London logistics questions
 

Hi all - I'm no London newbie, but my upcoming trip has some new and fun logistical twists, so I thought I'd seek other expert opinions. :) "We" are three women, mid-30s, highly mobile, and pack light.

We bought round trip tickets from the US during a fare sale last fall; our entire trip is a week. However, because we've all been to London before (two of us quite a few times), we're taking an EasyJet flight to Seville for a few days in the middle of the week.

We land at Heathrow on a Saturday and are staying at a flat near Southwark station for our first two nights. We then fly to Seville from Gatwick at noon on Monday. Here's the really fun part: For the second part of our London stay, we'll be staying in a flat near St Pancras/Bloomsbury. Because our Seville flight is on EasyJet, we'll be taking even less luggage to Seville. I was thinking we'd go from our flat near Southwark to St Pancras, leave our (relatively) large suitcases at left luggage, then take the Thameslink to Gatwick (~an hour), so that when we come back we'll take the Thameslink again, pick up our bags and be close to our second flat. First off - anyone have a better plan?

Second - to be at the airport by around 10 for our 12:00 flight, we'll need to be on the Thameslink by 9. How much time would you allow to get from Southwark to St Pancras, deal with left luggage and find the train? I'm thinking we'll walk to Waterloo for the Northern line, change to Piccadilly at Leicester Square and take that to St Pancras, but definitely open to better suggestions.

Bonus points: We land at 6:45am Saturday, but won't be able to check into our flat until 11:30 or 12. If anyone has any suggestions for whether to have a leisurely breakfast/brunch with our luggage (one carryon suitcase + extra tote each) around the Waterloo/Southwark area, that would be excellent.

Thanks in advance!

Just a quick note . . . Why not leave your bag at left luggage at gatwick instead? That would save a WHOLE lot of to-ing and fro-ing.

File that under "I can't believe I didn't think about that," janisj - you're very right! I'm too used to US airports with no left luggage facilities; didn't even occur to me. Thanks!

And then you could get the Thameslink from Blackfriars (probably within walking distance of the Southwark flat - there is an entrance on the Southwark side now) to Gatwick.

Thanks Patrick! Indeed, Blackfriars is a 14-minute walk from the flat according to Google Maps, so that sounds like the perfect plan, both for the Spain flight and our arrival day.

If you have any other suggestions we'd love to hear them!

(Never mind about arrival day... for a minute there I forgot we're flying into Heathrow. Man, I am off my game lately!)

14 minutes? Sounds like a somewhat distant part of Southwark, unless Google Maps have got something rather wrong.

Assuming you're somewhere near a station on the Jubilee Line, the options for Heathrow are
(a) Piccadilly Line to Green Park and change to the Jubilee there (there's a longish walk through, but there are lifts if you can't face getting the luggage up and down stairs)
(b) Piccadilly Line to Hammersmith, walk across the platform for the eastbound District Line to Westminster, then down escalators to the Jubilee Line - might be a bit longer, but somewhat less hassle.

>>the options for Heathrow are . . .<<

. . . OR a car service like justairports.com

Spoilsport...

:)

Always with the justairports recommendation :) (I have indeed used them in the past!) Thanks for the Tube options! Green Park is what I was thinking; I've carried more luggage in worse situations, so I'm not terribly fazed by the prospect.

The flat is in Burrows Mews, more or less across Blackfriars Road from Nelson Square. I've most often stayed in Bloomsbury so it's a newish part of town to me.

Nicely placed (assuming the building work on Google Streetview is finished now).

You've got some useful bus routes from there:
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-...cus-140315.pdf

Thank you, Patrick! That link is very helpful! And I'm glad to hear it's well located - it seemed like it would be, but it's good to hear a resident's confirmation.

Did you just propose leaving luggage at Gatwick while returning via Heathrow?

So why not leave the big cases anywhere convenient the day before leaving on the side trip, so you won't risk missing your Gatwick flight?

That is a great location -- close to the Old Vic, Waterloo, the river, and all the restaurants in The Cut

AJPeabody - we arrive from the US at Heathrow, but our flight to/from Seville (two days later) is all via Gatwick. Full schedule -

- Saturday AM - arrive from US at Heathrow, stay in Southwark/Waterloo flat
- Monday noon - leave for Seville from Gatwick (will take Thameslink from Blackfriars)
- Thursday evening - arrive from Seville at Gatwick, stay in flat near St Pancras/Bloomsbury (will take Thameslink to St Pancras)
- Sunday afternoon - leave for US from Heathrow

Not how I'd usually do it, but how it worked out!

janisj - that's good to hear! If you have specific restaurants you like in the area I'd love suggestions. We've booked a "fancy" meal (Mad Hatter afternoon tea) and will probably stick to under 20-25 pounds each otherwise.

I worked not far from there until about six years ago. I seem to remember one office Christmas meal at Baltic on Blackfriars Road, which is a few minutes walk from there, and seems to be still getting good reviews. Likewise Waterloo Bar and Kitchen by the Old Vic.

Excellent - thank you so much, Patrick! I'll check them out for sure.