Beatleweek 2022
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Well, tickets have been on sale for a while:
https://www.internationalbeatleweek.com/
And the best news is that as long as you're fully vaccinated, you don't have to take a Covid test and/or isolate when you arrive in England after Feb. 11th. You just have to fill out a passenger locator form with all your info and where you're staying.
https://www.godsavethepoints.com/uk-travel-tips-testing-forms-guide/
We have already cancelled this trip twice, so I think as long as they let us in without a quarantine, even if we have to take a test, we are going!
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Starting to get some tickets for various things (all are fully refundable): Roag Best's Liverpool Beatles Museum, Strawberry Field, train tickets from Manchester to Liverpool. Next will get train tickets from Liverpool to London, London Travelcards (for the Underground tube) and tickets to Windsor Castle. My friend drives from Nashville on Aug. 22nd and we fly to Manchester at 5:30pm on Aug. 23rd, arriving at 6:30am Aug. 24th. Paid £20 extra for early check in! Depending on how we feel, we'll either take a nap, or eat and go straight to Roag's museum. The tickets don't have any specific time, just the date.
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Had to call London at 3am my time (8am their time) to straighten out tickets I bought for train from Liverpool to London. You just pick a date and time and you don't know where you'll be sitting until they email the tickets. They put us in the same railroad car, but both on the aisle in seats 17 and 21! Morons! Took 24 minutes to get refund and new tickets issued in a different rr car, but sitting together (and sitting forward - I can't sit backwards on a train or I get nauseated) AT&T only charges 7 cents a minute and they charge 2 pence a minute on their end, so the call is not very expensive. The 8th was the first day the tickets went on sale for Aug. 31st, so we got the best price. There is "limited availability" and the price fluctuates, so the new tickets we got cost a bit more, but not too much. Now all I have to buy is the London travelcards for the tube/underground. They don't take AMEX and if I buy them in U.S. $ the exchange rate is a lot higher than it is supposed to be ($1.25/£) I complained to them and they said to buy them in £ and pay the transaction fee my MC would charge (which I don't think is very much - will check)
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It was just announced yesterday that we will no longer have to get a negative Covid test the day before returning to the U.S.! (Will take the 2 kits you do over Zoom just in case they change the rules while we're over there)
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New display
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Fortunately the train workers are kind enough to publish their planned strikes!
We need a train from Manchester to Liverpool on Aug. 24th and from Liverpool to London on Aug. 31st (already bought tickets) so it's looking okay for now. We also wanted to take the train to Windsor and Henley-On-Thames on Sept. 1st (didn't buy tickets yet) As if Covid & Monkeypox is not enough to worry about, now it's train strikes!
P.S. Was able to buy London Travelcards in £s with my MC (no foreign exchange fee) and exchange rate was only $1.19! Also got PayPal involved since I paid for those 1st train tickets through them, and they were able to get me my refund! (ended up spending over $7 in two international phone calls to London with zero results!)
Also bought tickets to the play "That Girl: The Cynthia Lennon Story" in Liverpool at the Hope Street Theatre. They also made a movie of it. Exchange rate was $1.23 - it fluctuates so much!
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Two weeks from now, God willing, I will be in the air close to landing in Manchester, U.K.! Have gotten all my lists together of things to bring and what needs to go in the checked bag versus carry-on. In order to avoid having to do laundry, I have to pack 13 outfits. I always pack the lightest one in my duffel bag carry on + socks, bra & underwear in case they lose my bag. I bought an Apple Air Tag to put in my suitcase, so if it gets lost I can locate it exactly via GPS on my iPad with the "Find My" app. I also bought (for only $2.99) Asurion 3-year Protection Plan with 24/7 Tech Support.
Friends of ours are in Norway now (previously were in London & Dublin) and they will meet us in Liverpool (staying at same hotel) The sister of one of the guys, who we've also known for 10 years, is flying over just for Beatleweek in Liverpool. They all live in So. California.
CAN'T WAIT!!
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NJR wrote:
Two weeks from now, God willing, I will be in the air close to landing in Manchester, U.K.! Have gotten all my lists together of things to bring and what needs to go in the checked bag versus carry-on. In order to avoid having to do laundry, I have to pack 13 outfits. I always pack the lightest one in my duffel bag carry on + socks, bra & underwear in case they lose my bag. I bought an Apple Air Tag to put in my suitcase, so if it gets lost I can locate it exactly via GPS on my iPad with the "Find My" app. I also bought (for only $2.99) Asurion 3-year Protection Plan with 24/7 Tech Support.
Friends of ours are in Norway now (previously were in London & Dublin) and they will meet us in Liverpool (staying at same hotel) The sister of one of the guys, who we've also known for 10 years, is flying over just for Beatleweek in Liverpool. They all live in So. California.
CAN'T WAIT!!
Excellent move getting the "Apple Air Tag". Have a great time !!
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
NJR wrote:
Two weeks from now, God willing, I will be in the air close to landing in Manchester, U.K.! Have gotten all my lists together of things to bring and what needs to go in the checked bag versus carry-on. In order to avoid having to do laundry, I have to pack 13 outfits. I always pack the lightest one in my duffel bag carry on + socks, bra & underwear in case they lose my bag. I bought an Apple Air Tag to put in my suitcase, so if it gets lost I can locate it exactly via GPS on my iPad with the "Find My" app. I also bought (for only $2.99) Asurion 3-year Protection Plan with 24/7 Tech Support.
Friends of ours are in Norway now (previously were in London & Dublin) and they will meet us in Liverpool (staying at same hotel) The sister of one of the guys, who we've also known for 10 years, is flying over just for Beatleweek in Liverpool. They all live in So. California.
CAN'T WAIT!!
Excellent move getting the "Apple Air Tag". Have a great time !!
