London, a world City?

There are cities and there are cities. What I mean is, most cities are run-of-the-mill cities but others are international cities which are center of commerce, finance, education and great tourist attractions. These are what I would call world cities much visited by businessmen, government and other officials, diplomats, and of course, tourists.

London, once capital city of the world

There was a time when London was the center of an empire on which the sun never set, and my country was a part (colony) of that empire. When my country did not have a Patent office, I had to file (and successfully obtained) for a patent from the London Patent office via a London patent agent. My country still has plenty of ties with London. Many of our important personalities and leaders obtained their tertiary education form London, including many of the royalties and former Prime Minister. Many parents from my country send their children to London for their education. When it comes to graduation time, expect them to make a bee line to attend their children's graduation ceremony (convocation).

For them, I would suggest that they book their accommodation in advance, preferably online via websites like London Hotels. I am giving this advice from personal experiences from travel around Europe during the time when the word Internet or World Wide Web hadn't even been coined yet.

One hotel I may consider would be Covent Garden Hotel London. From this site, the hotel had been described the City’s business center, Soho and the Royal Opera House being within walking distance. Plus it seemed to be furnished with lots of modern gadgets like CD system, cellular telephone, voicemail, etc. as well as having spacious rooms and luxurious bathrooms, etc. However, that is a 5 star hotel, and I doubt I can afford or be willing to pay its room rates although those with deeper pockets and/or willing to pay for what they want may have different perception.

Maybe I would go for 1 star hotels like Ascot Hyde Park Hotel London. It is near the famous Hyde Park and not very far from Oxford Street.

Cheapskate guide to cheap flight tickets

I am shouting to the world, I am a cheapskate. I hate waste and have no use for expensive air tickets for luxurious air travel. Actually I am no stranger to air travel on full service (and obviously not so cheap ticket) airlines. One was to Los Angeles, but that was a sponsored ticket for which I paid $0.00. Another one was to London, but that was a necessary trip to the United Kingdom Patent Office to conduct patent search. Online patent search plus budget airlines were non-existent then. Now both are available, and that is good news for cheapskate like me.

Budget air tickets for Australian residents

I don't reside in Australia, but I have some relatives in Melbourne and Sydney plus my sister and family often travel to our "home" country recently for our niece wedding plus of course, to see their grandchildren. They looks like they are well-to-do enough to visit other countries for holidays not too infrequently. Further, I have a brother-in-law plus sister-in-law who frequently travel to Sydney to visit their children in Sydney and their children often come back to our "home" country for holidays, etc. I don't know if they are a cheapskate like me who is on the lookout for cheapskate air tickets, but I would definitely draw their attention to this Australian website which claims they have recently massively overhauled the flights section making it easy to find cheap flights from Australia without having to click through too many painful search fields.

Cheap flights to Los Angeles

Los Angeles (L.A.) is the largest city in the state of California and the second-largest in the United States of America. That is where I went on a sponsored ticket (nothing can be cheaper to a cheapskate like me $0.00). According to Wikipedia, the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana metropolitan area is home to nearly 13 million people who hail from all over the globe and speak more than a hundred different languages!!! 100 languages. I think that beats even India. Like a little boy, I wandered over to Anaheim Disneyland to enjoy the wonders meant for children. I would love to visit the Crystal Cathedral started by Reverend Dr. Robert H. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, practically from scratch. Dr. Schuller is not only a Christian pastor, but a great motivator as well. I missed that as at the time I visited Los Angeles, I did not know about the Crystal Cathedral, or more likely, it wasn't built yet. It has an appealing mission statement: "Find a need and fill it; find a hurt and heal it" and I believe Crystal Cathedral is doing exactly that.

Photo of Crystal Cathedral is property of Ilpo's Sojourn

If you are an Australian, Cheap flights to LA says they can help you quickly find cheap air flight tickets to get there.

Cheap flights to London, United Kingdom

London too is no stranger to me, and I visited London in an almost cheapskate way too. I had a Belgium government scholarship to do my post-graduate studies in Ghent, Belgium. So my plane tickets are fully paid, accommodation plus food and allowances, fees, are provided for by the Belgium government. I just need to add a little for a trip to Ostend, took a Hovercraft to Dover and a train to London. Allowance paid for that, so it is cheapskate enough. However, if you are an Australian and you don't have a Belgium government scholarship, I am afraid you will have to depend on Cheap flights to London.

