sonicl's ATP tips
 

sonicl gave me some useful tips for the comming ATP. I thought they might be useful for some of you. You should all rep him after reading them;) :

"...You can get to Butlins by coach from Heathrow, with one change of coaches on the way at taunton, which is quite a nice little town. The total journey time is between 5 and 6 hours, and coaches leave from Heathrow at 08:40, 09:50 and 13:20. Coming back they leave Minehead at 07:15, 10:45 and 13:45. There are departures at other times for both directions, but the timings aren't too good. The coach fare is about £36 return. To book, go to http://www.nationalexpress.com/home/hp.cfm?t=own, and put in a departure point of HEATHROW AIRPORT, CENTRAL BUS STATION and a destination of MINEHEAD BUTLINS.

I don't think that Butlins would allow you to arrive a day early and stay there. However, if you wanted to arrive in the UK a day early so that you had to rush less then you could either stay at a hotel near Heathrow overnight (although they are quite expensive), or you could travel down to Minehead on the Thursday and find a place to stay there, which would probably be cheaper.

This place is about a mile from Butlins and is very cheap at £15 per person per night:
http://www.independenthostelguide.co.uk/detail.asp?ID=359 or http://www.togooutdoors.com ..."

Another thing that I'll mention is that Heathrow, despite being a "major international airport" does not have a railway station, and the nearest rail station to ATP is quite a distance away too, so getting a train from Heathrow to ATP is not a good option.

If anyone has any questions about getting to ATP, feel free to post them and I'll do my best to find an answer.

Are you going to ATP, Toxic Johnny?

very kind.
Now let's look at some of the pre- and post-ATP gigs.... the night before ATP, there's:

December, 7 2006 at Barden's Boudoir
Stoke Newington, London,
WOLF EYES, AARON DILLOWAY, DAMION ROMERO, SUDDEN INFANT

or in Bristol

December, 7 2006 at seymour's family club, bristol
sunburned hand of the man w/ six organs of admittance

Has anyone seen others?

I sure am!

If there are three or more people coming as a group and one of the group is happy to drive in the UK, then you could possibly save some money by hiring a car, although, obviously, that does then mean that you have to find your way to Minehead on your own. You can currently hire a medium size saloon car for about £60 upwards, and then petrol will probably be about £45 on top of that. Details of the car hire companies operating from Heathrow are here.

Yippee! I won't be the oldest one there! ;)


And after you'd been so nice...

If someone doesn't rep sonicl the way he should be repped i'll stop posting on here.

it won't let me rep him either... ah well, rep points are overrated anyway.


damn, six and a half hours. seems like the only way to arrive by coach before 14:30 at Butlins from London is by going overnight.

Hahaha... yes I'm always the oldest person wherever I go... it's a burden that I quite happily carry. I'm currently in consultation with my doctor concerning any adjustments that will be needed to my hearing aid in order to make me fighting fit for the blissful noise onslaught that is this years Nightmare Before Christmas!!!...


Nefeli... I certainly do NOT count you as one of the oldies... however Sonicl is another matter entirely...

Just a gentle bit of ribbing... he can take it.

I won't quite be 40 by the time ATP comes round, but I'll be fast approaching. I have to hope the old hips don't seize up in the cold.

I'll be 35 on December. Are there any benefits for senior citizens like us?

A free travelcard and that's about it,i'm afraid.

Hopefully the younger members of the audience will give up their seats for us, help us cross the road, offer to carry our bags, stuff like that.

im not sure, but cant you take the central line into london from heathrow?
people arriving a day or so early could pay the few quid into london and get a hostel or cheap hotel in london for the night(s). it would be more interesting than kipping at heathrow.

I read an interesting article by Mark Ravenhill about approaching you 40s yesterday.It made me wish that 30 didn't exist as a number.

No it's the Picadilly line.