Ok I'm flying in.

gken1 · Post by **gken1** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:42 pm

What's the best way to handle this?

Fly in 7th...fly out 9th or 10th?

should I get a rental car (do I need a special license?) or what's the best way? train?

Ken

neoliminal · Post by **neoliminal** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 3:46 pm

Where are you flying into? London? You can take the train from there, and I recommend that. American drivers in England are an accident waiting to happen. The train takes you right into Nottingham and you can taxi it from there.

My honest advice is do NOT get a rental car. The impulse to drive on the wrong side of the street in London is amazingly strong, particularly when turning. It's second nature and you wont be driving there much anyway.

juergen · Post by **juergen** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:00 pm

Last year 5 of our league flew to London Stanstead and from there we took the train. Worked quite well (except that we got 2 different informations where we have to switch train)

Colin · Post by **Colin** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:05 pm

Which airport would be the best one to fly into to make the easiest train connection?? Don't want to be having to take a taxi for an hour or whatever to get to the train station (presuming there is one, or is there more than one in London?)

neoliminal · Post by **neoliminal** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:07 pm

All the airports connect to the subway (The Tube), which in turn connect to the major train stations.

Having said that, I like Gatwick.

Indigo · Post by **Indigo** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:10 pm

Probably Heathrow (I thinK) as it's very well served. Gatwick would be second.

Stansted would probably be a nightmare for getting to Nottingham - you'd have to go into London and back out

Hangus · Post by **Hangus** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:16 pm

if its heathrow its the picadilly line (the only one to go from heathrow) straight to kings cross (about an hour or so) I live 20mins from heathrow so if you need help or depending when you are travelling a travel buddy let me know

juergen · Post by **juergen** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:21 pm

Indigo wrote:Stansted would probably be a nightmare for getting to Nottingham - you'd have to go into London and back out

No...we switched trains once but we never came anything close to London

CyberHare · Post by **CyberHare** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:41 pm

If you fly into Heathrow I would suggest taking the tube to Kings Cross if you're on a budget. Last year it cost us £40.00 to take a taxi from Heathrow to Kings Cross.

I agree with Neo about North Americans not renting a car. That was my suggestion last year but after being there a few days I was glad I didn't. It really is a completely different driving experience and driving in North America in now way prepares you for the insanity. Besides the train is cheap. It only cost me £19.00 last year for the train from Kings Cross to Nottingham with no changes. It's a 2 hour train ride but after the long flight over we slept most of it anyways:)

gken1 · Post by **gken1** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:48 pm

so i want to fly into Heathrow not london?

how much time should I schedule to catch a train? ie..what time should I arrive in england?

Hangus · Post by **Hangus** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 4:52 pm

its called london heathrow (LHR) on the ticket thingys give yourself at least 3 hours from landing (checking in etc) to get to kings cross and then like cyberhare said two hour train journy to Notts

Indigo · Post by **Indigo** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:33 pm

gken1 wrote:so i want to fly into Heathrow not london?

how much time should I schedule to catch a train? ie..what time should I arrive in england?

Check out http://www.thetrainline.co.uk - it may help. PM me if you get really stuck.

When booking make sure you book London Heathrow, or LHR like Hangus said. There are technically three London airports (Heathrow, Gatwick & Stansted) so make sure you know which one you want rather than asking for "London". Most transatlantic flights, if not all, land at Heathrow IIRC. Alternatively you could look for a flight to Manchester or Birmingham - IIRC Virgin fly there are apparently they have great planes to keep you entertained

You'll also be a lot closer to Nottingham.

Al the Trowel · Post by **Al the Trowel** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 5:39 pm

London has 3 major airports - Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead. Most trans-atlantic flights fly into to Heathrow or Gatwick, Stantseted tends to serve Europe and have lots of charter flights.

Most of the big carriers go to Heathrow though. I recommend avoiding BA flight 223 from London to Washington (and its corresponding flight this way) as it seems to be left sitting on the tarmac quite a lot recently. And it'd be a bitch to miss the tourney cos the flight was cancelled. (Air France has had a lot of US flight cancellations recently too.)

From Heathrow you can either get the tube or the Heathrow Express. The Express costs more but only takes 20 minutes to get to Paddington (from there you'll most likely need the Tube to wherever the Nottingham train leaves from - Kings Cross?), it's quite plush for a British train too.

Post by **Thadrin** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 6:20 pm

I've used Stansted a fair bit with Ryan air. There are plenty of buses from there...don't know if any go to Nottingham.

I imagine that Odium and I will fly into Heathrow....possibly the thursday night and stay at my Mum's for the night before continuing north.

Evil Git · Post by **Evil Git** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:51 am

if flying into heathrow or gatwick you could also look into flying up to east midlands airport (which is not far from nottingham) flights are around the £20-30 price range if i remember correctly. birmingham international would also be a good choice of destination although you might have to pay more to fly directly there.