Cheap flights to Fiji

Fiji (Republic of the Fiji Islands), is an an archipelago of about 322 islands west of Tonga, east of Vanuatu, and south of Tuvalu, and not too far from Australia. With prediction of rising ocean caused the the environmental problem of the century - global warming, if you want to visit Fiji, you may have to be fast before it is partially of fully submerged. Again, if you are an Australian in a hurry, Cheap flights to Fiji. May I wish you all the best. From a confirmed cheapskate and hoping you don't get offended by this frequent reference to "cheapskate" as I see nothing wrong in being a cheapskate. In fact, I hate those who waste our Earth limited natural resources or squander money unnecessarily.

London Airport Hotels

London, once center of an empire on which the sun never set (once upon a time), is still somewhat the center to the world. Lots of people flock to London for all kinds of reasons. To cater to this stampede, London need lots of airports. Some of London's airports are Gatwick Airport, Heathrow Airport, London City Airport, Luton Airport Stansted Airport, London Biggin Hill Airport, London Ashford Airport, and London-Corbin Airport. Let us look at some major ones:

Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport is the major entry point for London as well as the rest of England. It is in fact United Kingdom's biggest airport. Over 90 airlines operating from Heathrow Airports which currently uses four terminals serving visitors from 180 destinations in over 90 countries. Heathrow Airport is also Europe's busiest airport for passenger traffic, and the primary hub of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways and a major hub for bmi airline which operates cheap air flights from the United Kingdom to Europe, Middle East and the United States of America.

Heathrow Airport is 15 miles (24 km) west of Central London with two parallel main runways running east-west and four terminals. There is one more terminal under construction - Terminal 5 scheduled to open in March 2008. Heathrow Airport plans to add extra runways.

Transportation between Heathrow Airport and London

As the major airport of London, Heathrow Airport have many transportation possibilities to London City. Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station is the fastest and most frequent, just 15 minutes and at 15 min intervals. The fare is £15.50 (USD 30.80). If you are looking for the cheapest, then Piccadilly Line to central London (London Underground) will be your choice, but will take longer at 50 minutes. Get the 'Oyster Card' for to get cheaper fare. Single journeys are around £3.50 with Oyster card. You will be required to place a deposit of £3, refundable on return. Other ways, paper ticket, but it will cost you £4, no deposit, but 50 pence more.

If you want convenience, take a combination of Heathrow Express to Paddington, then take a taxi to your final destination. You can also hire a taxi to take you from Heathrow to Central London, and if you don't run into traffic jams, it will take around one hour. Fare will be between £45 to £60. There is also a shuttle service operated by the National Express Dot2Dot between Heathrow airport and central London.

More choices: Heathrow Connect rail service, a slower version of Heathrow Express taking the same route. This one stops at intermediate stations.

For those wanting to go to Clapham or London Waterloo, South London, take the 285 bus to Feltham station or the SouthWest Trains to Clapham Junction or Waterloo. Journey time will be around 20 minutes, depending on circumstances.

Heathrow Airport Hotels

There some some travelers who prefer to stay in hotels in the vicinity of the airport rather than in hotels in the City center, some because of convenience, some because of cost. In the first place, everyone knows how expensive car parking in city centers are, but many airport hotels offer free or discounted rates car parking. Whatever it is, you can have your choice of London Heathrow Hotels where the choices can range from budget rates from as low as GBP 40 at Shepiston Lodge located at 31 Shepiston Lane, Hayes, Middlesex, UB3 1LJ, to 5 star luxury accommodation in London available from GBP 98 at Radisson Edwardian Heathrow Hotel, 140 Bath Road Hayes Middlesex UB3 5AW.

Gatwick Airport

Gatwick Airport is London's second largest airport and the second busiest airport after Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. It only has one runway, but is the busiest single runway airport in the world. In terms of passengers per year, it is the world's 22nd busiest airport, and in terms of international passengers per year it is in 7th place. Located in Crawley, West Sussex, it is only 5 kilometre or 3 miles north of Crawley town center, 46 kilometre or 28 miles south of London and 40 kilometre or 25 miles north of Brighton.

