Triathlon? Ironman? Fergeddaboutit. A stroll in the park compared to this: the Arch to Arc, a 289-mile run, swim and cycle from London's Marble Arch to Paris' Arc De Triomphe. Only five mortals have ever completed the gruelling course, and on Saturday hedge fund manager Nino Baglione set off on his own attempt to break the current record of 81 hours and 5 minutes. Sadly, having jogged the 89 miles to Dover, his plans were......

Hot-foot it to St Pancras, buy a ticket, board the Eurostar, and you could be swanning down the Champs-Élysées or loafing through the Jardin du Luxembourg in a little over 2 hours. Not quick enough for you? What if the journey time was reduced to under two hours. Impossible? Not according to Air France who, despite their aviation-inspired name, are planning to run trains through the Channel Tunnel when Eurostar's monopoly ends in 2010.......

BA may have embarked on an advertising campaign to remind folk that T5 is "working", but what's a much better way of getting people to forget said terminal's troubled birth? Show them that it's by far the only problematic part of Heathrow. Last night some 3,000 people were embroiled in chaos at Terminal 3, as a computer glitch resulted in two cancelled flights, several more delayed, and disruption to thousands of travellers. People were......

A sad day for transport geeks: London Connections, the endearingly obsessive blog that chronicles in painstaking detail transport projects across the capital, has shut up shop. The site's owner, Mr. Thant, a welcome nit-picker of Londonist's own travel-related reportage, is "moving on to other projects", though he doesn't entirely rule out a return at some point in the future. The minutiae of London's rail networks will be left unexamined by Mr. Thant's watchful gaze, and......

Where do Britons go when, in Christina Aguilera’s parlance, they want to get dirrty? (We’ll give you one guess.) Adding to its ever accumulating pile of accolades, London, according to a poll conducted by hotel site HRS.com, is the preferred destination for dirty weekends away. Libidinous London topped Blackpool and Newquay to, ahem, come first – nudge nudge, know what we mean, know what we mean? Yeah. You do.......

The little slice of subcontinental bureaucracy that is the Indian High Commission in Aldwych may soon bring to an end its long history of enraging and befuddling tourists. According to this report out of India, the High Commission will shortly bid "a cheery farewell to snaking queues, complaints of graft and grumpy customers" as it modernises its procedures. The visa issuing process has been outsourced to VFS Global, an outfit based, naturally, India, which......

For those piqued by peak fares and confused by the lugubrious lexicon of British rail tickets, some good news: the entire system is to get a thorough shake-up, with a simplified structure introduced to make it easier for passengers to snag the best fare for their journey. From May, rail travellers will be presented with just three choices: advance, offpeak, and anytime. Gone are the Byzantine days of Apex fares, business first Great Western......

Rail travel has lost some of its romantic appeal over the years, but there's a new train route on its way that's setting rail enthusiasts' hearts aflutter -- a 23-day, 7,000-mile trek that'll connect London to Bangladesh. Though the prospect of spending 23 days in a little train compartment is enough to make anyone but the most seasoned rail traveler feel a bit claustrophobic, if you've got the time to spare, the fortitude to make......

What with all the whinging we've done about the comical opening of T5, and the state of British infrastructure in general, it seems we've forgotten about the smooth, stress-free move that Eurostar made from Waterloo to St. Pancras last November. Fortunately, travellers to the continent have been quick to take advantage: the operator has recorded a 21% passenger rise in the first three months of 2008. The world's largest inter-capital rail service could welcome......

Another day, another transport strike looms: this time it’s South West Trains. Quick: What’s 7 + 8 + 4 + 9? Did you have to use your fingers to complete the calculation? Half of Londoners do. And it’s costing us £500 million a year. Right, so the money goes to a worthwhile cause, but please don’t name your child Ulysses. We’ll take our greens with a side of green, please: Camden Council wants to......

A couple of London ladies are embarking on an incredible adventure, mounting trusty steeds this summer to trek all the way to Turkey to raise money for the charity SOS Children. Zena Fish, a South London teacher, had never got on a horse until recently but will be straddling one for a very long time indeed come August. The route to Turkey should take about a year. Zena reckons the worst bit will be......

Her Maj has cut the ribbon on Heathrow's Terminal 5. The £4.3 billion node, designed by Richard Rogers, opens for non-Royal business on 27 March. The BBC has all the facts and figures you could ever need. Rather than repeat them, with added quips, we'll simply point you in the direction of our sneak preview and leave you with a few images of this immense addition to London's international transport network.......

And it worked. After months of news items devoted to Heathrow's T5, baggage mishaps, proposed terminal and runway expansions, and Greenpeace protests, the UK’s third busiest airport has finally said to hell with all that and made its own bid for a bit of attention. And what a bid it is. BAA’s plans to double the size of Stansted – second runway, second terminal, open for business by 2015 – would mean, according to......

Fancy a trip to Israel? But don't fancy lining up at LHR to pile onto a tedious flight? This might be what you're looking for: a car rally from London to Jerusalem - in vintage vehicles, no less! As part of the State of Israel's 60th Independence Day, the Jewish National Fund is aiming to raise some £250,000 for residents of the Negev desert. Hence this 18 day rally, during which drivers will meander......

Londonist brings it on home. Basilico 26 Penton St N1 9PS Delivery Area: Islington 0800 093 4224 5pm-wee hours (Monday-Thursday) 11am-wee hours (Friday-Sunday) Expect to Pay: Around £10 for a 13” pie or £15 for an 18” Rating: 7 out of 10 On a handful of occasions, Londonist has ordered pizza from the Basilico franchise in Islington, a takeaway and delivery pizzeria with five locations. We were pleased with the Americana (Italian spicy pepperoni,......

