and Wednesdays both dropping by two, and Thursdays doing the heavy lifting - up to Monday levels at 17 peak days.

Hazy Shade of Winter

Summer is when airlines make their money ... and 2027 is no different. August continues to be peak peak, with all 31 days attracting top Avios. July drops by three days after the 2026 high (but still significantly higher than 2023 & 2024), with June dropping by two and September by one.

May is the new June with a six day drop after the 2026 high. February and October both gain three peak days in 2027 compared with 2026. Other months change by just a single day.

Look Around

A four day reduction in peak days in 2027 over 2026 is welcome.

Don't forget that other airlines using Avios use very different peak profiles.

So get your skates on and benefit from the six day reduction in May peakiness on British Airways in 2027.

London Council Leisure Centre Operators

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Back in the day, the council leisure centre was the butt of comedy shows. These days most councils have off loaded their gyms and leisure centres to third party operators.

A couple of years ago, I looked at how each of the 32 London Boroughs dealt with bicycle maintenance, and today we're going to look how each of London's 32 councils operate their gyms and leisure centres.

Better / Greenwich Leisure Ltd

First up, the behemoth that is Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) operating under the brand Better. With 105 sites across the capital, Better really is the Biggest. 15 boroughs use Better to operate most of their facilities, with Brent and Lambeth using Better for a single site each.

Better also operate their own facilities - so don't try adding up the numbers to reach 105 sites!

Barnet

Five sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/barnet

Brent

One site. Also three sites with Everyone Active.

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/wembley/wembley-leisure-centre

Camden

Six sites, including the excellent Swiss Cottage

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/camden

Croydon

Eight sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/croydon

Enfield

Six sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/enfield

Greenwich

Eight sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/greenwich

Hackney

Eleven sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/hackney

Hammersmith and Fulham

Three sites - and watch out for early weekend closing times

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/hammersmith-and-fulham

Hillingdon

Six sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/hillingdon

Islington

Eleven sites, including the impressive Archway and Highbury centres

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/islington

Kensington and Chelsea

Two sites - both of which are pretty good

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/kensington-and-chelsea

Lambeth

Just one site, in Vauxhall, but it's pretty decent. Eight NOT contracted out.

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/lambeth

Lewisham

Five sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/lewisham

Merton

Three sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/merton

Newham

Three sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/newham

Richmond upon Thames

Six sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/richmond-upon-thames

Waltham Forest

Eight sites

https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/london/waltham-forest

Everyone Active / SLM Ltd

EA like to say that they are the longest established leisure contractor in the UK, despite being rather eclipsed by GLL. EA are the prime operator for seven London Boroughs.

Barking and Dagenham

Three sites

https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/leisure-parks-history-and-culture/sport-and-leisure-facilities

Brent

Three sites. Also community and one operated by Better.

https://www.brent.gov.uk/parks-leisure-and-healthy-living/sports-clubs-and-activities/sports-centres

Ealing

Fourteen sites - some now community operated

https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201193/sports_centres

Harrow

Three sites

https://www.harrow.gov.uk/health-leisure

Havering

Five sites

https://www.havering.gov.uk/sports-fitness/leisure-centres

Sutton

Four sites

https://www.sutton.gov.uk/w/leisure-centres-in-sutton

Westminster

Six main sites, including the excellent Queen Mother Sports Centre

https://active.westminster.gov.uk/leisure-centres/

NOT contracted out

There seems to have been a move in recent years by councils to bring operations back in house - some run directly, some via a single council subsidiary.

The downside is that for many London residents their nearest leisure centres may be in different boroughs, so they need membership with different companies.

Haringey

Four sites

https://haringey.gov.uk/leisure-parks-culture/leisure-centres

Hounslow

Six main sites

https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/leisure-services

Lambeth

Eight sites. Also one still in Better.

https://active.lambeth.gov.uk/

Redbridge

Eleven sites

https://visionrcl.org.uk/leisure/

Southwark

Eight sites

https://southwarkleisure.co.uk/

Tower Hamlets

Seven sites

https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/leisure_and_culture/sport_and_physical_activity/leisure_centres_and_facilities.aspx

Wandsworth

Nine sites. Also seven operated by Places Leisure.

https://www.enableleisure.co.uk/

Places Leisure

Whilst running leisure centres across the country, just two London Boroughs choose PL as their operator.

Kingston upon Thames

Five main sites. Also some community operated.

https://www.kingston.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/parks-sports-and-activities/find-leisure-and-sports-centres

Wandsworth

Seven sites. Also nine sites NOT contacted out.

https://www.placesleisure.org/find-centre/

Lex Leisure

Operating 24 leisure centres and 6 golf courses across the UK, just one London Borough chooses LL as their operator.

Bexley

Three sites

https://www.bexley.gov.uk/services/parks-leisure-and-libraries/sport-and-fitness

MyTimeActive

Mostly just Bromley and some Birmingham golf courses.

Bromley

Eleven sites - including three golf facilities

https://www.mytimeactive.co.uk/locations

Bottom Line

Sometimes splitting up activities into 32 boroughs drives innovation and allows for risk taking. Sometimes it ends up with a jumble of services and artificial borders, negatively impacting residents.

With twelve different leisure centre operators in London - it looks like the latter is certainly the case.

Day Trip to the Hoverport at Boulogne-sur-Mer

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Last year The Tim Traveller created an excellent video about the last remaining Hoverport from the halcyon days of cross channel Hovercraft operations - at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Tim's video spurred the thought - would it be possible to do a day trip from London to Boulogne?

The easiest option would be to drive to Folkestone, take Le Shuttle, and drive straight to Boulogne.

But what about travelling without a car ... going by train to Dover ... and ferry Calais ... and train to Boulogne ... is that feasible?

Train to Dover

In order to make the 10.40am DFDS ferry (see below) you'd need the 7.10am train from Victoria (arriving Dover Priory 9.09am) or the Javelin departing St Pancras at 8.07am (arriving Dover Priory at 9.12am).

In order to make the 11.30am P&O ferry (see below) you'd need the 7.29am train from Victoria (arriving Dover Priory 9.31am) or the Javelin high speed departing St Pancras at 8.07am (arriving Dover Priory at 9.12am).

Ferry to Calais

Unfortunately there's only three P&O ferries a day which take foot passengers - with departures from Dover at 9.45am, 1.40pm and 4.40pm. P&O also have a 90 minute checkin deadline, so with the port being a 20 minute taxi ride from the station (or 30 minutes walk downhill or a 15 minute cycle), you'd need to get into Dover Priory by 7.45am / 11.40am / 2.40pm to make the checkin cutoff.

However, if you're on a bicycle all the P&O sailings become available, including the 11.30am departure (getting into Calais at 2pm) - and cyclists also benefit from a more civilised 60 minute checkin requirement.

Irish Ferries do not accept foot passengers or cyclists across the Channel. Thankfully DFDS do allow cyclists (but not foot passengers) on their services, including the 10.40am departure which arrives into Calais at 1.20pm with their slightly longer sailing time.

Train to Boulogne

Getting from the Port of Calais to Calais Ville station takes about 15 minutes by taxi, 20 minutes by bus, 15 by bicycle or half an hour walking.

The train from Calais Ville to Boulogne-sur-Mur takes just 27 minutes, with the slower service taking 32 minutes but delivering you into the centre of Boulogne at the Tintelleries station. The Calais Frethun service (as well as being 10km out of town) uses a TGV trainset. Trains operate every couple of hours.

Cyclists can bring standard bicycles on regional trains in the Haut France region without a reservation between start of November and the start of May (subject to space).

The Velo A Bord website from SNCF confirms that no reservation is needed until the end of April.

Getting from Boulogne-sur-Mer station to the old Hoverport takes about 45 minute walking, or 12 minutes cycling or 6 minutes in a taxi.

With the two hour gap between trains, on Saturdays the last train back from Boulogne to get to Calais in time for the 8.10pm ferry (see below) departs Boulogne soon after 5pm, arriving into Calais Ville just after 5.30pm. On weekdays there's departures around 5.27pm and 6.13pm which get into Calais Ville with enough time to catch the 8.10pm ferry.

Back to Blighty

The last P&O ferry which takes foot passengers departs Calais at 7pm arriving into Dover at 7.30pm - so you'd need to be at the port in Calais to check in by 5.30pm.

Cyclists have extra P&O ferry options including the 8.10pm departure (arriving 8.40pm) and the 10.25pm departure (arriving 10.55pm) - with a normal 60 minute checkin time.

Cyclists also have the option of DFDS ferries including their 6.05pm departure (arriving 6.45pm), the 7.35pm departure (arriving 8.15pm) and the 11.10pm departure (arriving 11.50pm) - also with a 1 hour checkin deadline.

London bound

Getting to Dover Priory station from the ferry terminal takes about 10 minutes in a taxi, 15 minutes on a bicycle or something over half an hour on foot.

