Yelpir

I will be landing at Heathrow Terminal 5 from Cape Town at 6:45am on Thursday Sep 19th and departing London City Airport for Venice at 11:00am. That gives me a grand total of 4 hours 15 minutes between flights. I will have a checked-in wheely case weighing +- 20kgs plus a fairly heavy backpack. I am 72 years old but fit and healthy. The only thing I am not too comfortable with is hauling that suitcase up or down long flights of stairs.
I have read all the threads on the forums (thanks, everyone, for all the information) and have researched other websites as well. Here is my plan:

Plan A: If I manage to clear Customs at Heathrow by 8:00am, I will head for the tube and take the Piccadilly Line to Green Park. There I will go up the escalator to the main hall and down the escalator to the Jubilee Line Eastbound. I will take the tube to Canning Town and then the DLR to London City Airport. If all goes well I should get there by 10:00am. Total cost: about 5 pounds.

Plan B: If I do not manage to clear Customs at Heathrow by 8:00am, I will head for Heathrow Express and travel to Paddington. At Paddington I will take the escalator down to the Bakerloo Line and take the tube to Baker Street. At Baker Street I will change to the Jubilee Line and travel by tube to Canning Town and then by DLR to London City Airport. If I manage to get away from Heathrow by 8:30am, I should still reach LCY by 10:00am. Worst case scenario, if I don't get away from Heathrow until 9:00am, I should still make LCY by 10:30am. Total cost if Heathrow Express ticket bought on the train: about 30 pounds; 5 pounds less if the ticket is bought before boarding the train.

The alternative to plans A and B is to save myself the hassle of that awful journey and pre-book a shuttle at a cost of between 50 and 60 pounds.

If I do not get away from Heathrow by 9:00am, I am probably done for, no matter what I do.

Please check out my plans and let me know if I have got anything wrong or missed anything out.

Many thanks

Cathinjoetown

Yelpir.

Don't know if you used journeyplanner but your routes are two of four they recommend.

Be prepared for an almighty rush hour crowd at Paddington. For that reason and the stairs at Paddington, I probably would transfer at Green Park although potentially cars will be packed there as well.

bilboburgler

Similar on http://www.transportdirect.info/Web2...x?cacheparam=1

alanRow

Tube to Green Park from Heathrow then ascend the escalators to the exit, do not leave through the barriers but turn round and descend to the Jubilee Line then change at Canning Town to the DLR

DO NOT use the HEX unless you fancy paying massively over the odds for the trip and fighting it out with commuters at Paddington

PatrickLondon

Personally, I'd avoid a change at Green Park, since you have steps and quite a long walk between the two. Tube to <i>Hammersmith</i>, walk across the platform, eastbound District Line to Westminster for the Jubilee Line (down escalators at worst at Westminster, but I think there should be a lift).

But the rush-hour crowds at any interchange and on the trains may well add to the time stress, and perhaps a car service would be the way to go.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...th-grandma.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-questions.cfm

Cathinjoetown

Patrick:

HEATHROW TERMINAL 123 STATION, PICCADILLY LINE: If you require level access between train and platform, please use car 5. Level exit to the platform and street is available at Earls Court, Hounslow West, Green Park, Kings Cross St.Pancras and Oakwood Reported: 14/09/12 14:09 Last updated: 14/09/12 14:13

(From journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk)

Are the stairs you mention on the Jubilee line side?

flanneruk

I'd be very nervous about getting a car. You've got traffic into London at rush hour to contend with, and there's no painless (ie uncongested) way round or through the centre.

I wouldn't worry about crowds at Paddington - or about the cost of the HEX. It's extortionate - but it's IMHO the best option if you're through baggage claim too late to get the tube. Crowds are just crowds: they merely slow you down a bit, and they're all going the same way as you. You MIGHT have slightly bigger probs at Baker St, where crowds sometimes cross each other at rush hours.

I would worry though (because it's not something I've done) about the practicalities of buying a through ticket to LCY from the HEX office at LHR. I THINK on the HEX option you've got to buy a separate ticket, possible only at Paddington, for the tube/DLR to LCY. Crowds MIGHT slow you at either the ticket machines or at the ticket office. I'd seek advice here about how to get round this prob (if it is a prob)

I still wouldn't worry overall, though. From the HEX departure from T5 to LCY can't be more than 70 minutes, unless you're very seriously held up by ticket probs at Paddington (in my experience, early morning rush hour crowds add at most 3 minutes to the journey time from the rail platforms to the Bakerloo platforms). I really don't think such a time is possible by car even at night.

PatrickLondon

>>HEATHROW TERMINAL 123 STATION, PICCADILLY LINE: If you require level access between train and platform, please use car 5. Level exit to the platform and street is available at Earls Court, Hounslow West, Green Park,<<

There might, now I come to think of it, be a lift at the lower levels at Green Park to avoid the stairs in the Jubilee-Piccadilly Line interchange, though I've never used it and wouldn't swear to it (jamikins might remember, since they use this interchange probably more than I do). There'd still be quite a long corridor walk, though.

jamikins

Yea, There is a lift from the Piccadilly line platform to the hallway , then quite a walk to the jubilee line, them a lift down to the jubilee line platform.

