My vacation begins this Thursday. I’m flying to Reykjavik for a few days, then on to London on May 7th. I’ll be visiting a friend at the University of Essex, so we’ll be shuttling between Colchester and London for a whole week.
Any chance we could get together with any of you limey Dopers while I’m over there?
Come on now, Londoners…I know you’re out there! Do none of you want to meet a Doper on holiday?
Bump for those of us on the proper side of the Atlantic.
Fierra! L_C! MattK! somebody answer the poor guy!! 
I’ll miss ya, mate.
I’m in Europe from May 11 to June 6… and London will be May 30 to June 2nd or so.
Other cities being hit include Oslo, Kobnhaven, Frankfurt, Munich, Arnhem, Amsterdam, Paris, and Birmingham.
Gotta love Biotech conferences!
Wow, TWO Dutch cities… are we good in biotech or something?
Hi Fiver – just seen this. Next week…slightly buggered but I’ll try to sort things. How do you feel about beer ?
Anyone else ?
Jeez, Fiver, you post at 12:30 am London time and wonder why the locals haven’t responded before 4:30 am? Some of us have to get up in the morning, y’know. 
I could do beer.
Sounds good to me. The 7th is a Bank Holiday which would work well for me, but given some notice I could make it into town any other day.
kferr, I’m getting into London sometime on the 7th; I don’t know how late. My friend’s meeting me at Heathrow, then we’ll probably go back to Colchester together. That is, we haven’t made arrangements to stay in London that night, so if we stay in London it would only be because we worked out some last-minute hostel thing.
Besides that, we’re definitely coming back to London on Thursday, May 10th. We’re going to take the “murder tour” of the Whitechapel sites, and spend the night at the hostel at Rotherhithe.
Friday afternoon (2 p.m.) I’m going on a tour of Fuller Brewery (yes, London_Calling, I’m very much a fan of beer), then that evening through Sunday (the day I leave) we’re tied up with the London 25th Anniversary Hash.
Hmm, didn’t know my trip was already so booked-up. My friend has business all day Friday, so it looks like my free time is as follows:
Monday evening (May 7th): Uncertain. How long does it take to get back to Colchester? Could we make an early evening of it in London before heading on to Essex?
Tuesday: No current plans.
Wednesday (May 9th): No current plans.
Thursday: No plans outside the “murder tour,” but I don’t know when that is.
Friday (May 11th): Free 'til 2 p.m.
Think we can make this work with any of y’all?
Me?
Pshhhhhhha - I wish. I need a vacation.
Fiver, how are you getting from Heathrow to Colchester? My route finder shows it to be 95 miles on the motorway which should be just under two hours, and by train between 2 and 2.5 hours. If you’re traveling by train, you’ll be changing at Liverpool Street Station, which we could use as a meeting point before finding a local pub. If traveling by car, then it would be best to pick a spot that your friend knows how to find. If Monday turns out to be no good, I can make an early evening Tuesday or Wednesday. Here’s something you may find useful, the Railtrack Travel Timetable
I’m currently free on May 8th, could travel up from Portsmouth to The Smoke for the day, any good?
Regrettably, next week is busy. The 7th is best for me. I can do later in the evening of Thursday the 10th, but otherwise my dance card is full until the weekend.
Cheer up, darlin’. Six letters beginning with ‘D’, ending in ‘N’ – save them pennies.
Hey kferr, good to see ya ! – Did you see this guy’s going on a tour of the Fuller’s Brewery. Holy Smoke – the ** actual** home of London Pride. Makes me go all misty eyed.
The idea of Monday seems a little problematic in so far as Fiver is likely to be shagged out from jet lag – or not ? It does seem like the best day for kferr and ** jr8** but obviously might not be for the guest. Nor for TPWombat (hello!), who’s a Tuesday person.
Seems to be either of those or Thursday ? I’d go for Thursday but will try to fit in.
Confusing, init ?
Fortunately, I shouldn’t be too jetlagged, London_Calling. I’m not coming direct from the States; I’m in Reykjavik for three days beforehand, and it’s even in the same time zone as you.
But, I don’t know what time I’m getting in (curse me for not bringing my itinerary in to work with me), so I don’t know how practical a Monday get-together would be.
Tuesday or Wednesday are of course better but then Thursday is the “Jack the Ripper” tour at 7:30 p.m. Do any of you want to join me for that? I imagine Londoners might think the whole Whitechapel murders thing is played, but it can’t hurt to ask.
I’m leaving in a few hours, so thought I’d give this a bump.
We haven’t made any concrete plans but I’m still up for meeting with y’all. I get in to London at 9 p.m. on the 7th so that’s probably out.
I guess I’ll be off the boards for the duration, but I should be able to check my email every couple of days…so drop me a line, okay? I’d love to meet y’all.
Oops. Sorry I didn’t reply sooner.
I’m actually out of the country next week for work, so I won’t be around. Have fun though!
DAMN. Not any more. Bugger. Currently free on Sat 12th, but this is subject to change. Let me know if you’ll be in London then, I’d love to come up if I can.
Well, this was sort of a lucky break. I´m in Reykjavik at a youth center which has free-use iMacs with Internet connections. Sweet! (I swear, I´m just stopping in. I´ll go explore this city momentarily.)
Everything is as it was: Into London late on the 7th, then off to Colchester. Could come back Tuesday or Wednesday but definitely there Thursday and Friday.
Is no one interested in going on the Jack the Ripper tour with me and my friend? Email please!
Yep! I’m savin’! Tonight I’m even checking the dryer and sofa for lost change. What about you and your Utah stash?
Fiver, let me know if you go on the Ripper Walk and what you thought of it. I was watching something about it on the Travel Channel and it looked really fun in a creepy sort of way. Supposedly, the man who does the tour is an authority on Jack and has written a book or two about the murders. L_C drove me and my daughter through the area one night and it looked a little scary and perfect for a spooky walk but unfortunately our time in London ran out before we were able to do it.