I know I've requested a lot of transportation advice before...but I really feel this is the most thorough place (and I am not used to making mad dashes)...

I am trying to maximize my time at the airport. I'm flying into Gatwick at 9:15. Will then fly to Stn for flight 3pm. I have read on my other posts you can take NatExpress to Victoria station...Can I see some of London (albeit a very little)...then hop on the tube and get to stansted? Basically what's the quickest way to get from Victoria station to Stansted and how much time does it take?

Thanks!
Patricia

Well.......... maybe, but it would be tight. If you took the Gatwick Express (<u>www.gatwickexpress.com</u into Victoria Station, took the Circle line tube to Westminster to take a quick look at Big Ben, then get back on the Circle line to Liverpool Steet station to catch the Stanstead Express (<u>www.stansteadexpress.com</u

Of course you'll have your luggage to deal with. Maybe a better idea would be to take a taxi from Victoria Station and have the driver drive you by Buckingham Palace and Big Ben on the way to Liverpool Street station.

Hi Patricia,

I can't answer your question re Gatwick-Victoria station-Stansted but I know there are lots of past postings re this subject. A search above will help you.

I can pass on that last fall we sat on the Heathrow tarmac for an hour before we got a chance to disembark; stood for at least an hour to pass through Customs; another 45 mins. or so to get our luggage; another 30 mins. or so to locate the National Express &quot;office&quot;, buy our tix and wait for the bus; and then the approx. 2 hr trip to Stansted. When we eventually flew EasyJet from Stansted to Rome, they were very picky about early check-in, etc.

I believe Gatwick is closer to Stansted than Heathrow, but I think you'll have to move poste haste to get to Stansted in good time.

Cheers,
L

Thanks for responding! Do either of you know how much time it takes to get from the Circle Line to Stansted? I will be swamped for time, but hate not to see at least a little bit of London while there.

Also what would be an estimate of taxi fare from Victoria to Liverpool Street Station?

Could I take the nearest tube/underground to a few sites and get back to Liverpool in a few hours? (Plausible)...I hate not to interact with anyone while there and just drive past in a taxi...although I like this option for convenience!!! Anybody have suggestions for nontime consuming things to see?



Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
P

The only sane way to do this is with a car and driver to pickyou up, show you around and take you onward to STN. Count on upwards of $250.

And it will only make sense to do this if you have made a serious effort to sleep on your transatlantic flight to London.

In my opinion.

Best wishes,

Rex

The tube doesn't go to Stanstead. The Circle line portion of the trip was only so you could stop off at Westminster to pop your head up from underground and take a look around. You would need to take either the Stanstead Express from Liverpool St. Station or another way to the airport.

You will really have to play this by ear. If your flight is late getting into Gatwick, you probably won't have time for anything but getting to Stanstead. If your plane lands on time, you can figure you still won't get into London until about 11:30 - 12:00. If you have to be at the airport 2 hours before your flight, and the Stanstead Express takes at least 45 minutes, that only leaves about 15 minutes to see london AND get from Victoria to Liverpool St.

Hmmmm... I retract my original suggestion. I don't think you'll have enough time to do anything but get to Stanstead. You don't want to risk missing your flight.

Hi Patricia,

Unfortunately, you don't have enough time to do anything but try to get to STN on time for your flight.

Hope that your flight to GTW is not more than 15 min late.

If it is possible to do so, why not fly into GTW and fly out of STN the next day?

Assuming you are getting off a transatlantic overnight flight? Have you taken this flight before? I ask only because I arrive absolutely reeling with jet-lag (plus can't sleep on a plane) and the last thing I'd want to do is attempt a small logistical nightmare for a peak at London and possibly miss making the connecting flight. Unnecessarily nerve-wracking in my opinion.

<b>ira</b>,

GTW? is that a new airport in London?

I do believe that London has LHR, LGW, STN, LTN and LCY.

Hi AA,

Thanks. It was early in the morning. I meant LGW.

From Victoria Station you take the Standstead Express. It is suppose to take 45 mins but the last time I was on it, (last September) it was closer to an hour. You have to check in to Easy Jet and Ryan Air early. They are serious about the 2 hour check in. I've missed my flight before trying to cut it close and you have to pay an additional fee if you miss your flight, provided they have seats available on the next one. If you flight leaves at 3pm, that means you need to be to Standstead no later than 1pm and you have to be on the train by 11:45am-12pm at the latest. That only leaves you 3 hours. It will take an hour to get out of Gatwick, pick up your baggage and get to Victoria (which is a 30 min train ride) You might consider the idea of a quick taxi ride or save London for another trip. You just don't have enough time.

