Jaunted

Airport News / Airports / London Travel / LGW / LHR / → All Tags

London's New Multi Bajillion Dollar Thames Estuary Airport Hits a Snag

Not too long ago we were going on and on about the possibility of London building a pretty darn huge airport within the Thames Estuary. Well this is certainly still a possibility, but now that accountants and financiers have started to run the numbers and sort the spreadsheets, the bottom line is getting out of han.

Someone must pay for all the construction costs, costs which would be passed on down to the planes and passengers arriving at the new airport. Landing fees could be as high as £100 per passenger for the new airport—oof—a fact which may make the new airport—despite all its bells and whistles—a pretty hard sell. The thought is that the new airport could cost anywhere between like £50 and £80 billion to build, which is way more than what London-Heathrow is even worth (around £12 billion).

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Art Travel / Elizabeth Taylor / London Travel / → All Tags

Elizabeth Taylor's Art Collection Hits the Auction Block in London Next Month

Just weeks after Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry raised more than $150 million in a New York auction, part of the Hollywood icon's art collection is being put on the block in London.

More than 30 works belonging to the late actress, including van Gogh's "Vue de l'Asile et de la Chapelle de Saint-Remy," an Edgar Degas self-portrait, and works by Camille Pissarro, will go up for auction on February 7th and 8th, with proceeds going to the Elizabeth Taylor Trust.

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2012 London Olympics / London Travel / Airports / Heathrow / Airport Security / Immigration / Travel News / → All Tags

Olympic Athletes to Get a 'Fast Pass' Lane at LHR for London 2012

There are 206 days to go until the 2012 Olympics in London, so trust that our U.K.-based sources will be bringing you all the latest as we continue ground coverage leading up to the Games: the touristy swarms clogging up Westminster and the Southbank, the Cultural Olympiad, the general excuse for even more drunken revelry than usual, the works.

To kick off 2012, a word to the wise among summer travelers set to pass through Heathrow around the Games: you might have to face even more unbearable lines at airport immigration owing to a VIP passport lane being established strictly for athletes. The U.K. Border Agency will be taking and checking biometric data (translation: fingerprints) from visiting athletes, with lanes at immigration dedicated solely to the task of checking said data.

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Holiday Travel / Britain Travel / Christmas Travel / Shopping Travel / London Travel / Markets / → All Tags

Three London Christmas Markets That Nod to the German Tradition

Christmas markets are an advent of countries like Germany and Austria, but the honored holiday tradition has been adopted by cultures the world over.

In London, there's yuletide market merriment to be found stretching from the Thames to Columbia Road. Sprinkled throughout the city, these shopping fairs feature vendors hawking everything from fresh mulled wine to crafts to handmade jewels, offering ample opportunity to shop for presents and partake of seasonal cheer.

There are only a few days left to peruse the "chalet" stalls for last-minute gifts as you take in the sight of strung lights and sip on hot cocoa. We've highlighted three of the city's best Christmas markets:

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London Travel / Food Travel / Restaurant Travel / Lists / Travel Tips / → All Tags

In London's Soho, No-Reservations Restaurants are Where You Want to Be

Spuntino's Peanut Butter and Jelly Dessert "Sandwich"

In London, our preference is for restaurant trawling, not pub crawling. The local culinary scene has undergone subtle yet significant changes over the past year: artisanal coffee is easier to come by, locals are every-so-slowly embracing the concept of brunch, there is an increased presence of street food, and a handful of strictly no-reservations outposts have made a splash among critics and discerning diners alike.

It's the latter trend with which we're most taken, as these democratic, "queue-with-the-rest-of-'em" restaurants are focusing more on putting out great food rather than trying to compete with their five-star contemporaries. Their websites are typically devoid of essential intel, save for the locale's address. If you're lucky you'll get a phone number, not that it will help in trying to wrangle a dining spot.

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London Travel / Food Travel / Pop-Ups / Travel Tips / Brunch / → All Tags

Pop-Up Brunch Club Tops London's Most Talked-About Restaurants

If you've been following our London coverage, you're surely noticed two prominent trends:

1. The prevalence of pop-ups.
2. The decided lack of decent brunch options in the city.

But there is a contingent of culinarians looking to change the latter, among which you can count Bex and Nick, the masterminds and master chefs behind the aptly named Gourmet Lovers Club. The duo is fanatical about good food and adept at serving up a stellar brunch, as we can attest.

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The Beatles Week / Beatles Travel / Music Travel / Historical Travel / John Lennon / London Travel / → All Tags

Here, There and Everywhere with The Beatles: Abbey Road Crossing

This Thursday, December 8, marks the 31st anniversary of the day John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment in New York City. While fans of Lennon and The Beatles will come together at Central Park's Strawberry Fields to remember him, we'll spend this week focusing on other places to visit to dip into Beatles history.

