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Transfer from Gatwick to hotel alone with 2 children

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Transfer from Gatwick to hotel alone with 2 children

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Old Apr 29th, 2004, 12:35 PM
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Transfer from Gatwick to hotel alone with 2 children

I'm traveling to London/Gatwick with my 9 & 10 yr. old in June and need transfers from Gatwick to the Marriott County Hall. Any input on the best way to get there (taxi - how expensive, Gatwick Express, etc.) would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!
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Old Apr 29th, 2004, 12:44 PM
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Gatwick express is 11GBP single. Not sure what a taxi from Gatwick woudl be but from Heathrow (which is closer to central London) it's around 50-60 depending on traffic.

My advice would be to take the express to Victoria and then grab a cab to the hotel. For the retrun journey, check with the hotel - I was in London a month ago and we got a car to take us to Heathrow for 35GBP.
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Old Apr 29th, 2004, 01:04 PM
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Instead of taking the Gatwick Express which would cost 11.00 GBP for each ticket, you could take a South Central train from Gatwick to Victoria for a total price of 16.00 GBP (8.00 for you and 4.00 for each of your children). Ten minutes slower but a good bit cheaper. Then take a taxi to your hotel.
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Old Apr 29th, 2004, 03:42 PM
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The best option would be a train (either the Express or South Central) to Victoria and then a taxi to the hotel (BTW - You will love the Marriott County Hall).

A taxi all the way from LGW would run well over £70 and take longer than the train - even the slow train. A car service would be cheaper than a taxi but still cost a lot more than the train - and be as slow as a taxi.
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Old Apr 29th, 2004, 05:14 PM
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Check out JustAirports.com car service. We just used them for Heathrow/So. Kens. transfer (roundtrip) for the 4 of us. It's cheaper than a taxi, very reliable and convenient door to door service. The best rate is if you pay by cash (instead of credit card).
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Old Apr 29th, 2004, 05:25 PM
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With 2 kids and after an overnight flight(I assume) I wouldn;t even consider anything other than a cab or car service. Just too much trouble and angst to save a few $.
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Old Apr 29th, 2004, 11:53 PM
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They are traveling from LGW - not LHR. Car services really don't make much sense from Gatwick because it is more than 30 miles out of town and can easily take 90 minutes for the drive. A car service from Gatwick will coast almost twice as much as one would from Heathrow.

The train from Gatwick takes only 30 minutes, is very easy - AND there is actually less of a walk to the train platform than to the pick up points for cabs/car services.
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Old Apr 30th, 2004, 01:59 AM
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Yes, but the train doesn't take you to your hotel - only to a station in town and then you must go through the whole organizing children, dragging luggage, finding a train or cab or ? process all over again. To me direct door to door service is the only reaonable option - and saing a few $ isn;t really worth all the hassle of doing a ulti-step process with hyperactive or sleepy/cranky kids.
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Old Apr 30th, 2004, 09:19 AM
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9 and 10 year olds are not babies and can certainly be relied upon to pull a bag from Victoria station to a taxi. They will also think taking a train in London is exciting.
Take the train and save your $$ for something fun.
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Old Apr 30th, 2004, 09:39 AM
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Thank you to all of you who replied. I'm going to plan on taking the train then taxi to the hotel. I'm hoping my girls will be excited enough that they won't complain too much about lugging their suitcases! Thanks again everyone!
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