The last direct train to London Victoria on Saturday departs around 10.15pm (taking just over 2 hours) and the last Javelin high speed train to St Pancras departs around 10.45pm (taking just over an hour).

On Sundays the last departure for London is before 10pm. On weekdays the last Victoria departure is around 9.45pm with the 10.45pm high speed Javelin departure the last of the day.

Pricing

Taking Le Shuttle for a day trip can cost around £100 for a car and up to nine passengers if booked in advance. If you wanted to travel tomorrow it would cost £148 plus fuel costs.

Taking the ferry, either as a foot passenger or on a bicycle, costs around £50 for the return journey. The return train from London to Dover is around £30 with a Network Railcard. And the return train from Calais to Boulogne about £17.50 giving a total of nearly £100 per person.

Conclusion

Since there aren't any trains from London that get into Dover in time for the 8.15am morning sailing checkin deadline - it is not possible to do this daytrip as a foot passenger.

Taking a bicycle opens up more ferries, with 8.07am Javelin from St Pancras connecting nicely with the 10.40 DFDS ferry, arriving at 1.20pm into Calais.

Taking the 2.34pm train from Calais Ville you would have a couple of hours in Boulogne before getting the 5.08pm service from Boulogne back to Calais.

Departing Calais on the 8.10pm P&O or the 7.35pm DFDS ferry would get into Dover in plenty of time to catch a train back to London.

Fred Olsen Express - Web Plus

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Booking a ferry from El Hierro to Tenerife the morning before flying out of TFS seemed a little risky, so I opted to spend some extra euros on a Fred Olsen Web+ fare in case the weather looked dicey and I needed to change to the previous day.

The Web+ fare came with "1 Free Consumption" ... but despite searching high and low I couldn't find any information about this free consumption that they spoke of!

Having successfully obtained my freebies, I'm sharing how it works.

My first advice is do what the locals do and queue early at the cafe. The ferry does roll significantly even in calm waters, so it's much easier to get your consumptions in before things get too sporty! I even saw one passenger being escorted / dragged around by a crew member as she was too unsure on her feet.

Secondly you need to decide what you want - your One Consumption means a Main Option (mostly sandwiches) + Drink + Snack (mostly crisps). You will hear the staff telling the people in front of you what the sandwiches options are long before you reach the front of the queue!

Once it's your turn you simply give them your name, and they find you on a list on their till, and then you place your order. No scanning your ticket or anything complicated.

For our party of three I ordered coffees, sandwiches and fruit. The lovely lady kept offering me crisps, and seemed to have so much fruit that we got double helpings!

Then the challenge is to get back to your seat without spilling your consumptions!

Comfort

If you choose to upgrade further you can pay for a Comfort fare.

This includes a more spacious lounge, but is probably only worth it in the height of Summer as the main cabin wasn't that busy when we travelled just after Christmas.

Here's what the Oro cabin looks like - take from the door as I was passing by!

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Back in September 2003 I flew on Concorde from Heathrow to JFK just a month before the iconic aircraft ceased commercial service.

And whilst I've flown on Boeing 747-400s over half a dozen times, I've never had the pleasure of flying on the final version of the Queen of the Skies!

Sadly there's only a handful of airlines which fly the Boeing 747 (either 400 or 8i) with the number gradually reducing year by year. Many of the B747s are flown by cargo airlines. And most of the remaining passenger aircraft are exclusively flown on long haul routes.

Air China's fleet of four B747-400 and five B747-8s do still get used on short haul flights.

So last year I booked a ticket on CA1557 from PEK to SHA in the hopes of getting a ride on the scheduled B787-8i, well aware that aircraft swaps regularly happen. Sadly an aircraft swap did indeed happen, and I ended up on an old Airbus A330.

Chastened by the the experience, I started to build a spreadsheet of when the B747-8i did actually operate CA1557 to see if I could establish any patterns.

With 15 months of data, the headline is that you have less than a 1 in 3 chance of riding a Queen if you book a random CA1557.

For those lucky enough to travel on the week commencing 14th April 2025 they had a 5 in 7 chance of a B747-8i, otherwise the best weeks had a 4 in 7 chance.

Sunday was the best day of the week with more than a 1 in 2 chance last year, with Wednesday having just under a 1 in 2 chance.

Spring and Summer Sundays

Between the end of March and the end of August, 20 out of 23 Sundays saw a B747-8i operating the flight. Of the three Sundays where a smaller plane operated, two of the following Monday saw the Queen in service.

Conclusions

For the best chance of catching a ride on a B747-8i you really need a flexible ticket, so that once an aircraft has been allocated a couple of days in advance, you can swap your flight if needed.

Book a seat on CA1557 on a Spring or Summer Sunday to give yourself the best chance of success.

Let me know if you find any other short haul flights with a decent chance of a B747-8i.

Total Solar Eclipse - 12th August 2026

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Back in 1999 instead of heading to Cornwall like normal people did, I took a trip to Compiègne in Northern France to see the Total Solar Eclipse. It was a stunning experience - my biggest memories are of the animals freaking out in the complete darkness ... and the packed train afterward going back to Paris with people crying trying to get to the toilets!

So with the first mainland European TSE since 1999 crossing Spain this August, it's time to plan a trip ... and hopefully avoid trains with people crying!

With the north coast of Spain typically having considerable cloud cover in August, my first thought was to fly to Valencia, hire a car, and head into the zone of totality. But then I saw that Spain's Mediterranean coast typically has some cloud cover in August as well.

So my next thought was to fly to Madrid, and either hire a car or even better take a train north to head deep into the zone!

With plenty of train lines north of Madrid, there are a good few choices that wouldn't need a car.

The three places with high speed links from Madrid that jump out are Calatayud (on the Zaragoza line), Burgos and Palencia.

Five months in advance, all the train services may not yet be available for purchase, so using Wednesday 10th June as a proxy, timings from Madrid are:

Calatayud - just over 2 hours, with a direct bus or three metros taking 40 minutes to get to Atocha station, and the high speed train taking 75 minutes non stop to Calatayud. There's a 2.30pm and 3.30pm departures from Atocha that gets in at 3.40pm and 4.40pm which cost around 30 euro.

Burgos - just under 2.5 hours, with two metros to get from the airport to Chamartín station, and then 100 minutes on the high speed train costing around 30 euro. There should be a 2.45pm departure that gets into Rosa Manzano station in Burgos around 4.30pm and a 5.40pm train that should get into Burgos by 7.30pm - but recollections vary!

Palencia - a bit over 2 hours, with two metros to get from the airport to Chamartín station, and then about 1.5 hours on the high speed train costing around 40 euro. There's a 3pm departure that gets into Palancia before 4.30pm and a 5pm train that would also get there in time.

Valladolid - about 1.75 hours, with two metros to get from the airport to Chamartín station, and then under an hour on the high speed train costing upwards of 10 euro. From 1pm there are seven trains that would get to Valladolid in time for the TSE.

Sleeping

With the TSE happening around 8.30pm it's too late to make the last flight back to London from Madrid. So where to lay your hat for the night?

Calatayud - virtually no accommodation available

Burgos - not much accommodation left, and crazy expensive

Palencia - virtually no accommodation available

Valladolid - 1 reasonably price place available on Booking.com

Segovia - a few reasonable places available

Zaragoza - virtually no accommodation available

Madrid - plenty of reasonably prices accommodation available

Trains back to Madrid

Extra trains may be scheduled closer to the time, but currently the last trains back to Madrid are:

Calatayud - there's normally a 9.35pm departure, but it's not currently available

Burgos - normally no Madrid departures after TSE time

Palencia - there's usually a 9pm and a 9,30p departure for Madrid

Valladolid - departures at 9.06pm and 9.23pm for 60 euro and 50 euro respectively

Segovia - departures at 9.44pm and 9.58pm for 40 euro and 60 euro respectively

Realistic Options

With the challenge of accommodation and trains back to Madrid, it seems like Valladolid (87 seconds of totality) or Segovia (56 seconds of totality) are the best options. Whilst it would be great to head deeper into the zone with Burgos experiencing 104 seconds of totality - it seems like it wouldn't be worth the extra 17 seconds of total darkness.

Times below are in GMT, so add 2 hours for CEST.

Flights

The cheapest option starts at £116 for return flights on Ryanair from Stansted.

More pleasantly timed flights are likely to be closer to £200 for the return trip.

There is even the odd Avios reward seat still available, but I never find London - Madrid a particularly good use of points.

Conclusion

With the challenge of accommodation and trains, it seems like Valladolid or Segovia are probably the more resilient options.

But prices / availability are likely to only go in one direction in the coming months!

British Airways CEO fireside chat

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

In April 2019 the then British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz gave a talk at the Royal Aeronautical Society's Heathrow Branch, and yesterday it was the turn of the current CEO Sean Doyle to give us his views.

In 2019 I left BA's hq with the impression that Cruz's primary mission was to tell you how great he was - that he deserved "both parachutes" in Father Ted terms!

