Day trip to London
 

Hi -
I'm heading on my first trip to Europe!!! :) Said trip is also work related, and I'm sneaking a side trip to London from Paris for three-quarters of a day.

Here's what I know:
Departing Paris and arriving at Waterloo Station at 2100 Saturday
Departing LGW 2040 Sunday

My questions:
1. How safe is the Chunnel? <--this one is stupid
I ask only because of a slight fear of small contained spaces; if train is roomy I should be fine.

2. Recommendations for 1 night stay around Waterloo/Victoria Station; arriving at 2100 still okay?
My main requirements for lodgings is that it's safe, has decent internet access (for work purposes), and is transportation friendly. I'm travelling solo for this leg of the trip, and will be moving about with laptop bag and 1 rolling luggage bag. I'm sure I'll pick up goodies along the way, so I'm a bit anxious as getting through the Tube or rail with extra baggage. On top of that, I'm traveling on the weekend and I'm not sure of the hours of public transportation. I believe that the Waterloo Station is closed Sunday and there's construction going on at the Victoria Station so travel should be done by 2150? What's the travel time of getting from Waterloo to Victoria, or should I just bunk somewhere in Waterloo?

3. Good idea to purchase Octopus card for such a short stay?

4. Do I really have to check in 3 hours prior to a flight as recommended by the BAA?
I'd prefer taking the Gatwick Express to the airport and the travel time between Victoria - LGW is approximately 30 minutes, which means I should plan on arriving at Gatwick at 1700? :(

5. What are the MUST sees for such a short journey?
The visitor map from the London Tube (TFL.GOV.UK) is rather helpful but somewhat overwhelming as I'm getting greedy and want to see EVERYTHING which is just NOT possible. I love studying architecture (Gothic gets me ga-ga) and will probably cry upon seeing any of the churches/cathedrals. I know Fodor's has a great "One Day Itinerary" list, so I'll need to review that as well.

Sorry this post is so long! But I'm just so excited at getting to see London. Any thoughts, ideas, input, shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

You can see what the London-Paris trains look like here:

http://tinyurl.com/e9ubp

Standard sort of trains: no reason to feel particularly claustrophobic.

If that is likely to be a problem, you may want to steer clear of the underground in London.

Waterloo and Victoria are linked by buses that will run until midnight or later. If you're already looking at the TFL website, you'll be able to find the bus maps, likewise the map that shows bus routes in relation to main tourist attractions. You'll also see it's an Oyster card, not an Octopus (though, who knows, there may be one of those one day too).

Why "prefer to take the GEX"? The Southern Trains service is a few minutes slower and substantially cheaper.

OOPS-the octopus card is a reference to the discount transportation card offered in Hong Kong. I got it mixed up with the other underwater sea creature. :P

I hope I can look as sophisticated travelling on the Eurostar as the lady did in the video, which did help. And I'll also be sure to review the bus maps and alternatives to the GEX. I mentioned I'd prefer that rather than some other budget rail transport as I read that alternate routes do make more stops and can get rather crowded. (http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/gatwick.htm). But that shouldn't be a major deterrent, especially for someone on a budget!

Thanks.

To quote from your link - "They can get very crowded at PEAK times"

Peak time means weekdays before 9:00am going into London and 4:00-7:00pm leaving London

Sunday afternoon is not a peak time & the trains will normally be empty and I can't see why you are so concerned about the train making more stops when, as I said before, the total journey time is a few minutes longer. Taking tomorrow as an example the Southern Trains service takes between 2 & 4 minutes longer than the GEX for departures around 4:00pm

In London, getting to the airport three hours earlier is necessary because of the super long security lineup.

Thanks for the clarification alanRow - you've successfully convinced me to switch plans from GEX to Southern Train services. :)

Cheers!

blakejared - thanks for the confirmation. i'll be really reluctant on leaving so early, but i'll plan accordingly to be at LGW 3 hours prior to departure. and the LGW airport also only allows one item to be carried on the plane, so anything else has to be checked, correct?

An Oyster card will work well for you, even for a very short stay.

Yes, only one item, no matter what it is or what size it is, can be carried on--period. So you'll have to check your rolling bag if you wish to carry on your laptop.

If I'm reading the TFL site correctly, the closures refer to the Victoria line and the Waterloo & City line, not to the Victoria Station or the Waterloo Station.

I don't know what your price range is, but the Thistle Victoria Hotel would meet your needs for location and Internet access. Here is a link: http://tinyurl.com/hsugb.