12 hours in London with 3 kids

Old May 23rd, 2006, 01:40 PM
  #21  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,404
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I mentioned Windsor way back at the beginning of this post and I still think it's a good place for 5 hours or so. Not only the Castle is a great place for a visit, but the town itself has lots of shops, restuarants, etc. and it is a perfect place to visit with a longish Heathrow layover if you do not want to do a dayroom type thing.
Lori is offline  
Old May 23rd, 2006, 02:12 PM
  #22  
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 17,226
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Great minds....
starrsville is offline  
Old May 23rd, 2006, 02:25 PM
  #23  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 72,548
Likes: 0
Received 50 Likes on 7 Posts
IMHO a trip to Windsor would be much better than traveling in and ot of Londo. Especially when both in/out of London will both be during heavy commute hours.

There is the Castle - fabulous. Including Queen Mary's Doll house which the kids would enjoy. Plus there is a LegoLand which, depending on the kids, could be a must, or, not so much. The river, nice shops, restaurants - all just a 15 minute cab ride or 30 min bus trip from LHR.

Going into London will be REALLY hectic - going to Windsor would be a lot easier/less stressful.
janisj is online now  
Old May 24th, 2006, 05:44 AM
  #24  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 640
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Given the general consensus on Windsor, if your kids are Harry Potter fans, I know that some families enjoy walking over the pedestrian bridge to Eton and visiting the boys school there. It isn't Hogwarts, but it does have some vague similarities.

Info:

http://www.etoncollege.com/eton.asp?di=283
KidsToLondon is offline  
Old May 24th, 2006, 09:27 AM
  #25  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 94
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I looked into Legoland but the admission prices are too expensive for my budget. I figure our plane lands exactly 9:25...so let's assume 10 am. Then I've heard it takes an hour to get from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 via Heathrow Express (free between terminals) from there we take the tube to Piccadelly Circus (is there a stop closer to Kensington/Hyde Park?). That's another hour. So, I expect we'll be in London by 12pm? Ok, then we'll get something to eat and hang out at the park (now it's 2pm) and if my kids are up to it, we'll do the hop on/hop off bus although we may not (now it's 4:30 ish). So, now we're looking at 5pm and ready to go back to airport. Our plane leaves at 9pm. Isn't that a lot of time?
momplaygroup is offline  
Old May 24th, 2006, 10:45 AM
  #26  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 112
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You can check an interactive Tube map at tfl.gov.uk/tube/
click on maps, then scroll down to "interactive maps"
You could get off at a bunch of places: Knightsbridge, on the Piccadilly Line, might be a good one. You could walk by/through Harrods, get a snack at one of the many shops nearby, then dodge the admittedly bad traffic at that corner and go into the park.
Or Kensington High Street, which is a little calmer, and also has many shops, if you wanted Kensington Gardens. Maybe other people have suggestions? I don't have a map in front of me.

But do what you think is right. You might talk to the tube crews at the airport before you get on, asking if there are any major works or problems that might make it a particularly bad day to try this.
Me? If I had a 12 hour layover (or even 8), nothing in the world would stop me (and, for me, the 20 minutes saved by going to Windsor isn't worth what you lose by not being in London. But I'm not towing 3 under 10s, and I don't know how they are as travellers.)

It sounds like you want to do this. so here's one vote for being bold. I think your timetable in your last message is reasonable, because your goals are modest (if you pop your head into a Tube station around 3 to make sure there hasn't been a power outage or something. And take the UK (not just American, or wherever you're coming/going) numbers for your airline (they're on their Web site), so in case something happens, you can let them know.)
You don't really have to make up your mind until you get off the plane. If it arrives late, you might change your plans. Maybe research a couple of options and have a plan A, B and C?

An hour ride each way (often less) for 4-5 hours or so playing in the park, having lunch, seeing a few sights, seems like fair math to me.

But whatever you choose, you know your family best, so you'll make the right decision for them. Have fun on your trip!
Bluehour is offline  
Old May 24th, 2006, 11:11 AM
  #27  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 17,664
Received 4 Likes on 4 Posts
Windsor/Eton is the less stressful option from a transporation standpoint but I think your London plan is very doable. Besides, even with a doll house, you couldn't pay me to troop 3 kids under ten through a guided tour of Windsor Castle during high tourist season.

