I don’t suppose it was deliberate, but damn! Couldn’t they have picked a different date?
I haven’t seen Kevin since our trip to Australia for Worldcon. I won’t be seeing him over the holidays. The plan was that he’d come over to the UK for Eastercon, and we’d spend a bit of time together then. So what happens? Some damn fool decides to have a Royal Wedding that week.
In consequence I expect air fares around that date will go through the roof, hotels will be booked solid, and the country will close down for the week. Not to mention that there will be a massive outpouring of jingoistic nonsense and a flood of crappy souvenirs. Sigh.
Maybe we’ll just arrange to meet up in some other country, except we do want to go to Eastercon, what with Vincent Docherty and Roz Kaveney being Guests of Honour, and the convention having laid on an Admiralty Ball especially for Captain Standlee and his favorite space pirate.
Can he fly to somewhere else in Europe and then take the train or drive to England? As for hotels, surely Eastercon has a room block and there are friendly local fen who can provide crash space the rest of the time.
Paris is certainly an option, but the Eurostar operates airline-style pricing and is also likely to be booked solid.
Our Eastercon hotel is already booked, but we were hoping to spend some time in London after the con.
could he come early? Not sure how much the effect will reach backward and forward in time.
hmm, could he go to the continent and take a ferry? Not sure where is reasonable other than Paris . . . I mean, Budapest is usually a steal, but it is kinda far away.
The issue is how close the wedding is to the con. Kevin doesn’t have enough vacation to come early and leave late.
Direct flights form San Francisco are a bit limited. From memory: Paris, Frankfurt. Thinking about it, there are plenty of cheap flights from Paris to UK regional airports. That might work. And I could go to Paris to meet him. Hmm…
Yes, there’s easyjet from Paris CDG to Bristol every day, for instance. 19:00 most days except Saturday, 09:50
Perfect, just what I was hoping for. Thanks.
…while I’m sorry that this is throwing such a spanner in your collective plans, I have to admit that my initial reaction was “April?! Lord, the bookmakers must be crying right about now….”
If he books *now* will it reduce the cost?
If the airlines were on the ball they will have raised prices as soon as the wedding was announced. Kevin’s been too busy with work to even look for the past few days.
On the plus side, if you plan to travel anywhere other than London then on the day, the trains will be empty…
(best, least stressed rail journey of my life was the day Andrew & Fergie got married – no crowds, stations empty, staff were chilled .