View Poll Results: Best dates for Feb 2015 FT BAEC Oxford Do
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 30. You may not vote on this poll
Jan 2, 2015, 1:29 pm
Last edit by: OxfordBlue
This wiki will contain all relevant Do info
Last updated: 26/02/15
The Do: Plan for the day
With eternal gratitude to Gagravarr for his knowledge of Oxford, the proposed schedule for the day is now here!
When, Where and What
1400 Eagle & Child, St. Giles - Famous for being a watering hole for JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis among others
1500 Pitt Rivers Museum, Parks Road - Quirky museum, lots of interesting stuff, gets us out of the pub for a while, free admission
1630 Lamb & Flag, St. Giles (opposite Eagle & Child) - Great Oxford pub
1730 to 1900 Jam Factory - Evening FTers arrive, great beers
1900 Jam Factory - Dinner
2030 Leave Jam Factory for…
2045 The Bear, Blue Boar Street - Quirky little pub – just the one here then walk to…
2115 Radcliffe Square to see the Radcliffe Camera and Bridge of Sighs
2130 Turf Tavern, Bath Place off Castle Street - Great pub, big seating areas inside and out, cool hidden location
2215 Walk via Parks Road, Museum Road to..
2230 Eagle & Child, St. Giles and/or King’s Arms, corner of Holywell St & Parks Road. Second pass at the Eagle & Child for those who weren’t around in the afternoon, or failing that, the King's Arms isn't too fussy about admission time!
Later Freud, Walton Street, Jericho - last stop of the evening for anyone who’s up for a late one, this place is open until 0200 and is in a former church. You may well become theologically inspired before the evening ends…
I'd welcome your comments and any suggestions for improvement, I'm not precious!
If you want to have dinner with us at the Jam Factory then please tell me by Friday 27/02 at noon so I can confirm numbers. Easiest way is to update this wiki... see table below.
Live updates on the day
Please follow @FTOxford2015 on Twitter - I'll use this feed to update on location changes etc. through the day.
Arrival planning
Please post ETA / Handle / Dining yes or no / Dietary requirements
1400 / OxfordBlue / Yes / None
1400 / youngbaflyer / ?? / ??
1400 / DGM1985 / Yes / None
1400 / Sards / Maybe / None
1400 / Dark Blue / Yes / Meat!
1400 / Skye1 / Yes / None
1400 / KARFA / Yes / None
1630 / exilencfc / Yes / None
2045 / Ziz + 1 / No / None
Mid-to-late afternoon / Chris1979 / Maybe / none
Travel
Getting to Oxford - thanks to Skye1 for most of this info!
From LHR and LGW
The Airline, offers a coach from LHR, and a coach from LGW, (not the same coach, that is, a separate service to/from each airport) fairly comfortable, reclining seats, plug-in power at seat, reading lights.
http://airline.oxfordbus.co.uk/timet...wick#timetable
LHR service calls at Central Bus Station and T5, runs every 30 minutes [except late night/early morning]
LGW service calls at North and South terminals, runs hourly leaving LGW S at xx15 (and LGW N a few minutes before that)
Both services run 24/7.
RailAir, offers a coach service from LHR to Reading train station, and a train from there to Oxford (but I wouldn't recommend this, will be slower, more painful and more expensive than the direct bus): http://www.railair.com/
From London Paddington
First Great Western rail services, PAD to OXF is roughly an hour (slightly under an hour if its only "stop" is at Reading)
https://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/
As this is FT and all about "loyalty", you can get Nectar points (woo hoo! what value!...said no one...ever) if booked from your on-line FGW account.
https://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/.../nectarNov2014 . Being a Saturday, you can probably find some cheap AP tickets for about a fiver each way, if you don't mind limiting yourself to a fixed train.
From London Victoria, Marble Arch, Shepherds Bush, and Hillingdon, by Coach:, plug-in at-seat power, free wifi
The Oxford Tube
http://www.oxfordtube.com/
The X90
http://x90.oxfordbus.co.uk/
These run 24/7.
From Birmingham and the North
Direct Rail Service from Birmingham New Street, calling at Birmingham International Station, adjacent to BHX airport through to Oxford, on CrossCountry - hourly. These trains originate at points north ranging from Glasgow and Edinburgh through Newcastle, Leeds, Stoke, Manchester, etc. - you can get to Oxford (generally) either on a direct train or with one change at Birmingham
From the West
First Great Western trains to London from Cornwall, Devon, the Bristol area, and South Wales serve Oxford with a change at Didcot Parkway; almost all trains to London stop at Didcot and there are frequent services from there to Oxford.
You may find it faster to change at Swindon and take the 66 bus operated by Stagecoach which takes you right into the middle of Oxford in about an hour. Timetable here
From the South of England
CrossCountry http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/.../places/oxford serve Oxford from Bournemouth on the route that runs via Winchester and Reading. Most services are direct or one change.