I left the Waterside building yesterday with the impression that Sean Doyle is pretty much the opposite of Alex Cruz on that front. Sean even talked about the need to be yourself and that anything else would be seen as "fake" (high viz jacket reference?). He also talked about the need to avoid obsessing over networking, and just get on and do your job well.

Fireside Chat

Whereas Alex Cruz gave a structured talk, Sean Doyle chatted to Jonathon Counsell (an IAG director) so unfortunately a lot of the evening was spent listening to Counsell's views rather than Sean's. It almost seemed like Jonathon thought that he should be running British Airways!

Fleet News

After an initial run through the BA financials (very healthy), we got to hear about some of the upcoming aircraft changes. New First Class cabins on the A380 will be coming "later this year". At the same time the A380s will get the Club Suite during their D-Checks starting from mid Summer. Doyle did admit that BA left the old ying-yang seats without all aisle access on planes "probably too long". Sean thinks that the current fleet of 12 A380s is probably about right, and has no plans to buy any extra.

He pointed to the B777-9 order as sort of replacing the retired B747s. And the ordered A350-1000s with higher gross take off weight as replacing the older B777s in the current fleet.

Sean highlighted that the higher efficiencies of modern engines come with trade offs - and that the lower "time on wing" of the B787 engines illustrates this. He pointed out that B787 engine problems had plagued the type for around half of their operational lives!

Doyle doesn't think the A321XLR is right for BA's business. Neither did he sound optimistic about a future supersonic aircraft in the BA fleet. He did talk about the BA fleet shifting towards more long haul aircraft with the suggestion that the current fleet is too heavily weighted towards short haul.

And whilst British Airways will continue to launch the odd new US route, it sounded like he thinks they've almost maxed out on the USA. He specifically stated that he expected to open up "a bit more rest of the world and Asia" routes as the fleet rebalanced towards long haul.

He is also excited about the introduction of Starlink across the fleet which will mostly happen in the second half of this year and early next year. He wouldn't give an exact date but said he expected the first BA aircraft with Starlink (which he described as a "game changer") imminently.

BA Operations

Doyle repeatedly used the phrase "Culture eats Strategy for breakfast" as he emphasised the need for people to work together and to focus on execution. He explained the dramatic improvement in on time departures (up 20 percentage points in two years from a historic low) as partly being due to organising staff into "zone" teams and making sure everybody knew who their manager was.

He admitted that coming out of the pandemic the airline didn't have enough staff and didn't have enough experience and that their IT systems were "fragile". He repeated a journalist's report that he had been apologising even more than Boris Johnson for pandemic woes. But he pointed out that the day after the Heathrow fire shutdown in March 2025, the airline ran 94% of their schedule operation and achieved an 88% punctuality rate - despite planes and people being in the wrong places.

Frequent Flyers

Despite receiving 60 questions from the audience in advance of the event, Counsell only asked a handful, including just one on the changes to BA's frequent flyer scheme. Doyle defended the changes claiming that rewarding spend rather than flying was how airlines would have setup their schemes if they had the technology originally. And he insisted this is the way that the airline industry is moving, pointing out that all three big US carriers have already made the change.

Doyle also claimed that high spending, but low frequency travellers, not getting top tier status was "starting to be a problem", and claimed that the changes were only fair. He also outlined the additional opportunities to earn status points through holiday purchases, credit card spend etc. He expects to see Gold member numbers increase, and a reduction in Silver and Bronze - but admitted there would be "churn" across all tiers.

Sean also stated that the swap to awarding Avios points based on revenue spend had resulted in additional Avios being issued.

IT

Doyle admitted that the British Airways app had fallen behind expected industry levels. And he revealed that the brand new app is currently on it's 11th trial version. He stated it will (finally) be released "by the Summer" and expects the user experience to be much better very quickly once it's released. In contrast Virgin Atlantic has released their app with initially very limited improvements.

Sean said that last September he turned off the power to the old servers in BA's Cranebank building, and that all their data in now in the Cloud. He also mentioned that British Airways IT services are now back in house, and praised their IT director.

Heathrow 3rd Runway

Doyle emphasised that UK based airlines employ eight times the number of staff on home soil than foreign airlines operating out of UK airports. He is making a pitch for a "fair share" of additional slots that a third runway at Heathrow would bring.

He also pointed to the project risks involved in rerouting the M25 and the phenomenal costs, highlighting how much cheaper a second runway at Gatwick will be, and talked about passenger fees approaching £60 per person.

Sean also made the point that additional flights from Heathrow would mean chasing after connecting and more price conscious flyers - which would make an increase in passenger fees after a £49bn new runway even more of a problem.

Why Ireland?

As a closing question Counsell asked Doyle why so many Irish people lead airlines! Sean pointed to Irish people needing / loving to travel and how Willie Walsh and Alan Joyce had broken the glass ceiling. He even sounded positive about Michael O'Leary and respected his obsession with cost control. Earlier in the evening Doyle recounted that his first interview at British Airways in 1998 included a flight from Ireland to Stansted ... on Ryanair!

British Airways Avios needed per Mile Flown - Business Class

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Late last year British Airways increased the number of Avios required for redemption flights.

Sydney went from 145,000 Avios to 159,500 Avios

Santiago, Buenos Aires & Singapore went from 110,000 Avios to 121,000 Avios

Tokyo, Mauritius, HK, Brazil & Shanghai went from 100,000 Avios to 110,000 Avios

India, most of the Americas, South Africa & Nairobi went from 90,000 Avios to 99,000 Avios

Pakistan, East Americas, Middle East, Lagos & Accra went from 80,000 Avios to 88,000 Avios

Abuja & Jeddah went from 70,000 Avios to 77,000 Avios

Head for Points today updated their table of Avios needed per Mile flown in Business Class - so it was a good reminder to update the graph!

With the increase being roughly 10% across the board, the relative Avios per Mile required for different destinations hasn't changed. It is a useful reminder that generally the further you fly, the better the use of Avios. And that Riyadh & Lagos are poor redemptions in terms of miles flown.

Of course, the real value is comparing Avios redemptions with cash fares!

Heathrow - West Drayton or Hayes & Harlington hack

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 12:59:00 +0000

A few years ago Transport for London hit Heathrow travellers with price rises - which spawned the Hatton Cross hack.

As well as the tube charging a premium for airport travel, the Elizabeth Line also whacks on a hefty surcharge for venturing into the airport grounds.

A trip from Bond Street to Heathrow T5 will set you back an eye watering £13.90 with no discount for travelling off peak. At this price even the ludicrously expensive Heathrow Express starts to look reasonable!

But if you alight at West Drayton instead - which has up to 7 trains per hour in peak - you benefit from a massive discount! A whopping £10.10 off peak.

From West Drayton or Hayes & Harlington stations it's around 20 minutes on the bus into the Central Bus station for Terminals 2 or 3 - which uses up £1.75 of your saving.

If you just miss the bus at West Drayton, and if you don't have heavy bags, you may be able to canter down the road and jump on your bus at the end stop if there's a decent amount of traffic!

From West Drayton it's also easy to get to hotels or venues around the Bath Road - but to get to T5 it gets a bit more complicated with an extra bus or (free) tube / train required.

With the Heathrow premium applying to all Liz Line trips, this hack also works from other stations. So for example Ealing Broadway to Heathrow will set you back £8.40 or £7.50 off peak. But going to West Drayton costs just £3.20 or £2.30 off peak.

West Drayton is on the main Slough / Reading route rather than Heathrow spur - so if you're taking advantage of this saving, make sure you board the correct train!

There's also the 278 and SL9 buses from Hayes & Harlington to the Central Bus station - so you can take a Heathrow train and take a bus from H&H if that works better.

El Hierro to Tenerife South airport

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On Saturday 3rd January we have flights departing Tenerife South airport at 14:15 and 19:35

So today's question is - do we travel over to Tenerife on Friday 2nd, or wait until Saturday 3rd to move island?

There are two ferry companies which ply the route, but sadly Armas only operate six days a week - excluding Saturdays! Friday's fast ferry departs at 4pm, arriving into Los Cristianos at 6.30pm just as the sun is setting.

Fred Olsen is the other operator - thankfully sailing every day! Their Saturday fast ferry departs at 9am and arriving into Los Cristianos at 11.20am

Fred Olsen's Friday fast ferry departs at 2pm and arrives into Los Cristianos at 4.20pm

There are regular buses from Los Cristianos to TFS airport - or a taxi would take less than 20 minutes!

The other transport option is to fly - but the direct flights are to Tenerife North airport. There are plenty of Binter departures on Saturday 3rd January but for the 2.15pm flight it would need to be the first flight of the day!

The trip from TFN to TFS takes about an hour by bus, or about 45 minutes in a taxi.

Options - Decision Required

1. 9am Fred Olsen fast ferry on Saturday

2. 4pm Armas fast ferry on Friday

3. Fly on Saturday

Postscript

We decided to take the ferry on Saturday morning - which arrived into Los Cristianos pretty much on time, so made it to the airport on the Number 40 Express Bus in plenty of time

Just as well we didn't try and fly - as Binter cancelled all flights to El Hierro that day - mostly just before scheduled departure time!

