Ping - Londoners

[rh100]

Now which is better? - well theres only one way to find out.......





FIGHT

 

[Sittingduck]

Cheap tickets with Chiltern Railways into Marylebone (Bakerloo line). Would save some £'s and some time ;-)

 

[rh100]

Cheap tickets with Chiltern Railways into Marylebone (Bakerloo line). Would save some £'s and some time ;-)

Do you mean for the whole trip? Last time I looked into that it was a nightmare - but I think one of the lines was closed and involved coach transfers (shudder).

I might take another look though.

 

[davidg]

Help please

I'll be dropping off some family for a day in London on a Saturday for a show in the theater district, and picking them up again on the evening.

First question: If I come down the M40/M25/M4 and into the west end (Kensington?), what is the best place to drop someone off, preferably avoiding the congestion charge but not too important, and to pick them up again at night. I'm guessing a train or tube station would be best - but want somewhere safe.

Second question: Should I choose to join up with them for a bit of sightseeing after their show - can anyone recommend reasonable parking, again I'm thinking at a station - that way can just get the train back out of the center to the car, then go straight home.

Many thanks

depends how far you want to travel by tube but for parking and then going into town Hillindon off the M40 is cheap to park and available....

it's a long way in though.

parking around ealing, where I live isnt too bad on a saturday and it gets you into town quite quickly

 

[Aperitif]

£24 will get you a day's parking (09:00 - 22:00 for example) in the '123 Parking' in Chinatown, smack bang in the middle of all the action! (Work often books this for people visiting...) Book it online in advance etc...any shopping - dump it in the back of the car and go to show in comfort. Off peak travelcards will cost £5.10 per adult from the outer zones and will cover tube and bus travel as defined by the tfl map. Another handy car park is Cavendish Square - easy in and out of London and close to Oxford St and 20 mins stroll to Soho - then Theatreland. For the tube debate, I'll go with swee'pea here and pick Leicester Square. Covent Garden is an exit only station at weekends too, due to the number of people who drive to London, park their cars and infest the streets while waiting to go to the theatre...

 

[Sittingduck]

Do you mean for the whole trip? Last time I looked into that it was a nightmare - but I think one of the lines was closed and involved coach transfers (shudder).

I might take another look though.

I have got cheap return trips for a tenner this year but it does all depend upon time and date. Worth a look though, as it would remove the hassle of parking and and quite possibly be quicker. I get on/off at Solihull when I travek back to see family and the journey time is just under 2 hrs. Could be in Oxford Circus within 2.5 hrs from getting to the station, I think!

 

[rh100]

Thanks for the advice guys - parked at Hammersmith shopping centre and got the blue line into Piccadily, then got the District line back from Westminster. A very good day had by all, cheers. Cost £9 parking which wasn't too bad for nearly seven hours. A word of caution though - they lock that one up at 20.30, and it's a bit quiet at that time of night.

 

[Aperitif]

Good - pleased you had a nice day rh (apart from the rain!).
Yesterday, strangely enough, I trained it to Birmingham NEC (but there was a fatality at Cov. etc and consequent diversion,, which involved getting off at Nuneaton, mixing with the hoi-polloi to Coleshill Parkway, then getting the 777 cross-country to Brumternational, then NEC...)
Drove back into London with no traffic or bad weather and then spent more than an hour getting to Shaftesbury Avenue to drop off my gear! What a nightmare 'London at night' is!

 

[zimzum42]

Bit late on this one I know, but...

Why change from the M40 to the M4 and waste time?

Just stick on the A40 all the way into town and park up near Baker Street or in Marylebone. Plenty of streets where u can park for free at a weekend, and baker street is a very well connected station...

 

[rh100]

Good - pleased you had a nice day rh (apart from the rain!).
Yesterday, strangely enough, I trained it to Birmingham NEC (but there was a fatality at Cov. etc and consequent diversion,, which involved getting off at Nuneaton, mixing with the hoi-polloi to Coleshill Parkway, then getting the 777 cross-country to Brumternational, then NEC...)
Drove back into London with no traffic or bad weather and then spent more than an hour getting to Shaftesbury Avenue to drop off my gear! What a nightmare 'London at night' is!

Yes, the travelling was, erm, interesting. Got stuck on the M42 by the NEC after picking up the relatives, it's normally clear on a Saturday but found out later the Top Gear show was on, is that where you were off to?

It hammered down with rain all the way there, so quite a slow journey, down to 50mph for parts of it. But the rain lifted by the time we got into town, just cold and windy. I had a wonder round the sights whilst they went to the show, then met up with them after and walked them down to the wheel, left them to it and went to fetch the car (worried might get locked in by that time). Not sure where Shaftesbury Ave is, but I drove from Hammersmith back into Westminster, I sort of knew the road through Kensington, which was a bit busy, took the underpass under Hyde Park Corner by mistake and had to backtrack, then navigated by looking for the wheel, quite easy all things considered, some of the roads appeared nearly empty. It was quite good as we drove back past Parliament, Buck Palace and Harrods at night.

Sorry your trip got botched, I tend to avoid trains for this reason - bus transfers are a nightmare.

 

[rh100]

Bit late on this one I know, but...

Why change from the M40 to the M4 and waste time?

Just stick on the A40 all the way into town and park up near Baker Street or in Marylebone. Plenty of streets where u can park for free at a weekend, and baker street is a very well connected station...

I'll bear that one in mind Zimzum, thanks. There did seem to be a few streets with spaces - a lot of signs saying 'parking suspended' whatever that was about - cars were parked there anyway.

 

[Aperitif]

is that where you were off to?

No - the Brit.DentalTradeAssoc. 'showcase'...there were thousands of odd looking people carrying red plastic bags with black writing - and yes, they had all been to the 'Classic Car Show', the 'Classic Motor Bikes' the Classic Oily Rag etc - a nice day out for them I expect. "Brum, brummmm!"