Coach/bus service, on National Express, from many points in the country:
http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx
By Car
Oxford, despite being the birthplace of the Morris Motor Company, hates cars. Driving into the city centre should not be attempted if at all possible - traffic is dreadful, parking is very expensive, various roads are bus/taxi only and you'll get fined if you drive down them, cyclists of varying states of competence are everywhere, etc. Just don't try! Instead, park your car at one of the 5 park and ride locations around the city (by all major routes in), and hop on the frequent buses into the city.
There is no free parking available anywhere near the do, parking wardens are everywhere, and city centre parking during the day is very expensive. (There's a handful of free spots with no overnight time restrictions, but with 30 mins-2 hour daytime restrictions, in a few places fairly central, but they go very fast so shouldn't be relied on)
Accommodation
OxfordBlue would love to host all of you in his country mansion just outside Oxford's dreaming spires, but unfortunately he doesn't own one!
As others have observed, hotels in central Oxford are pricey. A few Ł on bus or taxi will be more than paid back in reduced room rates. A quick scour on http://www.booking.com shows the following (prices correct at 02/01/15), include tax, single room, one night, excluding breakfast, all 3 star or above:
Malmaison - Ł215 (very nice - and it's a converted former prison!)
Randolf Hotel - Ł220 (nice grand hotel)
Mercure Eastgate - Ł205 (very occasionally crops up on the Accor Mondays list for Ł40)
Buttery Hotel - Ł80 (pretty good and very central)
Eurobar - Ł65 (can be noisy)
Westgate Hotel - Ł55 (decent, friendly 2* hotel by the station)
and various guest houses. There are also a handful of rooms still available in the various colleges that make up the university, which can make for a memorable and moderately cheap night's stay! See http://www.universityrooms.com/en/city/oxford/home for what's still available.
Alternatively, if you'd rather spend all your money on beer, then the Oxford Youth Hostel (which is pretty central, right by the train station) has twins from Ł45, quads from Ł85, so if you would really like to get up close and personal with other FTers, post in this wiki [or PM me/post in the forum if you can't edit] that you're willing to share a room and see if you get any takers... I am for one! I'll use the time-honoured lounge guesting thread format, suitably modified
[Willing to share]
arrival date / departure date / hotel (or any) / username / comments
28FEB / 01MAR / Any / OxfordBlue / I snore, you've been warned
Complimentary credit card sized badges
Click to enlarge
Last updated: 26/02/15
The Do: Plan for the day
With eternal gratitude to Gagravarr for his knowledge of Oxford, the proposed schedule for the day is now here!
When, Where and What
1400 Eagle & Child, St. Giles - Famous for being a watering hole for JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis among others
1500 Pitt Rivers Museum, Parks Road - Quirky museum, lots of interesting stuff, gets us out of the pub for a while, free admission
1630 Lamb & Flag, St. Giles (opposite Eagle & Child) - Great Oxford pub
1730 to 1900 Jam Factory - Evening FTers arrive, great beers
1900 Jam Factory - Dinner
2030 Leave Jam Factory for…
2045 The Bear, Blue Boar Street - Quirky little pub – just the one here then walk to…
2115 Radcliffe Square to see the Radcliffe Camera and Bridge of Sighs
2130 Turf Tavern, Bath Place off Castle Street - Great pub, big seating areas inside and out, cool hidden location
2215 Walk via Parks Road, Museum Road to..
2230 Eagle & Child, St. Giles and/or King’s Arms, corner of Holywell St & Parks Road. Second pass at the Eagle & Child for those who weren’t around in the afternoon, or failing that, the King's Arms isn't too fussy about admission time!
Later Freud, Walton Street, Jericho - last stop of the evening for anyone who’s up for a late one, this place is open until 0200 and is in a former church. You may well become theologically inspired before the evening ends…
I'd welcome your comments and any suggestions for improvement, I'm not precious!
If you want to have dinner with us at the Jam Factory then please tell me by Friday 27/02 at noon so I can confirm numbers. Easiest way is to update this wiki... see table below.
Live updates on the day
Please follow @FTOxford2015 on Twitter - I'll use this feed to update on location changes etc. through the day.
Arrival planning
Please post ETA / Handle / Dining yes or no / Dietary requirements
1400 / OxfordBlue / Yes / None
1400 / youngbaflyer / ?? / ??
1400 / DGM1985 / Yes / None
1400 / Sards / Maybe / None
1400 / Dark Blue / Yes / Meat!
1400 / Skye1 / Yes / None
1400 / KARFA / Yes / None
1630 / exilencfc / Yes / None
2045 / Ziz + 1 / No / None
Mid-to-late afternoon / Chris1979 / Maybe / none
Travel
Getting to Oxford - thanks to Skye1 for most of this info!