Chinese Airlines Widebody Seat Pitch

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Since I'm probably going to book one of the big Chinese airlines for a long haul flight, here are their longhaul seat pitches in Economy

I'm using AeroLopa - which usually has the most up to date information

First off there's China Eastern

Their twenty A350s have a 3-3-3 layout and 31" pitch and 18" width

Their 20 B777s have a tighter 17" seat width in a 3-4-3 layout but with 32" pitch

They have two different A330-300s configurations - with either

a 17.3" seat width in a 2-4-2 layout and a 31" pitch or

a 17.8" seat width in the same 2-4-2 layout but with a 32" pitch

They have three different A330-200 configurations - with either

a 18" seat width in a 2-4-2 layout and a 32" pitch or

a 17.8" seat width in a 2-4-2 layout and a 32" pitch or

a 17.2" seat width in a 2-4-2 layout and a 32" pitch or

Next up is Air China

Their fourteen B787s have 17.1" width in a 3-3-3 layout and 31" pitch

Air China's six B747-8s have a generous 18" width in a 3-4-3 layout and 31" pitch

Their 28 B777s have 18" width in a 3-3-3 or 3-4-3 layout and 31" pitch

Their 29 A350s have 18" width in a 3-3-3 layout and 31" pitch

Their 28 A330-300s have 18" width in a 2-4-2 layout and 31" pitch

Their 21 A330-200s have 18" width in a 2-4-2 layout and 31" pitch

And finally China Southern

Their twenty A350s have 18" width in a 3-3-3 layout and 31" or 32" pitch

Their ten B787-8s have a 3-3-3 layout and 31" pitch and 17.3" width

Their twenty B787-9s have a 3-3-3 layout and 32" pitch and 17.3" width

Their fifteen B777s have a 3-3-3 layout and 32" pitch and 18.5" width

Their 22 A330s have 17.4" or 18" width in a 2-4-2 layout and at least 32" pitch

Conclusion

Avoid China Eastern's twenty 10 abreast B777s

Avoid Air China's twenty eight 10 abreast B777s

China Southern don't have any 10 abreast planes

Online Checkin

China Eastern opens online checkin 48 hours before departure

China Southern does not allow checkin from most foreign airports

Air China opens online checkin 36 hours before departure for direct bookings only

London to Seoul flights

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Looking for flights from London to Seoul in November - there are direct flights for £765 ... or single stoppers for just over £300 ... so one stop it is!

All the cheapest flights are with Chinese airlines - which overfly Russia - which can be both a moral and a practical problem.

But if you want to to avoid overflying Russia - the price jumps from around £300 to closer to £600

So I guess that I'll just have to put up with overlying Russia!

At least with the current Visa Free transit policy in China, it should be easy to connect in any of the main airports

There are three main Chinese carriers with good connections from London to Seoul, and whilst you can book using an Online Travel Agent, it's usually better to buy directly with the airline, so let's look at each of them.

Air China has the best website - starting with a good price matrix - and with prices that do actual stay the same after you click through!

The flight selection page is pretty good, with plenty of sort and filter options - including whether you want to fly via PEK or TFU

And then once you've chosen your flights - you get a good summary screen

Next up is China Southern - which starts off with an unimpressive date / price matrix

But then makes up for it with a good flight selection page - including bar graphs above each date to highlight the cheapest options

China Southern quotes the full return price on the outbound selection - and then offers the inbound flights with a "price difference" - which I quite like

With just a handful of flights via PKX and CAN - China Southern has the smallest choice of the three big airlines

And finally we have China Eastern with the strangest website of the big three - which starts off with a warning not to throw objects into the engines!

The pricing matrix isn't overly helpful - you have to click on each option and load the flights in order to generate a price - which sort of defeats the whole idea of a price / date matrix!

And to get a final price for your selected flights you have to enter all your booking details - so you will probably want to make up names / phone numbers / email addresses

And then in my case the price turned out to be quite a bit lower than the price matrix claimed!

So whilst China Eastern has the largest number of flights and the lowest prices - I would probably book them via an Online Travel Agent rather than directly!

Cycle Hire pricing in London

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Whilst I mostly cycle around London on my own (clapped out) mountain bike, occasionally I need to hire a bike. And since I couldn't find a useful comparison of bicycle hire companies - I decided that I should compile my own!

These prices are as at the end of September 2025. Different prices may apply in different parts of London if your local borough has negotiated special prices - such as Hackney. Most hire companies don't make it easy to find their prices - you often have to download the app, and company PAYG prices and bundle prices to find out how to get the best value.

Forest - formerly Human Forest

First off let's start with Forest - which operates across 18 London boroughs - from Heathrow borders in the west to Greenwich in the east. The different colouring on the map relates to the different bike parking rules - dark blue for Mandatory Parking bays and light blue for Preferred Parking areas.

With Forest the first unlock each day normally costs £2.50 with each subsequent unlock costing you £1 - and each unlock gives you 10 minutes of free cycling (ignore the 60 minutes in my screenshot below).

But Forest also have random bikes which only cost £1 to unlock - and these come with 30 minutes of free cycling.

After you've used your 10 minutes / 30 minutes free cycling you're then paying a whopping 29 pence per minute - which quickly adds up and becomes uncompetitive.

So Forest, like all hire companies, sell bundles. Apparently you need to purchase these in advance - it's not like Oyster price capping!

And the bigger the bundle, the longer the expiry time - 24 hours / 72 hours / 7 days / 30 days

These bundles also remove the unlock fee and the daily fee, so if you're going to use Forest bikes in the next 24 hours for 16 minutes [£2.50 + 6x£0.29 = £4.24] or 41 minutes for discount bikes [£1 + 11x£0.29 = £4.19] ... then you should get the £3.99 bundle before you unlock your first Forest bike.

When I first looked at the Forest pricing I thought that a couple of 20 minute rides would cost me £9.30 [£2.50 + £2.90 + £1 + £2.90] ... but as long as you purchase the 40 minute bundle in advance, you can get the two rides for £3.99

TfL - Santander Cycles

The original Transport for London bicycle hire system requires significant of docking infrastructure investment and has a much more limited coverage.

But if you're cycling from Hammersmith in the west to Stratford in the east, then it could work for you. Just remember that the vast majority of these bicycles are not ebikes! And you need to use the app to hire an ebike - you can't hire ebikes at docking stations.

TfL's charging system is straight forward - unlocking a pedal bike costs £1.65 and unlocking an ebike costs £3 with 30 minutes of free cycling. After that it's £1.65 or £3 for each extra 30 minutes.

But TfL have a (very simple) range of bundles, starting with the £3.50 Day Pass which covers all your pedal bike usage (up to 60 minutes each time), and just £1 per 60 minutes for ebikes.

So if you're going to use a TfL bike twice in a day, you're probably better off getting a Day Pass. I used a Day Pass a few weeks ago, and found that it was reasonably convenient to dock and undock bikes within every 60 minutes - even taking one from the eastern edge of the TfL zone out to Manor Park and back without getting charged!

Lime Bikes

The green behemoth currently operates in 17 boroughs across London - but this changes regularly, and it recently lost the license to operate in Hounslow.

Lime is also blocked from operating in certain areas (including Richmond Park), and has different parking rules in different boroughs - so watch out!

The basic unlock fee with Lime is £1 and they charge £0.29 per minute.

Lime also have their bundles - starting at £3.99 for 30 minutes

These bundles also remove the unlock fee, so if you're cycling for 11 minutes [£1 + 11x£0.29 = £4.19] then you're better off getting a bundle. Apparently Lime are better than Forest at offering you the bundle price if your cycle goes over 10 minutes.

Whilst all the apps take a toll on your phone battery - I found Lime's app particularly brutal!

Voi

When you open the Voi app it looks like they cover a decent chunk of London - but they don't separate their scooter and ebike areas. So the reality is a lot smaller than their misleading app implies - just Ealing, Hounslow, Kensington & Chelsea, Southwark and Hackney.

If you find yourself on the right side of the train tracks - Voi don't charge an unlock fee and they initially cost £0.20 per minute.

Voi's bundles start at £2.99 for 30 minutes (24 hours), £5.99 for 60 minutes (72 hours) and £10.99 for 120 minutes (7 days).

So if you're cycling for 15 minutes [15 x £0.20 = £3.00] then you're better off buying a 30 minute bundle.

Bolt

Whilst Bolt is well known for taxi services and cycle hire in other cities, it was only in June 2024 that Bolt announced it was entering the London cycle hire market. Currently Bolt only seems to be available in Kensington & Chelsea!

If you happen to be cycling within the borders of the royal borough, then Bolt don't charge an unlock fee, and initially cost a more reasonable £0.18 per minute.