Airlines operating from Gatwick Airport fly to 200 destinations. Gatwick Airport itself handled over 34 million passengers in 2006. Since charter airlines generally do not operate from Heathrow, chartered airlines therefore use Gatwick as their main base for London and the Southeast. Many airlines operate between Gatwick and the United States of America because of the restrictions on access to Heathrow Airports imposed by the Bermuda 2 bilateral air services agreement between United Kingdom and United States of America. Gatwick Airport serves a major operational base for British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic.

Transportation between Gatwick Airport and London

If you are in a hurry, take the Gatwick Express which is a high-speed rail link between the airport and London Victoria Station. Frequency is every 15 minutes and journey time is about 30 to 35 minutes. Fare depend on what class you choose. For Express class, fare is £14 (one way) and £26.80 (return). If you insist on First Class and want priority security procedures, fare is higher at £20 one way and £38 return. You may use Day Return, Railcards or Carnet, but you can't use Travelcards.

Those who don't mind longer journey time and prefer lower fare, try Southern Rail which is a train service to Victoria via Clapham Junction. Frequency is also about every 15 minutes. Journey time is about 35 to 40 minutes. Fare is £9 one way to Victoria. You also cannot use Travelcards. If you can travel in a group of 3 people or more, you get a group discount for a day travel card which you can also use for all London Underground and TFL buses for one whole day, and for all these, you pay only £6.10 per person for after peak hours.

Other possibilities include First Capital Connect (Thameslink) which serve the route between Gatwick station and London Bridge, City Thameslink, Farringdon, Kings Cross, through north London to Luton Airport and beyond. Sounds very flexible.

Gatwick Airport Hotels

For cheap hotels, look for them at London Gatwick Hotels many of which offers free extras such as free parking, free breakfasts and meals, free Internet access, even free meals at the hotel restaurants in London. You can get budget rates at Gatwick Airport hotels from as low as GBP 39 at Chestnuts Luxury Guest House, Gatwick to 3 star Chestnuts Luxury Guest House Gatwick with rates from only GBP 39. It is only 8 Minutes to Gatwick Airport with luxury Bread and Breakfast at reasonable prices and offers holiday parking facilities.

Stansted Airport

London Stansted Airport is the third largest London airport with a single runway located in the Uttlesford District of the county of Essex. Stansted Airport is roughly about 30 miles (48 km) north-east of London, 2 miles (3 km) from Bishop's Stortford and 6 miles (10 km) from Harlow. Some major European low-cost airlines uses Stansted Airport as a hub for their operations. Stansted Airport has only one terminal with three boarding piers. 22 million passengers passed through Stansted Airport in 2005.

Transportation between Stansted Airport and London

For land transportation, there is a railway station below the terminal building of Stansted Airport trains operated by CrossCountry serving Cambridge, Leicester and the Midlands. Trains are scheduled every 60 minutes. Another train service, the Stansted Express, a non-stop rail link going to Liverpool Street station, London with departure. Frequency is between 15 to 30 minutes. The journey time is 45 to 60 minutes. This is the most expensive way to get to London, but it is also the fastest and most convenient way. Fare is £15 one way and £25 return. You cannot use Travelcards for Stansted Express. Stansted Express goes beyond Liverpool Street station to Tottenham Hale and Liverpool Street, but takes 15 minutes for such a short journey. You cannot carry bicycle aboard Stansted Express, but folding bicycle is acceptable.

You can also use the London Underground. To get to West End, West or South London, take the Stansted Express up to Tottenham Hale, change to the Victoria Line and that will take you to Oxford Circus and Victoria. It will cost £14.50 one way to Tottenham Hale. It is £2.50 with the Oyster card to Oxford Circus: £2.50.

If you want express bus, there is Terravision which service the route between Stansted Airport and Bishopsgate (Liverpool Street station) and Victoria Coach terminal. Frequency is hourly and journey time is about 75 minutes. Fare is £8 one way and £14 return) to Victoria, £6.70 one way and £11.80 return) to Liverpool Street. You cannot use Travelcards for Terravision express bus.

If you want to go to London Victoria via Golders Green, take the National Express Bus. Frequency is every half hours or more. Fare for one way is £10 and for return is £16. To get to Stratford, fare is £8 one way and £14 return. Bicycles, except folding bicycles, is not allowed to be carried onto National Express Bus. Expect delays as you will be held up by traffic jams, especially on the Victoria Service.

