London travel advice please

[Deleted member 65149]

Towards the end of September I’ll be taking my wife and daughter for a weekend to London for my wife’s birthday. We’ll be staying overnight at the Shangri-la in the Shard. I can’t decide whether to travel by train or drive there. My concern about taking the train (from Peterborough) is that it will entail a lot of travelling close to people outside our “bubble”: taxi to the station, train to Kings Cross, underground to Tower Bridge. Despite being a born and bred Londoner, it’s many years since I last drove there. Does driving there, and no doubt paying a fortune to park, sound like a sensible decision?

 

[Fununcle]

Towards the end of September I’ll be taking my wife and daughter for a weekend to London for my wife’s birthday. We’ll be staying overnight at the Shangri-la in the Shard. I can’t decide whether to travel by train or drive there. My concern about taking the train (from Peterborough) is that it will entail a lot of travelling close to people outside our “bubble”: taxi to the station, train to Kings Cross, underground to Tower Bridge. Despite being a born and bred Londoner, it’s many years since I last drove there. Does driving there, and no doubt paying a fortune to park, sound like a sensible decision?

Personally I would drive, lots of reasonably priced parking options, do a search for parking. Hope you have a wonderful time.

 

[W1ghty]

Towards the end of September I’ll be taking my wife and daughter for a weekend to London for my wife’s birthday. We’ll be staying overnight at the Shangri-la in the Shard. I can’t decide whether to travel by train or drive there. My concern about taking the train (from Peterborough) is that it will entail a lot of travelling close to people outside our “bubble”: taxi to the station, train to Kings Cross, underground to Tower Bridge. Despite being a born and bred Londoner, it’s many years since I last drove there. Does driving there, and no doubt paying a fortune to park, sound like a sensible decision?

There is a multi storey parking structure about 10mins walk south of the Shard , one of those 24 hour thingys , maybe £20 ? That’s where I parked when I went a few years ago .

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Personally I’d do neither.

 

[14emerc]

Train, simple, and no worries about parking, congestion charge, speed cameras, yellow box cameras etc. I used this hotel and had a lovely cream tea with nice views out across London.

 

[W1ghty]

 

[Darrell]

Train. Make it part of the experience.

Doesn’t Thameslink go from Peterborough to London Bridge?? If so then it’s a no brainer.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Personally I’d do neither.

Thanks Ant. Are you related to the Irishman who when asked for directions to Cork said, “I wouldn’t start from here”?

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Train. Make it part of the experience.

Doesn’t Thameslink go from Peterborough to London Bridge?? If so then it’s a no brainer.

Cheers Darrell, I hadn’t thought of that route.

 

[W1ghty]

In normal times , yes the train is the easy no stress route . But during Covid depending on your personal situation driving has got to be a consideration .

 

[Darrell]

Cheers Darrell, I hadn’t thought of that route.

Its less than 200m from the Thameslink platform the the Shard.

Thameslink is pretty much empty because it’s a commuter route. The city slickers are all furloughed so you’ll most likely get the carriage to yourself.

What day and what time you travelling?

 

[C240Sport97]

Driving through Central a London is a nightmare as they have closed or narrowed roads, plus you have the congestion charge to deal with.

if you are arriving outside rush hour, the tube is fine. Busy but not crowded such that social distancing is not possible.

just take Northern Line from Kings Cross to London Bridge or even better as Darrell suggested, Thameslink to London Bridge.

Shard is of course built on top of London Bridge station.

 

[C240Sport97]

Its less than 200m from the Thameslink platform the the Shard.

Thameslink is pretty much empty because it’s a commuter route. The city slickers are all furloughed so you’ll most likely get the carriage to yourself.

What day and what time you travelling?

new Thameslink trains are very long, very modern and very spacious. Should be perfectly possible to retain your bubble

 

[Abb]

I have within the last fortnight had to travel to London to get to Heathrow. Faced with the same dilemma, I chose to catch the train. It was painless enough, although the train was pretty empty as most of the seats were out of bounds, due to distancing.
Caught a black cab from kings cross to Heathrow and stayed overnight prior to catching my flight the following day. Masks were mandatory on the train and in the hotel, as well as the flight.
Have had two PCR tests done within a fortnight and tested negative.

Guess it is whatever you are comfortable with at the end of the day.

(had no desire to return to work, let alone via London )

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Its less than 200m from the Thameslink platform the the Shard.

Thameslink is pretty much empty because it’s a commuter route. The city slickers are all furloughed so you’ll most likely get the carriage to yourself.

What day and what time you travelling?

Travelling down on Saturday and back on Sunday, both middle of the day-ish.

 

[zipdip]

The Thameslink trains will be empty at those times,it has to be the best way to get to London and back home no changing no problems.

 

[AMGeed]

Let the train take the strain and enjoy the trip.
I can't think of anything worse than driving in London, especially with Citizen Khan making the place so car unfriendly.

 

[Deleted member 149005]

Train.

 

[Fununcle]

Train.

Drive

 

[Deleted member 149005]

Drive

Drive the train