Travel advice
It is not the intent of this blog to become a travel advice blog for people traveling to London. Much of this is new to us, and we're still in what I consider to be the discovery stage--that is, we're still learning our way around by trial and error. There is a wealth of information already out there on traveling to London by people who have come here as travelers, not immigrants as we have. However, when we come upon something that we feel is good advice, we probably should offer it to our readers. So here we go.
Two words: Heathrow Express.
Two cab rides from our North London flat to Heathrow Airport have cost us 70 and 80 pounds respectively (at today's exchange rate, $131.20 and $149.94) .I've taken cabs from a lot of outlying airports to a lot of downtowns in more than a decade of flying for work, and the Heathrow fare is in a class by itself in terms of cost. In addition, with the cabs, the vaunted Knowledge is somewhat exaggerated in its coverage of any neighborhood outside of the Square Mile, as Oldest Kid discovered to her chagrin when she had to find the page in the London A-Z for the cabbie and point out our street to him.
At 14 pounds 50 pence from the ticket machine in the Heathrow terminal, the Express, however, takes you 15 minutes to Paddington rail station, with trains leaving every 15 minutes. From there, a cab ride to our flat is around 15 pounds--still substantial savings. You bypass traffic, and it's a smooth, comfortable ride--not the most scenic, but you're looking for speed, not scenery, when you step off a plane at Heathrow.
You can take the Tube, but with diminishing value over longer distances as you have to drag your luggage around the narrow Tube tunnels--even rolling bags are a pain given the number of stairs underneath the London streets--and onto crowded Tube carriages. The only way the Tube makes sense to me is if one is staying, for example, in someplace like South Kensington, with direct Tube service and no train changes. (For example, compare the 37-minute Tube ride from Heathrow to Earl's Court, with no train changes, vs. the one-hour, 10 minute Tube odyssey with two train changes to get from Heathrow to Archway.) Paying the extra fare for the Heathrow Express and exchanging Tube headaches with Express comfort is worth the money to me.
A group of four riding from Heathrow to our flat--then a cab might make sense.
Two words: Heathrow Express.
Two cab rides from our North London flat to Heathrow Airport have cost us 70 and 80 pounds respectively (at today's exchange rate, $131.20 and $149.94) .I've taken cabs from a lot of outlying airports to a lot of downtowns in more than a decade of flying for work, and the Heathrow fare is in a class by itself in terms of cost. In addition, with the cabs, the vaunted Knowledge is somewhat exaggerated in its coverage of any neighborhood outside of the Square Mile, as Oldest Kid discovered to her chagrin when she had to find the page in the London A-Z for the cabbie and point out our street to him.
At 14 pounds 50 pence from the ticket machine in the Heathrow terminal, the Express, however, takes you 15 minutes to Paddington rail station, with trains leaving every 15 minutes. From there, a cab ride to our flat is around 15 pounds--still substantial savings. You bypass traffic, and it's a smooth, comfortable ride--not the most scenic, but you're looking for speed, not scenery, when you step off a plane at Heathrow.
You can take the Tube, but with diminishing value over longer distances as you have to drag your luggage around the narrow Tube tunnels--even rolling bags are a pain given the number of stairs underneath the London streets--and onto crowded Tube carriages. The only way the Tube makes sense to me is if one is staying, for example, in someplace like South Kensington, with direct Tube service and no train changes. (For example, compare the 37-minute Tube ride from Heathrow to Earl's Court, with no train changes, vs. the one-hour, 10 minute Tube odyssey with two train changes to get from Heathrow to Archway.) Paying the extra fare for the Heathrow Express and exchanging Tube headaches with Express comfort is worth the money to me.
A group of four riding from Heathrow to our flat--then a cab might make sense.
posted by Smitty Werbenmanjensen at 9:28 AM
7 Comments:
If a person should fly into Gatwick, as we did when we flew Virgin Atlantic over in 1999, there is an equivalent Gatwick express train, which takes you, I think, to Victoria Station. Now I can't remember for sure. But it's worth mentioning that the other airport has an express train into the city, too.
Ah, yes, but no matter what, dragging your luggage around the Tube is no fun. There are almost always steps involved in any transfer in the Tube.
In our case, once we get off the Tube, we have to hike up a steep hill ... dragging our luggage up narrow pavement that seems to always be subject to some engineering works. The Express to the cab is the best overall value.
I've just spoken to my brother (a London cabbie) about needing an A-Z. He said he's not surprised; he has a mate who passed the Knowledge some years ago but now only drives a cab part-time but can retain his license as long as he pays the annual fee - the guy hasn't got a clue!
He also said if someone asked him to go to an address in Peckham he'd break out in a cold sweat - I'm not sure whether that's because he doesn't know Peckham or because he does...
Our trip to and from the Smitty flat worked out nicely--an easy train ride from Gatwick to London Bridge Station was around 20 pounds for all four of us (I think we got some sort of 4 for the price of 3 deal). We bought the tickets right outside the gate where we arrived! Then a 30 pound cab ride from London Bridge to the Smitty flat! And we didn't have to drag our luggage through the tube or up the long, long, long, steep, steep hill to the flat! It was a considerable savings from the Gatwick to Smitty residence cab fare quoted to us.
best regards, nice info » »
Your article is very helpful. you can visit my website.
download android
Kya apne Is App ko Avi tak try nhi kia Yandex Music and Podcasts Apk
Post a Comment
<< Home