It was a delightfully dry and bright, crisp and chilly weekend in London... except for a sudden bit of flooding along Edgware Road on Sunday morning. Not from the heavens opening in a repeat of the 2007 deluges but from what has been reported as a mechanical digger failure at the crucial junction of Sussex Gardens and Edgware Road not far from Marble Arch. This is the junction where traffic from Paddington Station comes......

A conspiracy is afoot. Literary London is listless and lethargic these next few days – after back-to-back Burns Night and Australia Day outings this weekend, we can relate – yet there’s an explosion of midweek activity, leaving us paranoid that the powers-that-be are plotting to drive us crazy, leave us whimpering and indecisive, cursing our inability to be in two places at once. Yes, between this and the stock market madness, we’re a short......

The next time you're stuck in a black cab ensnarled in traffic on the North Circular, the rain sluicing through the cracked window onto your chinos, and the cabbie turns to you with a wry grin and cracks a line about how great the weather is in San Diego this time of year, be wary: this effusive endorsement of all things Americana may not be as innocent as it seems. US outfit Taxi Promotions......

Met police reception staff are mighty miffed Shooters get shirty about Olympic venue choice Ken bribes the student vote with 100 days till election While Gordon attempts to inspire the world about 2012 with his unique charm and zest Image of the doomed Flying Duck Enterprises in Greenwich courtesy of Mondoagogo via the Londonist flickr group.......

Fresh out of Reading, the well named Pete and The Pirates are currently making their way round the country, stopping off at Soho's Borderline on January 29. Energetic and pacey, we first came across them when the awesome Good Weather for Air Strikes highlighted them as a tip from CMJ 2007. The Borderline gig is 14+ and the official launch party for their jaunty new single 'Mr Understanding' and they'll be supported by Let's......

Two weeks into the New Year and it's important to find things to distract yourself from the grey weather, gym timetables, failing diets and attempts to avoid alcohol. If you're still feeling the pinch post festive season then we've got some excellently cheap things for you to do this week to cheer, edify, inspire and amuse you. Monday: Happy days! The Fonz will be at Forbidden Planet for a book signing between 5-6pm. It's......

Heads up people: the East London Line closes this Saturday. It will undergo a magical transformation that will take rather a long time but the line will reemerge from a 3 year chrysalis as a beautiful section of the newly tangerine London Overground network, linking the North and East London railways. You'll eventually be able to travel from Richmond in the West all the way round in a massive arterial horseshoe via the existing......

After a quick break travelling the US, this Londonista is back to normality bringing the weekly roundup of whats happening in London. Monday night sees Oakland metal stars High on Fire grace UL. Tickets are available for £12 each on the door or from See tickets. Reformed 90's Brit rockers Shed Seven grace Shepherds Bush Empire, with a few tickets left at £17.50 each, if you really must indulge your nostalgia. Finally, Scritti Politti plays......

That's right. As from today, King's Cross Thameslink is no more. The outmoded station on Pentonville Road closed for business yesterday. Services now stop beneath St Pancras International on new platforms (pictured). It seems to be the law these days that anything recently opened must be trumpeted as 'shiny new'. Not so with these platforms. IanVisits describes a 'clinical grey feel', but with much widened access. Diamond Geezer, meanwhile, gives a fitting eulogy to......

Ken's been coming under the cosh for his fact-finding trip to Delhi last month. The mayor and his long-time nemesis, Tory councillor Brian Coleman, have been flapping barbs at eachother in the London Assembly, with the Barnet bruiser landing a number of heavy blows on Livingstone, accusing him of taking a "larger entourage than the Queen". He went on to question whether Ken's fellow visitors Myleene Klass and a group of dancers from the......

Dusting off the snow from last year, every day this month the Londonist team will be pointing you in the direction of a Christmas present that (with a bit of luck) you won't already have on your list. Climb up onto our collective lap and we'll see what we can move from our sack to your stockings.. There's an big market for anything involving the London Underground system when it comes to buying gifts,......

We feel churlish bringing it up again, but not so long ago Heathrow was voted the world's least favourite airport. As we head into the crunch Christmas travel period, it could surely use a slice of decent press. So is there any good news to come out of TW19? Is there 'eck. Word reaches us that key workers at Heathrow are to be balloted for a strike. The Unite union has asked the airport's......

London is still the most expensive city in the world as far as public transport is concerned so it's always nice when someone comes along and offers to pay your Oyster Card for a whole month! The good people over at the local review site Qype.com just told us about their fab new competition that gives you the chance to travel London for free, for the whole of January (when everyone's skint anyway). We......

It may be 40 years since the Abortion Act legalised terminations but a BBC Radio 5 Live investigation suggests that modern day "back street abortions" are easily found in London. Thankfully, we're not talking struck off doctors and knitting needles but Chinese herbal remedies from shops in Dalston and illegally obtained abortion drugs: an undercover investigator was able to get their hands on 14 abortion pills for £30 from an entirely unqualified bloke in......

Heathrow Airport: to expand or not to expand, that is the question. The debate can begin in earnest, as today Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly laid out options for consultation, including a potential third runway and sixth terminal. With Terminal 5 not even finished yet, it may seem premature to be discussing more construction work, but the Government stressed that it would take until 2020 for a new runway and terminal to be operational. Kelly......