Is it worth travelling at Christmas?

[Helen May]

To be honest I try not to, maybe it's the years I spent working at the airports.

It's sheer hell and you just don't always have the information to give out because no one has it.

H

[V8farty]

No!

Nor Easter or Bank holidays or during the school holidays.

[Helen May]

Meant to add that fog is the worst the weather problems at airports. For some reason it's the one that passengers get the most worked up about.

Suffered many an insult from them and had various things thrown at me over the years. :-(

H

[Phillip Phlopp]

Anybody remember 'Trains, planes and automobiles' when Steve Martin arrives at the car hire desk?

Car Rental Agent: I really don't care for the way you're speaking to me.

Neal: And I really don't care for the way your company left me in the middle of bleeping nowhere with keys to a bleeping car that isn't bleeping there. And I really didn't care to bleeping walk down a bleeping highway and across a bleeping runway to get back here to have you smile at my bleeping face. I want a bleeping car RIGHT bleeping NOW!

Car Rental Agent: May I see your rental agreement.

Neal: I threw it away.

Car Rental Agent: Oh boy.

Neal: Oh boy what?

Car Rental Agent: You're bleeped!


Filmbuff note: The Agent was based on the director's experience following a tirade at an airline check-in with Helen may.

[Helen May]

I did wonder what the guy in the corner was doing with that camera.;)

H

[markwilkinson]

Why would anyone want to travel at Christmas unless they don't have a home to go to?

[Ian Mac]

I intend to travel with a fluid motion at Christmas.

[Lord Evan Elpuss]

Meant to add that fog is the worst the weather problems at airports. For some reason it's the one that passengers get the most worked up about.

Suffered many an insult from them and had various things thrown at me over the years. :-(

H
Poor Helen. Why not pop down to the bar and have a drink!

[Wild Bill]

Have none of these people seen Die Hard Two?

[Squeamous]

I have to travel out on the train today to visit relatives, and that's just as bad. I can almost guarantee someone will be sitting in my seat, and we'll all be squashed up against each other, our luggage, and the carriage bulkheads.

[Helen May]

Best of luck Squeamous! My Mum is travelling tomorrow I hope she gets her seat.

H

[Squeamous]

As long as she's not going or leaving from anywhere near London she'll probably be OK H!

[Lord Evan Elpuss]

Was it really a good idea to do away with the guards carriage on trains? After all this was where luggage, bikes etc was put in previous times rather than getting in the way of passengers as it sometimes does now despite best efforts to avoid it :roll:

[Squeamous]

Good point LEE.

I was on a train a couple of months ago that was so packed somebody put their luggage on a seat, which meant nobody could sit there. I had a seat, but if I were one of the people standing I would have had no hesitation in pulling that luggage off and dumping it in the aisle. Which would have caused an argument. Its the little things being done away with that are making this country so enraged!

[Helen May]

I suppose they argue that a lot of the time people have very little luggage, but when they do, so has everyone else. It's just crazy!

The worst are the trains that go to airport stations, do they expect everyone to travel with hand luggage only? :roll:

H

[Squeamous]

Well, I can confirm that I had absolutely no problems at all travelling over Christmas. All my trains were on time and half full. The streets and roads were almost deserted!

I can't figure out if everyone was just put off by media scaremongering or if the reports of 'Britain at a standstill' was just claptrap!

[Boy Perkins]

Best Christmas for many years was the one where I decided, " This year I stay put, anyone is welcome!"

This has been the policy ever since and not once regretted...

However if the number who come gets any larger (family breeding like rabbits) will have to make an adjustment to plan... :)

[SoFarSoGood]

Travelling on Christmas day was fine, but must remember a CD or 2 next time. Radio 2 Christmas output isn't great.

[Trent-Iffy]

Depends how you travel. If it's not fog on the roads and at the airport, it's baggage handlers or senior conductors at airports and train stations respectively, who seem to strike each year in order to get the days off they want. I don't buy it that they do it for the money.

[Helen May]

Hearing the news of the thousands of pieces of luggage still at Heathrow almost 2 weeks after the fog, just another reason I'm glad I don't have to travel by air over the holidays.

H