jasonb

No queuing issues for beer last night at the bar next to Gate 1. 10 mins tops...trying to get away from the gig was a mess though... I got in at 1am after an hour walking back towards our part of Manchester before finally hailing a cab. Colleagues of mine were more like 2am having walked all the way back to the city centre via Cheetham Hill Road. Woefully inadequate infrastructure for 75k people.

I was there last night and had a great time... saw them back in the early nineties and have to say I thought they were better last night... really tight with Mani, Reni and John Squire flawless. Ian Brown had his wobbles but then so did the crowd... it's these in-deficiencies that make him great. It was awesome... I grew up with these tunes... MASSIVE tunes... much better than anything that has happened since.. Fools Gold was a highlight for me... dancing like a loon. I liked the 'edge' to the whole vibe too. Reminded me of the early 90's at Glasto when you thought anything could happen... most gigs are sterile, corporate events now where everyone (bands included) goes through the motions. The Roses last night reminded me of the reason I started going to gigs.. Sure the setlist was predicable but then they only have 2 albums and a handful of singles... the crowd were great... Thankfully I didn't see too many Camden 'it' crowder's there there either which pleased me too.. Yes, music snobbery is alive and kicking in East Manchester!!!

You're right, this one is official: http://www.asfinag.at/toll-stickers-and-rates As I understand it you need to get your vignette 'punched' on the day you want it to commence whether buying in advance or not. Not sure about camera verification. Don't they use the cameras to check them??? http://www.asfinag.at/toll-enforcement-and-monitoring

Hi, I'm looking at http://www.camping-laacher-see.com/de/Start.html which is my first stop north-west of Koblenz and http://www.campingstubai.at/ for my second stop which is south-west of Innsbruck. Both look stunning and more than adequate to pitch the small tent up for something to eat, freshen up and a kip. The Austrian one especially looks gorgeous. Google maps is great for searching for things around your route. I found both of these simply by zooming into roughly the time intervals that I wanted to stop at and searching for campsites nearby.

Nice one.. I'll be checking this info out for my route too. When you say "significantly" cheaper... how much roughly? trousers - you can get the vignette before you go: http://www.tolltickets.com/country/austria/vignette.aspx?lang=en-GB

Great minds and all that! I too was thinking of coming back via Switzerland but I may duck it entirely and go back through Germany and call in at Munich as I think I've mentioned already. Good news is that the two campsites I want for the way down are open for on-spec camping and never have a problem with people just turning up! They look bloody gorgeous too when compared to some of the awful and expensive sites in the UK that I have been to... can't wait

Taking on board the German - Austria advice I have roughed in an outbound route including my overnight campsites (subject to availability): http://goo.gl/maps/sKC4 I'm not too clear what occurs after leaving campsite #2 just south of Innsbruck. Not sure if the map is indicating the Brenner pass or a motorway? Might come home another way or might just do this in reverse adding a stop near Munich. Saturday: land in Calais just after lunch, half day(ish) drive to campsite #1 in Germany. 289 miles Sunday: Full day driving through Germany towards Stuttgart and on into Austria passing Innsbruck to campsite #2. 621 miles Monday: half day driving to Venice getting to our campsite for just after lunch. 270 miles Early starts planned except for the Saturday when I still need to figure out what's best time to get the tunnel.

haha I'm reluctant to take a sat nav as you become a slave to them... I would much rather trust my wife to read out my instructions - rally co-driver stylee. trousers - it dawned on me this evening that I had done a pretty good job at hijacking your thread - apologies for that mate. I got giddy once I knew there were helpful saints fans with loads more knowledge than me. I hope some of the Venice related replies haven't clouded your own plans too much.

This is my biggest fear I think. The driving and navigating doesn't really bother me... but being stuck in queues when I'm on such a tight schedule is keeping me awake at night :-)

I'm going to Venice, not sure trousers is! All these route options are sending me dizzy. The caveats of "if you time it right" etc only confuse me more lol. I did say I was in-experienced at cross-border/European driving didn't I?? Last night I had convinced myself to go via the Gotthard pass (the old one) for the views and experience. I fancy the Germany route home via Munich as an overnight stop over just because I've been but my misses hasn't. I can see this route planning taking up most of the next 7 weeks prior to departure :-) However, I welcome the ideas and input from you experienced people!

