Late Heathrow arrival questions
 

I will be arriving at Heathrow from the U.S. at 10:00 pm with my 83-year-old mother. We could either stay at a hotel near the airport or make the trip into the city. Does anyone have any experience getting into central London at that hour? I don't want to take a cab and the express train, which is also quite pricey, gets us to Paddington, not very close to our Victoria Station area hotel. Would also prefer to avoid the Tube with luggage. Has anyone used Hotelink or any of the bus services?

I know that none of the shuttles operate at 11pm (which is when I arrived), my only option to go into the city at 11-11:30ish was a cab.

I'd have a car service meet you at Heathrow and take you to your hotel nr Victoria Sta. We've used Just Airports a number of time and have been happy with the service. They get mentioned here frequently. If you pay in cash, the trip should run you about 24 GBP. See their website justairports.com.

I definitely wouldn't recommend staying out near Heathrow if you are staying for several days near Victoria Station, we did that once and I'd never do it again unless the hotel had a free shuttle. We used the Hotel Hoppa bus (which may not even run that late)and waited for quite a long time, I wouldn't want to do that with an 83 year old.

Given the time of night, I think having a car service as suggested by obxgirl is a good way to go. And 24L seems pretty reasonable.

For you no question, use a car service. Remember 10 PM UK time is still early in North America so keep moving and be where you want to be in the morning, not out by the airport. Personally I would take the tube...but not with an 83 year old. Depending on what terminal you arrive at it can be a bit of a hike to the tube station at Heathrow and there will likely be some stairs somewhere.