Gatwick Layover
Aug 7th, 2003 | 08:02 AM
#3
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,872
Likes: 0
Well - you will have about 4 or 5 hours free time (excluding immigration/customs/check-in)
the Gatwick express takes about 35 minutes each way to/from Victoria station - so with about 3 actual hours in London you could walk to Buckingham palace, and up the Mall to Trafalgar Square, have a decent lunch and get back to LGW by 3 PM.
or you could jump on a double decker tour bus and see most of the major tourist attractions - the entire loop takes about 2 hours if you don't get off to visit any sites.
or you could hit Hyde Park, or Harrods, or one of the major museums, or ride the Eye.
In other words you would have time to do one "major" thing and eat lunch w/o being too rushed.
the Gatwick express takes about 35 minutes each way to/from Victoria station - so with about 3 actual hours in London you could walk to Buckingham palace, and up the Mall to Trafalgar Square, have a decent lunch and get back to LGW by 3 PM.
or you could jump on a double decker tour bus and see most of the major tourist attractions - the entire loop takes about 2 hours if you don't get off to visit any sites.
or you could hit Hyde Park, or Harrods, or one of the major museums, or ride the Eye.
In other words you would have time to do one "major" thing and eat lunch w/o being too rushed.
Aug 7th, 2003 | 08:58 AM
#4
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
...or get the train the other way to Brighton. Rather nearer and a lot more compact.
Go round the Royal Pavillion, possibly Europe's nicest ex-Royal Palace (to Versailles and Windsor as the Frick is to the Louvre). Look round the free museum in the Pavillion grounds (quirky even by British standards. Includes sections on England's view of America, as seen in 18th century pottery, and the history of the Dirty Weekend). Blow off the lag by walking along the Promenade. See who's at the nudist section of the beach. Or join them.
BTW, why do so many posters on this site say "if they'll let you out of the airport"? Are there airports that are run in the manner of Soviet-era Bulgaria - the only place and time I've ever been told not to leave?
As ever, as long as you and your luggage are checked through to Portugal in the US, you just go straight to the gate when you get back.
But don't underestimate the length of immigration queues if you have a US passport. Or the length of security queues at Gatwick on a Saturday.
Go round the Royal Pavillion, possibly Europe's nicest ex-Royal Palace (to Versailles and Windsor as the Frick is to the Louvre). Look round the free museum in the Pavillion grounds (quirky even by British standards. Includes sections on England's view of America, as seen in 18th century pottery, and the history of the Dirty Weekend). Blow off the lag by walking along the Promenade. See who's at the nudist section of the beach. Or join them.
BTW, why do so many posters on this site say "if they'll let you out of the airport"? Are there airports that are run in the manner of Soviet-era Bulgaria - the only place and time I've ever been told not to leave?
As ever, as long as you and your luggage are checked through to Portugal in the US, you just go straight to the gate when you get back.
But don't underestimate the length of immigration queues if you have a US passport. Or the length of security queues at Gatwick on a Saturday.
