This past weekend we had a 4-day weekend and the weather here has
generally sucked. Which meant I was off to Spain. Previously I lived in
Amsterdam and getting to the airport from anywhere in the city was the easiest
thing in the world. For like 5 EUR, hop on the NS train (the national rail
service) and you get dropped off right to the check in counters at Schipol (the Amsterdam airport). Schipol
is extremely well designed and efficient as well. And the fact that it is a
major hub (along with Heathrow and Frankfurt, I believe for the EU) makes it an amazing
base from which to travel. Great for the time and budget-conscious.
Flying from London is for those who care for neither time
nor budget.
Timing
Every single airport except for the new London City Airport
is extremely, extremely far from the city. Regardless if you take a bus, taxi
or train, the trip from the city to airport is an hour or more.
Additionally, every single airport is packed. Always.
Allocate enough time for navigating for huge lineups at check-in counters,
customs, etc.
The best way to cut into the amount of time you spend
getting to the airport is to research which airport you are closest to and fly
strictly from there. For example, I live near Regent’s Park and flew from
Stantead. Big mistake! My cousin told me that for central-situated people like
me, I should be focusing on Heathrow as an airport “base.” East-enders (i.e.
where the Olympics will be) should be the ones flying out of Stantead.
If you have plenty of time to kill, none of this is of much
concern to you but when your time is limited like mine is- I can only afford
being off on weekends (so Friday night to Sunday night)- this makes things
pretty tricky!!
Cost
To help welcome you to the expensive world that is London,
you start getting ripped off right when you land in the city. That is, in any
other city (maybe in the entire world) the express shuttle bus/train one-way
might be somewhere between $5 to $20 tops. In London, the cheapest, slowest
transit just to get to the airport is about $20. Faster transit costs about $30
and reduces the speed of your journey by maybe 15 mins tops.
To minimize cost it is extremely, extremely important that
you bring no checked bags. Every low-cost carrier charges fees for bags but
usually it is not that big of a deal- maybe a few extra $$s. However know that Ryan
Air MURDERS you for bringing even one checked bag. So ensure you review the
TOTAL cost for a flight (after taxes, bags checked, etc) before booking as an
alternative carrier will probably be cheaper once all costs are factored in (and less annoying- Ryan Air has a
lot of weird quirks that no other airline has).
The other cost-minimizer is to fly (arrive and depart) on
Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. Any other day and prices are crazy high.
The UK National Rail Service is also extremely expensive
without adequate planning. Prices increase exponentially the closer you get to
the date of travel. And unlike with air travel, this price growth over time is
basically a rule. So as long as you book several weeks in advance, you can rest easy knowing you got the best possible deal.
So this leads me to some recommendations to people living in
London hoping to travel:
·
If you want to go somewhere that is outside of
the british isles:
o
Book extremely far in advance- at least 1 month
prior to travel, probably more
o
Get out of the country for at least 5 days (or
more if you can ;-) since you will lose at 1/2-1 whole day in transit
o
Ensure your boss is cool with you taking off on
weird days of the week (i.e. Tuesday)
·
If you want to go somewhere in the british isles
o
Book extremely far in advance
o
Take the train (or a bus)
o
Go whenever you want…prices don’t vary as much
by day as they do with the airlines.
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