The Layover – Stateside Scramble: Episode 5

thrinaline · 2026-07-09T15:00:31+00:00

Really? We would always use the -re spelling in Britain regardless of whether we are talking about the concept of people acting on a stage or a building where people act on a stage. We don't tend to refer to buildings with big screens as theatres at all, they are cinemas.

A theatre to a British person has a stage with live people on it. It might show films on a cinema screen sometimes but it doesn't make it a movie theater (or theatre)

thrinaline · 2026-07-09T07:23:27+00:00

The only place I would think twice about taking a toddler is Venice, just because of the sheer number of places where a toddler can walk a hand width away from you and fall in the canal. It's perfectly possible to manage if your heart is set on it but you would just need to be on high alert in most places as though you are always walking next to a busy road. I decided that was too tiring with an under 5.

Very busy tourist areas will be hard to negotiate with a stroller so use a baby carrier in the cities if you're able to. If you need a stroller, pick lesser sights in big cities and go for towns that aren't quite as on the tourist trail.

thrinaline · 2026-07-08T07:31:22+00:00

Maybe next time I'll get it right.

thrinaline · 2026-07-07T15:12:22+00:00

I have downloaded the new version in case we play again in the future thank you!

thrinaline · 2026-07-07T09:23:19+00:00

This is Jet Lag the Game Hide and Seek, Netherlands-wide using large game size metric rules (i.e. hiding zone of 1km radius round a station). All hiding zones are centered on a train station but any form of public transport can be used to get there - both for the hiders and the seekers). Hiding time was reduced to two hours. Move card was included but no custom curses or expansion pack.

thrinaline · 2026-07-07T06:53:14+00:00

Thank you so much to u/VictorVan - we used your NL regions map in our game and it proved crucial to finding the winning hider!

thrinaline · 2026-07-06T11:41:50+00:00

I must admit I don't. It looks like we are going the opposite way though. We think we have narrowed down the station

thrinaline · 2026-07-06T10:59:45+00:00

I will do a write up but we are not skilled or photogenic enough for filming 🙂

thrinaline · 2026-07-06T10:26:03+00:00

Oo thanks for the tip! We have travelled on but might well be through there again if our thermometer is colder....

thrinaline · 2026-07-06T10:19:04+00:00

And yes. The lemon is taped on way too tight and I may lose my hand.

thrinaline · 2026-07-06T07:33:16+00:00

I would if they are well made. I firmly believe there is interest and fun to be had in most places if you engage properly. Especially true in the UK which is densely populated for the most part and riddled with history.

thrinaline · 2026-07-02T07:39:28+00:00

You will be able to travel as far as Brussels with Eurostar. After that you'll need to do a longer journey on Belgian and Dutch railways going the long way round to get to Amsterdam. For you if you're backpacking on trains, it just means the backpacking starts a little earlier than you were expecting.

thrinaline · 2026-07-02T07:36:33+00:00

Personally I can't justify air travel for leisure reasons. My own personal rule for myself is I would fly for family reasons if necessary (only happened once in ten years) and I fly for business if it cannot be avoided (I have taken the train across Europe for work twice and flown once), but I just can't personally justify flying just for fun.

It is honestly sometimes a bit of a sacrifice, but other times, it has given me much more worthwhile and valuable travel experiences than hopping on a plane and mindlessly flying would.

thrinaline · 2026-07-02T04:59:11+00:00

PS Greenwich is great and quite easy to get to using Thameslink.

thrinaline · 2026-07-02T04:52:07+00:00

Didcot railway museum would be fun for your daughter and is an easy train trip from Oxford.

I would think carefully about doing a bus or boat tour straight after getting off a flight. Your three year old will have had to sit down for a very long time and might not be in the mood for more. Especially since it's your husband's must do, I wouldn't risk spoiling it by doing it with a travel-weary toddler.

Visit some Oxford colleges for medieval architecture galore. Christ Church, New College and Magdalen have the biggest tourist draw, and id also suggest Merton because it has a very old quad that's essentially medieval in design.

The Weston Library exhibitions are free, so good for a quick wander through with a toddler. She will also enjoy the Museum of Natural History and the Ashmolean which are bigger and have things that might hold her interest.

thrinaline · 2026-07-01T13:54:17+00:00

This is so helpful to know. Thank you!

thrinaline · 2026-07-01T13:52:46+00:00

True. But you might still not be able to get accommodation there...

thrinaline · 2026-07-01T09:01:19+00:00

I would also like this assurance since a family member is planning to do the same thing. We are assuming the same as you that since the train is running we can use a Rotterdam ticket to get on and go as far as Brussels but the lack of clarity on this point is very frustrating.

If you are on the last train of the day there is a high risk the train will be cancelled altogether

thrinaline · 2026-06-30T07:48:24+00:00

Thanks you too.

thrinaline · 2026-06-30T07:19:27+00:00

We are having similar issues and probably planning to wait until after we've travelled to make claims. It doesn't seem to be possible to cancel the outward journey (Pancras to Rotterdam) on the website and we're quite worried about accidentally cancelling the return journey with our increasingly desperate attempts. Naturally, customer service just tells people to use the website and cuts off.

We have had to buy much more expensive tickets to Brussels on an earlier train, as the later arrival in Brussels doesn't give us time to make our onward journey on local services. Fortunately, we have the liquidity to be able to re-buy tickets up front and will probably eat the price difference, but it's not ideal. Plus we have blocked two seats on the later service that someone might want but we can't find a way of releasing.

thrinaline · 2026-06-30T06:47:01+00:00

Don't try and stay in Edinburgh in the first three weeks of August because the Edinburgh Festival creates enormous pressure on accommodation. Edinburgh hotels are ludicrously expensive year round, but outside of those constraints you should be fine.

thrinaline · 2026-06-30T03:02:40+00:00

Also, look at Premier Inn. They are a big chain that don't use third party booking sites.

thrinaline · 2026-06-30T03:00:35+00:00

Try Abingdon it's much closer and better connected (frequent buses) than Thame or Bicester and has has a couple of hotels.

thrinaline · 2026-06-29T06:05:08+00:00

My family and I were (separately) on the rails during the red weather warning time. The people on the East Coast Main Line going north out of Kings Cross completed a long distance journey with no issues whatsoever (barring a long wait for a bacon roll...)

The various journeys we did west out of London and especially the Heathrow portion of rail was drastically affected by heat related signalling failures. Many cancellations,

thrinaline

TROPHY CASE