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Geek Culture / Going to the UK

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Steve J
18
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Joined: 22nd Apr 2006
Location: Vancouver, Washington
Posted: 23rd Jul 2007 23:43
On the 21st I am going to the UK. I will arrive at Manchester, go to Leicester for a day (Family), Then I plan to go to the London area to play tourist, then hop back north the next day for Glasgow/Edinburgh, then hop back down to Manchester the last day.

The main thing I was wondering is if there is a ferry from the Liverpool area to get to Dublin, because my Mom's side of the family came from Ireland.

All in all, I hope it will be a fun trip, not my first visit to England, but my first extended stay for more than 24 hours.

Time is ticking away.
Cherd
17
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Joined: 30th Dec 2006
Location: Where I can see you.
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 00:03
sounds like a hell of a lot of travelling =|... i dont know about the ferry sorry lol, but how long are you planning to come for

Dazzag
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Location: Cyprus
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 00:04 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 00:06
Hopefully it won't be underwater

Pretty sure Liverpool has a ferry (we tended to avoid like the plague), but I used to live in Anglesey (North Wales and only an hour and a half or so from Liverpool) which has the port of Holyhead (think is the 2nd busiest port in the UK). We all used to get on the ferries on a friday night so we could get past the 11pm closing hours of the pubs. Once in international waters and you were back to drinking for 3 hours (think the cats do it in half the time, but not so fun) or so. Great stuff and was only about £4 ($8) at that time of night at the time Only got off the ferry in Ireland a couple of times though (annoying Irish bloke once sent us smashed welshboys to a gay bar rather than a nightclub. Git...). Think we used ferries to Dublin or Dun Laoghaire (up the road).

Note that the last time I went to Ireland (about 1994) it was bloody cold and windy. It was July. Nice.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
Grandma
18
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Joined: 26th Dec 2005
Location: Norway, Guiding the New World Order
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 00:18 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 00:18
I for once am not going to the UK again. I got stopped several times and checked for bombs etc. They even had the nerve to ask me "do you have any bombs on you?"....umm yeah, how many do you want? For you, i'll give you half price.

Security guys also took away my luggage and opened it and threw it all out while i was in the middle of a line going to the boat so everyone could see my obsession with red bull. How disrespectfull, could atleast have taken me into that small room on the side that the other security guys who checked me brought me into, lol.

Being insane, old, commie, gay and stupid is just my DBP forum image, in reality i'm somewhat normal. Altough friends and family would disagree.
Seppuku Arts
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20
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Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 00:32 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 00:33
You might want to wait until the floods have gone down. A lot of England is underwater...If this happened exactly two years before, I would be sitting in a floating tent on the camp-site in Tewkesbury - right at the meeting of the two rivers. Fun.

Of course our family took the advice well 'if you're going to buy a house in a valley or areas that can flood make sure you buy one on a hill' - though we have no floods up our way.

If you really must go to England now, bring a boat and not a car.

Quote: "Security guys also took away my luggage and opened it and threw it all out while i was in the middle of a line going to the boat so everyone could see my obsession with red bull. How disrespectfull, could atleast have taken me into that small room on the side that the other security guys who checked me brought me into, lol."


Every picture I've seen of you is holding a gun with a psychotic expression...I don't think I can blame them for thinking you're a terrorist. In all seriousness that is pretty disrespectful and shouldn't have been done - as it's publicly humiliating.

Quote: "They even had the nerve to ask me "do you have any bombs on you?""


I wonder how many people with bombs on them would answer 'yes' to that question... Well I suppose they do the most they can to try and stop terrorists, despite invasion of privacy and disrespect to those coming or leaving the country such as yourself or silly procedures...If they really want answers, they should first ask 'Are you Irish?' 'Are you or have you ever been Irish?' and then you can move onto the bombs.

[edit] For the record for people that like getting the wrong end of the stick, I am not racist and nor do I dislike the Irish as half my family is Irish.

Hakuna Matata
SpyDaniel
18
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Joined: 4th Feb 2006
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 00:42
Heh, heh, heh, avoid like the plague, eh? You might want to watch for mail containing the plague, Dazzag

--------------------------------------------------

There is a ferry that goes to Dublin from Liverpool, there is also a ferry that goes to the isle of man too.