Now I've been planning to come back through Germany for a more leisurely drive for the ferry but you have me contemplating going down that way too. I am trying to keep costs down but am also hoping to strike a balance of getting there pronto same as Trousers.

I'm there the week before, hoping to arrive at our campsite on Monday 13th. I'm assuming Venice doesn't shut up shop! Be my luck that! Our honeymoon to Paris coincided with all the museum staff walking out on strike for 3 days!

Hmm.. reading about the GSB tunnel and comparing it to the Gotthard tunnel I might be best choosing the former as the Gotthard seems to be a traffic jam nightmare especially in August! I fancy going over the tops though for the views alone! I am landing in Dunkirk 1pm local time and have 48 hours to get to our campsite... taking the passes rather than the tunnel is that do-able (with an overnight stop of course) ? http://www.englishforum.ch/transportation-driving/23562-driving-via-gotthard-tunnel-never-again.html

I think I'm going clockwise but then I'm turning off and heading east before you so might be no help at all

Hi mate, Yes. Me and my wife finally got some time off at the same time this year so on a complete whim I booked the campsite! Traveling down with my 8 y.o. son so a proper road trip! Funny as until April I was the proud owner of a VW camper but never trusted it enough to get us to Wales never-mind into Europe. Selling it was the catalyst to go on this trip! I have seen the Michelin site but will have another look as I found it a little cumbersome.. its used a lot and I've read about it on forums so must be the goto map site. After reading back very briefly I'm so glad I found this thread today as it has already thrown up more questions for me and I've gained more knowledge today than a couple of weeks of forum searching. Nice one!

I'm driving down to Treporti, Venice in August and will be doing the tolls through France on the way out (for speed) and stopping just before the Swiss border over night then onto Venice via Gotthard tunnel and Milan onto the autostraders. On the return I have a bit more time so am planning to come back via Munich and thus avoid the expensive tolls through France. A fair bit of driving considering I have to get down from Manchester first via So'ton (my mum and dad are dog sitting for us) but I'm looking forward to it. Unlike the OP I haven't got a great deal of Euro driving experience other than France a little bit. Apprehensive but excited. I'm finding Google maps an excellent way of planning our route and the search nearby 'right-click' context menu feature is great for finding hotels/campsites near to where ever you 'right-click'. I've basically done this to locate stop-offs along the way.

I used Firefox for years then tried the new kid on the block: Google's Chrome. I have been using it for a couple of years and find it really fast. Then I started to read stuff about Google and their data gathering strategies. I quit Facebook last year over similar concerns so it's back to Firefox for me. I'm not naive enough to think my data isn't being tracked but why make it so easy is my take on it. I mean, I still search using Google and am comfortable that they are grabbing my search history but I don't want them seeing everything. http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/01/08/how-google-collects-data-about-you-and-the-internet/

If this forum did the whole 'kudos' thing you would be getting a hefty dose my friend for that 'liquid refreshment spit inducing' post... genuine LOL at this end

I'm lukewarm on this at the minute.. I can't help but feel we've just put a marker down... over to his preferred clubs now (if Burnley fans are to be believed).

Thanks for the reply and info.. a bit more reading confirms your points... PM me when and if you decide to part with your phone... nice one!

Hi, I'm just out of contract and have kept my blackberry from the contract. I am now using a PAYG deal from giffgaff (excellent tarrifs). However, my phone is a bit cack and I'm looking at buying a handset outright rather than getting another contract. I would love an iPhone but can't justify the expense of the latest 4S. I know the iPhone 5 is due sometime this year but was wondering about the older models... anyone still love their 3G or 3GS... can these handsets run the latest IOS? I've done some research but you can't beat some first-hand information as well. TIA

Felt a bit rough this morning having gone to bed about 3am I think... Had some champagne which I hate mixed with Ringwood ales... managed to make it into work but didn't do a lot... roast tea seemed to help things along and I ought to get to bed but working on stuff at home so no rest for the wicked!

Spits water over desk!! LOL

Got the confirmation screen but no email as yet. EDIT: in my junk folder... typical

Dunno if this will help anyone but I typed my customer number into the field rather than pasting it in via an email. This combined with entering my surname with a lower case seemed to work.. no other problems. I used Chrome browser FWIW.