Monday: The Abbey Road crossing in London, UK

In 1969, four guys crossed a street in London and the resulting photograph is one of the most iconic album covers in history. It's The Beatles' Abbey Road, named for the place where the picture was taken, which just happens to be right outside EMI Studios. It's a standard crossing which still exists today (as do the Studios).

The crossing itself received historical status just last year, and of course it's open and free for fans to see and walk. There's even a webcam, in case you need to prove your visit to people watching at home.

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Awesome Stuff / Eurostar / London Travel / Paris Travel / Travel News / Train Travel / Channel Tunnel / → All Tags

And Now, a Happy Eurostar Story to Warm Your Heart

It’s the nature of news to focus on the bad stuff, we suppose, which is why lovely stories like this make us go all warm in our tummies.

Picture the scene: it's last Monday, and our friend Mia is on the Eurostar returning home to London after a trip to Paris. During the journey, she reads a book—a hefty academic tome worth $120—that she has been asked to read and review for work.

Nearing London, she notices that a friend of hers is mentioned in the book, and puts it down to email her. She forgets to pick it up again, gets off the train, and assumes she’ll never see it again. She is, in her own words, “so annoyed” because not only was the book worth $120, but since it’s brand new it’s not in any libraries yet.

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Shopping Travel / UK Travel / LHR / Airplanes / Boeing / British Airways / Airlines / Airline News / Holiday Travel / Layovers / London Travel / → All Tags

Buy This: Time in an Official British Airways Boeing Flight Simulator

Perhaps you have people on your holiday shopping list for whom you completely dread finding gifts...or maybe it's you falling into that category on your loved one's lists. Whatever direction the holiday shopping stress is coming from, British Airways has a solution.

Last week, BA decided to spice up Black Friday and tweeted about gift ideas, like vouchers for the general public to get into their Flight Simulator Experiences.

It all sounds like something right out of the Nieman Marcus Fantasy Gift section in their catalog, with prices to match. Normally reserved for their own flight crews, the simulators are offered to any self-proclaimed aviation geek. Vouchers are available from £399 for a 1-hour flight on a Boeing 737-400, to £1,347 for a 3-hour flight on a 747-400. Sorry Airbus fans, aircraft options are limited to Boeing only and also include 757-200, 767-300 and 777-200.

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London Travel / Food Trucks / Food Travel / Events / → All Tags

London Finally Catches Onto the Street Food Phenomenon...Sort of

Though a city of tastemakers, London is decidedly behind on the gourmet food truck front. The U.S.-bred phenomenon has yet to catch on with the same fervor as in the States, though there are a handful of British culinarians taking a cue from Roy Choi's book, like the good people of Meatwagon and Street Kitchen.

The Long Table, set to launch this Friday, November 25th, is a fashionable fusion of London's beloved pop-up trend and mobile food. A handful of respected local restaurants and street food purveyors will make weekly appearances in the ever-so-hip neighborhood of Dalston, providing chilly pub hoppers with warm dishes to tide them over, pre- and post-pint.

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Free Stuff / WiFi / Travel Tech / London Travel / Technology / → All Tags

Free WiFi Scheduled to Arrive in London This Week, More to Follow in 2012

London is the best when it comes to all kinds of stuff, but the city is unfortunately not too great when it comes to finding free WiFi. It just really hasn’t made the push for large hotspots or other all-encompassing connection options, but that might be changing soon. This is especially good for those visiting from abroad, because those overseas roaming charges—especially for data—can quickly ruin your travel buzz.

It sounds like Nokia and the city are working on a plan to bring hotspots to several popular areas around the city. In total there are plans to bring WiFi to 12 different spots including places like Oxford Street, Sloane Square and beyond. The first installations will be part of a pilot plan, but eventually the goal is to expand elsewhere.

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Airport Restaurants / LGW / Airports / London Travel / Airport Food / Travel Snapshot / → All Tags

Does a Cafe Have the Best Free View at Gatwick Airport?

The North Terminal at London-Gatwick is somewhere we find ourselves quite regularly, and up 'til now we’ve never been particularly jazzed about it; it’s a bit cramped, with too few bathrooms and too long walks to the gates. And, we always thought, it’s not as airy and fresh as more modern airports can be.

But we had something of a turnaround in opinion when we flew through this last weekend, because we discovered Café Rouge on the first floor of the departures area.

It’s a place we’ve walked by lots of times before, but ignored every time, largely because we never have time for a sitdown meal and its location next to the toilets makes us feel a little icky. But this time, lured by a £3.95 coffee and cake deal, we went in…

…And found what’s possibly (discounting the lounges) the place with the best views of the airport in the North Terminal. Think: a huge room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking some of the gates and the runway, without the need to pay for a lounge or present a Business or First Class ticket for access.

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