Airport transportation advice
 

Hello all,

I've officially planned out most of my itinerary for a 14 day trip to London and Norwich.
I'm flying into Gatwick at 10am and plan to head straight over to central London to check in to my hostel (address is 16 Leinster Terrace W2 3EU, London, England) and spend a day or two. After my sightseeing in London, I want to hop a train/tube to Norwich from a station nearby since I'm a backpacker and don't want to fork out money for taxi's.
Then from Norwich out to Gatwick airport, if it's possible to get a straight shot or if I'll need to stay a night in London before my departing flight.
Mostly, I'm extremely unfamilar with tube/train travel and need advice for which ones to take to get to both of those places and if it's possible to book said tickets in advance or if it's just cheaper to wait.
With various research I've done, I believe I read somewhere that the Oyster card-or certain trains- doesn't allow travels to Norwich (could be wrong). Also I'm sure there will be changes at stations for longer rides or different train/tubes--overground/underground, will these stations be connected or is it like an airport where I'm going to need to head to an entirely different 'terminal' to get on my next train/tube?

Thanks,
Dayzee

Gatwick to W2 3EU

Either
Southern Trains service to Victoria then 48 bus to Leinster Terrace
Or
Train to West Brompton, which requires a change at Clapham Junction, then District Line Tube to Bayswater

W2 3EU to Norwich
Central Line from Queensway to Liverpool Street, train to Norwich (booking the train ahead of time may save some money)

Norwich to Gatwick - definitely under the category of "if I were you I wouldn't start from here" as it will take 3-4 hours to do

Train Norwich to Liverpool Street, Circle Line to London Bridge, train to Gatwick

Most of the public tansport is linked into one site

http://www.traveline.info/

The quickest way from Norwich to anywhere abroad is to fly to Amsterdam. The second quickest is the train, changing at Ely, to Stansted.

Oyster works ONLY on transport within London. It's not valid on trains from Gatwick, or to Norfolk.

Trains to Norwich, and from Norwich to Gatwick, can be dramatically cheaper if booked ahead. Dummy your journeys at www.nationalrail.co.uk, indicating your date and time - though play around with times, because small changes can affect the fare spectacularly.

Then follow the links to confirm a booking. Once made, bookings cannot be changed or cancelled. Advance bookings nearer the travel date probably won't be as cheap - but can usually be made up to ~6 pm the night before.

>>I want to hop a train/tube to Norwich from a station nearby since I'm a backpacker and don't want to fork out money for taxi's. <<

Trains from London to various parts of the UK don't leave from every station. Each station serves specific parts of the country -- sort of like the spokes of a wheel w/ London as the hub. So there is no station 'nearby' Queensway/Lancaster Gate that serves Norwich. And the tube or taxis aren't applicable to Norwich (it is quite a long way from London - nearly 125 miles). As mentioned above, Norwich is served from Liverpool Street Station which is all the way across central London from where you are staying. But it is a straight shot on the central lone so not hard or confusing. Assuming there are no disruptions on the Central line it will take about 15 minutes to get to Liverpool Street.

To travel from Norwich to Gatwick requires heading back into London (Liverpool street) then the tube to London Bridge or Victoria and the train to Gatwick. It will take about 3.5 hours all together.

Gatwick is not the easiest airport from Norwich. To be fair, none are except for Norwich itself, and flights from there are very expensive compared with budget airlines out of Stansted, Luton, etc.

National Express run direct buses from Norwich to Gatwick if you don't mind 6 hours on a coach. But cheaper and half the time is train to Liverpool Street, tube (or bus, no steps) to London Bridge, train to Gatwick. Either way, definitely book in advance.

You know -- even though it takes a lot longer -- I'd seriously consider the National Express coach anicecupoftea mentions. You'd board at Norwich and get off at LGW w/o having to schlepp the trains and tube w/ luggage. You could sleep most the way - or at least relax.

I wouldn't, personally. There isn't much schlepping involved if you use the bus rather than tube between Liverpool Street and London Bridge.