Fallout
22
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Location: Basingstoke, England
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 01:15 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 01:16
They have to ask you if you have any bombs if they're suspicious of you. The same way if you want to enter a military establishment to work, they have to ask you if you're a terrorist. It's all simply because, if you then turn out to be a founding member of the IRA or you are infact carrying 100lbs of semtex, you can't turn round and say "Well nobody ever asked me!"


Grandma
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Joined: 26th Dec 2005
Location: Norway, Guiding the New World Order
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 01:20 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 01:24
Quote: "Every picture I've seen of you is holding a gun with a psychotic expression...I don't think I can blame them for thinking you're a terrorist."


Haha, well i was cautious enough to leave my weapons at home for the trip. Don't think i would have gotten far doing the "hot fuzz" style.

Yeah, i saw the news today, you seem to be having alot of water lately, yet the news anchor said something about lack of drinking water, i know what she meant, but even so.

Will the flood reach London you think? They speculated about it on TV, but didn't really come up with anything other than "perhaps....no....maybe....yes....not really.....wednesday".

Edit: @Fallout

lol! A strange, but somehow, valid point.

Being insane, old, commie, gay and stupid is just my DBP forum image, in reality i'm somewhat normal. Altough friends and family would disagree.
SpyDaniel
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 01:25
I don't care about the flood, as long as it stays out of Liverpool, ill be happy.

Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
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Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 02:07 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 02:09
Quote: "Will the flood reach London you think? They speculated about it on TV, but didn't really come up with anything other than "perhaps....no....maybe....yes....not really.....wednesday"."


It's not far off from coming here (saying it rains continuously for another week or so), I mean they've given warnings for Bedford and that's up the road - though I've sure anti-C4D fans would love to see the Maxon HQ there get flooded. As London is on top of the Thames, you never know, but then the Rive Ouse here hasn't broke it's banks so you never know it may not. Though I really want to see the campsite we went to in Tewkesbury, I mean they're right in the middle of it, being at the meet between the river Avon and Severn.

Personally though, your entry to England should have been Hot Fuzz style, it would have amused me to see the headlines..."Crazy Norwegian Who Thinks He Can Fly jump the Air With Guns is shot down by police" The tabloids would walk over you and well in it's own sadistic way, would be funny.

Hakuna Matata
Steve J
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Joined: 22nd Apr 2006
Location: Vancouver, Washington
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 02:21
@Dazzag: Yes the flooding sounds insane, I do hope I dont get caught in it. Just in case I might make a speed boat reservation...

Thanks for the info on the ferry as well, it sounds as if that will be a good step. And I have caught you talking about being Welsh, and do you think it is safe if a 28 year old American goes to South Wales..?

@Grandma: Dang, I am visiting for a Bomb Convention, that will severly suck if they ask

@Higgins: I was wondering about the Isle of Man, that would be another interesting stop.

@Fallout: Is the IRA really that bad still? Any tips to avoid being blown up by Irish Fanatics?

@Seppuku Arts: This gives me an idea..

Thanks for the responses so far though! I hope Leicester isnt underwater...my brother would probably drown..

Time is ticking away.
GatorHex
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Joined: 5th Apr 2005
Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 03:08 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 03:11
It's funny as soon as the Thames started flooding it was a big news story. When 4 people died up north a month earlier from the floods it got hardly a mention

Yeah, better bring your scuba gear

You know this Manchester -> London -> Glasgow -> Liverpool -> Ireland trip your planning. You do know that Glasgow to London is 400 miles? (manchester is about 200miles inbetween). If you go by car/train you will be traveling all day and not have much time for sight seeing / nackered from traveling. Gona fly it and be an Evil Co2 poluter?

Quote: "@Fallout: Is the IRA really that bad still? Any tips to avoid being blown up by Irish Fanatics?"
I think they are engaged in politics now, It's the fundamentalists you need to watch for now, oh and our shoot anyone that remotly looks like them police.

DinoHunter (still no nVidia compo voucher!), CPU/GPU Benchmark, DarkFish Encryption DLL, War MMOG (WIP), 3D Model Viewer
Dazzag
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Location: Cyprus
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 09:26 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 09:27
Quote: "Heh, heh, heh, avoid like the plague, eh? You might want to watch for mail containing the plague"
Heh, no disrespect intended. People in Anglesey just hate all English people, and Liverpool happens to be the closest city.

