ChilliMonster: Some of us do try to plan our RT. I use blue pen to mark on my track reminders of when and where I should be calling whoever I have decided to call. But I'm still so inexperienced I need all the help I can get in the air...
I did my QXC on Dec 23rd, and all the MATZ and LARS units in Lincolnshire were shut (God help us if the Ruskies decided to invade at Christmas!), so I spoke to London Information to get confirmation that Wittering MATZ's really was closed as I was planning to go through it. It was the first time I'd spoke to London Information, I got a very good service and was dead impressed with the other traffic (which was very light) calling in from all over South East.
I've really appreciated this thread for the list of times when you should use London Information. It's one of those bits of information that does always get covered very well on the PPL course.