Gordon_R

Maybe it's just me but I cannot for the life of me understand why people book flights with difficult connections like this. There must be other less painful ways of getting from Cape Town to Venice that avoid transiting across the full width of the biggest, busiest, most cnegested city in western Europe. You couldn't have connected thru Schiphol, Frankfurt, even Paris?

janisj

You better have a plan B in case you miss your flight . . . Just sayin'

Yelpir

Thanks, everyone for your very valuable contributions

flanneruk:
I hear what you are saying about the time a car is likely to take to cross London in rush hour. I am scrapping the car option on the strength of that. The big problem with that option is that I have to book it in advance and am then committed. If my incoming flight at Heathrow is delayed to the point where the car will not get me to LCY in time, I would have to abandon the car and take the train in any case. Then I would be responsible for paying both.
I do have an oyster card that I bought last year while in London but I have no idea how much money is on it (actually I have two, but that is another story ). Is there any way that I can see how much is there? If there is enough, it might save me buying a tube ticket at Paddington or Heathrow.

PatrickLondon:
Once I'm on the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow, I would like to stay on it as long as possible. At least I will be on a train. If I get off at Hammersmith and try to catch the District Line, I might not be able to get on with my suitcase, it being rush hour, though it would be nice not to have to negotiate any stairs, etc. It also means another change at Westminster during rush hour. After all the warnings about rush hour I'm getting a bit paranoid .

cathinjoetown:
"Stairs in Paddington". Ok, this is the first time that that bit of information has penetrated my consciousness. Stairs? I don't much like the sound of that. Are they up or down? Getting a heavy suitcase either up or down long flights of stairs is a considerable struggle and I would prefer to avoid it if possible.
I did check the journey planner but at that time of the day they only gave me the Heathrow Express route. Perhaps it is a rush hour thing. I got the underground route from this forum.

alanRow:
Thanks for the tip about using the escalators at Green Park to get from the Piccadilly Line to the Jubilee Line.

Once again, thanks all

bilboburgler

If you look a little tired you will find people will stop and offer help, take it and thank them.

But don't offer a tip (see other threads on this subject)

Cathinjoetown

Yelpir,

The HEX comes in to Paddington mainline station. I thought stairs came into play getting down to the Bakerloo Line, did not realize there was now an escalator from the main line station level. It's probably been there for years!

Sorry to steer you wrong.

Yelpir

jamikins:
Lifts at Green Park. Things are looking up. I was resigned to wrestling my suitcase up and down escalators

Gordon_R:
There is generally a reason for everything and it usually involves constraints. Let me explain. My holiday starts in Venice with a Mediterranean cruise. My friend is flying in from Australia to join me and I have to arrive in Venice before her because she doesn't like not having me waiting when she arrives. My arrival times in Venice are therefore limited to those that land before hers. After the cruise I fly to London to spend some time with my daughter, who lives there, and then back to Cape Town. By flying to London from Cape Town en route to Venice, I am a) able to buy a return ticket between Cape Town and Heathrow and b) do all my flights with BA. I did a lot of research into all the alternatives and this was the only practical routing that did not involve considerable extra cost. I did check the travel time from Heathrow to LCY before I made the bookings and was assured that 4 hours would be plenty. I suppose I could have used another airline from London to Venice but I wasn't sure there would be one that did a direct flight other than BA.

janisj:
My only Plan B for missing my flight to Venice is to throw money at the problem and buy a ticket on a later flight. I have a 3 day buffer in Venice before my cruise ship sails so I should be able to find an alternate way of getting to Venice in time (plane, train, hitchhike? ). Of course, my friend will probably never speak to me again .

Yelpir

bilboburgler:
lol. I am a grey-haired, balding old fellow with a white beard. Looking helpless is second nature to me . I am, though, extremely impressed by the number of young Londoners who offer to help me. It is so refreshing to see .

cathinjoetown:
No problem about the stairs. I am just relieved to know that there is an escalator. That I can handle .

janisj

>>I have to arrive in Venice before her because she doesn't like not having me waiting when she arrives<<

Ah - so you are in this fix because your friend is a wuss??

Yelpir

<< Ah - so you are in this fix because your friend is a wuss?? >>

LOL. Something like that

Tulips

I know someone who regularly travels from City to some place near Bracknell, west of London. The car service takes the M25. But that can get very congested too in the morning, especially the bit between M25 and City Airport.

If you can manage the luggage, I would do Piccadilly Line to Green Park, Jubilee to Canning Town and then DLR to City.
The change at Canning Town is easy.
Don't change at Bank - it's a long walk, involving stairs, and extremely busy during rush hour.

Good luck!

Yelpir

Thanks everyone for all your help. I can always rely on friends at Fodors forums to provide very valuable information

Tulips:
Thanks for that. Now I am researching the stations where I have to change trains. If my timing gets critical I can't afford to get lost so I must hit the ground running at every station