You can book online in advance for journey on easyBus services to Baker Street. This can you as low as £2, but if you purchase tickets on the bus, it will cost you £8.

For travel by road, there are express bus or coach services from Stratford Airport to Victoria Coach Station, Liverpool Street Station and Golders Green. The fare is half that of the train but journey time is longer and takes about 80 to 130 minutes. Another bus service, the easyBus provide road transport between the Stansted Airport and Baker Street in Central London.

Stansted Airport Hotels

BudgetStansted Airport hotels like the Saracen's Head Hotel Great Dunmow situated at the High Street, Great Dunmow, Essex CM6 1AG, go for as cheap as GBP 58 and can be found at London Stansted Hotels.

Luton Airport

The London Luton Airport or what was previously called Luton International Airport is an international airport at the edge of the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England about 30 miles (48 km) north of London 2 miles (3 km) from junction 10a of the M1 motorway. Luton Airport is the fourth largest airport after Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. Luton Airport is one of London's five international airports, the fifth one being London City Airport.

Total passengers at London Luton is 9.41 million in 2006 and is ranked the seventh busiest United Kingdom airports. Monarch Airlines, Ryanair, easyJet, Thomsonfly, Wizz Air and Silverjet uses Luton Airport as its hub.

Luton Airport has plan to further expand the airport to include a full length runway plus a new terminal, but this was opposed by the residents and the plans were eventually abandoned.

Transportation between Luton Airport and London

At the Luton Airport Parkway railway station, First Capital Connect operate services to Bedford, St Albans, London, Wimbledon, Sutton, London Gatwick Airport and Brighton. You can also take the East Midlands Trains services which travels at hourly frequency and go to London Saint Pancras, and also to Leicester, Nottingham and Leeds. From the Luton Airport, you can take the free shuttle bus to get to the station and vice-versa. The journey is only just over a mile.

Green Line Coaches and easyBus operat direct bus services to London. For other towns in the midlands and north of England, take the National Express coaches.

For those with cars, Luton Airport is just a few miles from the M1 motorway. The M1 highway goes to London, and also connects to Leeds. For parking, there is a short stay car park next to the terminal. For medium and long term parking, there are Airport car parks to the west and east of the terminal which are linked to the terminal by shuttle buses. There are also many off airport private car par operators which you can pre-booked.

Luton Airport Hotels

Luton Airport Hotels offers a range of hotels such as budget 3 star Regent Lodge Hotel in the London Luton airport vicinity with rates from only GBP 25.

Isle of Wight Tourism

Isle of Wight Tourism
by: Martin Ager

The term Isle of Wight Tourism conjures up images of sunny beaches, dramatic coastlines and glorious countryside. Isle of Wight tourism brings in an estimated £350 million plus per year, which is vital to the Island’s economy. With more people visiting each year, that figure can only rise. The Isle of Wight is the perfect place for a holiday as there are so many things to see and do. Whatever your interests, you will be spoiled for choice and will find that one visit to this special place is never enough. Most people that visit this wonderful island find themselves coming back time and time again which is great for Isle of Wight tourism.

The Isle of Wight is the smallest of England’s counties, with the resident population being around 130,000. To the north lies the Solent and to the south is the English Channel. Known as "The Garden Isle", this jewel of England indeed resembles a diamond in shape, measuring 23 miles west to east and 13 miles north to south, an area or 147 square miles. The Island is one of the most popular holiday destinations in the UK, with around one million visitors each year. There is over 60 miles of coastline which ranges from award winning beaches to spectacular chalk cliffs. The Island, which is divided into two boroughs - Medina & South Wight, was known as “Vectis” by the Romans. Newport is the county town, although Ryde is the largest town. The exact centre of the Island is at Shide Corner, on the outskirts of Newport and the highest point is St. Boniface Down at Ventnor.

Walking on the Isle of Wight is a popular past-time and there are over 500 miles of public footpaths including dramatic coastal paths. The climate here is almost sub-tropical and Sandown, Shanklin and Ventnor are regularly at the top of the UK sunshine table. Over 50% of the Island has been designated an “Area of Outstanding Beauty” with about half of the coastline named as “Heritage Coast” - an honour only awarded to the finest stretches of coastline in the country. Red squirrels have a particular penchant for the surroundings (due to the lack of grey squirrels) and are widely prevalent on the Island - almost the final stronghold in the south of the country.

