London Airport to Colchester - Traveling in the UK???

[schurchill39]

I need to send a family member to the UK within the next week here and haven never been there myself I have nooooo idea the best way to travel within the country. Basically I'd be flying them from Calgary to London, then they need to get to Colchester in Essex as a final destination.

For those of you familiar with the UK, what are the EASIEST options to get them from the airport to Colchester? I'm specifically looking for ease as I do not want them navigating too many different transportation mediums or complicated transfers. Would a bus, or the train be better? Ideally minimum wait time at the airport, an hour or two is okay but I don't want them waiting half a day or longer. I was thinking of renting them a car but it sounds like driving might be a bit of a shit show and the whole driving on the other side of the road would definitely ad some unwanted stress.

Also, for last minute flights like this is Kayak still the best place to at least see the spread of prices? Don't really need the cheapest but we have a window of days they can travel so there is a bit of working room.

[ExtraSlow]

Can't help much more than to say that London has three (or four) different airports. I ended up with an impossible connection once because my travel agent didn't know that fact.....
They are not close to each other.

Good luck.

[sabad66]

I think train is probably your best bet. A quick google shows it's a single train line from London (Liverpool train station) to Colchester so there's really not much more you can ask for. Cab / uber from the airport to the the Liverpool train station and should be smooth sailing from there.

As mentioned, there are a few airports so maybe worth flying into the one that's closest to Liverpool train station as cabs can be expensive. To give you an idea of cab cost, i paid 90 pounds (was around $180 CAD at the time) from heathrow to downtown London a few years ago. Heathrow might be the closest to that train station based on my limited memory of the city.

re: flights, i'm personally a fan of google flights. you can save routes/flights and it will email you when the prices change. www.google.ca/flights

EDIT: don't listen to me, tony's National Express Coach suggestion below seems to be a better option vs. cab+train

[tonytiger55]

Depends on the Airport. Its either Heathrow or Gatwick.

Best bet would be National Express Coaches if going direct. Its pretty easy.
https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

Other option is train, but they will have to change and navigate. Its not too difficult though.
If its Heathrow and you want to take the train. Then they can take Heathrow express to Paddington. Then take the underground train..change to the circle line (yellow) and get off at Liverpool street. From there they would take a main line rain to Essex.

Or they can take a underground train from Heathrow (Picadilly line, blue line) and change to central line (red) and then get to Liverpool street. The undeground is pretty easy, well signed and with maps. The staff are helpful too.

If its Gatwick its the same. Take the mainline train to London, it will stop at Waterloo and then take circle line to Liverpool street.

To book flights you can use sky scanner, google etc. But there are only like three/four airlines. Air Canada, British Airways, West Jet and some other one. The rest are transits through other countries like KLM or Fin Air.

[sexualbanana]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I think train is probably your best bet. A quick google shows it's a single train line from London (Liverpool train station) to Colchester so there's really not much more you can ask for. Cab / uber from the airport to the the Liverpool train station and should be smooth sailing from there.

As mentioned, there are a few airports so maybe worth flying into the one that's closest to Liverpool train station as cabs can be expensive. To give you an idea of cab cost, i paid 90 pounds (was around $180 CAD at the time) from heathrow to downtown London a few years ago. Heathrow might be the closest to that train station based on my limited memory of the city.

re: flights, i'm personally a fan of google flights. you can save routes/flights and it will email you when the prices change. www.google.ca/flights

EDIT: don't listen to me, tony's National Express Coach suggestion below seems to be a better option vs. cab+train

I was going to say that Uber/cab would be crazy expensive from the airport. The good news is that the Underground and train stations are extensive and traveler-friendly. The tube does a pretty good job of accommodating people with roller bags and other baggage.

[sabad66]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I was going to say that Uber/cab would be crazy expensive from the airport. The good news is that the Underground and train stations are extensive and traveler-friendly. The tube does a pretty good job of accommodating people with roller bags and other baggage.

Agreed but the reason I suggested it was it sounded like he wanted something very easy instead of multiple transfers. It was my first time there and I was on company business when I did the cab but every time after that I’ve done the heathrow express to Paddington then underground to my final destination. Quite easy to do but older folks or those that don’t speak English fluently might have a tougher time

[mzdspd]

Thameslink (train) is another good option.. They take you right into London.

My wife and I flew into Gatwick and I had done 0 research into getting into London and we just talked to the info desk and they told us where to go and where to buy tickets. Really handy. And then took probably another day to just figure out the tube system around London.

So my advice would be to talk to the info desk when you arrive and they should be able to direct you on the best options to Colchester.

[schurchill39]

Thanks for the input guys. It sounds like first we need to decide on whether or not I fly them to Heathrow or Gatwick, and then the second easiest option sounds like the charter bus Tony mentioned. That would be ideal as its "get off the plane, get onto bus, arrive in the city you need to be at, take taxi to house". The nature of the trip isn't an awesome one so anything to minimize stress is the direction we are going (with the exception of needing to re-mortgage the house to take a taxi by the sounds of it).