Bolt's bundles include £2.99 for 30 minutes (24 hours) and £5.99 for 60 minutes (72 hours).

So if you're cycling for 17 minutes [17 x £0.18 = £3.06] then you're better off buying a 30 minute bundle - just don't try and sneak out of K&C.

Conclusion

Unless you are doing a single trip on a single day, then you will almost always be better off buying a bundle.

And make sure you use a company that will work in the boroughs you're cycling through!

Luton Airport Express - How Much Does it Really Cost?

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Luton Airport advertises their trains from London costs as little as "a tenner" - but what are you realistically going to pay?

Warning

Unlike the Stansted Express or the Heathrow Express - cheap Luton Airport Express tickets are only valid for a specific train. So if your flight is late, you will be charged for a new ticket or an upgrade fee. I have personally been charged for missing a train from Luton Airport Parkway station by 30 seconds - so this definitely does happen!

Alternatives

Whilst Luton Airport Express does all the advertising - don't forget that Thameslink also serves Luton Airport Parkway station. And whilst Thameslink trains usually stop more often, a through train from south London may be more convenient, especially with luggage. And if you're travelling from west or east London, the connection at West Hampstead (most Luton Airport Express trains don't stop there) is incredibly quick and may also be more convenient.

Today

If you want to travel today instead of "a tenner" you will be paying a whopping £24.10 or if you've got a suitable railcard you could get that down to £16.05

Tomorrow and Beyond ...

Booking a ticket for travel tomorrow is a mixed bag - some trains cost the full £24.10 whilst there are also trains for £10.70 and the odd one that's even under a tenner! Just remember that these tickets are only valid on the specific train - if you miss the train, you're in trouble.

Saturdays Good - Sundays Bad

There seems to be a pattern for the next few weeks of at least one cheap train every half hour, but plenty of trains are still expensive even when booking weeks in advance. Saturdays generally have more cheap trains, but weirdly Sundays seem to have fewer cheap trains.

Don't book 85 days in Advance

Whilst most journeys are cheaper if you book well in advance - Luton Airport Express has an 85 day penalty system! If you're too eager you'll only be able to book full fare tickets. Leave it until 84 days in advance, and some trains are indeed "under a tenner".

Flexiblity

If you're travelling to the airport, you will probably be happy booking a specific train. Or if you're prepared to spend plenty of time hanging out in the airport drinking expensive coffee, you may decide to book a cheap train from the airport giving plenty of time for your flight landing late, or your bags taking a long time to show up on the carousel.

However what about a ticket that gives you some flexibility?

Anytime Day Single

On most UK rail routes you can buy an Off Peak Day Single, or a Super Off Peak Day Single but Luton Airport Parkway and Luton Airport will only sell you an Anytime Day Single. Even if you book months in advance, you cannot purchase an off peak flexible ticket.

Super Off Peak weekend fares - Not Available

If you go one stop beyond Luton Airport Parkway, suddenly Super Off Peak fares are available - and especially at weekends they are very attractive. And of course these prices are further reduced if you have an appropriate railcard.

Conclusions

Travelling to the airport it's worth booking a cheap specific train in advance - but you only need to do this about a week in advance to get a decent fare. And by then you will know about any engineering works or planned strikes.

Travelling from the airport booking a cheap specific train probably isn't worth it. So you might as well just book an Anytime fare on your phone after you've actually landed whilst your plane is taxiing around Bedfordshire!

After being charged for missing my pre booked train, I no longer buy train tickets in advance when flying into Luton Airport.

Heathrow Express - How Much Does it Really Cost?

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 20:00:00 +0000

Heathrow Express is the train service from Heathrow T5 via T123 non stop to London Paddington. If you're coming from T4 you need to change at T123. With a journey time of around 15 minutes from T123 to Paddington it has historically been the most expensive train in Britain.

But with competition from Crossrail / Elizabeth Line, HEX is trying to broaden its appeal with £10 fares for 30 day advance bookings.

However if you've not got your travel plans nailed down 30 days in advance - how much will it really cost?

If you're travelling today or in the next three days you will be charged a whopping £25

But that drops to a marginally less eye watering £22 from day 4 to day 20

From day 21 to day 29 you will be paying a still unreasonable £18.50 for the 15 minute journey

And then the 46% price drop kicks in from 29 days to 30 days before departure.

Is this the biggest cliff edge in British train pricing?

In comparison Stansted Express takes 90 days to get down to their lowest price - using six different price points, with their biggest drop happening at the start of the slide.

Unlike the Stansted Express, HEX does recognise most Railcards (apart from the popular Network Railcard).

Other Transport Options

The Elizabeth Line costs £12.80 to Paddington station or £13.90 to other Zone1 stations.

Liz Line trains continue through Paddington into central London - avoiding a long walk in the station if you're changing from HEX to a tube or train and continuing your journey.

Whilst the whole of the Elizabeth Line accepts contactless payments - if you have a Railcard and are only using the Liz Line you are better off buying a paper or digital ticket. Remembering that with the Network Railcard a minimum fare applies on weekdays.

And of course the Piccadilly Line is even cheaper with a standard fare of £5.80 from Heathrow to Zone 1 - with a saving of up to £2.20 if you're prepared to do the Hatton Cross hack!

Conclusion

If your travel is nailed down over 30 days in advance, and Paddington is convenient for you, then maybe the £10 Heathrow Express fare will be attractive.

But for everybody else, HEX is unlikely to be a competitive option - despite what their ticket touts dominating Heathrow arrivals would have you believe!

London to Dublin - two Sail Rail hacks!

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 12:00:00 +0000

SailRail tickets combine your rail journey to a port, and your foot passenger journey on a ferry. Despite the rise in cheap flights across the Irish Sea, they are still popular on the Holyhead to Dublin route - especially at peak times or last minute, when air fares are extortionate!

The advantage of SailRail tickets are they are fixed price. So for example London to Dublin costs either £53.40 for an "Advance" ticket, or once they sell out it's £60.10 for the misnamed "Standby" fare. Tickets from elsewhere in both GB and Ireland are on a sliding scale, as per this old map - all ferries now serve Dublin port!

Most days there's a 9am train from London Euston which gives you 80 minutes to see the sights of Holyhead, before the huge Irish Ferries ship Ulysses pulls out of port and delivers you into Dublin around 5.30pm - where you stroll across the gangway back onto dry land.

If the journey that you want is showing as Sold Out / Unavailable - try booking Bangor (Gwynedd) to Dublin departing at 12:23 - the last stop before Holyhead. If this shows as available, you know that it's the train that's causing the problem rather than the ferry that's sold out.

Since the pandemic, Avanti require seat reservations for SailRail tickets - even though they always have a couple of carriages that don't have any seat reservations!

When I've encountered this problem I've tried multiple rail reservation websites, and none could overcome the Avanti block.

Avanti Hack

However, if you go to a mainline station with a ticket office, they should be able to sell you a ticket for the date you want, without a specific train. Since most stations only sell a handful of SailRail tickets it may take some time for them to work it out. And make sure they select correctly between Irish Ferries (Dublin Ferryport - DFP) or Stena (Dublin Port Stena - DPS).

Then it's just a case of getting past the Avanti staff at the gateline and onto the train with your open ticket!

Sunday Hack

The 9am direct train to Holyhead unfortunately doesn't operate on a Sunday (or if Avanti amend the timetable) - so you'll need to find a connecting route. If you want to get the 2.10pm Irish Ferries ship, rail reservation websites say you need to depart London Euston just after 8am.

However if you select Dublin Port Stena (for the later ferry) you can book connecting trains which should get you into Holyhead a tantalising half hour before the 2.10pm Irish Ferries departure.

With the last transfer bus to the ferry departing the terminal 20 minutes before the ferry leaves, if the trains are on time you can make the 2.10pm ferry - even though you can't actually book it.

Once you arrive at Holyhead station you need to go to the rail ticket desk (not the Irish Ferries or Stena ticket desk) and ask them to swap your ticket from Stena to Irish Ferries. As you enter the station/terminal from the platforms, the rail ticket window is on your right facing the ferry ticket desks.

When I did this recently the rail ticket staff member was rather confused and actually issued me a new ticket the same as the old ticket. But thankfully the Irish Ferries checkin staff let it go, and issued me a Ulysses boarding pass anyway. I guess they appreciated my effort!

So if you value an extra 40 minutes in bed and are willing to take the risk that you may end up on the Stena ferry if your train is late into Holyhead - then give this Sunday Hack a bash!

Stansted Express - How Much Does it Really Cost

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Stansted Express highlight their £9.90 Advance ticket price - but how much does it really cost for the 49 minute train journey from London Liverpool Street to London's third airport?

Of course the £9.90 fare is available - if you book a full 90 days in advance - and with no refunds or changes allowed, you may not consider that an appropriate purchase.

But if you need to travel in the next 12 days - you'll be paying an eye watering £25 for this short journey to Essex.

So what about everybody in between.

If you manage to book 13 days in advance you save £8 and get a single ticket for £17.