If your revised plan is Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, you don't need to go as far as Piccadilly Circus. Take the Piccadilly tube line to Gloucester Road. Change to the District Line and get off at Kensington High Street or Notting Hill Gate and walk to the park. If you're willing to make another change to the Central Line at Notting Hill, you can get off at Lancaster Gate which I think is the closest station to the Diana Memorial Playground.

My rainy day plan would be a trip to any one or more of the Science, Natural History, and Victoria and Albert Museums. The first two are particularly well suited to kids and all three are a short walk from the South Kensington tube station on the Piccadilly line from the airport.

I don't think you'll have time for the hop on/off bus ride. Besides the tickets are not inexpensive and you won't have the benefit of getting 24 hours use out of them.

Good luck whatever you decide. I bet you'll have a great time.
obxgirl is offline  
Old May 24th, 2006, 11:19 AM
  #28  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 19,881
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
<<Then I've heard it takes an hour to get from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 via Heathrow Express >>

I'd say about 5 minutes, it'll take an hour from touchdown to getting through immigration though

Returning at anytime after 4:00pm BTW is a bad idea as that puts you in the Rush Hour which, being London, lasts until at least 7:00pm

I trust BTW that your luggage will be checked through & you'll have your boarding cards for the next flight otherwsie you'll have to add an hour for baggage reclaim / baggage storage & checkin
alanRow is offline  
Old May 24th, 2006, 12:45 PM
  #29  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,884
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
If you get off at the Gloucester Road tube stop, you can walk straight up the street to Kensington Park. On the way, you will pass a Partridge grocery shop that has lovely savoury pastries that they will warm for you for lunch, as well as soft drinks and my favorite English made Cadbury bars with its high-level butterfat, nothing like the U.S. variety made by Hershey.
carolyn is online now  
Old May 24th, 2006, 02:13 PM
  #30  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 72,548
Likes: 0
Received 50 Likes on 7 Posts
Whatever you decide is fine but DO NOT underestimate the craziness of the London commute on the tube - w/ 3 small kids along for the ride.

That is why I recommended Windsor, just a lot less frantic.

But if you do go into London you should be well on your way back to LHR by 4 p.m. The major tube lines are a zoo during the later afternoon commute. Unfortunately, that will leave you a lot of time to kill back at the airport.

janisj is online now  
Old May 25th, 2006, 12:37 AM
  #31  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,911
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
If your plane is not due to land until 9.25am, you will miss the commuter rush into central London on the tube.

Coming back out to make sure you're back for 6.30-7pm is another matter, and janis is right about leaving central London around 4pm.
PatrickLondon is offline  
Old May 25th, 2006, 01:36 AM
  #32  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,323
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I understand where you are coming from, you don't want to waste the time, that is understandable. However, you're best to view it as a layover in no man's land, and leave it at that.

You will exhaust yourself trying to rush into London, rush around it, constantly checking your watch, and trying to rush back again. Tube trains, and indeed any trains, are often delayed, and imagine if you missed your onward flight? It's simply not practical, especially with three children, however tired they may or may not be.

If you really want to do something, then I suppose that Windsor is a good compromise. If it were me, I'd book a hotel room, and go to sleep.
m_kingdom2 is offline  
Old May 25th, 2006, 02:17 AM
  #33  
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 538
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You don't know what the weather will be like, and it's unlikely you can predict how crotchety your children are likely to be.

So it's essential you're somewhere you can change your plans at short notice. Nowhere on earth (except just possibly New York) gives you as many options for rapid plan-changing as central London. Certainly not Windsor, and absolutely never in a month of Sundays an airport or a hotel room.

I'd strongly suggest you limit your planned itinerary to what's free. If you get a tantrum (from the kids or from yourself), leaving the British Museum is a lot less hassle than being stuck somewhere you've paid good money for.

And, with all respect to janisj, leaving the centre at 1600 is crazily over-prudent.

London's rush period is crowded. But tubes run, give or take a minute or two, just as fast full as empty. And they run more often. Without luggage, most children are likely to find rush hour crowds part of the experience. But it's absolutely essential, rush hour or not, that you take a couple of litres of water between the four of you with you onto the tube in July . This goes both ways.

If you're going back to the airport by tube, it'll take about 70 mins at pretty well any time of the day from arriving at any central Piccadilly Line station to getting off the bus or HEX at T4.

