From: cmorris@Ingres.COM (Colin Morris)
Subject: Re: Trip "Report" 2 weeks in UK w/baby
Keywords: Comments and Observations, mainly
Organization: Ingres, an ASK Company, Alameda CA 94501
Date: 14 Oct 92 19:09:39 GMT

In article <976@ether.UUCP> danm@ether.UUCP (Dan McDonald) writes:
>
>Speaking of less than friendly help, we found this more often in Wales.
>There were some exceptionally nice people there, but also more of the
>other kind.  I rarely entered a shop where I did not feel a strange
>atmosphere of "Yankee/English B*stards Go Home and Give Us Our Country
>Back."  This was very unnerving, and contributed to our short stay in
>the country that was initially going to be our whole destination.  In
>conversation, we were able to get some to admit that the Welsh do need
>the tourists to maintain an economy even though they wished they didn't.
>
>We found Wales depressing, grey, dreary, and unfriendly.  We left the
>day after we arrived.  I enjoyed the general desolation of the scenery in
>Snowdonia Park, even with the RAF planes buzzing through the valleys at
>tree-top level.  We will go back there someday and do some more serious
>hiking and hill climbing.
>
I'm glad you say you'll go back. I just don't see how you can make
such sweeping judgements about a whole country based on such a
fleeting visit (especially as you visited Snowdonia which
means you must have spent a significant number of hours on each day
you were there inside your car).

>Heathrow Airport left us with a great distaste.  Arrival was not too bad,
>even though we had to take the bus from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 to get
>to our bags.  (we had taken a bump from a full United 747 to a 1/2 full
>British Airways 747, which was a good deal for us.  The service and
>comfort on BA was so far superior to UA that it made the 30-minute bus
>ride and search for our luggage worth the effort).  Departure though,
>was an agonizing process.
> <much background deleted>
>The whole departure
>process from this airport is very poorly designed--as an Industrial
>Engineer I was appalled, and could see several ways to improve the
>processing flow that would serve to sooth the helpless and innocent
>traveller.
>
I agree. Heathrow airport has always been a fairly unpleasant
experience for me. For people whose destination is outside of the
South-East and South-West, I recommend flying into Manchester if
possible. It's a much smaller airport and seems a lot more convenient
for passengers:- for example, rental car pickup is just a walkway away
from the terminal. I also noticed that the passport lines for non-EC
citizens were actually _shorter_ than the EC lines:- Manchester seems
to cater for large quantities of holiday charter flights for UK
vacationers. As from early next year, rail service will run right to
the airport.

>Speaking of VAT, and the fabled "VAT refund," I believe that it is the
>biggest scam yet.  It was so convoluted to get any money back, that I
>would rather they say "thanks for visiting, thanks for buying, thanks
>for your money, see you next time" instead of "TAX-FREE SHOPPING IN
>BRITAIN!!!  GET YOUR VAT DOLLARS BACK!  EASY REFUND!  JUST LOOK FOR THE
>DECAL IN SHOPS ACROSS THE COUNTRY!"  What none of the literature or signs
>say, is that you have to meet each individual shop's requirements for them
>to fill out a voucher for you, and without the voucher you get no refund.
>Shops had minimum purchase requirements of 30 or 50 pounds in order for
>them to give us a voucher, and the shopkeepers all went quiet as a mouse
>when we tried to get any more information from them.

I don't see why this is a "scam". Big shops in tourist areas seem
geared up for the scheme, elsewhere they don't. It also doesn't seem
unreasonable to impose some kind of minimum given the paperwork involved. 

You should also have pestered them more. One retailer, who wasn't
geared up for the scheme, discounted the item I wanted to buy by the 
VAT rate rather than lose my custom. 

--
Colin Morris       Ingres, an ASK company       cmorris@ws2s.ingres.com

He must be a Communist. After all, his name begins with a "C" and he
did take a short vacation to - horror of horrors - Moscow.
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA