English mates! Help getting around London!

[Genius Gone Insane]

Fellas,

In October I'll be making a European excursion from the USA. The place I need to get to from Gatwick Airport is in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire. As I understand it, they're pretty much the opposite sides of London. What's the most cost-effective way to get from the airport to my destination? I hear the train will be expensive. I'm traveling with 2 other people, so I can split any private transportation 3 ways. Any ideas? Thanks a million!

God save the queen

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Take a cab.

 

[metalkingdom]

The train should actually be pretty cheap.

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

Take a cab.

In London thats going to be more expensive than the train. Not sure where it is your headed but Buckinghamshire is outside of London. I say a combination of underground and busses would be cheapest.

 

[Machinated]

Buses and underground would probably be best. Don't know where that place is, but after wikipedia-ing it, it looks like its a small village near High Wycombe. You should be able to get a train from London to High Wycombe and then possibly a taxi or a bus to that village. From Gatwick, you will probably want to get a train into central London, and then get the underground to whatever station you need to go to to get to High Wycombe. Chalfont St. Peter may even have a station, so you might be able to catch a train there.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Any idea roughly how much train/bus would cost? Where could I get this info? Thanks guys!

 

[Machinated]

Give here a try. Sometimes the most simple route isn't always the cheapest. Id recommend going by train, I go to London a fair amount on them, and for the most part its fairly reliable.

EDIT: The station you want to go to is Gerrards Cross, looks like it will be about £17 from Gatwick, which isn't too bad imo. That station is near Chalfont St. Peter. So you want to get the train from Gatwick Airport to Victoria in London, then the underground to Marylebone, and then a train from there to Gerrards Cross. Looks like the journey will be about 2 hours.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Don't take the tube, it's expensive as hell ! Walk !!!

 

[Machinated]

Don't take the tube, it's expensive as hell ! Walk !!!

Expensive? It's only normally a couple of quid to get about, I suppose it depends on how far you are traveling on it. Shouldn't be a lot from Marylebone to Victoria.

 

[sparkyness]

Left London a year ago, but easily the most cost effective and painless route would be by train.

Being the helpful bugger I am, according to http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ it's a train from Gatwick to London Victoria station, then on the Underground to Marylebone station where you can get a train to either High Wycombe or "Chalfont and Latimer" station. All up it will take about 2 hours unfortunately and set you back about £40 for "standard day single" tickets.

Check out that link to search for journeys.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Expensive? It's only normally a couple of quid to get about, I suppose it depends on how far you are traveling on it. Shouldn't be a lot from Marylebone to Victoria.

£3 for a tube ticket, that's just insane. But everything is just so over-priced in England and in London in particular...

 

[sparkyness]

£3 for a tube ticket, that's just insane. But everything is just so over-priced in England and in London in particular...

This is true from the perspective of those of us in the rest of Europe (or elsewhere) as the Euro doesn't stack up very well against the £, but when you're living there and making your living in £'s it's not so bad. Try buying a pint in Norway, for instance....it's enough to make your

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Left London a year ago, but easily the most cost effective and painless route would be by train.

Being the helpful bugger I am, according to http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ it's a train from Gatwick to London Victoria station, then on the Underground to Marylebone station where you can get a train to either High Wycombe or "Chalfont and Latimer" station. All up it will take about 2 hours unfortunately and set you back about £40 for "standard day single" tickets.

Check out that link to search for journeys.

The time isn't the issue. It's 120 pounds between the three of us. No question if it was an American city, we'd rent a car for much less. But I don't know about that, with the way y'all drive backwards in those things that look more like gocarts than cars. Is there a private driving service or anything like that for less?

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

2 hours unfortunately and set you back about £40 for "standard day single" tickets.

.

Wait, is that 40 pounds each or total for 3 of us?

 

[sparkyness]

Wait, is that 40 pounds each or total for 3 of us?

unfortunately....that's each! It's probably about £15-16 just to get from Gatwick into Central London, let alone out to Buckinghamshire. That's one of the major scams about flying into any of the London airports other than Heathrow (where you can get the tube into London). The actual cost of a flight for me to get from Dublin to London Stanstead airport is less than the train fare from Stanstead into London. Madness.....

A word of warning if you haven't guessed already: London's up there with Tokyo, when it comes to being expensive...but it is a really cool city. If there's 3 of you, it may be cheaper to get a cab but it would still be £70 or £80 in total if I was to hazard a guess. If you've got friends with a car...offer them 50 quid to come pick you up at the airport!

 

[Kenneth R.]

In London thats going to be more expensive than the train. Not sure where it is your headed but Buckinghamshire is outside of London. I say a combination of underground and busses would be cheapest.

this is by far the best advice. try tfl.gov (or org, cant remember) for rates and routes

there's also the midland rail service

 

[Machinated]

Im sure that on the website I put down, it was about £17 one-way. Check that again - I think it can depend if you catch a fast train or not, and going first class and things like that. £3 probably does seem to be expensive compared to mainland Europe, I remember Barcelona being very cheap on their underground. Spose I am just used to paying these kinds of prices.

 

[sparkyness]

Yep...you just get used to it. Unfortunately it's just as expensive here in Dublin and any public transport or basically any service at all is (unbelievably) even worse than it was in the UK. I never thought I'd say that.....

 

[kev]

Abandon it all, and get to my house for beer in Bristol

 

[cobhc]

Abandon it all, and get to my house for beer in Bristol

sold!