|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 10, 2023 12:27:41 GMT
Another example at Heathrow: USB-C to USB-C cable : £35 !! Currys/DSG seem to have gone from Terminal 5 unless the place operating there is another new trading name they've dreamt up, but the store size is significantly smaller as is the range of goods on offer.... no interchangeable lens cameras or lenses for sale, for example Yes, I thought Sainsburys was taking the piss wanting £12.99 for one - they are on Amazon for £5.99. I'm not surprised there are no interchangeable lenses - sales of those have been in freefall for the last 10 years and I don't think any shop would devote expensive retail space to them -particularly as most who look at them will then purchase on the internet. Far more money to be made selling those little speakers and mobile phone accessories. Or anything with "Apple" in the name or with an "i" prefix.
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Oct 10, 2023 13:11:04 GMT
It costs me 30p to use the toilet in the car park at Coldsteam, when I'm on my way north. Last time it actually cost me 50p each way as I didn't have change and the machine doesn't give change. . I need to perfect the lorry driver trick of peeing in an empty bottle of Irn Bru while driving and lob it out the window. It's Coldstream, doesn't everyone just stand in the middle of the car park and pee there? I had to sign something at the Procurator Fiscal's office to say I wouldn't do that again.
|
|
|
Post by woofwoof on Oct 11, 2023 8:11:39 GMT
Another example at Heathrow: USB-C to USB-C cable : £35 !! Currys/DSG seem to have gone from Terminal 5 unless the place operating there is another new trading name they've dreamt up, but the store size is significantly smaller as is the range of goods on offer.... no interchangeable lens cameras or lenses for sale, for example You might like Thailand (if you've never been.) In Mrs WW's home town shopping centre there were (last time I was there) three camera shops and all with helpful staff. They seemed to have just about every camera and lens I could think of in stock. Prices didn't seem especially tempting though but to see the stuff in stock and to have keen staff was just wonderful.
|
|
|
Post by alf on Oct 12, 2023 16:32:06 GMT
I'm not so sure about this, it does feel like other countries have been catching us up on the stupidly expensive prices front, despite Brexit.
Of places I've travelled to a fair bit in the last few years, none were conspicuously cheap across a range of products. Canada was a lot more than I expected for anything bar fuel. Denmark is still way more expensive than here, even thinking about going there empties my wallet faster than the taxman. Fuel and food/drink seems much pricier that it was in Belgium/France, and everything is still at least as OTT in The Netherlands and Switzerland as it ever was. Even the US this summer did not seem a bargain, for anything really. Food was a lot even in Walmart! Parking is easier everywhere, we do seem to hate the motorist more than most.
The only place that ever seems a bargain to me, is Germany. Food is cheap in the shops there, in LIDL in Berlin not long ago I was checking I'd scanned everything it was so cheap! Toiletries are way, way cheaper in their equivalent of Boots - loads of things in those little flights-sized bottles, even sun cream, were well under €2 each. Here they are a total ripoff.
Flights from the UK are not too bad, but otherwise we do pay a LOT more for public transport, especially trains, than other European countries I think. What irks me more, is how mothing effing well works here. You can't easily see a doctor or dentist without going private. Every interaction with the state, from a parking permit to a passport, to trying to speak to HMRC, seems so incredibly complex and slow, as I drive across the potholed cart tracks we call roads, and fail to find parking yet again despite he cost of it and what we pay in taxes, while I hear on the radio about another failed infrastructure project where the cost here is way beyond elsewhere, I do despair, and dream of a life where I winter in the Med and summer in Germany.
Which may well be my life at some point!!
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Oct 12, 2023 17:11:29 GMT
Short haul flights aren't too bad, but long haul has definitely increased in cost. We've booked Malaysia for February, the flights are just over 25% more than they were pre-covid and as we now need 3 x tickets that means its pretty much double what we paid in 2019. Maybe not too horrendous in % terms, but it is in £. Hotels have increased by a greater amount than flights, more like 50%, but that's the same in the UK. We were looking at a December weekend in London and it was not far off double what we paid last year for the same hotel. I really wanted to stay at the new Raffles Hotel at the OWO and have been waiting for it to open, but at £1,700 a night (that's Sunday, it was more on Saturday...) for the cheapest king room, It's going to have to wait for a special occasion or a price that has settled down a bit.
I didn't notice much difference in Europe this year (Cyprus, Barcelona & Malta), either to previous years or the UK.
I never buy anything in airports and don't know why the outlets sell things other than 'distress purchase' items and duty free.
|
|