If you book 33 days in advance of travel you save a further £2 with a single costing £15.

If you purchase 48 days before travelling you save an extra £2 with tickets at £13.

A full 75 days in advance you save a paltry £1.50 on a £11.50 ticket.

And the final £1.60 saving is available for 90 day advance purchases.

Most people will probably be fairly confident of their travel arrangements 13 days in advance - but do you really want to book a non refundable ticket three months in advance?

If you're travelling in either direction after 10am or at weekends you should be able to get a Railcard discount (Network RC etc) - bringing the fare down to a slightly more reasonable £16.65

It can also be booked last minute - so you can be confident there aren't any emergency service alterations. When flying into Stansted (or Luton), I usually wait until we've actually landed, check trains are running, and only then book my train ticket on my phone.

But the Railcard discount can only be applied to the full £25 single fare - even if you're booking more than 12 days in advance, you don't get a discount on the Advance fares.

You also need to check for Engineering Works - especially if you're travelling at weekends. These are usually planned months in advance - so unless you're taking a punt on a 90 day advance booking, you can be fairly sure that any planned works are listed.

When the train line is disrupted (either planned or emergency), it's often better to take a coach service directly to or from the airport.

My coach of preference is the National Express A9 service direct to/from Stratford which has good tube connections, and avoids central London traffic. NEX A9 fares can be as low as £7 if booked well in advance - or as high as £17 for peak on the day bookings.

Conclusions

If you're travelling on a weekday after 10am or at weekends (and own a Railcard) - booking an "Anytime Single" with the Railcard discount gives you some protection if your journey plans change. And this can be booked through your normal company - giving you any discounts / rewards that they offer.

If you're travelling before 10am on a weekday - try and book at least 13 days in advance on the Stansted Express website to get the £17 fare.

If your travel is absolutely guaranteed - then go for the 90 day cheap ticket.

Hoek van Holland to Harwich - Day Ferry

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Fri, 30 May 2025 13:00:00 +0000

May bank holiday Monday - fares from Netherlands to the UK were a bit silly - even the Transavia flight from Rotterdam to Stansted was £119 and the Ryanair flights from Eindhoven to London had crazy prices.

I even looked into travelling by train to Calais, and then ferry to Dover, and train to London - but journey was totalling up to £134 ... and of course Eurostar from Amsterdam or Brussels was a truly stupid price, as per usual!

So I decided to spend the day on the ferry from Hoek van Holland to Harwich - and then the train from Harwich to London.

As per Seat61's excellent instructions - I booked the "Dutch Flyer" on Stena's Dutch website, avoiding my browser's offer to translate to english which stopped the website working properly. I paid 85 euro for the combined ticket - which was just 6 euro more than the foot passenger ferry fare. So about a 15 quid saving over and Advance Single train fare - and a huge saving over a flexible train fare!

Getting to Hoek van Holland

Of course the first task is to actually get to Hoek van Holland Haven station - and the NS website or app will likely route you through Schiedam Centrum.

I couldn't work out whether the mainline and Metro stations were separate - but they are actually both in one building with the rail tracks next to each other.

Arriving into Schiedam Centrum rail station from the north, for the quickest transfer you should be in a carriage near the back of the train … and if travelling west into SC then a carriage near the front of the train … and if you’re really lucky you might even get a cross platform change!

There’s only one platform exit - so go down the stairs / lift (not sure if there’s a down escalator) - turn left (the Metro sign could do with being bigger) - out through the mainline gateline … turn left and almost double back on yourself to go through the Metro gateline. There’s just two escalators up to the Metro platforms - with a sign above the bottom of each with the next destinations … so you can’t miss your Metro B destination "Hoek van Holland Strand".

Carrying a small rucksack down the stairs (from the wrong part of the train) and standing on the escalator up to the Metro platform took me 2 minutes 10 seconds - you can probably beat this by following these directions! This meant that I was able to catch the earlier Metro (every 20 minutes) than NS journey planner expected.

Hoek van Holland Haven station

Just north of Hoek van Holland Haven station is a very decent sized Albert Heijn supermarket - a proper one, not the overpriced “To Go” versions that are found in most Dutch train stations! Less than a five minute walk from the front of the Metro platform will enable you to stock up for your journey. And they have a reasonable choice of Stroopwafels - if you're into that sort of thing!

If you want a strong coffee - I got a good one to go from Cafe Prins Hendrik just down the road from AH for a reasonable 3 euro.

From the rear of the Metro platform it’s just a couple of minutes walk to the Stena building - you can’t miss it with the big Stena sign and the flags outside.

The spacious building suggests that it was built with serious passenger numbers in mind - maybe it still gets big numbers in the Summer holidays. The toilets are reasonable and there’s even a coffee machine if you don’t have time to go get a proper one!

Two members of Stena staff were scanning passports and issuing boarding passes. They don’t need your reservation number - you just hand over your passport and their system matches it with the details you’ve already submitted, and they print your boarding pass. You get offered a map of the ferry - and reminded that all passenger facilities are on deck nine.

A few steps further on a couple of Dutch police complete exit formalities - stamping British passports or just scanning EU passports.

Then it’s a decent walk up to board the ferry itself - there’s a few incline travelators to help but only one was working on the day I travelled. Although there was one man working on the broken ones! There are good views out both sides to the ferry and into town to take the edge off the hike! And kudos to Stena for avoiding the use of a bus to board foot passengers - it's great not to have to wait and be squashed into an old wreck of a bus!

To give you some context - you enter the building on the left of this photo (with the white poles on top) ... and you board the ship through the gangway on the right of this photo. It doesn't feel crazy long - but it does add up!

Hoek of Holland Strand

If you have some spare time before your 45 minutes Stena checkin cut off - then why not stay on the Metro one stop beyond Hoek of Holland Haven station, and go visit the beach! Just down the line is the lovely Strand station - where you can spend 23 minutes / 43 minutes / 63 minutes before catching the Metro back to the Haven station (all of 0.33 euro for the 3 minute journey).

It's not the most amazing beach in the world, but you get a good view of the ships coming in and out of Rotterdam. And there's a decent number of cafes and restaurants - but I didn't stop to sample their output, so can't vouch for the quality!

Stena Brittanica / Hollandica

Most of my ferry experience in recent years is on the Irish Ferries Ulysses - which has a great mix of different outdoor areas and indoor spaces. I found the Stena Brittanica (the Hollandica is identical) a bit of a let down. The only official outdoor area is at the rear of deck 9 - and once the ferry gets up to full speed the engine noise and vibrations aren’t pleasant.

I realised late in the crossing that if you go up to deck 11 inside the ship and look for the orange staircase - you can then get outside on a nicer deck with a couple of benches.

I found the indoor areas got quite stuffy on my journey - which was a busy daytime May bank holiday Monday - but it wasn’t completely rammed. The WiFi on the ferry was pretty woeful (as it also usually is on the Ulysses). One thing that's great about the Stena Brittanica is the outdoor enclosed mini football space - which the kids loved. Sadly on our crossing once we were out to sea it got too windy for much use.

Weirdly the Truckers Lounge was completely empty - which was such a waste when the rest of the ship was so busy. Surely Stena should declassify it when there are virtually no truck drivers on board?

The loading of our ferry was late - finishing about 15 minutes after our scheduled departure. And the waterways around Hoek of Holland are so busy that we waited another 15 minutes to depart our berth. Amusingly we had barely cast off before Stena announced that the duty free shops were open!

With my AH food in hand I didn’t use the ship's catering outlets - but they mostly seemed to serve the usual burger and chips fare. I did have a coffee - which was ok and cost 3.50 euro. But it wasn’t good enough for me to have a second one!

As with all big ferries, the last mile into port takes a relatively long time as the ship gradually loses speed / energy. You get to see the port of Felixstowe on the north side of the estuary, which looks a bit feeble after the enormity of Rotterdam. But we did get to see Evergreen's "Ever Given" - made famous for six days it spent blocking the Suez Canal! You also pass the town of Harwich on the way into the Stena berth.

Some ferries leave you guessing until the last minute as to which side or even which deck you will disembark - but Stena gets points for having the Harwich and Hoek exit points clearly marked. The only trouble is that the queue wasnt very well managed - one of the crew even accidentally facilitated queue jumpers!

Since we were 25 minutes late arriving into Harwich (although the Stena Sailing Updates page didn't update), I wanted to be off quickly to avoid getting stuck in the passport queue, to ensure I didn’t miss the next train. So I queued up instead of watching the ship dock - which can be a bit of fun - but I didn't want to add an extra hour onto the already long journey!

After a short walk down some gangways … we came to two Border Force agents checking passports, supported by two (presumably Special Branch) plain clothed coppers. My passport was scanned and I was on my way quickly. I passed some luggage carousels that weren’t being used (maybe they see action in the summer) and immediately you leave the Stena section you are into the train section - it's all one building. I timed it from the foot passengers being released to arriving onto my platform at five and a half minutes.

