Travelodge is building a hotel in West London made from 86 modified shipping containers. When completed in June, it is expected that rooms in the hotel will cost around €25 per night, less than a third of the cost of the nearest Travelodge in Slough, and cheaper than the nearest youth hostel.

The rooms are pre-fabbed in China, shipped out to the UK, where they are installed and then will be decorated. It is intended that the rooms are recyclable and although the words eco-friendly have been touted in relation to this building, I have to wonder what the insulation is going to be like. How are shipping containers going to deal with an unusually hot summer?



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Ever since the September 11 attacks, governments around the world have been slowly making it more and more difficult for travellers to enter their countries. We’ve previously detailed how the United States and Japan have been treating travellers as if they were criminals, by fingerprinting them upon entry.

Now it’s the United Kingdom’s turn – everyone who enters the UK for longer than six months will require a biometric visa, which will include their fingerprints. Once again the question must be asked: how does this prevent terror attacks?

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After reading this article, which describes an itinerary that will get you from London to Marseilles in six hours, with the newly opened UK high-speed leg of the Eurostar, it made me wonder just where you can get to within six hours, without needing to fly.

Virtually all of Belgium is now within easy reach, taking in the very popular Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp, and of course, Brussels.

London to Amsterdam comes in at five hours and 34 minutes, with a change to an Intercity train at Brussels. Theoretically, the Thalys train on the Brussels to Amsterdam leg should be a little faster than the Intercity service, given it has fewer stops, but it’s probably not worth the extra fare.

London to Frankfurt only just overshoots the mark, coming in at six hours and seven minutes, but just once a day: the 14:32 service, changing at Brussels (arrive 17:23. depart 17:59).

Strasbourg comes in at an average of five hours and 45 minutes, with the shortest trip being five hours and thirteen minutes (departs London at 10:30, arrive Paris Nord 13:53 and then stroll across to Paris Est to catch the TGV Est service to Strasbourg at 14:24).

Luxembourg can be reached via either Brussels or Paris, and ranges from five hours 40 minutes to six hours, with ten departures a day.

The area around Cologne, in Germany, is easily reachable in five hours and ten minutes – and two trains a day will get you there in only four hours and 48 minutes, departing London at 6:57 or 10:00 and changing in Brussels).

Lyon, too, with its high speed TGV line, is an easy destination, coming in anywhere between five and six hours, the shortest trip being just four hours and 50 minutes (departing London 11:05).

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After ten years of work, London’s history St Pancras railway station has been restored to its former glory, and reopened by Queen Elizabeth, in a ceremony on Tuesday.

Passenger services from St Pancras International, which previously went to the rather unimpressive Waterloo International station, will begin on November 14th, to Paris (two hours, fifteen minutes) and Brussels (one hour and 51 minutes).

Pictures from the BBC.

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Newcomers to London are often shocked at the price of accomodation. A single room in a three-star hotel could easily set you back £100 – or more. The Independent gives a rundown of the five best budget accomodation options’ that London has to offer.

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The Independent has an article about the UK Youth Hostelling Association closing down a number of hostels in order to fund improvements to others.

Apparently more and more travellers, these days, want private en-suite facilities, It would be a shame, however, if the large bunk rooms and communal eating areas disappeared forever…

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The Amsterdam/London Express was, for several years, the most hassle-free method of getting between the two cities. One ticket would get you from London Liverpool Street Station via train to Harwich, then on a fast hydrofoil to Hoek van Holland, and then finally on another train to Rotterdam, The Hague or Amsterdam, in around six hours.

Sadly, the hydrofoil was removed at the beginning of 2007, but the service remains, now using ferries, and renamed as the DutchFlyer; possibly in jest, as the service takes twice as long as it did previously.

However, it still remains one of the least problematic methods for getting to the Netherlands, since there’s no annoying airports to deal with. And, as The Guardian explains, you can travel with a clear conscience, too.

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The Toronto Star has a feature on the castles and ruins of northern England.

“Thanks to 400 years of bitter border skirmishes, wars and invasions, the counties that dot the north of England can today proudly boast more than 800 fortresses ranging from the ruinous to the downright sumptuous.”

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The people at shortwalk.blog.co.uk have put together a great map of London’s tube showing the walking times between stations.

Rodcorp also has a tube map with walklines.

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