European Speedster Assembly 2013 - Travel Thread [locked]

Edit history:

DRsynj: 2013-04-28 04:44:30 am

2013-04-28 04:21:26 am

Reverse Death Valley Bomb

Right about now it feels like a good time to start getting concerned people organised to meet up at certain junctures of the journey to Skovde. Last year it proved extremely helpful and convenient to have a number of us meet at airports/train stations to make the journey more understandable and manageable, namely Stanstead Airport in England and Gothenburg Central Station.

I can try to oversee movements from London to Skovde as it's a journey I've made before, but if there are others coming from different places, who are planning to be in Sweden at the same times we are, then please join us and let each other know when are where you're going to be (Neviutz, Ozzy88.)

So to get the ball rolling; if you've made travel arrangements already please reply and we'll see if we can get others moving in your direction. For British residents who haven't booked anything yet I can advise the outline of a cheap transport option to get people in the same place at the start.

Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com/en will take you from Edinburgh and Stanstead Airport to Gothenburg City and Stockholm Skavsta.
From Gothenburg City Airport you can take a flightbus to Gothenburg Central Station (Nils Ericsson) for about 69SEK (~£6.90) and a 25min journey. Trains from Gothenburg to Skovde are direct and run every hour for about a 1hr 20m journey and ~£10, around the area there are shopping markets, restaurants and such, a good place to stop for lunch and meet others. This is the journey I took last year but, as I type this, tickets with Ryanair to this destination on the 14th of July are sitting at £111.91 with 4 seats left (in comparison to £36.99 on the 12th and £28.99 on the 16th,) so ii might be a better idea to fly with a more expensive airline OR sacrifice the ease of transit to fly to Skavsta for £36.99 on the 14th.

From Skavsta Airport you can take a flightbus to Stockholm Central Station for ~£13 and an 1hr 20min journey. Trains from Stockholm to Skovde are direct and run every 2 hours for a 3 hour journey and ~£20.

My directions are vague but it's a good start. Check http://www.sj.se/?l=en for information on trains, all the info in the OP is still relevant and important. Also, if there are people who can provide car lifts or other help/information from these places to Skovde let us know!

Right about now it feels like a good time to start getting concerned people organised to meet up at certain junctures of the journey to Skovde. Last year it proved extremely helpful and convenient to have a number of us meet at airports/train stations to make the journey more understandable and manageable, namely Stanstead Airport in England and Gothenburg Central Station.

I can try to oversee movements from London to Skovde as it's a journey I've made before, but if there are others coming from different places, who are planning to be in Sweden at the same times we are, then please join us and let each other know when are where you're going to be (Neviutz, Ozzy88.)

So to get the ball rolling; if you've made travel arrangements already please reply and we'll see if we can get others moving in your direction. For British residents who haven't booked anything yet I can advise the outline of a cheap transport option to get people in the same place at the start.

Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com/en will take you from Edinburgh and Stanstead Airport to Gothenburg City and Stockholm Skavsta. 
From Gothenburg City Airport you can take a [url=http://www.flygbussarna.se/en/gothenburg-city]flightbus to Gothenburg Central Station[/url] (Nils Ericsson) for about 69SEK (~£6.90) and a 25min journey. Trains from Gothenburg to Skovde are direct and run every hour for about a 1hr 20m journey and ~£10, around the area there are shopping markets, restaurants and such, a good place to stop for lunch and meet others. This is the journey I took last year but, as I type this, tickets with Ryanair to this destination on the 14th of July are sitting at £111.91 with 4 seats left (in comparison to £36.99 on the 12th and £28.99 on the 16th,) so ii might be a better idea to fly with a [url=http://www.travelsupermarket.com/c/cheap-flights/]more expensive airline[/url] OR sacrifice the ease of transit to fly to Skavsta for £36.99 on the 14th.

From Skavsta Airport you can take a [url=http://www.flygbussarna.se/en/skavsta]flightbus to Stockholm Central Station[/url] for ~£13 and an 1hr 20min journey. Trains from Stockholm to Skovde are direct and run every 2 hours for a 3 hour journey and ~£20.