I was so fast that I had time to wander around the station before my train. The station toilets were ok. There was a coffee vending machine that sadly wasn't working, and a drinks vending machine that charged £2.20 for everything!

I caught a train that just went a few stops to Manningtree station. In Manningtree the fast London train went from the other side of the same platform.

Both the East Anglia trains were fine - the restricted leg room is a bit shocking after the generous space that you get on NS trains. But on the plus side there was power provided on both the East Anglia trains I used, and neither service was busy.

The ticket inspector on the train seemed a bit surprised by my Sail Rail ticket - but he did check the date of my ticket. And arriving into London the gateline guy saw that I had my printout (Stena tell you to print it) and just waved me through.

Final thoughts

Maybe I'm spoiled by the Irish Ferries Ulysses, or maybe the extra journey time was just a bit too much for me - but I wouldn't be rushing back to do a daytime crossing on the Hoek to Harwich route. I might try doing an overnight crossing - where you should get a decent night's sleep.

Terschelling and Vlieland islands - Daytrips

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Wed, 28 May 2025 17:00:00 +0000

After extensively investigating the different options for visiting Tershelling and Vlieland islands - I eventually settled on being based in Harlingen and doing daytrips ... which worked out well.

Getting to Harlingen

The extensive rail network in the Netherlands means that it's fairly straightforward to get anywhere in the country by rail. I flew into Eindhoven Airport from Stansted - which meant taking one of the regular buses to the Central Station (2.83 euro using a Contactless card) ... and then a couple of trains (31.20 euro using Contactless).

The Dutch railway system is so user friendly that you don't have to buy a ticket - you just tap your Contactless payment card at the gateline when you enter, and again when you leave ... and the relevant price is charged to your card. The NS app is very helpful - and shows the destination of the train that you should board. Don't make the mistake I did a couple of years ago and board a train for Zwolle just because you know you need to change in Zwolle!

Just be aware that Dutch trains don't have any catering facilities - so you need to buy your coffee in the station before boarding. And most of the NS trains that I used over the weekend didn't have any power sockets. Both the Arriva trains did provide power.

To get to Harlingen you must change in Leeuwarden - where you need to tap out of the NS network (yellow), and tap into the Arriva network (turquoise) - with the NS app reminding you to do it. There are card readers at the end of most platforms in Leeuwarden, and lots of other travellers were doing the same. I had no problem changing trains and doing the tapping within the scheduled 6 minutes. And the Harlingen train does wait if your train into Leeuwarden is late.

If you're travelling in the evening you may have a half hour wait at Leeuwarden - but there's an Albert Heijn To Go in the station itself. You can go through the barriers to wait in the station - worth the small extra charge for splitting your journey!

Arriving into Harlingen you have the choice of getting out at the town station - apart from the Jumbo supermarket there isn't much around the station. The Haven station is right on the western edge of the town and close to the ferry terminal.

Staying in Harlingen

I started looking for two nights accommodation a couple of months before arriving, and didn't find a lot of choice. Eventually a few weeks before arrival the only reasonably priced good options were an AirBnB place in the centre of town and the B&B Zeehoeve just to the south of town. We went for the "tiny house" in the centre of town - which turned out to be a good choice.

Harlingen itself is a lovely town, full of canals and old houses, with plenty of food and drinking opportunities. It was relatively quiet in May, but I'm sure it gets busier in the Summer - especially in the school holidays. Many of the restaurants shut surprisingly early starting from around 9pm - and many were fully booked when we tried to get a table.

Eetcafe Noottgedagt is the number one rated restaurant on Tripadvisor, and looks great both outside and inside - but they were fully booked when we tried. We ended up eating Cafe Restaurant t'Noorderke - which was a lovely place, with friendly staff and great food.

There's also a good size Albert Heijn supermarket near the Haven train station. It stocks a decent range of goods and is open until 10pm Monday-Saturday and until 6pm on Sundays.

Ferries to the Islands

Our AirBnB host reminded me that booking daytrips to the islands online in the advance gives a better price as well as giving the option of a "package" including bicycle hire for just 5 euro extra. We did this both days, although we misunderstood the 10% voucher that came with the "package" - and failed to get reductions on the coffee and beverages we bought on the ferry! And the fast ferry doesn't have a cafe!

Some of the ferries back to Harlingen do get fully booked - especially on a Sunday evening, so keep an eye out on how many spaces are left, and try and book once you've seen the weather forecast and decided what you're doing.

The ferry terminal is close to town and is an excellent facility. The staff at the ticket desk were pretty helpful (although they could have better explained the 10% voucher) when printing our tickets. There's a handy little shop in the building, which even includes mobile phone cables in case you (also) forgot yours! The ferry company operates a nice looking cafe restaurant in the building where the 10% voucher is also valid.

Downstairs in the basement (lift available) the toilets are clean - although they did get very busy when a boat load of people arrived into port. And there are 12 huge left luggage lockers down next to the toilets - which never got full over the weekend.

The ticket desk staff happily exchanged my two 1 euro coins for the 2 euro coin I needed to pay for the locker for the day.

Vlieland

Doing a daytrip to Vlieland is very simple - there's a ferry departing Harlingen at 9.10am and the last ferry back to Harlingen departs at 4.50pm (with a later fast ferry on a Sunday that gets into Harlingen at 8pm). The six hours on Vlieland is a decent amount of time to cycle around most of the island, stopping off to see the main sights.

Whilst the ferry website tells you to be at the terminal 30 minutes before departure - you really only need to be there about 15 or 20 minutes ahead of time. There were still people boarding around 10 minutes before we pushed off.

The tourist information office "VVV Vlieland" is just as you come off the ferry - but we forgot to hand over our "package" voucher to receive our freebies! The most useful thing in the VVV office was this big island map on the wall showing the bicycle routes in red.

The bicycle hire voucher from the ferry company can be used in any hire shop on the island. We just went to the nearest one to the ferry building - Jan van Vlieland. Their bicycles weren't great - a bit uncomfortable after a couple of hours, with rather stiff gears, and not enough suspension. I would definitely try one of the other nearby hire shops if going again.

The voucher can alternatively be used for a day long bus pass.

The main street through the village (there is really only one village on the island) is a bit Disney esque - even in the rain it was charming! There are plenty of places to eat, caffeinate, buy tourist stuff and even a small supermarket. Just be aware that some shops (including the bakery) shut for an hour or so over lunchtime.

One of the main sights on Vlieland is the Lighthouse - which officially closes at 12.30pm at weekends, whilst some days it's only open in the afternoon. Luckily the day we were on the island there was a big group visiting, so the lighthouse stayed open late, and we managed to get in. It's well worth the 3 euro fee to climb up the inside, get some great views across the island, and descend the vertiginous stairs on the outside of the building.

From the lighthouse we cycled along the "main road" right the way to the most westerly point on the island we were allowed. The western third of the island is a military zone - Kamp Vliehors.

The most westerly human habitation is the Posthuys - a cafe restaurant. We stopped for a coffee and to use their facilities! There were plenty of people eating full meals here. This is also the most westerly point served by the Vlieland public bus. And it's also the point where day trippers from Texel island are deposited.

After our mediocre coffee, we took the wonderfully deserted cycle track along the northern side of the island back towards the east. Along the way we stopped at the Bunker Museum Wn12H. This is a seriously impressive establishment - with a mix of excavated original concrete structures, and reconstructed wooden huts. Apart from a handout map in english with brief descriptions, all the displays in the different huts and buildings are exclusively in Dutch.

The displays inside and outside the buildings are a rather eclectic mix of wartime items - including this wonderfully displayed propellor. The standard entrance fee is 8 euro - so it's worth spending the best part of an hour to take in the extensive site.

With the rain starting in earnest, we donned our waterproof trousers and continued cycling to the eastern end of the island in search of the Fortuna brewery. I had hoped to source some local beer, but they didn't have a shop, and the upstairs bar was quite busy. With limited time until our ferry, we left empty handed!

We had actually started our day with a visit to the Commonwealth War Graves in the grounds of Nicolaaskerk. The church itself is worth a visit - I've never seen so many model ships inside a place of worship! And the helpful member staff hands out a leaflet in english explaining the different items in the church. The cemetery is also worth a visit.

Overall I'd highly recommend Vlieland for a day out if you like this sort of thing!

Terschelling

The choice of ferry to Terschelling is a bit more complicated than Vlieland - you have to choose between the 8.15am fast ferry or the slow one which only gets to the island at midday.

We got up early and arrived at the ferry terminal at 7.50am to put our bags in the locker - having collected our tickets and vouchers the evening before. The Sunday morning fast ferry wasn't busy, but be aware that you're supposed to stay seated for the 50 minute journey - and there's no cafe!

We were a bit more organised this time (monkey learns) and went straight to the tourist office on arrival in Terschelling and presented our "VVV voucher". This meant we each received a handy drawstring backpack bag, as well as some brochures. Again the most useful thing was the huge map of the island on the wall of the VVV office.

