Rail Fares set to rise

Southeastern train company customers will be charged extra to use the new 'Javelin' service. The Javelin is a new highspeed (140mph) train from Hitachi which is planned to run between London St Pancras and Ebbsfleet International, with a few services extending to Ashford International, Ramsgate via Canterbury West or Dover. From 13 December 2009 Southeastern plan to operate a regular high-speed domestic service into and out of London St Pancras. The services are marketed as Southeastern Highspeed and the trains will be named after British personalities associated with speed.

The second price rise will come in January and will be across the board under the regulated fares formula (allowing prices to rise a set amount above RPI), despite assurances by Government that rail prices would fall in 2010. Some existing services may also be cut to help fund the new investment.

What to do in London?

It's exciting to travel to a new City whether it be a day trip within your own country or a long overseas trip, but when you get, there you may well realise that you don't know the best places for a quick bite, or where to get the best entertainment, a quiet pint or a gourmet meal.

That's when a site like Qype comes in - an extensive insight into night-life, restaurants and watering holes with reviews completed by ordinary folk like you or me.
The information on their database is not limited to night-life, you can search for a hairdresser, travel information, libraries or any number of services that you might require when staying away from home.

By default, the site shows information for London in general, but simply by clicking on the link to 'change', you can select any UK city or even a specific area of London. Ideal if you are searching for restaurants london by name or by district. Qype extends globally, and you can select from a list of countries and then select an area within that country. In fact, you can use Qype to gather information about your home town too - I checked out information about local parks and leisure centres, and was surprised to find not only a full list of amenities, but personal reviews written for every search result that came up - even reviews of local parks...

Whatever you are looking for, Qype is essentially a directory, but importantly a directory with a difference. The Qype directory not only gives you bare essential information such as address and essential contact information – it gives you an independent review from the viewpoint of an ordinary customer or facility-user. Next time you are stuck for a venue, or a shop or just need to do a search for pubs london why not try Qype, not only will you find something in your chosen locality, you will learn something about it too.

Losing business at Heathrow

Industry experts are claiming that Britain is losing out to the tune of £1bn annually because of the lack of a third runway at Heathrow. Travellers even from the UK are using European airports as a hub for long-haul flights that could potentially fly from Heathrow if the long-awaited third runway was in place and working to increase capacity.
On the other side of the argument there are environmental factors to be overcome, and the fact that the world market for flights is in decline and the proliferation of cheap flights indicates that the development could become a white elephant if the sales of flights and travel in general does not pick up.
Charles De Gaulle, Frankfurt and Schipol have all experienced a growth in business compared to a more or less static turnover at Heathrow for the last 5 years. The threat however is not solely from European airports as growth at Middle-Eastern airports has been astronomic. Dohar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai airports have seen rises approaching more than 100% in the last 5 years.

London Credit Cards

New London credit cards have just been launched by HSBC and Barclaycard. These cards have been specifically designed to enable quick payments and easy travel within the City of London.
The barclaycards feature 'touchless' payment, incoporating the Oystercard system into two credit cards, one with cashback, one with balance transfer. The HSBC card offers the same facility on a standard credit card.

As well as being a touchless system, the deal offered on the Barclaycard OnePulse with Cashback credit card includes a huge 5%(!) cashback on London Travel and 0.5% on purchases everywhere else. You can use the touchless Oystercard system on many of the buses, tube, and trams within London.

When it comes to credit card comparison, bear in mind the added value of these new cards launched and make sure you take advantage of the facilities offered to enable quick and easy traveling through one of the busiest capital cities in the world today.

Home exchangers make use of their London home

Well-travelled home exchange holiday-makers Sheila and David Hoffman have exchanged homes 25 times in just 8 years. The vacations have varied in duration from a week to two months and they have found that not only do they get a cheap holiday, but they are also able to have better access to the heart of the community that they are visiting.
Visiting many different homes persuaded them that they should sell their own large three-bedroom house and downsize to apartment-living having tried it and enjoyed it whilst on their many holidays. They are located near central London, hence their apartment is always in demand and they have managed to swap homes with people in New York, San Francisco, Australia, Denmark, Holland, Italy and France.

Read the whole story here...

Visiting London

Probably more than 90% of people that visit mainland UK will come to London at some point. London has a magic that goes beyond the fact that it is simply our capital city, it is considered a centre for all sorts of things including fashion, retail, food and tourism.

London has the sights that visitors really want to see, not least of which is Buckingham Palace which has a constant stream of visitors peering through the railings. The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and more recently the London Eye have been on the 'most visited' list along with various museums and galleries.

There are however, plenty of drawbacks, not least of which is the expense of staying there. London is the single most expensive place to buy or rent a property in the UK, has the most expensive shops and the most expensive restaurants and hotels. You will pay a lot more in London for almost anything that you care to mention. London is also the most congested and populated city in the UK and probably one of the most congested in Europe. If you plan to travel to London, I would recommend using public transport/tube trains and taxis for getting around, only picking up a hire car if you plan to drive outside the confines of the city.
None of the drawbacks should put you off visiting, it is worth the hassle just to be in London and savour the spirit of the place.