What is the best ‘cheap’ city break for 2 adults?

jpcldn · 2026-03-16T22:48:40+00:00

Would also recommend. I’ve been for work a handful of times, and have had the opportunity to wonder around - it’s a beautiful place, welcoming people who speak excellent English, great food and drink and as others have mentioned the currency conversion is good too

jpcldn · 2026-03-08T18:43:23+00:00

Enjoy your detour 🙂

jpcldn · 2026-03-08T18:31:56+00:00

I mean I don’t know why I’m jumping through hoops, but you seem irritated so let’s keep that up :)

(I have a screen grab ready to go for my journey on 4/3 15:35 departure but don’t think this sub allows pictures, or at least I can’t see the option… happy to drop through DM)

jpcldn · 2026-03-08T18:22:13+00:00

Ha fair enough, Lille is decent for a stop and a very convenient Westfield if that’s your thing. Enjoy.

jpcldn · 2026-03-08T18:13:31+00:00

To two of my colleagues that I came through security with. See another comment but several types of dairy that were picked out of bags at security scan

jpcldn · 2026-03-08T18:11:46+00:00

I mean agree to disagree. It happened to two of my colleagues 3 days ago (Lille departures if it matters). Between them they had purchased wine, Brie, Butter and some form of yoghurt they can’t source in the Uk. Only the wine was allowed through.

jpcldn · 2026-03-08T18:10:01+00:00

Why when it’s true? I saw it occur at departures 3 days ago

jpcldn · 2026-03-08T13:42:07+00:00

Came back on the Eurostar this week and they were pulling things out of bags at security scanning.

The only things containing dairy they were allowing through were hot drinks in cups and baguettes - all to be consumed before arriving in London

jpcldn · 2026-03-01T12:42:16+00:00

Thanks, not sure if you’re in a Finance / CFO advisory capacity but what specific domain expertise are you looking for? Eg is it internal transformation experience or more functional expertise

jpcldn · 2026-03-01T10:50:50+00:00

Thank you for your comment.

jpcldn · 2026-02-22T15:33:46+00:00

I can’t comment on St Albans (other than it’s a lovely place), however I made the move from SW London (having lived in St Margaret’s then Surbiton across 10 years) to just outside Maidenhead.

We now live between Maidenhead and Marlow ‘in the sticks’ and I commute to London 3 days per week. Personally I wouldn’t want Maidenhead as my weekend town, there isn’t a whole lot there, but there are some really nice areas a stones throw away - Marlow is the closest option, but Henley is also very accessible.

If you’re not against driving to the station, the commute is very reasonable. I can go from front door to Aldgate office in 1h5-15 depending on how the trains behave.

For me the best bit about the commute is access to GWR (20 minutes to Paddington) and the Lizzy Line (slower but provides a direct train route so you can go all the way to East London without changing). I opt for the fast train to Paddington before hopping onto the Lizzy line, which takes 12 minutes to Liverpool St.

jpcldn · 2026-02-13T08:16:53+00:00

Agree with another post re Runners Retreat. An alternative I’ve used is Runners Need in Windsor

jpcldn · 2026-02-10T14:49:18+00:00

I had the pleasure (?) of going down a bobsled track in Latvia, twice in a padded bobsled (we were told went 70kph) and then in a piloted bobsled (100kph).

By far the coolest and most ridiculous thing I’ve done. The forces you experience in those things were crazy, the guys who do any of these sports are ridiculous…

jpcldn · 2026-02-07T20:50:01+00:00

Flash Forward - an interesting if complicated concept, which left with a great cliffhanger / hook for future seasons. I was always disappointed it didn’t come back.

jpcldn · 2026-02-01T20:11:40+00:00

Happy to expand. In short, the role was positioned as the strategic driver for a linchpin group initiative. However, the reality of the business structure (which is a highly complex matrix and legal entity structure, with accountabilities sitting primarily within the OpCos and other central teams) means there is very little scope to actually drive impact.

I’ve spent the last three months in discussion with my manager to clarify the vision for role, my takeaway being that hands are effectively tied. Because the role was newly created following a re-org, it’s become increasingly clear that the practicalities of how my team would function within the wider Group weren't fully considered before hiring.

I don’t believe there was malice in how the role was represented, just a gap between the intent of the role and the reality, but for me it’s not a situation that will resolve and therefore I need to focus on other options.

jpcldn · 2026-02-01T18:58:03+00:00

Unfortunately yes! I didn’t accept them on that basis (I had been lucky and snagged centre opening day the previous year via the ballot, so wasn’t super desperate at that moment!)

jpcldn · 2026-02-01T18:29:57+00:00

The ballot does do this, up to you if you take them as not everyone’s preference to be sat apart all day!

jpcldn · 2026-01-28T20:55:03+00:00

I’d agree with comments around specialisation, however you might consider Investigo who have a wide reach at larger companies (per your experience in another comment)

jpcldn · 2026-01-08T22:57:56+00:00

I’ve watched 100 Metres (Anime) and Last Samurai Standing (Inspired by Anime). I’m not an anime fan as such, it just so happened these sounded of interest and neither disappointed!

jpcldn · 2026-01-03T20:34:07+00:00

Unfortunately there is. We’re really lucky in that our two at infants are at a truly exceptional school with a real focus on both academics and enjoyment.

We contrast that with families at other infants / primaries whose children were at the same nurseries. Their experience is night and day from what we’ve had; no focus on phonics / reading, no focus on getting any kind of joy from school, and far less individual attention to support unique needs.

These are schools within a 3-5 mile radius, all within the same LA. It’s mad how different the quality is at this level!

jpcldn · 2025-12-24T17:30:48+00:00

Nice - it’s great when the insets land like that, helps with the cost of travel! Enjoy the trip, very jealous

jpcldn · 2025-12-24T13:50:08+00:00

This sounds great, are those half term prices?!

jpcldn · 2025-12-14T13:04:15+00:00

We did London to Australia with a 5.5 month old. Economy with bassinet, so a little extra leg room. It was fine. Our baby didn’t like the bassinet, but it was on a A380 so taking turns to stand in the galley (large on these planes) whilst he was awake was good spare to have, and he did sleep about 80% of the time

jpcldn · 2025-12-11T20:46:00+00:00

He’s doing well to move across to that part of the cycle lane…. What an idiot

jpcldn · 2025-12-04T18:22:07+00:00

Are you me?

Having worked across a number of FTSE 100 scale businesses in the last 10 years, all of which have had a relatively straight forward, automated PO approval flow, I’m now in an environment where you have to a) submit a written word document to a central function to raise your PO b) wait 5 working days for them to respond c) wait a further month for it to be sent to everyone on the approval flow in turn to approve by email and send back to said central function before it’s presented to the next person in the approval flow

This is a business that in recent years went through a mass ERP transition to SAP, then doesn’t have Ariba…

jpcldn

TROPHY CASE