On Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 09:03:23PM +0200, phil88 wrote:

Which route would you recommend for speed

Your friendly local minicab company.

and/or cheapest tickets?

2] The X26 express bus from Whitgift Centre. How reliable is this? Does
it get packed? Does anybody know the typical prices for one way: Croydon
to Heathrow?

AFAIK it's charged as a normal bus service, so nearly free. You'll need
an Oyster or contactless credit card. It's timetabled to take 97
minutes, but various bits of the interweb say it can take up to 130
minutes if traffic is bad. No idea how crowded it gets, but it starts
in Croydon so that'll work in your favour.

--
David Cantrell | Nth greatest programmer in the world

Vegetarian: n: a person who, due to poor lifestyle choices,
is more likely to get arse cancer than a normal person

Recliner wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
On 13/06/2015 22:43, Clank wrote:

phil88 wrote:
Hello,

My sister and her 16-year-old daughter, both from Newcastle, are
stopping over briefly at mine in Croydon before departing for Heathrow -
their plane leaves at 12:30pm on Tuesday 16th June 2015 from Terminal 5,
and they need to arrive 2 hours beforehand. Not being Londoners, they
don't have any relevant travel passes.

Which route would you recommend for speed and/or cheapest tickets?

1] Tube: Piccadilly Circus to Heathrow. Also, why does everything on the
internet say depart from Piccadilly Circus for Heathrow? They'd be
arriving at Victoria Station from East Croydon, so getting the Tube from
there to South Kensington would get them on the route, surely?

2] The X26 express bus from Whitgift Centre. How reliable is this? Does
it get packed? Does anybody know the typical prices for one way: Croydon
to Heathrow?

3] Tube from Victoria then train from Paddington. This sounds to me the
most circuitous route, but I could be wrong. Possibly the most expensive
too?

The bus is fine for getting from eafrow to Croydon, but it's a brave man
who relies on a bus to get them TO the flight on time...

I've taken night buses (or crack of dawn buses) as part of a journey to
get to an airport several times without a problem. I've taken coaches at
a similar time to get to Stansted and Luton for horror-o-clock
departures. But yes, this isn't a horror-o-clock departure!


East Croydon/Victoria/Oxford Circus/Paddington is actually pretty easy
because of the cross-platform interchange between Vic and Bakerloo at OC,
and avoids the horror of the Picc.

The Piccadilly is alright.


Alternatively, East Croydon/Victoria/Hammersmith/Piccadilly Line. Much
easier (cross platform) interchange at Hammersmith than South Ken.

Or change at Barons Court for the same effect - a less busy station, and
more interesting in my reckoning.

Yes, Baron's Court is better for the change, just as Blackfriars is much
better than Victoria, with its dozens of steps down to the platform, and
huge rush hour crowds.

My preference for Hammersmith is probably just because I know the area well
having spent a lot of time there when younger. More practically, if things
fall apart and I need an alternative route, there's a major bus station and
the Hammersmith & City line station nearby that can take me to Paddington
if needed. These things are not true of Barons Court.

Prosaically, when travelling to an airport, the degree to which the station
platforms en-route are 'interesting' (and we are clearly talking about
vanishingly small values of 'interesting' in either case) tends to figure
low down my list, to be honest.

In message , at 13:25:24
on Mon, 15 Jun 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
and/or cheapest tickets?

2] The X26 express bus from Whitgift Centre. How reliable is this? Does
it get packed? Does anybody know the typical prices for one way: Croydon
to Heathrow?

AFAIK it's charged as a normal bus service, so nearly free. You'll need
an Oyster or contactless credit card.

x2 for two people.
--
Roland Perry

3] Tube from Victoria then train from Paddington. This sounds to me the
most circuitous route, but I could be wrong. Possibly the most expensive
too?

If they're close to Victoria, how about the NatEx coach to T123, then
either a connecting coach if there is one or go downstairs and take
the HeX. If you book ahead it's £6 per person. The 9:00 coach is
supposed to get to the central bus station at 9:40 which should leave
plenty of time to go down to the HeX and get to T5 by 10:30.

If they have luggage (keeping in mind that some people still check
bags, particularly inexperienced travellers), this is a lot easier
than the tube since you can put luggage underneath the coach and there
are luggage carts and a lift to make the connection at the bus
station.

On 15/06/2015 20:20, Clank wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
[...]
Alternatively, East Croydon/Victoria/Hammersmith/Piccadilly Line. Much
easier (cross platform) interchange at Hammersmith than South Ken.

Or change at Barons Court for the same effect - a less busy station, and
more interesting in my reckoning.

