Last Travel News of 2023 (UK)

November is rapidly coming to a close and I am taking a well deserved break from 1st December. Travelling back home to Dominica for some family festivities and then on to West Africa for festivities of the ‘Detty December’ variety! So fair to say I will not be around to give travel news.

That being said, there are some things need to know before my virtual ‘Out of Office’ is on before the New Year.

UK Strikes Affecting Travel

It would not be a London festive period if there was no industrial actions (aka Strikes). The aim of strikes are to disrupt everything and make everyone notice them. It can be inconvenient but I believe it works. Unfortunately travel is set to be HEAVILY impacted by the strikes this December and January. I want to help you plan ahead of time.

Bus Strikes:

• Friday 1st December 2023: Routes; 13, 23, 28, 218, 295, 414, 452 and N28 are on strike
• Monday 4th December 2023: Routes; 13, 23, 28, 218, 295, 414, 452 and N28 are on strike
• Friday 22nd December 2023: Routes; 13, 23, 28, 218, 295, 414, 452 and N28 are on strike
• Saturday 23rd December 2023: Routes; 13, 23, 28, 218, 295, 414, 452 and N28 are on strike

Train drivers belonging to Aslef will walk out on the following days:

• Saturday 2nd December 2023: East Midlands Railway and LNER.
• Sunday 3rd December 2023: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern, Thameslink and West Midlands Trains
• Monday 4th December 2023: no strikes
• Tuesday 5th December: C2C and Greater Anglia
• Wednesday 6th December 2023: Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway
• Thursday 7th December 2023: CrossCountry and GWR
• Friday 8th December 2023: Northern and TransPennine Trains

What if I need to reach an airport?

London Heathrow will remain accessible at all time on the Elizabeth Line and the Tube.

London Gatwick is likely to have a skeleton service on Wednesday 6th December 2023.

London Stansted is likely to have a skeleton service on Tuesday 5th December 2023.

Luton airport will be accessible, at least from London, on all days: on the strike days. On Saturday 2nd December 2023 when East Midlands Railway (EMR) is on strike, you can use Thameslink; the following day, Thameslink will not be running but EMR will be.

Birmingham airport will be inaccessible by rail, except for Transport for Wales from Birmingham New Street, on Saturday 2nd December 2023.

Manchester airport will be inaccessible by rail, except for Transport for Wales from Manchester Piccadilly, Chester and North Wales, on Sunday 3 December.

Travel News regarding ETIAS

If you do not know what ETIAS is then clearly you have not read this post. Go ahead, read it and then come back.

If you have already read that post and are up to date, here is the tea. They have announced that from Mid-2025 all of us from the 60 plus countries that will qualify for the visa exemption list. Honestly if you ask me they should just get rid of the plan altogether but who am I?

Look out for the posts I have scheduled and I will be back in 2024, bigger and better than before! Also, have you subscribed to my newsletter? Click here

Have a very Happy Holiday season and enjoy the cold (haha!)

Love Always,

Tillyah x