London or bust

We have a group of 8 adults flying into London Heathrow. We are on a tight budget and will need a hotel somewhere near the airport and a car/van for a few days.

Any recommendations that won't break the bank? we would like to have 3 or 4 in a hotel room.

We have a group of 8 adults flying into London Heathrow. We are on a tight budget and will need a hotel somewhere near the airport and a car/van for a few days.

 

Any recommendations that won't break the bank? we would like to have 3 or 4 in a hotel room.

Depends on how big the bank is.

Hotels near Heathrow aren't cheap. Mind you, no London hotel is. You are probably best to start looking at chains such as travelinn.

Are you sure you want to drive in London?

We have a group of 8 adults flying into London Heathrow. We are on a tight budget and will need a hotel somewhere near the airport and a car/van for a few days.

 

Any recommendations that won't break the bank? we would like to have 3 or 4 in a hotel room.

You might have a look through http://www.londontoolkit.com/mnu/heathrow_accom.htm

Also http://www.travelodge.co.uk/ depending on the day & location you can get rooms for 18GBP using the saver rate

I agree... are you sure you want to drive in London?? :eek:

As said, there are plenty of hotels round Heathrow, just google. If you are planning on just going to/from London to see the sights, forget a car. What with parking (if you can find a space!) and the congestion charge, it is miles easier and much much cheaper to use the tube. From LHR you can be in London in 30 mins and if you get an Oyster card, you can easily travel the city on the tube. I would only use a car if you are planning on trips to the 'countryside'.

Simon

... will need a hotel somewhere near the airport and a car/van for a few days.

We have a group of 8 adults flying into London Heathrow. We are on a tight budget and will need a hotel somewhere near the airport and a car/van for a few days.

 

Any recommendations that won't break the bank? we would like to have 3 or 4 in a hotel room.

Assuming you are wanting to see London for a few days I think there are fundamental flaws in your identification of need.

It is a false economy to stay at the airport if you wnat to see London.

The last thing you need is a car/van when visiting London.

If your need is to see London for a few days and you are landing at Heathrow and ona budget.

First go to the Travelodge web site and see if there is any Travelodge with saver rates in Central London. If you can get a triple for less than 30 GBP a night take it.

If not go to Priceline and bid up to $US80 on any Central London district, (kensington is usually cheapest)

If not take a simple hotel in the Kings Cross / St Pancras district of London. You'll pay about 25 GBP per person per night with breakfast. Try the Montana Excel, Crestfield or Meridiana all available on line. These have rooms from singles to quads.

Buy yourself an Oyster Card on arriving at Heathrow and travel everywhere in London using public transport - this will include the transfers direct from Heathrow to Kings Cross for 2/3 GBP per person by London Underground.

There are also other hotel ideas on flyertalk.com under the UK-Ireland thread. Just do a forum search.

But I agree, a car is like an albatross in London. Do try one of the HOHO buses for a general orientation at first, if you have not been in London before.

We are planning on hanging out in hanworth? to assist a church there but want to see the sights in London as well.

Someone told me that staying by the Airport would be easier because of luggage ( I assume that some hotles near the airport offer shuttles)??

Does the tube go in and out of hanworth if we were to stay in the central district??

Is alot of luggage allowed on the tube??

What do we do?

We are planning on hanging out in hanworth? to assist a church there but want to see the sights in London as well.

 

Someone told me that staying by the Airport would be easier because of luggage ( I assume that some hotles near the airport offer shuttles)??

 

Does the tube go in and out of hanworth if we were to stay in the central district??

 

Is alot of luggage allowed on the tube??

 

What do we do?

Hanworth is a stones-throw from Heathrow so your idea of booking a hotel at the airport (or Hounslow, or Hanworth) is valid.

You could book into whatever hotel gives the best value and still help at the church and get into Central London via the public transport network easily from that area which is obviously well served because of the close proximity of the airport.

As other will tell you via these pages, there is a lot more to beautiful England than tourist London, so if you wanted to use a minibus ("van" to you) so you can all get out together, you can easily go North and West from that area without getting stuck in London-type heavy traffic via our motorway (freeway) network.

North = Windsor (and castle), Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and the beautiful Cotswolds (+ Blenheim Palace), etc.

West = Berkshire, Wiltshire (Bath, Stonehenge etc), and from there you get easily get to Salisbury (cathedral), Winchester and similar.

So if you book into a hotel in the Heathrow/London airport/Hounslow/Hanworth area you can achieve you objectives of seeing tourist London and environs whilst leaving your luggage in the hotel and using public transport, or spread your wings in a hire vehicle and sally forth into "the real England".