Thanks so much!
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Just found out from my friend (who is going with me to U.K.) who right now is in Chicago at the Fest For Beatles Fans, that Laurence Juber & Steve Holley wil not be able to be at Beatleweek! What a bummer! I guess Laurence has a bad back now and his doctor advised him against flying that distance. Steve Holley is deeply involved with some blues band doing some album or something.
And my freaking London Travelcards still haven't arrived yet! They said they will give me a refund if they don't arrive by the 22nd. Then when we get to Euston Station in London we can buy and load Oyster cards (I actually have an old Oyster card which I may be able to reload - normally they charge £5 just for the dang card - it is plastic like a credit card)
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NJR wrote:
Just found out from my friend (who is going with me to U.K.) who right now is in Chicago at the Fest For Beatles Fans, that Laurence Juber & Steve Holley wil not be able to be at Beatleweek! What a bummer! I guess Laurence has a bad back now and his doctor advised him against flying that distance. Steve Holley is deeply involved with some blues band doing some album or something.
And my freaking London Travelcards still haven't arrived yet! They said they will give me a refund if they don't arrive by the 22nd. Then when we get to Euston Station in London we can buy and load Oyster cards (I actually have an old Oyster card which I may be able to reload - normally they charge £5 just for the dang card - it is plastic like a credit card)
Good luck on getting your Travelcards ontime !! I hate having to buy them or reload them on machine, guess my age is showing -lol. Sorry those two guys will not be there but you have plenty of other things on this trip to look forward to doing/seeing. BTW - seems like you no longer have to have "negative" COVID test two days before boarding for cruise shorter than 16 days if you are vaccinated. To be honest, got my 2nd booster the other day and I am done with them.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
NJR wrote:
Just found out from my friend (who is going with me to U.K.) who right now is in Chicago at the Fest For Beatles Fans, that Laurence Juber & Steve Holley wil not be able to be at Beatleweek! What a bummer! I guess Laurence has a bad back now and his doctor advised him against flying that distance. Steve Holley is deeply involved with some blues band doing some album or something.
And my freaking London Travelcards still haven't arrived yet! They said they will give me a refund if they don't arrive by the 22nd. Then when we get to Euston Station in London we can buy and load Oyster cards (I actually have an old Oyster card which I may be able to reload - normally they charge £5 just for the dang card - it is plastic like a credit card)
Good luck on getting your Travelcards ontime !! I hate having to buy them or reload them on machine, guess my age is showing -lol. Sorry those two guys will not be there but you have plenty of other things on this trip to look forward to doing/seeing. BTW - seems like you no longer have to have "negative" COVID test two days before boarding for cruise shorter than 16 days if you are vaccinated. To be honest, got my 2nd booster the other day and I am done with them.
On the next Flower Power cruise in March 2023 (I'm not going) they don't require a vaccine or a test for Covid! I got my 2nd booster July 6th. Heck, in Nov. if they have a new Covid shot. I'll get that as well!
At least we don't have to worry about doing an online Zoom Covid test the day before we fly home! I'm still taking the kits I bought just in case the rules change between now and Sept. 4th.
Visit Britain said if I don't receive the cards by Aug. 22nd they will issue a full refund. When we arrive at Euston Station in London we can buy an Oyster card for £5 and add £50 to it for example. It's like a plastic credit card. I even have an old one I'm going to see if I can still use so I don't have to shell out £5. The Travelcards cost us each $90.02. They are good for 7 days, unlimited travel on the Underground or buses, Zones 1-6, which goes all the way out to Hampton Palace west of London. They could also be used at peak times like early morning. I'm hoping the Oyster card situation is similar. Got to check.
P.S. Those "two guys" were in Wings 1979-1980. LJ was lead guitarist (he is amazing!) and Steve played drums.
Just realized I repeated a bunch of info - sorry, my age is showing too!
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We made it safely and I didn't sleep at all for 36 hours or something! Crashed at 10pm on the 24th and slept for about 9.5 hours! Last night only got 5 hours - I'm dead and it's 2:15 am here,
First pic of our room. We moved things all around as we got upgraded to a suite for free (out of the blue!)
We're having a blast! Friday night at the George/John concert Joey Molland and Mark Hudson got up there on a couple numbers!
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NJR wrote:
We made it safely and I didn't sleep at all for 36 hours or something! Crashed at 10pm on the 24th and slept for about 9.5 hours! Last night only got 5 hours - I'm dead and it's 2:15 am here,
First pic of our room. We moved things all around as we got upgraded to a suite for free (out of the blue!)
We're having a blast! Friday night at the George/John concert Joey Molland and Mark Hudson got up there on a couple numbers!
Cool Blue pillow, do they sell those there? Have fun! BTW Your granddaughter sure is beautiful!
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"We made it safely and I didn't sleep at all for 36 hours or something! Crashed at 10pm on the 24th and slept for about 9.5 hours! Last night only got 5 hours - I'm dead and it's 2:15 am here"
Glad you made it safely "across the pond" (lol) with no issues !!!
"We're having a blast! Friday night at the George/John concert Joey Molland and Mark Hudson got up there on a couple numbers! "
Fantastic, have a great time !!!
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Have fun!
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Thanks everyone (and to love2travel about my granddaughter!)
Today we saw a Ringo & Paul tribute (separate shows) Appearing: Mark Hudson, Tony Coburn & Pure McCartney with tons of back up.
We have had great seats in 3rd & 4th row!
Gotta leave now for 8pm Pepperland show!
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It all sounds good for you so far - enjoy.
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Too much to tell right now - gotta crash - it's almost 3am here and have to get up at 8:30!
"Simply having a wonderful Beatleweek time!"
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Our 1st day in London captured on the Abbey Road cam by a friend of Jennifer's! I'm on the left.