My directions are vague but it's a good start. Check http://www.sj.se/?l=en for information on trains, all the info in the OP is still relevant and important. Also, if there are people who can provide car lifts or other help/information from these places to Skovde let us know!

ozzy88

Edit history:

ozzy88: 2013-04-28 04:57:14 am

ozzy88: 2013-04-28 04:57:00 am

2013-04-28 04:51:56 am

Alko, I put your post in the first post. Smiley

DRsynj, I hope I can attend ESA from start to finish but I don't know if I can at the moment or if I'll even live in Gothenburg when ESA comes along.

If nothing changes I'll most likely make the same trip as last year!

iMysty

2013-04-28 09:48:43 am

Not sure about others traveling from Britain but I'd rather pay less and travel to Stockholm rather than spend a hell of a lot more money and go to Gotherburg. I know it means more traveling but if there a fair amount of us the time will fly by.
But I guess it depends how much money people have (I don't have a huge amount so I would rather go cheaper)

I have car so I can offer lifts to the airport if anyone should need it. I have three spaces in the car.
We should probably all book tickets ASAP before all the cheaper option sky rocket too.
What are other peoples thoughts?

KennyMan666

2013-05-01 02:14:46 am

Precursor

In semi-related news, I'm going to a con in Skövde this weekend. I believe it'll be at the same location, as this con used to be at Kulturhuset at well, but has now changed to "a new location on the other side of the railroad". So I'll get to check that out. If any Skövdeians wants to meet or something, well, shoot me a PM or something.

icedpingu

2013-05-01 02:45:16 am

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) rolmander ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Quote from KennyMan666:

In semi-related news, I'm going to a con in Skövde this weekend. I believe it'll be at the same location, as this con used to be at Kulturhuset at well, but has now changed to "a new location on the other side of the railroad". So I'll get to check that out. If any Skövdeians wants to meet or something, well, shoot me a PM or something.

It would be nice, if you could make some fotos Smiley

KennyMan666

2013-05-01 06:41:29 am

Precursor

That can be arranged. Fun fact: When we were at Kulturhuset, our karaoke room (being karaoke crew is what I do at cons) was the same room as the streaming room. Well, half of it, anyway, the divider wall was there.

Let's see if we'll be using the same room this time too!

DRsynj

2013-05-05 02:04:32 pm

Reverse Death Valley Bomb

UK guys, I've been speaking to most of you in private so I'd like to try to keep general updates posted publicly so no one's missing out.

So far no one seems to have gotten anything secure so maybe we could do with some more straightforward advice and instruction?
On 14th of July we'll meet at Stanstead Airport at 4am, message me if you want to trade phone numbers to find eachother more easily. Feel free to arrive earlier and/or check in as soon as you're there, getting that out of the way before we meet will avoid complications.
We'll then board the 6:05am flight to Stockholm-Skavsta with Ryanair. When you pay for the flight online make sure to get the one-way flight from London Stansted to Stockholm Skavsta on 14/07/2013 like this and select the 6:05 depart flight like this, then be sure to pay for your luggage and print off your boarding pass.
When we land we'll take a flightbus from the Skavsta airport to the Stockholm city train station where we'll take a train to Skovde. We'll pay for these tickets by cash when we're there so don't worry about them too much for now, but you're looking at £13 for the bus and £20 for the train.

On 23rd July we'll take a returning flight from Gothenburg to Stanstead at 9:30pm. Including the train and bus journey this will be cheaper and a much shorter than just getting a straight up return from Skavsta. You'll pay for the flight the same way as the previous one, so you'll get the one-way flight from Gothenburg City to London Stanstead on 23/07/2013 like this and select the 21:30 depart flight like this. It will charge you in SEK but it shouldn't be a problem when you're paying online. And again, be sure to pay for your luggage and print off the boarding pass.
We'll pay for the train and flightbus between Skovde and Gothenburg city airport by cash when we're there, it should cost you about £6.90 for the bus and £10 for the train, as I've said in my previous post.

Please correct me if I'm wrong anywhere and if you have questions just ask.

iMysty, what direction are you coming from and through? That's generous of you to offer lifts and I'll certainly take you up on that if possible, I live in east Hertfordshire.

