London Do: November 11, 12, 2006 (Remembrance Day and Veterans Weekend)
 

You've asked for it! You're getting it.

It has been 3 years since our amazing London Mega-Do. And it might be 3 more years if it weren't for some great folks who know London far better than me agreeing to help organize.

It makes sense that for this weekend of all weekends, the Yanks and the Brits are collaborating. Stepping up to the plate are Jenbel and Wingnut. The three of us will be your London Do team.

Our thoughts on Feb 27 are:

Saturday
13:30 Meet at Temple Pier to board boat
14:00 Boat trip to include afternoon tea
17:00 Back at pier, view Lord Mayor's Fireworks Show from deck

18:00 Time to freshen up or head to pub
Glasshouse Stores, 55 Brewer St
19:00 All gather at pub
21:00 Dinner at Cafe Lazeez, 21 Dean Street, Soho
23:00 carry on drinking restaurant/bar

Sunday
12:00 Dim Sum at Laureate, Wardour & Shaftesbury
Check out this thread for info on restaurants Wingnut evaluated.
14:25 Train to Windsor from Waterloo for walking tour

That leaves time on your own Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday night for you to shop, go to museums, or attend theatre as you like. Also, we welcome others planning their own Fringe events and opening them up for participation.

Write this on your calendar!

List of attendees
 

Hotels where people are staying
 

See Jenbel's London Do Hotel list for up to date information. The list below has not been maintained since mid-September.


Intercontinental - reopening delayed; folks will be rebooking
ralfkrippner
Dino2020

Mandarin Oriental
NickW

Churchill Hyatt
SFOLIS

HI Mayfair
Magic 111 + Jerri
Jenbel
skydiver + Mrs skydiver

HI Oxford Circus
TEX277

Holiday Inn Kings Cross is showing up on a 2 for 1 basis at around £55 a night 11th & 12th Nov.
use link: www.ichotels.com/hertz

Travelodge Kings Cross Royal Scot
alex0683de
chrissxb
Escocesa

Generator Hostel - 13.50 GBP (Sat) and 11.50 GBP (other nights). It's just north of Russell Square, and very close to Covent Garden.
Mitchell

Thistle Piccadilly
Sunnyhere

Chancery Court Renaissance - 95.74 +tax including breakfast for 2. Use PKG as the code. Requires vouchers from the Telegraph. This combined with a Premium Pounds Coupon brings it to about £62 a night.

belle3388
gvdIAD
oxfordjames

Trafalgar Hilton
peteropny + 1

Waldorf Hilton
DCBob + Timmy
jdiver + Lady jdiver
LLM
SanDiego1K + 1
Shirl
jan_az + Evil Sensei

Thistle Charing Cross - $100 on Priceline
brp

Novotel London City South
UAX@SFO

Hoxton Hotel
Karen2 + Einar
Paul Palmer + Roy
OnePassLover

Hilton Metropole
GadgetFreak

Hilton Paddington
Steady-EDI

Radisson SAS Portman Hotel:
$146 -- Chic London Hotel w/Upgrade (27/8-26/11) *
http://hotels.travelzoo.com/international-hotels/250476
lalala

Sheraton Belgravia
nor4

Holiday Inn Kensington Forum
Going Away
ILuvParis
Izzik
JockdAAddy

Hilton London Olympia - £40 on Priceline
Prospero
HamburgAround

Club Quarters St. Pauls - £55
Book with Club Quarters direct or TravelNow or Expedia. Travelocity and most other sites wanted £95.
lili

Copthorne Tara Kensington - $89 on Priceline
DEK
dlnewbie
Wireless

Capricorn Hotel
Near Earl's Court at 55 Pounds per night, breakfast and VAT included
mcott

Millennium Gloucester Hotel - Priceline.co.uk at £48 + tax per room.
airoli
cathaana
f4free
FLYGVA

Sheraton LHR - 54 and 40 quid refundable prepaid rates
Spiff

Sheraton Skyline- GBP 69.00 Best Available Rate Fully Refundable
stc

Renaissance LHR -
Corp Weekend (refundable) rate of 55GPB that includes full breakfast
(ex tax). On the Marriott website, type in PKG on the corp/promo code, then a bunch will come up (parknfly, that type of thing). There will be a crp
wknd rate. Reserve that. If you have a Premium Pound, this drops the rate to just 10pd for 2 nights.
TxLobo

I will be there :) ^

SanDiego1K ^ and Jenbel ^ and Wingnut ^ = fantastic DO to look forward to.

I certainly will try to make it but not too likely at this stage.

(Pat, I've taken this over as a place to assemble info on events others have offered to host.)

Let lalala know if you are interested in Saturday lunch (suckling pig) at St Johns. Max: 16

Let SarahWest know if you are interested in dinner at Ivy or Scotts on Friday or Sunday night. She needs a non-refundable deposit of £10 a head and there are set menus which are shown on the Ivy's web site. Max: 9 in main dining room OR 32-60 in private room.

Talk about advance notice! :) This is a great idea. I will have no excuse not to attend. I remember your 2003 London DO. I have just reviewed the list of attendees. Is it an exaggeration to think that 1/2 of the known members of FT at that time were present? I note the thread on Community went for 58 pages!

Guess I best show my face, as long as Wingnut is buying :)

chrissxb, it appears we are traveling Europe together this year. ;)

DINO!!!!! Yay, I get to meet you!!

restlessinRNO, I know, I'm being a little beforehanded by announcing now. But come November, when people are stressing about renewing status, they'll have a place to fly. I'm actually surprised when I look at the 2003 thread to see that I launched it on February 12 - one week earlier than this year. I guess I'm not as hasty as I thought!

