Questions about UK Travel

"rvfulltime (was xenman)" <rvfulltime@_removeme_isp.com> wrote in message
news:59rfl1hfp58uul75gih7fpqn73vhpngp8f@...
> My wife and I are in the early planning stages for a long trip to the UK
> next Spring
> and we have some travel related questions.
>
> 1. How many hours before the scheduled international flight does one need
> to
> arrive at Gatwick? We're considering taking a Baltic Sea cruise that
> departs are
> returns to Dover. We're wondering if there is enough time after we
> disembark to
> take the train into London and then out to Gatwick to catch a 1:40pm
> flight back
> to the U.S.

Unfortunately, you don't say what time you're due to arrive at Dover, and so
nobody can answer that question.

>
> 2. After staying two weeks in London, we want to spend a week in
> Scotland. I
> see that Glasgow and Edinburgh are not very far apart. Is it reasonable
> to have
> lodging in one city and use public transport to travel to the other in
> order visit
> various places? Or should we consider packing our bags and find lodging
> in the
> other city.

Train every fifteen minutes. Journey time 50 minutes. An easy day trip.

>
> 3. Does Edinburgh and Glasgow have significant public transportation? I
> would
> really prefer not to have to rent an automobile.

Both cities have comprehensive public transport systems. A car would be
useless.

Alan Harrison

"rvfulltime (was xenman)" <rvfulltime@_removeme_isp.com> wrote in message
news:68ufl11i5s9cj5voh3k42urn703e2n89gv@...
> The information I have says the disembarkation starts around 7am. My
> prior
> experience on cruise ships in the U.S. is that people depart in groups
> depending
> up some priority scheme. The last to depart do so around 9am.

OK, I've run a quick check on times from 9 a.m. based on tomorrow. Trains
shown are as follows:
09.00, change London Victoria, arrive 11.45
09.26, change Tonbridge and Redhill, arrive 11.23
09.50, change Tonbridge, arrive 11.55
10.04, change London Victoria, arrive 12.45
10.33, change Tonbridge and Redhill, arrive 12.23

Note that some of these rely on VERY tight connections - e.g. the 10.33
gives 9 minutes at Tonbridge and 5 at Redhill. The connections via Victoria,
however, allow about 28 minutes to connect.

Alan Harrison