The helpful staff member suggested that with the strong wind, we'd be better cycling against it on the inland cycle path rather the more exposed main road or polder dyke - which is what we did.

The bicycle voucher can be used in any hire shop - we just went to the Tijs Knop shop near the VVV office. Their bicycles were definitely a cut above the ones we used on Vlieland, with more comfortable saddles and better suspension. Just like on Vlieland, the voucher can alternatively be used for a day long bus pass.

Cycling east (with the wind on our backs) we did a mix of dyke cycling (great fun) and used the bike path beside the main road to see some of the villages. I didn't find the villages as interesting as the ones on Ameland or the main village on Vlieland - but maybe a Sunday morning with everything closed isn't the best time to visit!

The village of Formerum does have a good size Jumbo supermarket - but only "smart" shoppers are welcome!

Before long we were at the eastern navigable limit of the island - the last quarter of the island is a nature reserve for hiking only. We'd cycled 20km by now - so probably enough with the wind against us on the way back.

With the village of Oosterend being the end of the main road, it was probably the busiest place on the island with people stopping for lunch in the sunshine. We skipped the crowds and cycled back along the excellent cycle track with a parallel horse track.

Along the way we stopped to caffeinate (strangely no toilets at the Patatelier Prell cafe) and we also stopped at the Bunker Museum / Tiger Stelling complex. You can visit the outdoor section (including this German "Rettungsboje" rescue buoy) without entering the Museum. After visiting to the Bunker Museum on Vlieland the previous day we opted not to visit this one.

Before long we were back in the main town of West Terschelling and we stopped at the Commonwealth War Graveyard on the way into the centre.

The main point of reference in West Terschelling is the lighthouse at the top of the town - you can see it from the far end of the island. It's not a bad looking structure, but probably won't win any design awards!

Then it was time to hand back the bicycles, and grab a quick drink at the beautiful Raads Cafe before getting the Tiger fast ferry back to Harlingen. We needed the quicker option because we had to catch a couple of trains to get to Amsterdam. If you can take the extra 70 minutes, then worth getting the slow ferry - and using your 10% discount voucher on food and drink!

Another great island daytrip - with the added bonus of lots of sunshine.

Ameland Island

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Sun, 18 May 2025 12:00:00 +0000

In May 2023 I visited Ameland island - here is how I did it!

I decided to stay in the city of Leeuwarden for the weekend, and make a daytrip to the island.

Getting to Leeuwarden is straightforward - with Dutch trains being frequent and not even requiring a ticket. Pretty much all mainline train stations now accept Contactless cards - so you just tap in and tap out.

The only mistake I made was jumping on the first train to Zwolle, rather than the Groningen train that ran fast to Zwolle! But there's so many trains that it wasn't much of a problem.

The city of Leeuwarden is great - canals, old houses, little shopping streets ...

And an excellent ceramics museum - Princessehof

Getting to Ameland from Leeuwarden starts off with a bus to the port of Holwerd. This departs from the very well organised bus station adjacent to the train station. Bus bay letters are so big you can't miss them!

It was a pleasant bus ride to Holwerd, where you purchase your ticket for one of the regular ferries over to Ameland.

There were lots of families with kids and dogs going for a few days - so they put their own luggage onto the cart ...

Which drives onto the ferry first ...

And then it's a self service collection system at the far end - all very straightforward and Dutch !

Whilst lots of the locals brought their own bicycles onto the ferry - there are also plenty of bicycle hire shops on the island, including some near the ferry harbour.

Ameland has numerous cycle tracks - most of which are fairly flat - so you hardly ever even see a vehicle. Some of the high quality tracks are parallel to main road, with bicycles banned from the road.

Ameland is mostly a low key relaxed island - the highlight is probably the impressive lighthouse.

Amongst the other sights is an impressive propellor sculpture.

And of course the World War II cemetery containing Commonwealth Graves.

At the end of the day I dropped off my hire bike, caught the ferry back to the mainland, and the connecting bus back to Leeuwarden. A very enjoyable day out.

British Airways Avios Peak date analysis - 2025 & 2026 edition

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

British Airways charge a different number of Avios frequent flyer points for reward flights to encourage members to use their points during Off Peak times.

Each year they tweak the mix of Peak and Off Peak dates slightly - so after Head for Points recently published the 2025 and 2026 calendars, it's time to dive in and have a look.

First off - the headline number of peak days - holding steady in 2025, but increasing by 3% in 2026.

2023 139 days

2024 139 days

2025 139 days

2026 143 days

Let's take a look at the month by month breakdown of Peak days

Between January and April there aren't any big changes for 2025 and 2026, but May sees some inflation in Peak days both in 2025 and in 2026. July and August also see inflation with the former gaining 6 days over two years, and the latter becoming an Off Peak free zone in 2026.

Whilst September and October are largely in line with prior years, November gains some Peak days whilst December loses some Peak days.

Next let's take a look at a breakdown by weekday of the Peak days

Mondays are a good day to travel in 2026 - with the lowest ever number of Peak days.

BA are now reversing the trend of recent years and doubling the number of Peak Tuesdays between 2024 and 2026.

Wednesdays and Thursdays see a slight reduction in Peak days.

Fridays are a bad day to travel in 2026 - with the highest ever number of Peak days.

Saturdays and Sunday continue the 2024 trend with nearly two thirds of each treated as Peak.

Conclusion

Whilst 2025 generally follows the pattern from 2024 - there are some big changes in 2026.

2026 Losers - Tuesday & Friday travellers and July & August travellers

2026 Winners - Monday travellers and January & April travellers - so plan your weekend breaks to travel on a Monday!

Don't Forget

This analysis only applies to British Airways - Aer Lingus and Iberia each have different dates - check Head for Points for each of their Peak calendars.

And if you book an Aer Lingus or Iberia redemption on the British Airways website - don't expect BA.com Off Peak badges to be correct.

Iberia reward pricing in Y

noreply@blogger.com (independent traveller) — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 11:50:00 +0000

I've always been confused by Iberia economy reward pricing - so with the new Madrid to Fortaleza service having wide open availability, it's a good route to discover how it works. Good luck finding one of the 14 business class seats on the A321XLR to Fortaleza available for Avios redemption though!

First off let's see what British Airways charge for a London to Fortaleza redemption.

Assuming we value an Avios at 1p, the best option is 13,000 Avios and £560 - the equivalent of about £690 for the return flight.

If you have an Amex 2-4-1 voucher it's the 52,250 Avios and £265 x2 option that offers best value - the equivalent of about £527 per person.

Cash fares on Iberia seem to be over £900 and TAP are selling seats for around £820 - meaning Avios redemptions do represent reasonable value. There's also the advantage with reward tickets of being able to cancel them for a very modest fee.

Now let's have a look at what British Airways charge for a Madrid to Fortaleza redemption.

Again the best option is the smallest number of Avios - 8,500 and £317 - the equivalent of about £402 for the return flight. This represents a saving of about £288 over the London option.

If you have an Amex 2-4-1 voucher it's the 34,000 Avios and £117 x2 option that offers best value - the equivalent of about £287 per person. This represents a saving of about £240 per person compared to the London option.

Now let's look at Iberia. For Economy reward flights, sometimes Iberia offer a choice of Economy Class or Blue Class. Often you will not see the Blue Class option - or it may only be available on some of the sectors of a trip.

It's taken me years to understand the difference - but essentially the Blue Class is slightly cheaper (as we'll see in a minute) but has modest fees for changes and cancellations.

Google AI currently says that Blue Class tickets do not come with free seat selection - but Iberia's website claims that they do. I haven't tested it out, so cannot confirm which is true!

So back to the Madrid to Fortaleza reward booking on Iberia - selecting Blue Class for both sectors gives the following options:

I currently have 20,000 Avios sitting in my Iberia account - hence why some options come with the "Buy Avios" heading. Once again it's the smallest number of Avios which offers best value - 8,500 and £317 for around £402 in total. This matches exactly the BA website price.

Upgrading both sectors to the Economy Class option produces:

The 8,800 Avios and £347 option is the best choice - around £435 in total. So upgrading from Blue Class to Economy Class costs around £33 in this instance - and for that you're avoiding the 25 euro change/cancellation fee. Often there will only be Economy Class reward seats available.

Just for completeness I checked the London to Fortaleza options on the Iberia website. After some difficulty selecting Blue Class for all four sectors (I found that selecting Blue Class on the long haul sector first before the short haul helped) - Iberia eventually offered the same Avios options as British Airways, but all the payments were £6 higher than on BA.

Conclusion

Using this economy reward flight example, the saving for starting in Madrid is around £288 - with the requirement to buy a London to Madrid return, and losing the protection of a through ticket.

If you were using a 2-4-1 Amex voucher the saving would be about £240 per person.

So whilst the savings from Madrid on Business Class redemption flights are often so much bigger than it can justify booking separate tickets - for me on Y redemptions it's just not worth it.