Southampton to London post cruise train?

We will be coming off a 14 day cruise and will have the luggage proportionate to that length. Do you think it is possible for us to take the quick taxi to the train station then take the train into London? Once off the train would we then take a taxi to our hotel? We have never traveled overseas before and are a little confused about how this will flow.

Also, what is the better airport of fly out of if we are staying in the downtown London area- LGW or LHR? We are thinking Aer Lingus from LHR to Orlando. Is that a good carrier? Thanks!

We will be coming off a 14 day cruise and will have the luggage proportionate to that length. Do you think it is possible for us to take the quick taxi to the train station then take the train into London? Once off the train would we then take a taxi to our hotel? We have never traveled overseas before and are a little confused about how this will flow.

 

Also, what is the better airport of fly out of if we are staying in the downtown London area- LGW or LHR? We are thinking Aer Lingus from LHR to Orlando. Is that a good carrier? Thanks!

Both airports are easily accessed by train. My husband and I did an extended vacation last year and had no problems hauling luggage and such through British train stations. When I got off in Dover, my mom and I took the NCL bus transfer into London, but I think the train would be more pleasant.

Viv

Hello, I would also recommend that you take the train to London from Southampton. It will be faster and more enjoyable than going by bus (coach) and generally much less expensive (especially if you buy your tickets in advance). The trains are pretty easy to use. You will need to be able to hoist your 14 day heavy luggage up the 2-3 steps from the train platform into the car--so keep that in mind. Here are two very helpful websites that show details of using the train system in England.

http://www.slowtrav.com/uk/trains/index.htm

http://www.seat61.com/UKtravel.htm

You will need to take a taxi from the train station to your hotel unless you choose a hotel that is very near a tube station. May I recommend The London Elizabeth Hotel ( http://www.londonelizabethhotel.co.uk/ ). It is right across the street from an underground tube station and also in a great location right across the street from Hyde Park and within walking distance of some nice pubs, restaurants, and shopping. We stayed there a couple of years ago and found it very convenient and reasonably priced with breakfast included. This hotel is not far from Paddington station, saving you some cab fare to/from.

LHR is closer to London and actually you can take the tube from London to the airport--again this is an option if your luggage is not too unwieldy. We have flown on Aer Lingus once and it was great. Excellent service. It was a short flight though--London to Dublin, not a long haul like to Orlando.

Good luck, you'll have a great time!

We will be coming off a 14 day cruise and will have the luggage proportionate to that length. Do you think it is possible for us to take the quick taxi to the train station then take the train into London? Once off the train would we then take a taxi to our hotel?

But, in part, it depends on what you mean by "proportionate". How many suitcases will you actually have? Different people will mean different things by this: personally, I would have one suitcase for a 7-night cruise, one suitcase for a 14-night cruise, and probably still the single suitcase for a 21-night cruise. But not everyone will do the same thing. How much stuff will you actually have? Will you be able to manhandle it all yourself?

Don't be surprised if the taxi driver taking you from the ship to the station offers to take you all the way to central London while you're en route to the station. You'd want to know how much he'd charge, and think about whether the extra money is really worth it - and that, again, depends on how much stuff you've got.

Also, what is the better airport of fly out of if we are staying in the downtown London area- LGW or LHR? We are thinking Aer Lingus from LHR to Orlando. Is that a good carrier?

We are actually flying to Wichita, KS but it is very expensive to get us back here, so we booked Aer Lingus to Boston then a flight on United from Boston to Wichita and got a great price. We're definitely gambling that everything goes on time, but we are flexible, young and stupid :)

Thanks for the advice. We are going to try really hard to pack as lightly as possible. We will do our best to widdle it down to one piece of luggage each for cost reasons and manageability as well!

Sounds like we will do the trains. I hear hotels near Paddington station are the way to go?

Sounds like we will do the trains. I hear hotels near Paddington station are the way to go?

Not sure you have stated yet which port you are arriving at? Southampton, Dover or Harwich

Harwich trains go to Liverpool Street, Southampton trains go to Waterloo and Dover Trains go to Victoria or Charing X

Paddington Station is the terminus of the Heathrow Express train to Heathrow.

On that basis it doesn't really matter where you stay, depends on your atttude to budget, location, when you are coming and what services you require from a hotel.

Blaneyliss, if it's any help, after much discussing and web searching we are going to take the coach that picks up at the pier in Southampton and take it to Victoria Station in London. That station seems to be a hub and has transportation to Heathrow also. We are staying at a hotel close by the station (Comfort Inn Buckingham). You can reach me on our Voyager website if you have any questions.

B J

I apologize handfordr, we are porting in Southampton. I quite obviously need to look at some good maps of London to get a visual of how the city is laid out. Thanks for you info.

Thanks BJ, that's very helpful. I'll talk to you on the other board! I might check out that hotel. Have you stayed there before?

We have not stayed at this hotel, I chose it after looking at the reviews on TripAdvisors website, we have booked hotels in Rome and Venice using the reviews on the hotels we chose. The people are pretty honest in their reviews (sometimes quite brutal!) If you book thru a website called Venere you do not have to pay until checkout. I have used them several times with no complaints.

B J

Blaneyliss, if it's any help, after much discussing and web searching we are going to take the coach that picks up at the pier in Southampton and take it to Victoria Station in London. That station seems to be a hub and has transportation to Heathrow also. We are staying at a hotel close by the station (Comfort Inn Buckingham). You can reach me on our Voyager website if you have any questions.

 

B J

You might check out the National Express Bus website, which will get you directly to from Southampton to Heathrow. Senior price for 2 one-way 14.90 GBP. Oops, Sorry....didn't notice until after I posted that you're staying in downtown London.