UK guys, I've been speaking to most of you in private so I'd like to try to keep general updates posted publicly so no one's missing out.

So far no one seems to have gotten anything secure so maybe we could do with some more straightforward advice and instruction?
On 14th of July we'll meet at Stanstead Airport at 4am, message me if you want to trade phone numbers to find eachother more easily. Feel free to arrive earlier and/or check in as soon as you're there, getting that out of the way before we meet will avoid complications.
We'll then board the 6:05am flight to Stockholm-Skavsta with Ryanair. When you pay for the flight online make sure to get the one-way flight from London Stansted to Stockholm Skavsta on 14/07/2013 [url=http://imgur.com/ifIbeWT]like this[/url] and select the 6:05 depart flight [url=http://imgur.com/khT6Wdz]like this[/url], then be sure to pay for your luggage and print off your boarding pass.
When we land we'll take a flightbus from the Skavsta airport to the Stockholm city train station where we'll take a train to Skovde. We'll pay for these tickets by cash when we're there so don't worry about them too much for now, but you're looking at £13 for the bus and £20 for the train.

On 23rd July we'll take a returning flight from Gothenburg to Stanstead at 9:30pm. Including the train and bus journey this will be cheaper and a much shorter than just getting a straight up return from Skavsta. You'll pay for the flight the same way as the previous one, so you'll get the one-way flight from Gothenburg City to London Stanstead on 23/07/2013 [url=http://imgur.com/i3sMEOD]like this[/url] and select the 21:30 depart flight [url=http://imgur.com/DH6O5Mg]like this[/url]. It will charge you in SEK but it shouldn't be a problem when you're paying online. And again, be sure to pay for your luggage and print off the boarding pass.
We'll pay for the train and flightbus between Skovde and Gothenburg city airport by cash when we're there, it should cost you about £6.90 for the bus and £10 for the train, as I've said in my previous post.

Please correct me if I'm wrong anywhere and if you have questions just ask.

iMysty, what direction are you coming from and through? That's generous of you to offer lifts and I'll certainly take you up on that if possible, I live in east Hertfordshire.

iMysty

2013-05-05 03:13:40 pm

I am from Birmingham. So I will be coming from there. Depending on where people live instead of getting a train all the way to London, you could get a train to Birmingham and then I could take us there.

I only have four seats in my car including the driving seat, so I can take 3 people. If you do want a lift I can either pick you up from your place or we can organise somewhere that would be easier.
The only thing I ask for if the car is full could I have some help towards the parking at the airport as airport parking can be stupid expensive. I was thinking about the train or something myself but seeing as I am from Birmingham trying to get public transport to Stansted airport that early in the morning would prove difficult.
As long as I have addresses I can punch into a satnav everything will be fine :3

I'll be buying my plane tickets in about an hour or two so I can budget myself until July properly.

Tiberius

2013-05-05 03:20:32 pm

Make it so.

Any idea how long those prices will stay like that? I start my new job this week and can't really afford the tickets until I get my first paycheck... I'll find a way around it though.

iMysty I'll look into if it's any cheaper for me to get to somewhere near you rather than london, if it is a lift would be *massively* appreciated as it's a pretty long trip from up north Smiley

Obviously I would never expect you to pick my up from Durham, a few hundred mile detour is a bit harsh Tongue

DRsynj

Edit history:

DRsynj: 2013-05-08 01:42:54 pm

2013-05-05 04:51:42 pm

Reverse Death Valley Bomb

@Tiberius: Last year the prices stayed like that all the way through 'til August, when the event was, but this time ESA is much farther into prime holiday time so it may change quickly Sad

You could check if you can get a flight with Ryanair at the same time to Skavsta from Edinburgh though.

@iMysty: I live right off the M1 which seems to be your way! I'll message you my address for you to take a look at, I don't mind contributing to parking either. If anything suspect pops up when you pay for your tickets could you let us know, I might not be able to pay for mine for a week or 2, and could you remind me exactly how much luggage costs while you're at it?

iMysty

Edit history:

iMysty: 2013-05-06 08:19:14 am

iMysty: 2013-05-05 07:12:09 pm

2013-05-05 07:08:11 pm

Booking the flight is nice and simple no complications really.
Luggage is £25 on top of the ticket.

