“Extreme day trippers” on the rise

I have completed a few fly-away day trips now, my most recent being to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix: 06:10 to Milan Malpensa, 09:50 train(s) to Monza and at the Circuit for 12 in time for 3pm race start. Got the 23:05 flight back to Gatwick with plenty of time to spare. Quite a few Ferrari shirts and caps on each flight so i wasn't the only one. Ended up being awake for about 23 hours so that'll be my last *extreme one* for a while.

I am heading to Paris for a day next month via Eurostar, thankfully the timings are less extreme both ways.

I've done a couple of day trips to Limerick to watch rugby matches. 10:00 flight out of Heathrow to Shannon. Pick up a hire car (cheaper than the bus or taxi). Drive to Limerick, park up in an appropriate place for a swift getaway post match (Limerick traffic is a nightmare on Munster matchdays), have lunch followed by a walk to the ground. Post match drive back to the airport for the Ryanair flight back to Stansted.

I've also done Dublin day trips a couple of times, again to see rugby matches - very easy.

For work reasons I've also done Belfast and Glasgow, both there and back in the day. Simple when you live pretty much mid-way between Luton and Stansted airports.

And for Leisure purposes I've done day trips to Edinburgh a few times but by train from Stevenage. In the old ECML timetable the 06:10 Lumo got you an Edinburgh arrival at 10:00. Then get the 18:30 LNER back south arriving 23:07 (there's was even a 19:30 LNER from EDB but that's a 01:00 arrival at SVG). I've not done it since the December 2025 timetable change but I think the timings are very similar.

I've done Norwich - Amsterdam - Liverpool before , was less tiring than the train. I've also looked at Liverpool- Belfast- Gatwick several times, fares can be less than the train, and connections good. Then I am south of London where I want to be.