Expert: Michael - 12/5/2005

Question
Michael- Not sure you can help.....I am overwhelmed with trying to figure out how to get from Heathrow Airport to Kings Cross on xmas day. And then from Kings Cross to Eurostar for Belgium on Dec 27 and then from Eurostar back to Kings Cross on Jan 5 and Kings Cross back to Heathrow on Jan 7.  All the sites I have been researching on seem to offer almost too much information.  I would like to do the London Eye and see that with an Oyster card I could get b1g1 free but not sure that it would be economical with the dates I am traveling to purchase an Oyster card.  Any suggestions to get the best economical travel costs?

Thank you,

Natalie

Answer
Dear Natalie,

It sounds like you've got a busy Christmas planned!
I'm afraid that on Christmas Day very few public transport services run. The only one that will help you at all is the Heathrow Express train service. On Christmas Day it will be operating in the morning; in the afternoon there will be a coach instead. As a rule there are no bus or tube services on this day.
The Heathrow Express will take you into Paddington station in West London, and from there you would have to hope to hail a taxi to take you to Kings Cross. I'm afraid I honestly don't know how many are likely to be about on Christmas Day, but doubtless those that are will be charging double the normal fare.
Travel from Kings Cross to Waterloo Internation (for Eurostar) is probably most straightforward by Tube by taking one tube just one stop to Euston, and then joining the Northern Line southbound to take you to Waterloo. In fact, depending on where you are staying near Kings Cross, it may be quicker and easier simply to head straight to Euston station to catch the tube from there.
The return journey in the new should be straightforward reverse of that trip.
Finally, to get back to Heathrow, you can take a tube on either the Circle, District, or Hammersmith&City lines back to Paddington where you can pick up the Heathrow Express train again, or you can take a direct tube from Kings Cross to Heathrow. Notably, the latter takes some considerable time (perhaps 90 minutes?)

With regards the London Eye, I'm not sure it would be worth buying an Oyster card for such a short stay in London.  However, my advice in that respect would be to present yourself at the ticket office on the first day of your stay in London (or rather, Boxing Day since the offices won't be open Christmas Day), and outline your plans to them. They will be able to advise the best sort of ticket(s) to purchase.

I hope that all of this information has been of use. I have attached details of some websites which I hope might help:

Heathrow Express:
http://www.heathrowexpress.co.uk/

London Underground Map:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/maps/


Regards
Michael