Edit: Looks like parking is going to be around £90 for the 10day stay there.

Everything is now booked for me. Everything came to roughly £140 including baggage.

DRsynj

Edit history:

DRsynj: 2013-05-08 01:47:17 pm

2013-05-08 12:50:58 pm

Reverse Death Valley Bomb

Paid for my tickets today, the price for the 14/07/2013 flight from Stanstead to Stockholm has just increased to £45.99 from £36.99 so keep an eye out while seats are going. Although, if you haven't paid yet, you wont lose your seat until the price gets to over £90!

Joka

2013-05-10 02:02:09 am

Personal text

Train and hotel booked! Smiley

Kittycatwinters

2013-05-10 12:30:03 pm

How did you guys get plane tickets for £50?! Cheapest I can get is £160 return. Planning to go from London Gatwick to Stockholm Arlanda. I did plan to use Gothenburg as its what everyone is recommending but its cheaper to go to Stockholm it seems plus with Gothenburg the times are pants - either 8am or 8pm. First option means we would have to be there by 5am seeing as you need to be at the airport 3 hours early apparently and we can't get to London at that time. The second option means we either get to Skovde around midnight or sometime around midday the next day after 8-10 hours at the airport. Tickets to Gothenburg seem to be around £120 each way, although mainly more expensive, while with Stockholm its as little as £50. Managed to find a deal for £120 there and £40 back. It would just be arranging train... this will be my first time abroad so needless to say I'm extremely paranoid and scared. o.o

Kittycatwinters

2013-05-10 12:33:47 pm

By the way when getting the train from Stockholm to Skovde, where exactly would we get it from? I'm using the website www.sj.se and when I type in Stockholm it gives me like 20 options. I have no idea D:

KennyMan666

2013-05-10 12:51:06 pm

Precursor

If you fly to Stockholm you'd be landing at Arlanda, which has its own train station. Idk if you can go directly from there to Skövde - if you can't, you'd first go to Stockholm Central and switch there.

DRsynj

Edit history:

DRsynj: 2013-05-10 12:57:23 pm

DRsynj: 2013-05-10 12:57:17 pm

2013-05-10 12:56:54 pm

Reverse Death Valley Bomb

@Kittycatwinters: The airline we're flying with is www.ryanair.com/en, they'll go from London-Stanstead to Stockholm-Skavsta for £50~ (I mentioned this in my first post about travelling from the UK and not the 2nd, my mistake.) The time for our first flight will be at 6am so perhaps a more difficult time for you, maybe there's someone you can stay with for the night beforehand? If it turns out it's impossible for you to make this time then I'll try to help work out an alternative!

The train we'll get is from 'Stockholm C' (as listed on www.sj.se), the flightbus lists it as Stockholm City Cityterminalen.

Also I know Skavsta isn't strictly 'Stockholm' (as Arlanda might be) but for convenience and cost we make do!

Kittycatwinters

2013-05-10 01:20:30 pm

@DRsynj: Thank you for replying and efforts to help. Yeah as appealing as £30-£50 a flight is with Ryanair, Josh(imuz) says he would rather pay more and go with another airline than go with Ryanair where we may "get lost and die". How many of you are going and meeting at Skavsta then? Yeah 6am is no good at all as we don't drive so would need to get a train to London so any flights before 10am are basically impossible seeing as we need to get to the airport 3 hours before departure. The flights I have found are with Norwegian and are from Gatwick to Arlanda. They are both direct and take around 2 hours. The flight to Stockholm is at 14:00 with arrival being at 17:20 and price being £119. The departure from Stockholm at the end of the event is at 17:40 and arrival at Gatwick being 19:15 and price being £42.90. If we go to Arlanda where do we get the train from? I understand the airport has its own station but what is it called? I don't know what drop down option on www.sj.se it is.

KennyMan666

2013-05-10 01:40:00 pm

Precursor

It's called Arlanda. Arlanda C.

Kittycatwinters

2013-05-10 01:42:41 pm

@KennyMan666: THANK YOU! I was putting "Stockholm" in but had no idea what one of the 20 options it was. Turns out it was none of those. What does the C stand for then? Seeing as there's "Stockholm C" and "Arlanda C"? Central?

