I need a bit of advice for our London trip??

[icydog]

Hi I posted this on the UK DVC board but I haven't gotten any responses. Basically I need an idea of what to do from October 31 to Nov 2, 2005 when I get off the plane in Heathrow. We have a suite booked at the 2 Hyde Park timeshare but we don't start until November 2. We get to London about 20:00 but it will seem like 3 PM to us and too early to sleep. We were considering a couple of days somewhere else and then returning to London but maybe this is not practical. We have no feel for the options. Perhaps we should find a place close to our timeshare to wait out our two days. We love historic things so I doubt we'll ever be bored in London. We are 59 (me) and 72 (my husband) and like to get around by taxis since we find the tubes just too strentuous.
This is the thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=9955468#post9955468

 

[Netty]

sorry i cant help you , but i'm sure someone who lives in or around London will answer and help you as much as they can
its now 11pm here, so you will probably get your answers tomorrow!!
take care

 

[JanElliott]

Hi, if you are thinkng of staying in London may I suggest the Premier Travel Inn on the south bank of the Thames which is the former County Hall building, close to Waterloo Station so if you wanted to take a day trip out of London to say Windsor Castle you could, www.premiertravelinn.com. It is in a good position to visit the London Eye, Houses of Parliament etc., and nice walks along the river banks. This is just a quick reply as I am off to France for the day. No doubt you will get lots of replies later today.

 

[Dimplenose]

Hampton Court Palace (King Henry VIII home) is just a 30 minute train ride from Waterloo too.
You could also do a day trip to Paris from Waterloo via the Channel Tunnel with Eurostar - it only takes a couple of hours to get there.
How long are you going to be staying in London? As you might want to spend all your time there.

Libby

 

[icydog]

Hampton Court Palace (King Henry VIII home) is just a 30 minute train ride from Waterloo too.
You could also do a day trip to Paris from Waterloo via the Channel Tunnel with Eurostar - it only takes a couple of hours to get there.
How long are you going to be staying in London? As you might want to spend all your time there.

Libby

We'll be there a total of 9 nights but with the first and last day left for travel it leaves us 7 days in London. So if we go to Waterloo from Heathrow we can look around for a day + and then get back to London? How does one get to Waterloo and how long does it take? I thought we would spend 2 nights somewhere so the transportation to Waterloo is important. Don't forget it will be 20:00 when we arrive so maybe transportation is closed by then? I love Paris so that may be an idea. I hear it is an expensive trip though. About how much to go through the Chunnel?

 

[icydog]

Maybe I wasn't clear. I want to stay outside of London somewhere interesting for those two days. How would I get to the train from Heathrow? Where are some interesting places to go and please let me know if there are hotels nearby. We could do something on Tuesday and something on Wednesday and still be back in London by 16:00, 3 PM, for our check-in, right?
Thanks for your input,
Marylyn

 

[Dimplenose]

Waterloo is one of the main London train stations. It also has an underground station - although you'd have to change line to get from Heathrow - and it is also the current Eurostar terminus for London. I don't think the fares would be too bad especially as your DH would be classed as a senior. But you'd probably be best travelling the day after you arrive in London - BTW France is 1 hour ahead of England.

Here's a link www.eurostar.com

I would do Hampton Court as a day trip from London - if you do some of the guided and self-guided tours you can easily spend 5 or 6 hours there.

As someone else suggested Windsor would be a pleasant place to stay as would Cambridge.

You could also get to Scotland if you flew - but I don't know hoe expensive this would be.

I hope you get some more suggestions.

Libby

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Icy-Dog,

Assuming touch-down at 20:00 it's going to take you two hours to get through baggage reclaim, immigration & customs, then at least another hour to get to central london to pick up a train to anywhere else. That means 11 pm UK time and it's going to be difficult to get to a hotel outside of London at a reasonable time. It may be middle of the afternoon for you, but not for the hotel!!!

Seven days is not enough to see London. I would be tempted to find a hotel near your timeshare and have a couple of extra days in London. Bayswater (near your timeshare) has many good-value hotels, which would be close enough to make for an easy transfer. Could your timeshare find you something nearby?

Andrew

 

[icydog]

Icy-Dog,


Seven days is not enough to see London. I would be tempted to find a hotel near your timeshare and have a couple of extra days in London. Bayswater (near your timeshare) has many good-value hotels, which would be close enough to make for an easy transfer. Could your timeshare find you something nearby?

Andrew

Thank you for the area name. Maybe I will just do a priceline hotel for the two days and then move to the timeshare. I think I will call the timeshare group, Royal Holiday Club, and 2 Hyde Park Condos and see if they have any suggestions.... Thank you. We have been to London before but I know we haven't scratched the surface. We live near NYC and we hear that people have "seen" it all in a week. Impossible--I lived there for 26 years and I haven't seen it all. Now that I live in New Jersey, about one hour away from New York, I still love going into the city and I will never be bored of it.
Marylyn

 

[JanElliott]

Hi icy-dog. FYI a taxi from Heathrow into town would cost about 50-60 pounds and take about 30-40 minutes (dependant on traffic). I'm sure you'll be able to find the info you want on the internet or from the time share company and you can always come back on this board. Good luck. Jan

 

[mark66]

Hampton Court would be a great place to start your stay.
From Heathrow it's about 15-30 mins in a cab, I live close by and work at Terminal 4 for British Airways, it takes me 15 mins to get to work but that is at 5am!
There are two excellent hotels right by the Palace, The Liongate is nice, it faces the side entrance of Hampton Court Palace but also backs onto Bushey Park which is a Royal park and is a great place for a long walk, it's full of Aquatic wildlife on the lakes and has Deer roaming free.
The Carlton Mitre is also a very lovely hotel, it's right opposite the main gates and is situated right alongside the River Thames on Hampton Court Bridge, it's also very close to the train station that goes into Waterloo via Wimbledon.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/webcode/home.asp