Southampton Meeting Travel

The Venue

The venue for the meeting will be the Physics & Astronomy Building (Bldg 46) on the University of Southampton main campus (Highfield).  If you're taking the Coach from Heathrow or the U1 bus from the Southampton Airport, these both drop off at the main campus bus interchange:

We will meet in the Seminar Room on the fifth floor, room 46-5081; take the elevator from the main lobby to the 5th floor and turn right.

Mike Childress's office is left from the elevator, room 46-5007.  People can leave their luggage in my office.

If you get lost and need help, call Mike at (+44) (0)23 8059 3932.

To get here from the Highfield House Hotel, I recommend this path using Highfield Lane:

Travel

Getting to Southampton

Southampton is on the South coast of England, 75 miles south-west of London.

Getting here by air

If you are travelling from within the UK (inc. Belfast), or from Paris/Amsterdam and a handful of other European destinations, then Southampton has a very convenient small airport. Southampton airport is served by flybe, who also codeshare with KLM - and sometimes nice connections through Amsterdam (or Paris Orly with Air France) are possible. The airport is about 10-15 minutes in a taxi from the campus and the hotel.

The best large airports are either London Heathrow or London Gatwick. From Heathrow, there are three public transport options. The first option is a direct ~hourly coach. This takes about 2 hours and is the easiest with luggage, but slowest. Coach timetables can be found at http://www.nationalexpress.com. The second option is a RailAir coach to Woking railway station (~30 minutes), and then a train to Southampton (~40 minutes). Finally, you can take the train into London Paddington station (via the Heathrow Express), cross London to London Waterloo station (Bakerloo line on the underground), and then take the train to Southampton. Train times at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.

From Gatwick, there are direct (but somewhat slow) trains to Southampton. Again, train times at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.

We can also arrange a taxi transfer if you prefer (a walk-up black cab would probably cost several hundred pounds). Cost is about £90 from Heathrow, and a bit more from Gatwick, but can work out well if you are travelling in small groups.

Getting here by train

Southampton is served by two main railway stations: Southampton Central, and Southampton Airport Parkway. Both are convenient for the university, and both are on the mainline to London, with trains every ~30 minutes taking ~1h10min to reach London Waterloo.

To get to the campus from the stations, you can either use a bus (U1C from the parkway station, or U1A from the central station), or the ~10 minute taxi ride would be £8-10.

Getting here by coach

Southampton has two coach stations, one on campus (Highfield interchange) and the other in the city centre. The campus station has less frequent connections. A taxi from the city centre coach station to the campus takes about 10 minutes and is about £8-10.

Getting here by car

Driving from Heathrow (1h10min) or Gatwick (1h20min) is easy enough (motorway all the way), but the motorways can be very busy at peak times. There is limited parking on campus, and parking on the surrounding streets is near impossible, but the workshop hotel has a large (free) car park for hotel guests.

Accommodation

We have a block of 15 rooms being held for the nights of January 25th-27th at the Highfield House Hotel at the university rate of £66 per night.  Please call or email and tell them you are with the "PESSTO Meeting" to get the cheap rate, but you need to book the room before 15th January.  Hotel details are:

Highfield House Hotel

119 Highfield Lane

Southampton SO17 1AQ

Phone: +44 (0)23 8055 4223

Email: res@highfieldhousehotel.co.uk

There are obviously many other hotels and guest houses. Some others (which may have cheaper rates) include:

The Elizabeth House Hotel - http://www.elizabethhousehotel.com/

Travelodge - http://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/66/Southampton-hotel  (a budget option, especially if booked in advance)

In the city centre there are a couple of budget Premier Inn hotels as well. There are good bus links to the university Highfield campus.