KennyMan666

2013-05-10 01:46:02 pm

Precursor

Yeah, Central (Station).

Kittycatwinters

2013-05-10 01:55:15 pm

I see and that's definitely from the airport? May be a slight problem though as it seems that trains stop running at around 5:30pm which is a bit strange.. The flight we would want to get arrives at 5:20pm. There's a train at 5:20pm and 5:35pm. The 5:20 train takes 2 hours 50 minutes and has one change while the 5:35 train takes 5 and half hours and has two changes.

DRsynj

Edit history:

DRsynj: 2013-05-10 02:04:20 pm

DRsynj: 2013-05-10 02:04:18 pm

2013-05-10 02:03:48 pm

Reverse Death Valley Bomb

I assure you that having flown with Ryanair before I've never had any reason to feel like I was 'going to get lost and die' Tongue

Such beliefs are largely unfounded and while Ryanair doesn't provide the same hospitality other airlines do I'm sure you can look after yourself well enough to manage as you might catching the bus. (Just to console anyone who might be offput Shocked

) Sounds like you're working stuff out perfectly well anyway.

Potentially I'll be with around 5 others in Skavsta, so far I don't have any plans to meet anyone in Skavsta though.

As for the train, maybe it's worth changing at Stockholm C first if only to be able to get later trains?

KennyMan666

Edit history:

KennyMan666: 2013-05-10 02:06:46 pm

2013-05-10 02:05:52 pm

Precursor

I've looked at the trains. Kitty's right, they actually kind of stop going to Skövde from Stockholm C at about 18:20 that day. Kinda weird. So it's that leg of the trip that's the problem, not Arlanda-Stockholm, which otherwise would easily have been solved with the flight buses that go every ten minutes. Swebus Express from Stockholm to Skövde at that hour will tkae like nine hours, and Bus4You don't go to Skövde.

Kittycatwinters

2013-05-10 02:15:54 pm

@DRsynj: Ryanair have mixed reviews mainly bad. However surely they are fine if its just a 2 hour flight? I might check out their website. I'm trying to work things out but I'm stressing badly. I don't even know why I'm looking at flights etc when we can't afford to book yet anyway. When it gets closer to the event will it get dearer or cheaper? Apparently the last train I could get from Arlanda is at 17:35 and goes through Stockholm C. I was looking at how far Stockholm C is from Arlanda C incase we could just hope on a bus or pay for a taxi there (if it works out cheaper). Because the train from Stockholm C isn't until 18:14 anyway so it would give us 50 minutes to get from landing at Arlanda to getting the train from Stockholm C to Skovde C. But I don't think its possible as Arlanda is quite far from Stockholm itself.

@KennyMan666: Exactly. That's bizarre.. why stop at 5:30pm? Trains here run until midnight. Plus with it being an airport station you'd think it would run late or even 24/7 but nope. I have no idea what we'll do.

Does either of you, or anyone, know if there is a curfew at the House of Culture/sleeping area? Incase we have no choice but get there at around midnight - 2pm?

@DRsynj: Ryanair have mixed reviews mainly bad. However surely they are fine if its just a 2 hour flight? I might check out their website. I'm trying to work things out but I'm stressing badly. I don't even know why I'm looking at flights etc when we can't afford to book yet anyway. When it gets closer to the event will it get dearer or cheaper? Apparently the last train I could get from Arlanda is at 17:35 and goes through Stockholm C. I was looking at how far Stockholm C is from Arlanda C incase we could just hope on a bus or pay for a taxi there (if it works out cheaper). Because the train from Stockholm C isn't until 18:14 anyway so it would give us 50 minutes to get from landing at Arlanda to getting the train from Stockholm C to Skovde C. But I don't think its possible as Arlanda is quite far from Stockholm itself.

@KennyMan666: Exactly. That's bizarre.. why stop at 5:30pm? Trains here run until midnight. Plus with it being an airport station you'd think it would run late or even 24/7 but nope. I have no idea what we'll do.

Does either of you, or anyone, know if there is a curfew at the House of Culture/sleeping area? Incase we have no choice but get there at around midnight - 2pm?