Just calculate the safe time you need. In your shoes, armed with a boarding card, I wouldn't dream of leaving the centre before 1830.
CotswoldScouser is offline  
Old May 25th, 2006, 05:48 AM
  #34  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 72,548
Likes: 0
Received 50 Likes on 7 Posts
re what CS says about the tube being reliable, etc. Absolutely 100% (well, nearly so) correct. And if it were me traveling alone I would not hesitate to travel during the afternoon commute. I can bull my way on to a tube car w/ the best of them.

But just from my personal experience - I have been w/ grown adults on their 1st visit to London and the crowded tube totally freaks them out. Don't know where you are from but unless you are used to the NYC subway or other major city transit systems, it is a real experience. Just getting on a full car at 1730 often means pushing your way in and having people squishing you on all sides. Some kids might find that an adventure - but many will be scared spitless.

I am pretty short but still taller than most 7 and 9 yos - and it can be VERY intimidating having a solid wall of taller people surrounding you. Forget about getting seats until you are nearly 2/3 of the way to LHR.

THAT is why I suggested getting on the tube early. Not because you need 4 or 5 hours at LHR - but because you can't wait until 1900 when the crowds start to thin out.
janisj is online now  
Old May 25th, 2006, 06:43 AM
  #35  
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 12,848
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Take the train in. Spend the morning at the London Museum, a wonderful, kid-friendly museum all about the city (including a good video booth with a movie about the fire narrated with readings from people's journals at that time). This is the best museum for kids that age, in my opinion. Then take a cab to Covent Garden, have lunch and go to Hamley's toy store, a fun experience and they have nice little things you can't get most places in the states (figures of the Queens' horsement, that kind of thing, not expensive) and watch the buskers, or street performers if the day is fine.

If the weather is awful, I would go to Kensington and visit the natural history museum and air/space museum, which are all right there together and have places to eat within the museums.

You would want to get back to the airport probably for dinner and well before your flight, obviously. I agree that 12 hours in an airport is TOO long with active kids. Good luck!
kswl is offline  
Old May 25th, 2006, 06:47 AM
  #36  
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 12,848
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
p.s. I wouldn't do Windsor on this trip. There are liable to be hordes of people going through it in summer (which is when I assume you are traveling, haven't read the entire thread). Unless they've done a bit of reading beforehand, Windsor ---as narrated by the docents who act as tourguides---is a bit boring. It's amazing to me that wonderful historical sites can be rendered absolutely yawn-worthy by bad guides. I include the Tower of London in this sweeping statement!
kswl is offline  
Old May 25th, 2006, 06:48 AM
  #37  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 72,548
Likes: 0
Received 50 Likes on 7 Posts
The OP indicated budget is important - so the Heathrow Express and cabs might not be their choice.

The HEX is quick but expensive.
janisj is online now  
Old May 25th, 2006, 07:06 AM
  #38  
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 12,848
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
True. I personally would take the express and then go somewhere inexpensive for lunch.
kswl is offline  
Old May 25th, 2006, 07:41 AM
  #39  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 94
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Wow, you guys are wonderful! Thanks a bunch! I will print all these posts and keep with me. I'm going to decide for sure once we land and get out of customs. You guys are right.. it depends on how "cranky" the kids and I am. Just an fyi, I live in Washington DC and use the subway system all the time. My kids and I have been on it during rush hours and my kids have no problems with it (they just cling on me tighter).
I like the idea of doing "free" stuff so we can alter our plans. Also, I actually don't mind leaving at 4pm because there are some showers at Terminal 4 that I most likely want to take advantage of.
momplaygroup is offline  
Old Jun 12th, 2006, 01:40 PM
  #40  
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 4,874
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I remembered this thread last Friday when we missed our connection on a Venice to Dallas (via London) flight, due to engine problems on the Venice leg. With a "surprise" afternoon in London, our family of 5 took the Gatwick Express into town and saw from the outside (because it was late in the day): Westminster Abby; Big Ben; Parliament; Horse Guards Building; Buckingham Palace; walked through the parks to Diana Memorial, Albert Memorial and Kensington Palace. It was so pleasant being in the parks after being in Venice where I think there are all of 8 trees. It was a whirlwind few hours, but better than sitting in the third rate hotel in which British Airways was putting us up for the night!
missypie is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -