freberta

We will be staying at the Arran House Hotel, 77-79 Gower Street in Bloomsbury. I am going to purchase rail tickets online within the next day or so for trips we are taking outside of London, and I am told that I need to designate a rail station where I can pick up my tickets. Of course, I can designate the station from which we are departing (Paddington), but I also need to purchase a Friends and Family rail card, and I don't want to leave that until the day that we are actually leaving London. We're leaving in the morning, and with all our luggage, I'm not sure how we are going to get to the station and how much time we will have to retrieve the tickets and purchase the rail card. So, my question is this: what station is convenient to major sights and is an easy pop-in, pop-out to get the tickets and card? Also, from looking at a map of London, it looks like Euston Station is close to our hotel, and we might be able to walk there the day we arrive in London. It's difficult to judge walking distances from looking at a map, and I don't want to leave this chore until the very last minute. Thanks.

texasbookworm

I don't have a specific answer to your question, but as to the
"difficult to judge walking distances from looking at a map"-issue, have you ever tried either walkit.com for London (cool site) or even on googlemaps you can use the walk/foot "button" and get walking routes and distances and times (walkit.com even give 3 different times based on average paces.) These sites have helped me immensely when trying to gauge distances and times involved in possible walking scenarios. (And I think walkit.com might be a bit more accurate sometimes; I have had googlemaps give rather weird routes or lead to a deadend, but in London from most addresses and especially from stations and major destinations it does ok.)

PatrickLondon

Yes, Euston is about 10 minutes walk away. Google maps is slightly misleading, since it puts the symbols for tube and railway stations on the far side of the station. If you walk up to the junction with Euston Road and cross over, you can get into Euston station through the side entrance in Melton St, which takes you nearer the ticket office.

You might also like to stroll around to Drummond St for a choice of restaurants.

Asterodeia

Euston is a nice station for what you want, since it's smaller than some of the other stations and less intimidating. You'll be able to pick your tickets up either at the window or at the kiosks. Good luck!

alanRow

Given it's Gower Street then Euston is the nearest station where you can pick up the F&F as well as your train tickets

freberta

Thanks. I've often used viamichelin for mapping out our driving routes and walking from train stations to hotels (in small towns and cities), but I didn't know how accurate it would be in a large city. Since I don't know London very well, I can't judge distances, even on a map or on viamichelin. But I will look at the other sites for other walks. Again, thanks.