essex to great ormand street hospital, by train or car?

[stolt]

my youngest daughter has a appointment at great ormand street hospital at 10.15 on friday the 5th september, we were going to stay at my brother in laws wo lives just off park lane and tube it but now there isnt enough room for us all to stay, so we were looking at going by train from essex £22.10 from essex to liverpool street st, plus the fare from liverpool st to holborn, and we will have to take our other two children (5 and 3yrs old)

I could still drive to W1, park at my brother in laws (pay congestion charge £8.00 i think) plus taxi to the hospital (around £11.00 each way)

not sure what the traffic is going to be like on the way to W1 at that time in the morning, probably bad, but i'm not looking forward to that sort of train journey and due to the time travelling i cant get any cheaper tickets, unless there is a family ticket they could do.


any advice, suggestions?

[rdwarr]

Any chance you could drive to one of the stations on the Eastern end of the Central Line and go into Holborn from there? May be the best of both worlds.

[stolt]

Any chance you could drive to one of the stations on the Eastern end of the Central Line and go into Holborn from there? May be the best of both worlds.

hi thanks, i'm just wandering if i would encounter the same kind of problems with the traffic at that time of the morning, just had a quick look at the tube map, i guess you mean bethnal green that sort of way.

[rdwarr]

I'm not sure where you're coming from but I would have suggested Epping or Woodford or another station further out. If you're a bit further south you could do the District Line from Upminster or Barking and change at Mile End.

[Lemmy Caution]

Not sure what it is you want, but I would say that trying to find somewhere to park at Bethnal Green and then getting on a tube that has come in from Hainault or Epping at that time of the morning - it will be crowded! is not a good idea. Give yourself plenty of time, get on further down the line and get yourself a seat. That's if you decide to go by public transport.

[Liney]

you can park outside the hospital for free - you need to take your appointment letter to the front reception desk and they will give you a yellow slip to put in your car windscreen - don't forget you will need to pay the congestion charge though and get there early as space can be limited - the receptionist will tell you exactly which streets you can park in.

[soolin]

Unfortunately you are going to be right in the rush hour so however you do it you will hit crowds. Is there any way you could aim for earlier, when my son had to go to a London hospital we managed to get a 7am appointment which meant we were just ahead of the main rush.

Your choices are two fold really, either drive to somewhere like Newbury Park tube and then go in from there, or just let the train take the strain and do the whole lot by train from your local station.

Secondly, hard as it might seem I would strongly suggest, from past experience that only one adult goes with the child whilst the other remains at home with the siblings. Hospitals are crowded places and if you are going to a ward, and often even for smaller procedures or tests a child will go to a ward rather than a waiting room, then younger children might not be allowed in. The idea of two adults plus three children (including the 'patient' sitting around is not ideal and you will have the added complication of needing to amuse the younger children. So one of you drive the other to a station and let one of you go with the 'patient' so you can devote your full attention to that child and not worry about the other two. Alternatively, leave the siblings with a babysitter, but don't take them to a hospital both for the reasons already stated and also because hospitals have people with diseases and are not ideal for younger children to have to sit around in all day.

[Liney]

There are lots of play areas on the wards/waiting rooms etc for siblings to wait in

[stolt]

[quote=soolin;13808761]Unfortunately you are going to be right in the rush hour so however you do it you will hit crowds. Is there any way you could aim for earlier, when my son had to go to a London hospital we managed to get a 7am appointment which meant we were just ahead of the main rush.

Your choices are two fold really, either drive to somewhere like Newbury Park tube and then go in from there, or just let the train take the strain and do the whole lot by train from your local station.

Secondly, hard as it might seem I would strongly suggest, from past experience that only one adult goes with the child whilst the other remains at home with the siblings. Hospitals are crowded places and if you are going to a ward, and often even for smaller procedures or tests a child will go to a ward rather than a waiting room, then younger children might not be allowed in. The idea of two adults plus three children (including the 'patient' sitting around is not ideal and you will have the added complication of needing to amuse the younger children. So one of you drive the other to a station and let one of you go with the 'patient' so you can devote your full attention to that child and not worry about the other two. Alternatively, leave the siblings with a babysitter, but don't take them to a hospital both for the reasons already stated and also because hospitals have people with diseases and are not ideal for younger children to have to sit around in all day.[/quote

hi thanks unfortunatley we havent been given much choice and have been advised that we are really lucky to get appointment so soon and what with my daughters illness we both want to be there to here the hopefully good news, unfortunatley family (wifes side) are in London and I dont have any local family so I know its going to be a hard day with all 5 of us, whats more annoying is that the children finish the 6 weeks holiday and we need to take them out of school friday to go to london.

I'm leaning towards driving to london parking at my brother in laws and getting the tube in, not sure how long it will take us there but i would imagine its going to be the best part of the day there.