Family Trip Slough / London

AnnaLicious_2

I have an appointment in London at 9 am which myself, husband and 2 year old child need to attend. I'm looking for the cheapest / easiest way to do this.

My current plan is as follows. If anyone has any advice / warnings, I would appreciate it. The afternoon before we will drive from Bristol to Slough. The rail tickets from Slough will be £8 anytime return versus £80 from Reading or £110 from Bristol with set return times.

In the morning, leave the car in the Slough rail station car park, train to Paddington, and underground to Baker Street (grosvenor square). And then around lunchtime, reverse it all back to Bristol.

The Days Inn in Slough is £45 for a family room. My tesco clubcard points won't get me any better deals.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Any family friendly restaurants they'd recommend for an early dinner in Slough? We will probably walk up to Oxford Street and go into Debenhams for lunch in their cafe, I can't imagine anywhere cheaper (besides McDonald's, which isn't ideal for us).

I've worked out £200 for the whole thing - petrol, meals, hotel, rail & underground tickets.

Thank you!!

mummyyum

If it was me, I wouldn't consider going to Oxford Street to debenhams cafe. You could be anywhere. I would buy a meal deal from Tescos, corner of Bedford Street then either go and sit in Covent Garden and eat it or have a nice stroll down to St. James' Park and eat it there watching the world go by. You'll get to walk past Trafalgar Square and see Buckingham Palace. At least you've then seen some of London on your day out. Oxford Street is just busy and noisy and I'd avoid it like the plague (unless you're there to shop). As for your dinner in Slough, I don't know the area but in my opinion you can't beat a Wetherspoons for value and in all the ones I've eaten in, the food is always good. Have fun. Oh, and don't forget to factor in the cost of the Slough car park for two days:)

zagfles

The underground is likely to horrible at that time in the morning, I wouldn't like to be trying to get on a tube at about 8:30 with a 2 year old!

Personally I'd look at staying in Uxbridge and getting the Metropolitan line direct to Baker Street, you'd be getting on at the terminus so you won't be playing sardines trying to force yourself onto an already packed tube...

skylight

You need to check those train prices. You cannot get an anytime train for £8 from Slough..

Quick check on trainline - its £28.60 Anytime Return from Slough without travelcard for the underground to get you to paddington for 8.30am (for 2 adults as little one is FOC) or £40.20 with a travelcard.

There is a Tesco superstore right next to Slough station, so you could grab some lunch in there and take it with you. There are plenty of places to eat in Slough from Weatherspoons to Mcd's, a cafe in Tesco.

But where is the Days Inn?? Slough has a holiday Inn, Quality Inn etc, but not a Days Inn.

skylight

zagfles wrote: »

The underground is likely to horrible at that time in the morning, I wouldn't like to be trying to get on a tube at about 8:30 with a 2 year old!

Personally I'd look at staying in Uxbridge and getting the Metropolitan line direct to Baker Street, you'd be getting on at the terminus so you won't be playing sardines trying to force yourself onto an already packed tube...

Brilliant idea!

Fen1

Have you considered using university accommodation in London? If you are travelling in summer, it might offer a decent alternative. Wigram Hall ( I think ) is within walking distance of Grosvenor Square and has an equipped self-catering kitchen. They have twin rooms, so a sleeping bag on the floor for little one? It would save you a lot of hassle in the morning as using the Tube during rush-hour is hellish.

AnnaLicious_2

Thanks for all the replies! I hadn't thought of Uxbridge, I don't know the area outside of London that well. I'll have a look.
I did look up the train prices on trainline and it was £8 for all of us. Actually I don't think it was anytime, it was off-peak now that I think of it.
The 9 am appointment was not my decision, but the embassy sent us this appointment and they're like gold dust! We could taxi it, but any transport option will be awful. We just have to aim to get to the embassy at 8 am, as the security line is a nightmare.
I'm happy with a cafe, as feeding my toddler is a challenge of it's very own. I've spent so much time in London, I'm happy to not see it - haha! The Tesco Express does sound like a good idea though, thank you.
Last time we went to the embassy to register the baby's birth, I lucked out with a free TasteofLondon card and had a lush meal nearby.
Maybe it wasn't Days Inn, must have been one of those non-descript chains similar that was close to the rail station in Slough. But I'll poke around the internet at Uxbridge, thanks everyone!

Debt_Free_Chick

That's quite a walk from Baker Street to Grosvenor Sq with a 2 yo at that time of the morning. If you're getting a ticket that includes the tube (travelcard) and you stay in Uxbridge, I'd be more inclined to change at Finchley Road and get the Jubilee Line to Bond Street. Either way, the tube will be horrible at that time of the morning.

zagfles

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

That's quite a walk from Baker Street to Grosvenor Sq with a 2 yo at that time of the morning. If you're getting a ticket that includes the tube (travelcard) and you stay in Uxbridge, I'd be more inclined to change at Finchley Road and get the Jubilee Line to Bond Street. Either way, the tube will be horrible at that time of the morning.

If Bond Street is nearer, might be better to go back to the original plan of staying in Slough, but getting the train to Ealing Broadway instead of Paddington and getting the Central line to Bond Street. Then you'd still be getting on the tube from the terminus...

AnnaLicious_2

The more I think about this, taking on board the comments above, the more I think we should take the train from Bristol the day before, which is £54 set return (2 adults, free child). The anxiety with this is you never know how long you'll be at the embassy - 1 hour or 6 hours. I could get a return for 4 pm, the last cheap ticket.

I suppose ideally stay in a hotel near Grosvenor Square that's walking / buggy distance as to avoid public transport. But good lord could they pick a more expensive part of London!!

jrrowleyws

Look at easyhotel.com can sometimes get rooms for £40 a night or less (good city centre locations). They are pretty small rooms so you'd probably need your child to share the bed with you!