No doubt your you church friends will me more than happy to give you the benefit of their local knowledge when you get there.

Enjoy!!

Let us all know you get on...

Thanks for the info.. We are planning to go the first week of May next year if that makes any difference?

How do I found out what district is what? For instance what district is Heathrow or Hanworth or Kessington in?

How do I found out what district is what? For instance what district is Heathrow or Hanworth or Kessington in?

go to GOOGLE (any national variety)

type: Hanworth +London

if not happy repeat the search via Google Maps option

explore outwards from there

or even go to Google Earth and search the same way.

Try and replicate the search method for your own home area if you are not familiar with search techniques...

Still trying to figure out the district thing - I can find all the cities but the districts are a different story.

As i searched some of the hotels listed in the King's cross, etc I went on their web sites and some say they do not have toilets in the rooms. Yes, we are on a budget - but I'm not flexible in that area.

Can I suggest you buy a good street map of central London, It really helped me plan a great intinerary for our first stay there. I got it from a good book shop in the UK but I'm sure you will be able to find one in the US too? It was one of the big open out ones with street names/famous landmarks/tube stations etc and had all the different areas clearly marked. There were a few to choose from ... I don't think the lady in the shop was too impressed at me opening them out to so I could decide on the best one!

When I got home I laid it out on the floor and it really helped to get a good idea of where everything was. I've been to London a few times now and I've still got my map to help me out!

Still trying to figure out the district thing - I can find all the cities but the districts are a different story.

 

As i searched some of the hotels listed in the King's cross, etc I went on their web sites and some say they do not have toilets in the rooms. Yes, we are on a budget - but I'm not flexible in that area.

Yes, I'd be careful! I stayed in a London budget tourist hotel once ... and it was an experience I wouldn't like to repeat. Some London tourist hotels can be a bid dodgy :eek:

Good budget chain hotels like Travelodge or Premier Inn are your safest bet but they aren't always in a central location and their price doesn't include breakfast. I have stayed in the Covent Garden Travelodge which was clean, in a good location, had a carpark (and a bathroom!) but its quite pricey at the moment. I wouldn't count out some of the better hotels, if you keep looking you may find a good deal but I think it may be a bit too early yet to look for discounts.

Still trying to figure out the district thing - I can find all the cities but the districts are a different story.

 

As i searched some of the hotels listed in the King's cross, etc I went on their web sites and some say they do not have toilets in the rooms. Yes, we are on a budget - but I'm not flexible in that area.

Speaking as a Londoner, I wouldn't stay in a budget hotel in Kings Cross!

Does the tube go in and out of hanworth if we were to stay in the central district??

One option you might want to have a look at is the Jurys Inn at Hatton Cross. You'd need to get a bus to/from Hanworth, but I think that that shouldn't be a real problem. The advantage of that hotel is that it's pretty much next door to Hatton Cross Tube, from which the Piccadilly Line will take you straight into central London.

Speaking as a Londoner, I wouldn't stay in a budget hotel in Kings Cross!

Speaking as a Londoner, I wouldn't stay in a budget hotel in Kings Cross!

With respect this view is about 10 to 15 years out of date based on its former notoriety for drugs and prostitutes

The area has been rejuvenated with much new investment including all the St Pancras/Eurostar faciliy and Kings Cross now around Argylle Square where the budget hotels are, are little differerent to staying in similar budget districts like Earls Court or Bayswater. Just that in Kings Cross buck for buck you'll get better quality accommodation than places like Earls Court.

Like anywhere you pay for what you get.

A simple, clean hotel ensuite with breakfast is around 55-65 GBP for a twin, 100 GBP for a Quad. If you want the reassurance of a brand name like the Comfort Inn's here, fine but it'll be in identical buildings for which you'll pay a premium of about 20 GBP.

You can try the easyHotel chain and you'll get ensuite rooms for about 40 GBP, but there will be no windows and things like TV's and hosekeeping come as extra's.

A no frills chain hotel like Premier Inn, Ibis etc should cost about 90 GBP. However quad rooms in these normally means double bed and a sofa bed, not 2 large kings size beds like the states. In the independents you will get 'proper' beds in a Quad.

As mentioned above the best airport hotel would be the Jurys Inn by Hatton Cross Underground where rates are about 50-60 GBP at the moment. Its an hour each way into town using the Underground from here and typically on your journey back to the hotel you'll be standing for much of the journey. Unless you delay travel until after 09:30 you'll be paying 15 GBP per person per day for a Travelcard from Heathrow.

