Transport for London (TfL): Does the oyster cap apply when traveling from/to Gatwick Airport?
No, it's outside all of the zonal areas. If you want to get to Gatwick more cheaply, go via London Bridge rather than on the more expensive Gatwick Express from Victoria. If you have an all zones travel card you could get a ticket from the zonal boundary to Gatwick, though this would involve queuing up in the ticket office and buying it specially.
Why don't they build a new airport in London instead of expanding Heathrow or Gatwick?
London is currently served by three main airports, Heathrow, Gatwick and (to a lesser extent) Stansted. Your question, as it currently stands (Why don't they build a new airport in London instead of expanding Heathrow or Gatwick?) seems to imply that there is a nice, easy answer to the problem, and this really is not the case.“build a new airport in London,” you say. In a densely packed city, where land is astronomically expensive, you want to build a brand new airport? Quite apart from the vast cost of obtaining sufficient land, and compensating the hundreds of thousands of people whose homes and businesses you will need to demolish, how do you propose to deal with the environmental and safety aspects of having a major airport in a city? Complete non-starter - dream on.“They could build new one in Kent…” Possibly - though Kent is also both populous and pricey. But if you’re going to do that (and we’ll assume it’s feasible, for the moment), then you need to get people there. Problem is that Kent is in the bottom right hand corner of England, with London in the way, for most people. The M25 is an 8-lane motorway already, and frequently traffic round the south side is at little more than a crawl. How many more lanes will you need to add to get your passengers to this new airport? How many people will miss their flight because there was a major holdup on the motorway? I think you’ll have trouble selling this one, too. As an idea, it’s got quite a lot in common with 'Boris Island' airport plan: pros and cons - sounds as if it makes sense, but probably hard to make it work.Expanding Stansted might be an idea, but nobody living south or west of London likes going there - it’s an expensive nightmare to get to, for a start. Dilly Keane and Fascinating Aida have this one all summed up in their Fascinating Aida – Cheap Flights song:“Now I don’t know if you’ve tried locating Stansted on a map,But checking in at 5am is a fecking load of crap,It’s a banjax if you try to catch a train or underground,So a taxi to the arse in the world was more than 100 pound.”Possibly the answer is to work at developing Birmingham airport instead, in conjunction with HS2 and a fast connection to London? It won’t take noticeably longer than getting to or from Stansted, and it would be a lot cheaper than any London-based solution.
Which UK Theme Park do you prefer out of Alton Towers and Thorpe Park? Why?
Definitely Alton Towers. It has more history and heritage to it. The park itself looks beautiful and travelling between rides is a pleasure whether it's on foot or by cable car.I may be a little biased because it was the first of the two I ever visited and holds lots of fond memories of fun times spent with great friends.I've only been to Thorpe Park once, and whilst the rides were fun and in some ways the main rides are more adventurous and thrilling, for me it doesn't quite have the same feel to it. Despite their best efforts at theming the park, you can still tell you're on a piece of ex-wasteland off the M25.Thorpe Park have more scope for creating taller and noisier rides. Alton Towers are very limited with what they can do given their location and the restrictions they have on height, noise etc. That's why many of their rides are built into the ground. But despite this I still feel they've really made the best of it when designing the park and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Is New Forest National Park safe for a girl to travel alone?
The New Forest National Park is perfectly safe for solo travel. I would recommend hiring a car to approach all walking tracks, pony spots, and towns.However, cycling works well especially if you’re staying in a cottage, and there are multiple bus and coach companies which accommodate to visitors. The area is mostly heathland rather than forest, but nonetheless beautiful.This may inspire you…Enjoy the colourful gorse which attracts many distinct butterflies and bees, wander through the endless forest trails and savour the open southern English countryside. The New Forest National Park offers visitors a unique seasonal visit favoured for scenic country walks amongst the wild ponies and cattle captured in their natural environment. Bike rides and camping are popular activities, and with Autumn fast-approaching, catch the wild pigs and piglets on their heathland hunt for fallen acorns and chestnuts among the changing leaves.Where to eat in the New Forest National Park?The Cloud HotelA beautiful pub found in the heart of Brockenhurst, New Forest. The name originated from a horse which ran at St Cloud races, France. Avril, the proud owner of The Cloud and former 1960s Tilly Girl dancer welcomes visitors with displays of dance photography and stage curtains wrapped around the bar.La Pergola, Ristorante An Italian restaurant which showcases vintage masks throughout the seating area located near to Parc Pale, Denny Wood and Matley Wood in Lyndhurst, New Forest.Visiting the New Forest National Park