My preference for Hammersmith is probably just because I know the area well
having spent a lot of time there when younger. More practically, if things
fall apart and I need an alternative route, there's a major bus station and
the Hammersmith & City line station nearby that can take me to Paddington
if needed. These things are not true of Barons Court.

Fair points re alternatives.


Prosaically, when travelling to an airport, the degree to which the station
platforms en-route are 'interesting' (and we are clearly talking about
vanishingly small values of 'interesting' in either case) tends to figure
low down my list, to be honest.

Funnily enough, in another forum for frequent flyers (which for some
reason I drop in on from time to time despite not being one!), another
poster cited the same preference for Barons Court for the same reasons
in advice given to a upcoming transatlantic visitor. So I'm not
completely bonkers for suggesting it! (Though yes, said visitor will be
coming from Heathrow into town, so if they get that far the Piccadilly
will evidently be running ok.)

John Levine wrote:
3] Tube from Victoria then train from Paddington. This sounds to me the
most circuitous route, but I could be wrong. Possibly the most expensive
too?

If they're close to Victoria, how about the NatEx coach to T123, then
either a connecting coach if there is one or go downstairs and take
the HeX. If you book ahead it's £6 per person. The 9:00 coach is
supposed to get to the central bus station at 9:40 which should leave
plenty of time to go down to the HeX and get to T5 by 10:30.

If they have luggage (keeping in mind that some people still check
bags, particularly inexperienced travellers), this is a lot easier
than the tube since you can put luggage underneath the coach and there
are luggage carts and a lift to make the connection at the bus
station.

Though the walk from Victoria train to Victoria coach is a bit of a pain if
you have luggage - lacking stairs but much longer than the Victoria tube
connection.

(Is there a way to get out of the 'country' end of Victoria railway station,
rather than coming out of Terminus Place and having to walk all the way
round?)

Theo

In message , at 09:59:47 on Wed,
17 Jun 2015, Theo Markettos
remarked:
the walk from Victoria train to Victoria coach is a bit of a pain if
you have luggage - lacking stairs but much longer than the Victoria tube
connection.

(Is there a way to get out of the 'country' end of Victoria railway station,
rather than coming out of Terminus Place and having to walk all the way
round?)

Go through the upstairs food court. Or use the exit to Buckingham Palace
Road that's slightly to the country end of the main concourse beyond the
escalators to the food court.
--
Roland Perry

On Saturday, June 13, 2015 at 9:37:01 PM UTC+1, phil88 wrote:
Hello,

My sister and her 16-year-old daughter, both from Newcastle, are
stopping over briefly at mine in Croydon before departing for Heathrow -
their plane leaves at 12:30pm on Tuesday 16th June 2015 from Terminal 5,
and they need to arrive 2 hours beforehand. Not being Londoners, they
don't have any relevant travel passes.

Which route would you recommend for speed and/or cheapest tickets?

1] Tube: Piccadilly Circus to Heathrow. Also, why does everything on the
internet say depart from Piccadilly Circus for Heathrow? They'd be
arriving at Victoria Station from East Croydon, so getting the Tube from
there to South Kensington would get them on the route, surely?

2] The X26 express bus from Whitgift Centre. How reliable is this? Does
it get packed? Does anybody know the typical prices for one way: Croydon
to Heathrow?

3] Tube from Victoria then train from Paddington. This sounds to me the
most circuitous route, but I could be wrong. Possibly the most expensive
too?




--
phil88

East Croydon to Clapham Junction. Clapham Junction to Feltham, Feltham 490 bus to Terminal5.
There are lifts
John

On 17/06/2015 11:10, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 09:59:47 on Wed,
17 Jun 2015, Theo Markettos remarked:
the walk from Victoria train to Victoria coach is a bit of a pain if
you have luggage - lacking stairs but much longer than the Victoria tube
connection.

(Is there a way to get out of the 'country' end of Victoria railway
station, rather than coming out of Terminus Place and having to walk all
all the way round?)

Go through the upstairs food court. Or use the exit to Buckingham Palace
Road that's slightly to the country end of the main concourse beyond the
escalators to the food court.

I'd recommend the Buckingham Palace Road exit - this is also the way to
Victoria Coach Station which is signposted in Victoria railway station -
see:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgmckelvey/8974310983/sizes/l

I'm pretty sure there are then street signs pointing the way to VCS.

I don't think I'd suggest going up the escalators and through Victoria
Place Shopping Centre (which is a bit more than just a food court,
though undoubtedly the McDonald's signs are very prominent from the
concourse). I think there are some stairs at the far end on this route
out of Victoria Place onto Eccleston Bridge, though I guess there's
probably a ramp as well.