Would it be cheaper to catch a boat from London to other parts of Europe? Or catch something like Ryan air?

Time is off the essence, and I figured getting to the airport, waiting in line, etc. would be about as long as a 3 hour boat ride.

Has anyone traveled this way from London to other parts of Europe?

First - there is no such thing as a London-Amsterdam boat (ferry).

You need to take a train to Harwich (about 1.5 hours from London, connect to a ferry with about 1 hour layover, do the 5 hour ferry ride and finally connect to a train to Amsterdam which takes about 1.5 hours after .5 hour layover.

So, flying Easyjet.com from one of the three London airports is probably the best and most economical way to go.

I'm not sure this is up to date, but it should give you an idea of what the ferry crossing involves:

<i>Train daily daily
London (Liverpool Street) depart 08:18 17:02*
Harwich International arrive 09:44 18:29
HSS fast ferry:
Harwich International depart 10:40 19:20
Hoek van Holland arrive 15:20 23:55
Double-deck InterCity train:
Hoek van Holland depart 15:58 00:29
Rotterdam Centraal arrive 16:24 00:52
Den Haag HS arrive 16:46 01:18e
Amsterdam Centraal arrive 17:35 02:14 </i>

My first two trips from London to Amsterdam were overland, long ago when airfares were very high. Never again - and I'm somebody who enjoys sitting reading for long periods.

Roughly speaking, from central London to central Amsterdam, it's about 5 hours door to door by air, 8-9 hours minimum overland. If time is the essential, then your best options are from Gatwick (Easyjet is probably the cheapest, but they're not the only ones), or from London City Airport (very short check-in times required, and occasionally there will be good deals, though not at rock-bottom prices). See www.londoncityairport.com.

EasyJet was fine. BMI also has good deals, but to/from Heathrow.

For train and ferry info, look here:
http://www.seat61.com/Netherlands.htm

Also, don't forget the ubiquitous Ryanair

ryanair.com

As a London resdient, I can't think of anyone who would even contemplate getting to Amsterdam any other way than flying.

www.amsterdamexpress.co.uk

Train, ferry, train to The Netherlands from &pound;25 one way.

Much more fun than flying