The most famous landmark here on the Isle of Wight is “The Needles” - three jagged chalk projections running out to sea at the extreme west of the island at Alum Bay, which is also renowned for its multi-coloured sand cliffs, which are caused by a mixture of minerals in the sand. There is a lighthouse here too, clinging to the base of the most westerly rock of the Needles group. It originally became popular here with tourists over 200 years ago when they used to visit by paddle steamer from the mainland. Another popular landmark is the Bembridge Windmill, the only existing windmill on the Island. It is located at the opposite end of the Island, was built around 1700 and still has its original machinery intact.

Isle of Wight Tourist Guide

About The Author
Martin Ager
Isle of Wight tourist guide caters for all the tourist needs on the Isle of Wight. It is an extensive guide for all tourism and leisure activities. Martin Ager is the author, please see Isle of Wight Tourist Guide. Email info@isleofwighttouristguide.com

The Scottish Highlands, Land Of Ancient Peoples

The Scottish Highlands, Land Of Ancient Peoples
by: John Winkler

Glencoe is in the heart of the Scottish highlands – in the old days it was renowned for being inaccessible. Yet people have been around here for up top 10,000 years, since the retreat of the last Ice Age. They’ve left their traces.

The traces of people who lived in this area 3,000 years ago have been found a short drive from here.

Mesolithic people moved from site to site based on fishing and hunting. River mouths and estuaries were good sites, they always needed fresh water and materials for building shelters. The weather was warmer then than it is to-day. In this area they also needed protection in the winter, so caves seem to be a good answer. Go North round the shoreline from Oban for a couple of miles to Ganavan sands and you’ll see where they lived.

On the right you’ll pass the old castle built on short cliffs with caves. That’s where the Mesolithic people lived – their rubbish tips have been found. The water level was 16 foot or so higher then. They have found human bones as well as bone and stone artefacts. Tourists can see the caves where they lived. They were all over Ardamurchan, opposite here, and on the Inner Islands. For how long did they live here? Oh, just for four thousand years or so, until settled farming developed.

This country belonged to a farming people, the Picts, during Roman times. They built the strange circular defensive “brochs”. It is a marvellous thing to visit, we’ve been there. Very strange. There is a broch on the island of Lismore nearby, easily found but hardly ever visited to-day.

But during the Roman times the Western Islands were raided and occupied by the Scotia from Northern Ireland. They established an early Kingdom called Dalriada and there are a multitude of remains of them and their burial sites around the Kilmartin area South of Oban, under 2 hours drive from here. After St. Columba established his base on Iona and travelled extensively around the Western Isles, he brought the Picts and the Scots together.

Vikings raided the West Coast from the late 8th century onwards and later settled mostly in the Hebrides. Loch Linnie was the furthest inland they came. One of the early raids was on Iona in 795, part of a series.

The early Scottish kings were buried on Iona just down the road, across the ferry to Mull then one more short ferry trip.

The Vikings came because they had clan wars in Norway taking their toll on the people, and the looting of the Christan Churches helped to fund their local wars back home. They took Scots people with them as slaves. Late in the Viking period there are records of a battle in Laroch, the older name for Ballachulish near Glencoe village and remains have been found there. There is a legend that a Viking ship foundered on a rock in the mouth of Loch Leven on the South Side near where the bridge is now, and a Viking Prince was drowned. If you look West at the lochside at low tide from close to the Bridge you will see such a rock as could do this damage at high tide.

The famous Viking, King Haakon died in Orkney after his ships were damaged in the storm at the Battle of Largs in 1263. This saw the end of the Viking rule in Scotland. His son, Magnus, gave up the Islands after that and a lasting treaty was signed three years later. By this time the Vikings had settled in the Island communities, had all intermarried, had converted to Christianity.

John Winkler
Bayview Kentallen

About The Author
John Winkler used to be the marketing correspondent for The Times in London. Now retired he and his wife have a pretty period cottage on the lochside at Glencoe in Scotland. They let it out for vacations.