From LHR and LGW
The Airline, offers a coach from LHR, and a coach from LGW, (not the same coach, that is, a separate service to/from each airport) fairly comfortable, reclining seats, plug-in power at seat, reading lights.
http://airline.oxfordbus.co.uk/timet...wick#timetable
LHR service calls at Central Bus Station and T5, runs every 30 minutes [except late night/early morning]
LGW service calls at North and South terminals, runs hourly leaving LGW S at xx15 (and LGW N a few minutes before that)
Both services run 24/7.
RailAir, offers a coach service from LHR to Reading train station, and a train from there to Oxford (but I wouldn't recommend this, will be slower, more painful and more expensive than the direct bus): http://www.railair.com/
From London Paddington
First Great Western rail services, PAD to OXF is roughly an hour (slightly under an hour if its only "stop" is at Reading)
https://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/
As this is FT and all about "loyalty", you can get Nectar points (woo hoo! what value!...said no one...ever) if booked from your on-line FGW account.
https://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/.../nectarNov2014 . Being a Saturday, you can probably find some cheap AP tickets for about a fiver each way, if you don't mind limiting yourself to a fixed train.
From London Victoria, Marble Arch, Shepherds Bush, and Hillingdon, by Coach:, plug-in at-seat power, free wifi
The Oxford Tube
http://www.oxfordtube.com/
The X90
http://x90.oxfordbus.co.uk/
These run 24/7.
From Birmingham and the North
Direct Rail Service from Birmingham New Street, calling at Birmingham International Station, adjacent to BHX airport through to Oxford, on CrossCountry - hourly. These trains originate at points north ranging from Glasgow and Edinburgh through Newcastle, Leeds, Stoke, Manchester, etc. - you can get to Oxford (generally) either on a direct train or with one change at Birmingham
From the West
First Great Western trains to London from Cornwall, Devon, the Bristol area, and South Wales serve Oxford with a change at Didcot Parkway; almost all trains to London stop at Didcot and there are frequent services from there to Oxford.
You may find it faster to change at Swindon and take the 66 bus operated by Stagecoach which takes you right into the middle of Oxford in about an hour. Timetable here
From the South of England
CrossCountry http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/.../places/oxford serve Oxford from Bournemouth on the route that runs via Winchester and Reading. Most services are direct or one change.
Coach/bus service, on National Express, from many points in the country:
http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx
By Car
Oxford, despite being the birthplace of the Morris Motor Company, hates cars. Driving into the city centre should not be attempted if at all possible - traffic is dreadful, parking is very expensive, various roads are bus/taxi only and you'll get fined if you drive down them, cyclists of varying states of competence are everywhere, etc. Just don't try! Instead, park your car at one of the 5 park and ride locations around the city (by all major routes in), and hop on the frequent buses into the city.
There is no free parking available anywhere near the do, parking wardens are everywhere, and city centre parking during the day is very expensive. (There's a handful of free spots with no overnight time restrictions, but with 30 mins-2 hour daytime restrictions, in a few places fairly central, but they go very fast so shouldn't be relied on)
Accommodation
OxfordBlue would love to host all of you in his country mansion just outside Oxford's dreaming spires, but unfortunately he doesn't own one!
As others have observed, hotels in central Oxford are pricey. A few Ł on bus or taxi will be more than paid back in reduced room rates. A quick scour on http://www.booking.com shows the following (prices correct at 02/01/15), include tax, single room, one night, excluding breakfast, all 3 star or above:
Malmaison - Ł215 (very nice - and it's a converted former prison!)
Randolf Hotel - Ł220 (nice grand hotel)
Mercure Eastgate - Ł205 (very occasionally crops up on the Accor Mondays list for Ł40)
Buttery Hotel - Ł80 (pretty good and very central)
Eurobar - Ł65 (can be noisy)
Westgate Hotel - Ł55 (decent, friendly 2* hotel by the station)
and various guest houses. There are also a handful of rooms still available in the various colleges that make up the university, which can make for a memorable and moderately cheap night's stay! See http://www.universityrooms.com/en/city/oxford/home for what's still available.