Ever since the 2003 Do, I've been terrified to organize another - but Jenbel and Wingnut have made it all possible again. We've seen what a stellar job Jenbel has done with her BA get togethers - and wingnut is at ground zero, so gets to do pub and restaurant checks.

it will be a pleasure for me :)

Yippeeh! It's been far too long already, and my Fortnum & Mason tea supplies start running precariously low anyway...

While November is still too far out for me to confirm my attendance, I've definitely earmarked the weekend and will try my best to be there!

I'll do my best!

Ah... Dim sum with Wingnut. Reminds me of the old days...

Count me in!

Giler.

I am up for this. Sign me up please!

N.B. The Saturday is Remembrance Day.

Hi, I'd love to come, but had better go down as a tentative for now.

thanks, Lewis

I'll be able to make the saturday.

Sign me up.

I'll be there too.

(I love this advance notice!)

Sounds interesting and it's a great time of year to work it into the strategy for hitting levels. I can't commit just yet because the fares aren't there for me, but it could happen. :)

It's exactly why we give a lot of advance notice - so that people can work it into their forward planning and have a lot of time to look for fares :)

SanDiego1K

I’m going to keep my eyes open for any central Travelodges that turn up at their Supersaver £10 rate.

Namely (and in this order) the High Holborn, Convent Garden, or any of the Kings Cross hotels (Farringdon, Islington, Kings Cross) – perhaps Liverpool Street too if it’s at the £10 rate.

These bookings are non-refundable – it’s possible they’ll only appear (if at all) about 2 months before the date.

The question is, would anyone else be interested? If so, let me know.


Just for information, the Islington Travelodge (near Kings Cross) has rooms available for £26 for 11th November (including ‘family rooms’ with sofas and triple rooms). The biggest problem is that they won't hold onto your bags - under any circumstances - outside yor check in/out times.

Count me in! ^

LapLap good idea. From what I've seen at the dos I've been to, while some come and stay in their hotel chains for points, status and perks, others just want a reasonably priced room and a bed - and reasonably priced in London is hard to come by!

I would love to come. I will have to pray to the god of scheduling to ensure that I'm off. Put me down as a possible.

I'll be there - just finished one Doo, should be ready for another by then! :cool:

london!
 

How cool, I am getting transferred to London permanently in August, so this will be perfect, count me in as CONFIRMED! Can't wait!!

Done a little research, if you want to book some fully flexible accomodation early, nothing fancy try:

http://www.hilton.com - the hilton london olympia and hilton kensington regularly track at about GBP79.90 per night + taxes, plus if you're gold, you get breakfast or lounge access at the kensington.

http://www.ibishotels.com - the ibis earls court is zone 1 and is close to the tube, room rates always track at GBP59.90 to GBP69.90 per night + taxes.

I'm sure there are cheaper places there I just know the olympia and the ibis earls court because they are dog friendly too! The rates are reasonable considering they are fully flexible and you could go for priceline closer to the dates...

Jenbel my friend you are on a very dangerous territory! ;)

"just a reasonably priced room and bed"... What's next, I pray?

i dont care about all these points and miles and tiers and status and lounges, all i want is to travel from point A to point B Bcuz all air travel is nothing but enveromentally irresponsibel but in my case unavoideble evil and the less time I spend doing it the better!!! all airports are clearly the same and all the airlines are the same they all charge for excess luggage and it's not fair coz it's not only my stuff i carry around but it's for my friends as well - and airlines are evil cuz they never up-grade me to first class or whatever and that i have the cheapest ticket doesnt mean i dont deserve to lie down and have a drink like a human being deserves!!! everyun should be able 2 have a go at travling in biz class not just stuck-up businessmen and bankers who are all corperate thieves!!!

Ooops... Wrong forum :D

I have put it in the diary in the hope of being at home that weekend!

What a great idea. I plan to attend (now...to get the I class CE ticket)

I'm a maybe. Too early to confirm but if the travel gods & client base allows I'll be a definite. Cheers.

Wonderful idea ^

Just got home from the Shamrock Doo, perfect time to start planning the next one :)

Please put me down on the list.

Oh, my! Jenbel has sprinkled her magic dust on the BA regulars! 8 months to go and we already have enough folks to have a great party.

loobtastic, I truly hope that your flight schedule allows you to come. We are pushing hard for you in the Walk for Life.

Mmm, I'm happy to see that my Swiss chocolate dealer hopes to come. ;) Yes, I admit it - I am a Swiss chocholate junkie.

LapLap, as Jenbel has already said, do let us know of any lodging bargains. It will make the difference for some as to whether they can come. I used Priceline myself for the 2003 London Do.

And kawoh, I've wanted to meet you for quite a while, after seeing some of the magic you've figured out with creative routings.

I will try it. I cannot confirm anything in the moment, as I as of today work in another office, but I penciled it and see what I can do.

Put me down as "tentative" - these were a lot of fun in the past!!

Well since you talked my SO into it - I guess I will be there.

I just hope its warmer than Chicago was this weekend :D

Put me down for the possibility list! However, I'm sure I'll be there!

Attendance list updated to this point.

Jan_AZ, London is NEVER as cold as Chicago can be in winter. And oh, btw, he's now your HUSBAND not your SO. ;) Evil Sensei is on the list.

FLYGVA, a new job? I look forward to learning about it in Lyon.

Efrem, let's keep up our string of meetings all around the world.

Escocesa, welcome!

Looking at my date planner and future job prospects :D it appears that I do not have any other plans for those dates at this time.

I am a definite but Jerrie is a maybe since she now has a gallery in Sonoma and it is only open on weekends and holidays and that might be a busy time for her.

Can you add me to the list as a tentative? I haven't been to LON in years and would love to join all of you...

Looking forward to that part of it, but haven't we already checked off London?