Husband is Olympic helper but needs help with travel

SammySue

Hi
I hope that you can help us! My husband is an Olympic helper but not at the Olympic village but at the Horse Guards' parade. He is helping with the Beach Volley Ball (not sure how he managed that)!:)

However, he has his shifts now and some of them start at 5am in the morning and some finish at 1am in the morning too. We live in Warwickshire and our nearest train station is Coventry but of course, for some shifts there will be no trains at that time in the morning. So I guess that driving down to London will be the best.

What we don't know, is where the best place is to park in terms of cheapness. He is thinking Ealing Common, which is we think free and then catching an early bus. But that is still quite a journey across London. Does anyone know where else he could park relatively cheaply or even for free? Or even have any travel suggestions?

Many thanks!!

Mr_Thrifty

You know, I really just wouldn't go by car. Train will be SO much easier, it really will. If the start/end times are so extreme, surely they can put him up in a hotel overnight?

p.s. You sound really nice.

SammySue

Thank you for your reply Mr. Thrifty (and the compliment too)!
Unfortunately, Olympic helpers have to make and pay for their own travel arrangements. Which is fair enough and I guess we should have thought it through a bit more. We just didn't appreciate that there would such early/late starts and finishes.
So, at this late stage, I think that a hotel will be either too difficult to find or too expensive.
Still wondering if driving down and trying to find somewhere to park is the best option.

Mr_Thrifty

Well if he is going to drive I would say drive as far into London as Zone 3 and then get a tube or train in from there. Parking near a tube will be virtually impossible so I would try and find a Zone 3 overground station and find a side street somewhere near it. Zone 3 travel card is then around £7.80 per day on Oyster.

SammySue

Thank you for your help Mr. Thrifty!

I will investigate these Zone 3 areas.

silvercar

I would go straight down the M1 and park near Brent Cross tube station; plenty of free parking on residential side streets near there and not very far from the (bottom) end of the M1. Check the time of the last tube trains, if they finish too early your other option is to park near an overground station and train it from there. First Capital Connect Thameslink trains run through the night. Mill Hill Broadway isn't that far from the M1 (allow 20 minutes) or come off the M1 at junction 5 and drive to Radlett station. Play around with time/ petrol costs/ train fares and see what works for you. Getting the fast trains from Luton on FCC may mean less driving and a shorter train journey.

SammySue

Oh that is excellent Silver Car! Thank you very much. I will investigate, as you say, the costs of petrol v train fares etc and I will also have a look at your parking suggestions.
I hadn't even thought about Luton being an option. I will look at that too.
The difficulty with the mainline trains is my husband's early starts or very late finishes. There are not always trains at that time. I am concerned too, that for his 5am start, wherever he tries to park, might already be filled up by residents who have parked there for the night and have not left their homes for their journey into work.

Sorry I'm not trying to sound pessimistic, just trying to think of all the variables.

Thank you for your help!

SimbaSimon

Hi SammySue,

The tubes will be running earlier and finishing later but the 5am starts will be difficult. Its worth remembering your husband will get free travel on the underground/overground/dlr/buses etc. There are night buses that may help on the early starts.

I'd suggest looking at accommodation again but avoid places like hotels. There are lots of alternative options including camping, home stays, hostels etc. There is a forum setup to help volunteers find accommodation (http://www.gm2012accommodation.org.uk/) which may be useful.

Another option is looking at renting a car parking space from someone through websites like http://www.yourparkingspace.co.uk or https://www.parkatmyhouse.com/uk

Simon

SammySue

Hi Simbak2k
We didn't even know that Games Maker site existed, so many, many thanks! Perhaps my husband will be told today at his training session about it.
There seems to be lots of very useful information on it, so when he comes home, hopefully he will find some options that work.

Appreciate yours and everybody's support here!! Many thanks

Molly41

Actually there still might be cheapish accommodation in London. I was supposed to be in hopsital over the Olympics but decided against it, however we did look up hotels as hubs is coming with me. There was availability and quite reasonably prices. Not near Olympics but central London.

SammySue

Thank you Molly41. That is interesting! I do hope that you don't have to go to hospital for anything serious!!
To be very truthful, my husband is, well let's just say that he likes to take money saving to the extreme end of things, and I don't think for one minute that he will pay for a hotel, no matter how cheap it is. I know...........I know..........

Thank you all again for your help and suggestions about this. Much appreciated!!