Alternatively, if you'd rather spend all your money on beer, then the Oxford Youth Hostel (which is pretty central, right by the train station) has twins from Ł45, quads from Ł85, so if you would really like to get up close and personal with other FTers, post in this wiki [or PM me/post in the forum if you can't edit] that you're willing to share a room and see if you get any takers... I am for one! I'll use the time-honoured lounge guesting thread format, suitably modified
[Willing to share]
arrival date / departure date / hotel (or any) / username / comments
28FEB / 01MAR / Any / OxfordBlue / I snore, you've been warned
Complimentary credit card sized badges
Click to enlarge
FT 2015 Oxford(shire) Do : Sat 28 Feb
Dec 15, 2014, 4:17 pm
#32
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom
Programs: BA GGL, NH SFC, IHG Diamond, Radisson VIP, HH Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 835
Dec 16, 2014, 12:46 am
#33
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London, United Kingdom
Programs: OW/AA, DL, UA; Marriott Titanium
Posts: 4,936
Dec 16, 2014, 2:20 am
#34
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC GGL, HHonors Diamond, IHG Uninspired, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, UK AMEX Plat
Posts: 2,151
I wonder if it's worth putting together a poll soon? Based on the thread so far, we probably want two questions to it. One to list dates to pick - Fridays in Jan through Mar, and a few non-Fridays, and a second one on static vs crawl - eg 1 pub, 2 with a move at a set time, 4+ where you need to be at the first at a set time or follow FT to see where we get to...
Anything else people think should be into the poll?
Anything else people think should be into the poll?
Dec 16, 2014, 2:30 am
#35
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,879
I wonder if it's worth putting together a poll soon? Based on the thread so far, we probably want two questions to it. One to list dates to pick - Fridays in Jan through Mar, and a few non-Fridays, and a second one on static vs crawl - eg 1 pub, 2 with a move at a set time, 4+ where you need to be at the first at a set time or follow FT to see where we get to...
Anything else people think should be into the poll?
Anything else people think should be into the poll?
I am sure OxfordBlue will put together a good Do.
Last edited by KARFA; Dec 16, 2014 at 2:59 am Reason: spelling
Dec 16, 2014, 4:09 am
#37
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: LGW/MLA
Programs: AX/Accor/IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond, SPG/Carlson Gold, BA Silver, KM Permanent, JJC (Retd)
Posts: 607
I'm in Oxford (South Side Massive, I mean Business Park) during the week.
Once there's a date and venue, I'll let you know.
Once there's a date and venue, I'll let you know.
Dec 16, 2014, 5:38 am
#38
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold | Hilton Honors Platinum
Posts: 205
I'm Oxford based, so will hopefully be around when a date is set!
Live in Jericho so would be very happy for this to be super local... Harcourt Arms is a fantastic (Fullers) pub, plenty of space and quieter than many of the other Jericho establishments. Then onwards to an eventual Negroni-induced mess in Freud's! Or Angels, or the DoC, or LJ.... ^
Live in Jericho so would be very happy for this to be super local... Harcourt Arms is a fantastic (Fullers) pub, plenty of space and quieter than many of the other Jericho establishments. Then onwards to an eventual Negroni-induced mess in Freud's! Or Angels, or the DoC, or LJ.... ^
Dec 16, 2014, 6:45 am
#39
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC GGL, HHonors Diamond, IHG Uninspired, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, UK AMEX Plat
Posts: 2,151
Maybe a few of us should drag OxfordBlue into the city one night in the early new year, have a few beers somewhere smaller and hammer out a plan?
Dec 16, 2014, 10:08 am
#42
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Essex, UK
Programs: BA Executive Club, AZ, VS, AA, UA
Posts: 602
Great to see the huge support for the do. I've asked Prospero to post a poll, for all Saturdays in Feb and am sure this will be along shortly. Once we've got a date, we cna start arguing about the venue :-) but there are clearly plenty on this thread who know Oxford better than I..
Dec 16, 2014, 10:39 am
#43
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London, United Kingdom
Programs: OW/AA, DL, UA; Marriott Titanium
Posts: 4,936
I think the "poll" may need to include where/how people would get to Oxford.
If many are coming by train, or even the X90 or OxTube, perhaps the city centre might be easiest to get to.
Meanwhile, perhaps we need to be organizing a locals gathering long before then?
Dec 16, 2014, 11:16 am
#44
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Essex, UK
Programs: BA Executive Club, AZ, VS, AA, UA
Posts: 602
Not sure we'd get all of the BAEC forum into the Harcourt Arms, it's nice but it's not that big... Now, the Bookbinders just round the corner, with the monkey nuts, that's a different story!
Maybe a few of us should drag OxfordBlue into the city one night in the early new year, have a few beers somewhere smaller and hammer out a plan?
Maybe a few of us should drag OxfordBlue into the city one night in the early new year, have a few beers somewhere smaller and hammer out a plan?
Dec 16, 2014, 12:39 pm
#45
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club, Marriott Bonvoy
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Englandshire
Programs: SPG LT Plat, BA G, BD*LG, MG Blue+ ...
Posts: 16,014
The poll is now posted : in the past Fridays have also been good days for many people's availability to attend FT Dos so I have added these too.
You may vote for multiple dates.
What chances Feb 14 turns out to be the best date for a gathering of saddo aviation geeks ?