Quote: "do you think it is safe if a 28 year old American goes to South Wales"
No problems! (if you mean to get on the Holyhead ferry then that is north wales) For starters south wales isn't so wound up as north wales, and you could be Hitler's nephew for all the welsh care, as long as you are not english. Saying that, you do get pockets here and there who pretty much hate anyone who didn't grow up in their village. An indian friend of mine once went into a bar in the middle of nowhere in wales and the barman got out a shotgun and told him to leave. Nice. And that was about mid 90's, not mid century.

Quote: "Is the IRA really that bad still?"
Nope. Was bad when I went to live near London (mid 90's) with bombings every Xmas and everything, but has been fine now (at least in England) for years. These days our terrorist problems are the same as your terrorist problems.

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
BatVink
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21
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Joined: 4th Apr 2003
Location: Gods own County, UK
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 11:40
Quote: "The main thing I was wondering is if there is a ferry from the Liverpool area to get to Dublin, because my Mom's side of the family came from Ireland"


Yes, the UK is much smaller than the US. But the Irish sea will still take you a few hours to navigate there and back, when you add up travel, queuing in and out etc. And if you want to see stereotypical Ireland with rolling hills and panoramic landscapes, then you'll have to travel somewhat on the other side. Galway and Cork are what you see on the pictures - they are west and south respectively.

Quote: "It's funny as soon as the Thames started flooding it was a big news story. When 4 people died up north a month earlier from the floods it got hardly a mention "


I second that. Sure it's affected more areas, but it's still the same issue. The main difference is that less people could afford home insurance in the old mining areas of South Yorkshire, so now they are counting the cost.

Fallout
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Location: Basingstoke, England
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 11:46 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 11:47
Quote: "@Fallout: Is the IRA really that bad still? Any tips to avoid being blown up by Irish Fanatics?"


Nope. Over several decades our government arrested and killed them, and generally smashed their operation to pieces. So, since they became totally incapable of violence they adopted politics. The IRA are now peaceful, but don't be fooled into thinking it's because they chose to adopt peaceful strategy. It's because the government beat the crap out of them.

The lessons we learnt can apply to Iraq. 30 years, and it'll be nice and peaceful over there too (yes, it takes that long! )


Van B
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Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 12:01
Why Glasgow?

I mean I can understand why people would want to visit Edinburgh, it rocks, but Glasgow is an absolute toilet. You'd be better off stopping at Sterling or somewhere pleasant like that before hitting Edinburgh.

We're going down... in a spiral to the ground...
Fallout
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Posted: 24th Jul 2007 12:23
He wants to sample the delights of a Glaswegian Kiss I believe.


Seppuku Arts
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Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 13:18
He wants to meet Milk Paton's family.

Hakuna Matata
Fallout
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Location: Basingstoke, England
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 13:19 Edited at: 24th Jul 2007 13:19
What? A chocolate milkshake, a block of cheese and a couple of udders?


Seppuku Arts
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Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 13:23
'couple of udders' I believe now lives in Somerset now, but if I recall, the others still live there.

Hakuna Matata
Duplex
User Banned
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 14:12
Dunno If anyones already said this, but get ready for the coldest and rainyest time of your life, most of the country is flooded right now, avoid the motorways(also flooded and trafic jammed).

But once you get used to the constant rain its fun.

[url=www.x-games.mdhost.info]X-Games[/url]
[url=fps-files.com]FPS-Files[/url]
Steve J
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Location: Vancouver, Washington
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 19:59
@Dazzag: Thanks again, Ill make note not to stop at small villages=P.

@BatVink: Yes, I do realize that, I just want to visit dublin, sounds like a fun place to go.

@Fallout: I agree with the application to Iraq=P

@Van B: Thanks for the info, I might change destinations then.

@Seppuku Arts: Yes, of course

@Duplex: I live in Vancouver, Washington. Possibly rainier than England.

Time is ticking away.
Seppuku Arts
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Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 24th Jul 2007 20:27
Quote: "But once you get used to the constant rain its fun.
"


Is it? Though when our street got flooded a few years back our neighbour let us borrow his canoe. It wasn't very deep, but you could easily get a canoe on it.

Hakuna Matata

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