No! NO! The Stansted Express leaves Liverpool St, the other side of central London from Victoria - you'd have to take the Circle Line, which can be slow and with long service intervals.

Besides being wrong on the train station, <b>cf5657</b> is also wrong about the 2 hour <b>must</b> for check-in.

<b>easyjet</b> <i>recommends</i> 2 hours and absolutely <i>warns</i> about the 30 minute check-in closure. This is from easyjet.com:

&quot;easyJet check-in desks close exactly 30 minutes before the scheduled departure of the flight. easyJet recommends checking in two hours before departure. Passengers who present themselves after check-in has closed will not be allowed to board the flight and will forfeit their seat - no refund or free transfer will be given.&quot;

Almost identical for <b>RyanAir</b>, except they close their check-in desk at 40 minutes before the flight.
This is from RyanAir.com:

&quot;Standard opening of check-in desks is 2 hours prior to scheduled departure.
Ryanair recommends that passengers check in two hours prior to scheduled departure. Check-in desks close strictly 40 minutes before scheduled departure. No refund will be made if you do not comply with this check in deadline.&quot;

Patricia:

there is a bus that goes directly every 2 hours. check this out:

http://www.nationalexpress.com/enq/enq.cfm?Step=3

The thing with Easyjet and Ryanair is that you have to stand in a lineup to check in. If you happen to be at the back of the lineup (or for that matter one person away from the front) when the 30 or 40 minute cutoff occurs, you are out of luck. So that's why it's best to plan for arriving 2 hours ahead of time. Given it's London, you'll probably be late in arriving than planned.

Patricia, I should mention that I entered a date in order to get that schedule. Obviously, you need to check out your own date.

Personally, I'd prefer this option, as long as the timing is right rather than going all the way into London and out again.

It could always go wrong, but the couple of times I did fly with <b>easyjet</b>, I did show up an hour before and did not miss my flight. Their checkin is so quick as they don't have any upgrades, different fare codes to ply with, that it usually takes about 2-3 minutes per check-in and if the plane is full, they will operate 4 desks.
Again, anytime one travels, one has to be prepared for things going wrong, but if you fly a great deal, you learn very quickly NOT to show up at the airports early, because majority of the time you end up having 2 hours to kill. Unless I have access to airline lounge, I'm there 1 hour before, not a minute sooner, and if on one or two occasions it went wrong, so be it, but I saved countless hours of sitting around all the OTHER times.

That's my approach, your may be different.

AAFrequentFlyer, I think it depends how much of a financial disaster it would be to miss the flight as to how early you should arrive to check in. For some people, there is little downside, and for others it would cost thousands of dollars (if several people traveling with nonrefundable, nonchangeable arrangements).

The other plus to being among the first to check in(and I agree they do not even start the check ins until 2 hours on the dot) is that you get a lower boarding number, so you get to be first to board the plane, meaning that you have a better chance of choosing the seat you want. Arriving later means a higher probability of a middle seat.

I hope you all continue this spirited debate for the benefit of others having to travel between Gatwick &amp; Stansted, but I'm fairly sure that in one of her many other threads, Patricia said she'd abandoned this plan.

First there isn't a direct bus between the airports. There are regular buses - that all stop at Heathrow on the way. They're scheduled to take 3 hours, but it's a 100 mile journey along the most congested stretches of Europe's busiest road. If you're thinking of taking it, add an hour to the scheduled time.

Second, you're tight for time anyway. You might - just - be able to fritter a bit of it away seeing things. But you ABSOLUTELY haven't the time to risk taking the bus from Gatwick to central London. It might save you a pound or so - but the risk of delay is 100%. It's scheduled at 80 mins - which I reckon I could manage in a car early on a Sunday morning and at no other time. Bus drivers will take longer.

Third, the sensible LGW-STN route (train, tube, train) will take you a tad under 2 hrs if you're lucky. The quickest, safest, way is to tube to Tottenham Hale from Victoria railway station then Stansted Express.You see virtually nothing of London this way.

If your flight's on time, and you breeze through immigration, there is an alternative. Take the Thameslink train from LGW to Kings Cross, Victoria line tube to Tottenham Hale then the STN express. The Thameslink travels for a couple of miles above ground along the Thames and gives you a very nice view of The City. That's probably the one scenic route that won't risk missing your connection. But it DOES involve a couple of hundred yards walk through tunnels at Kings Cross (KX), which might be a nuisance with baggage, and allow 15 mins for the KX connection. Time all this out carefully in advance using the timetables at www.nationalrail.com and www.tfl.gov.uk