Paddington, right?
 

I will be arriving at T4 in LHR and am traveling right away to Newton Abbott in The West Country. From what I can tell, I should travel to Paddington to get my train. I want to get to my end destination quickly as I am visiting family. Here are my lingering questions:

1. I should be traveling to/ from PAD right? Looks like a direct line via Piccadily or HEX
2. How much cheaper is it to buy advance/ return tickets? Is it risky not to?
3. how long is the ride from LHR to PAD on the Piccadily Line? Is it worth the $ for the HEX?

Unfortunately, you can't reach Paddington via the tube without a change.....two ways one is to change at Hammersmith to a circloe line or Hammersmith line train but the change is a bit of a walk....the other way, without any walking with baggage is to take the picadilly line train to Hammersmith, walk across the platform for the District line train three stops to Earls Court and walk across the platform to take a District line train marked Edgeware Road 4 stops to Paddington...the changes, of course, add time and inconvenience (you can also stay on the Picadilly line train to Earls Court and then up a flight of stairs plus an escalator and then another short flight of stairs to the District line level to wait for the Edgeware Road train but the cost is much less than the Hex...Hex takes 15 minutes...there is another train at the Hex station called the Heathrow Connect, a slightly different route with a couple of stops on the way to Paddington. I am cheap, I admit, and would take the tube but you mention time is of the essence so you might wish the Hex directly to Paddington.

What about reading Station? Might that be wiser, or same deal with time and tube transfers?

<i>Is it worth the $ for the HEX? </i>
Depends on what your time is worth. The HEX is 15 minutes direct and about &pound;15. I went HEX both ways. Take a photo with the Paddington Bear.

The first sentence of the above, of course, should read, is it worth the £ for the HEX?

All trains from Paddington to Newton Abbott stop at Reading approx 30 mins after leaving London.

The Railair bus to Reading costs slightly less than the HEX (and return tickets are relatively cheaper still), and the timings work out broadly similar: though the HEX is just 15 mins, it's 45 mins usually by bus to Reading, so leaving LHR you meet the same train either way. THe connection is slightly less painful at Paddington if you've got cumbersome luggage (it's actually more messy going TO Heathrow at Reading, where you've got to deal with escalators and stuff)

The real issue around prebooking is that the savings on the train to NA are usually substantial (and it's not as if there's a train to NA every 15 mins): those on the HEX or Railbus less so. The sensible thing to do is first find a train that gives you ample time for your flight being delayed. Then look at the relative costs and timings.

In both cases you can't collect train tickets at Heathrow - so your starting point is either Paddington or Reading and you pay to get to Paddington or Reading on the day..

flannerujk....I am shocked. A friendly very informnative post without any anger directed at ignorant foreigners. Does this mean we can expect a new friendly flanneruk from here on out? That would be great for everybody.

Incidentally, it saves on average about £10 return on the train journey to start your rail journey in Reading rather than Paddington. This varies a lot, depending on time of day, how far in advance you book, etc.

So for most of the time, for most journeys, it's at least as cheap (and a lot faster) from Heathrow to the west of England to get the bus to Reading then the train as to try getting to Paddington by the convoluted tube route. And the whole Heathrow-West of England journey is almost always cheaper (actually I can't think of circs where it's not, but there's always someone who can)by bus to Reading than using the HEX or the Heathrow Connect, though it usually takes about the same time.

"Does this mean we can expect a new friendly flanneruk from here on out? "

As long as ignorant, offensive Americans refrain from uninformed, ethnocentric claptrap (isn't it xyz123 who still tells people how "illegal" it is for our government to prevent credit card companies from forcing small businesses to charge customers the cost of card processing?), I'm always the very epitome of good grace.

The frequency with which they continue to churn out the hypocritical nationalist gibberish they get brainwashed with at "school", however, remains as high as ever. As is the synthetic shock they affect when getting a taste of their own medicine.

...but you can go through all my posts and you will never find me making personal attacks on any other poster......governments, another story. And I don't think I said government actions on this were illegal...all I did was to compare it to the way it used to be in the USA (BTW you'll be happy to know the US congress passed an ill advised bill prohibiting mc and visa from imposing that customer friendly policy on US merchants. And there are plenty of times I rip the US government and its paranoia! But I always try to introduce a sense of humor into many of my posts. Doesn't hurt to be nice and I am basically a nice person.

zyx123 On this occasion, I think we could say that's it's you who started it....

Maybe.

..but I was trying to be complimentary. Flanneruk is very knowledgeable and has so much to add....I just don't think the nastiness, and I'll repeat I don't think I'[m nasty, is just not necessary but I'll have no more to say on this.

"flannerujk....I am shocked. A friendly very informnative post without any anger directed at ignorant foreigners."

Yup, sounds dead complimentary to me....

Ok. Many thanks for the advice. I shall look into Reading to see if the savings makes it worth it. I've made the trip quite a few times, but have always just wondered if I'm doing it efficiently, cost-effectively, wisely. I just want to get there and have it be easy and fairly cheap. You have both given me much food for thought and I'm grateful to you (used to be I could just fly into Bristol w/o it costing me a Grand!).

Honestly, I do have to say, the [yes, it was] personal banter between the two of you was amusing, but kind of frustrating. You really ought to relocate www.hotels.com and get yourselves a room! ;0)

Again. Thanks very much. You've been helpful.

It's kind of 6 and half a dozen re going via Paddingto or getting the bus to Reading. Going via Paddington means going East -ish) to go West, which bothers the logical bit of my brain!

:-)