virgin trains
Mar. 28th, 2005 12:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
memelainaWhoopee-do for Virgin Trains! http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/default.aspx I just did an e-ticket for my trip from York to Heathrow and saved about 30 pounds by buying the ticket ahead of time. It used to be that you could only do this if you had an address in the UK, but now you can get a swift little magic number that you enter at the "Fast Ticket" machine at a particular station and it zips out your ticket. With the pound edging up towards $2, this is a real savings.
And what am I doing in York and at Heathrow? First, I'm attending the Leeds University Conference on Food History which is being held at the Friends Meeting House in York on 16 April. (and the reason why it is held in York and not in Leeds is an even longer story...) I have been for the last three years, and was planning to go this year at my own expense. Then my boss in Brussels says he wants me to attend a global meeting in the UK. So I tell him I am going to be in the UK the weekend of the 17th. Oh, that's MUCH too late, he says, we need to hold this before the end of March, and he'll give me the exact dates "soon". So I go ahead and buy my USair tickets in and out of Manchester and get my leave approved for the conference. Then he comes back and says he's scheduled the meeting for the 20th and 21st of April, and there I am planning to fly back to the US on Monday the 18th - and then out again on Tuesday the 19th? Excuse me, I think not! So I put my personally paid for USair tickets on hold (for a fee of $200) and have the company buy me a ticket leaving the 14th and flying back Friday the 22nd after the meeting is over. And is this the end of the story? Indeed not. Now, with the company-purchased tickets confirmed, Mr. Brussels changes the meeting date to the 19th and 20th.
So I'm flying into Manchester on the morning of the 15th, taking a train to York, staying in York Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and then Monday training down to Heathrow to rent a car and head to Reading for my meetings. And if you think I'm going to put in for a day of vacation for Thursday the 21st before flying home on the 22nd, then perhaps you really don't understand the corporate mindset.
But I do need to make reservations to stay somewhere in York for three days, and then decide what to do with Thursday the 21st that I can do within an easy drive of Heathrow. My SO and I did a similar trip two years ago and spent the day at Fishbourne and then at the Weald and Downlands Open Air Museum. I'm very tempted to do that again, despite the repetition. Anyone else have ideas for a day trip in that area?
And what am I doing in York and at Heathrow? First, I'm attending the Leeds University Conference on Food History which is being held at the Friends Meeting House in York on 16 April. (and the reason why it is held in York and not in Leeds is an even longer story...) I have been for the last three years, and was planning to go this year at my own expense. Then my boss in Brussels says he wants me to attend a global meeting in the UK. So I tell him I am going to be in the UK the weekend of the 17th. Oh, that's MUCH too late, he says, we need to hold this before the end of March, and he'll give me the exact dates "soon". So I go ahead and buy my USair tickets in and out of Manchester and get my leave approved for the conference. Then he comes back and says he's scheduled the meeting for the 20th and 21st of April, and there I am planning to fly back to the US on Monday the 18th - and then out again on Tuesday the 19th? Excuse me, I think not! So I put my personally paid for USair tickets on hold (for a fee of $200) and have the company buy me a ticket leaving the 14th and flying back Friday the 22nd after the meeting is over. And is this the end of the story? Indeed not. Now, with the company-purchased tickets confirmed, Mr. Brussels changes the meeting date to the 19th and 20th.
So I'm flying into Manchester on the morning of the 15th, taking a train to York, staying in York Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and then Monday training down to Heathrow to rent a car and head to Reading for my meetings. And if you think I'm going to put in for a day of vacation for Thursday the 21st before flying home on the 22nd, then perhaps you really don't understand the corporate mindset.
But I do need to make reservations to stay somewhere in York for three days, and then decide what to do with Thursday the 21st that I can do within an easy drive of Heathrow. My SO and I did a similar trip two years ago and spent the day at Fishbourne and then at the Weald and Downlands Open Air Museum. I'm very tempted to do that again, despite the repetition. Anyone else have ideas for a day trip in that area?