I went on the travel lodge uk websites and found some great deals. Thank you. I will go to the Jurys Inn site next. But, the travel lodge Feltham has a saver rate for my dates of 29 GBP per day for a family room.

Looks like its in the Hanworth area, but the website gives me very little info.

Anyone familar with this hotel? private bathroom? easy access to public transportation - bus or the tube if we want to go downtown? housekeeping included? etc.

You need to use the correct terms. In the UK a bathroom is a BATH ROOM. The room with the bath tub in it. What you want is ENSUITE. Which means toilet, sink and bathing facilities are in/attached to the bedroom. Usually that means a shower and is private.

4 adults to a room, a guad will be crowded.

I would contact your church people for best ideas and to see if someone can get you a better rate.

I would pack light as all that luggage will really make your trip more difficult.

... the travel lodge Feltham has a saver rate for my dates of 29 GBP per day for a family room.

 

Looks like its in the Hanworth area, but the website gives me very little info.

 

Anyone familar with this hotel? private bathroom? easy access to public transportation - bus or the tube if we want to go downtown? housekeeping included?

This one looks like it's very close to Feltham railway station - see the hotel's map page. You can get direct trains to London Waterloo (right in the centre of London) from here; they take about half an hour.

Note: You can't use prepaid Oyster cards on these trains, so you may want to look at Travelcards instead. If you search this forum for "Oyster" and "Travelcard", you'll see lots of threads discussing the options. handfordr also has lots of good advice about this issue.

I went on the travel lodge uk websites and found some great deals. Thank you. I will go to the Jurys Inn site next. But, the travel lodge Feltham has a saver rate for my dates of 29 GBP per day for a family room.

 

Looks like its in the Hanworth area, but the website gives me very little info.

 

Anyone familar with this hotel? private bathroom? easy access to public transportation - bus or the tube if we want to go downtown? housekeeping included? etc.

The Feltham area where the Travelodge is, is a 20 minute bus ride from Heathrow, there is a 24x7 local bus that runs every 10 minutes.

29 GBP a night is a bargain.

Feltham itself has a large Asian community, the local multiplex for example will have a lot of indian films on usually, and if you're into curry this is a good place for you. Its not an area that normally sees tourists, whilst basically safe its not a place to look conspicuous and out of place walking around in the evening.

Nearest tube is Hatton Cross about 15 minutes away, but you will use Feltham Railway Station. A ticket into town with a Travelcard for Central London from here is 7.50 GBP per person, 14.80 GBP per person if you want to travel before 9:30. The train ride into London takes about 35 minutes, so by the time you've connected with the tube its an hour to get to any place you want to visit.

You would not get 4 adults in a family room at the Travelodge. You'll get 2 single beds plus a pull out sofa bed, ok for an adult used to sleeping on such things or 2 small children.

Feltham itself has a large Asian community, the local multiplex for example will have a lot of indian films on usually, and if you're into curry this is a good place for you. Its not an area that normally sees tourists, whilst basically safe its not a place to look conspicuous and out of place walking around in the evening.

For North American readers: British definition of Asian is Indian sub-continent, not your reading, i.e., Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc.

NOW!! - for traditional British food, forget bland fish and chips.

Go for a curry!

Travelodge are OK, it's not like you are going to spend hours and days in the room. My favourite in London: Drury Lane.

NOW!! - for traditional British food, forget bland fish and chips.

Girl1: “I say young man, you’re my ‘mite’ aren’t you, Jamid?”

 

Girl 1 (to Girl 2): “Jamid’s my ‘mite’.”

 

Waiter: “Actually it’s James.”

 

Girl 1: “Jams, yes that’s what I said!”

 

Girl 1 (to Girl 2): “Hasn’t he got lovely pale skinia, it’s really nice and pasty looking.”

 

Girl 2 (to Girl 1): “Yeah, you know what that say about white men …”

 

Man1: “All right, all right, what are we having now?”

 

Man1: “First off we’ll have 10 … no 12 bread rolls, and bring a pack of that fancy stuff …”

 

Man2: “Butter?”

 

Man1: “OK, main course what’s everyone having?”

 

Man2: “What’s the blandest thing on the menu?”

 

Waiter: “Scampi is particularly bland.”

 

Man2: “I’ll have that and bring a fork and knife.”

 

Man1: “I’m gonna have the same as him, except I’m also gonna have … prawn cocktail.”

And now for a short break:Brits will recognise this! :D

lol

You'll do for me Globaliser!!