Southend to Heathrow

Android07

Hi.

I live in Southend but regularly fly out from Heathrow.

I drive but do not want to leave my car in Heathrow as I am usually away for months and parking would cost me an arm and a leg.

The alternative is to use the train but taking heavy checked baggage and a cabin bag and changing trains is very difficult.

National express is also useless as they tend to go from Victoria to Heathrow and they do not have a direct route from my place.

What other options do I have ? Taxis cost £160 from here!

giraffe69

How about Southend to Liverpool Street and Elizabeth line to Heathrow? At least only one change

MilesT6060842

giraffe69 said:

How about Southend to Liverpool Street and Elizabeth line to Heathrow? At least only one change

Southend Victoria to Shenfield, change to Elizabeth Line there, likely to be an easier change with luggage as it is step free and smaller than Liverpool Street (although it would take longer).

Yes there are no direct coaches, but you don't need to go to Victoria to change (it is the slow option).  There are inter-airport buses which don't enter Central London (starting from Stansted/Cambridge--X10 from Wickford for Stansted) and also the Green Line 724 from Harlow (which takes an age, but is cheap, and Harlow is also accessible by bus).

traveline.info is a good site to find out this level of travel.

baser999

I’d agree that Elizabeth Line from Shenfield would be the easiest; just get a train, taxi or a lift from Southend to Shenfield.

Wonka_2

One way hire car ?

MilesT6060842

Wonka_2 said:

One way hire car ?

Likely to be expensive.  Although sometimes you can get cheap "repositioning" day hires from specialist websites for a few £ but these usually are inter-airport moves e.g. Stansted to Heathrow, but you can go where you want for a few hours after collecting the car but must arrive at the nominated drop off by a time. 

The other option that may be worth looking into is getting a flight from Southend Airport to Amsterdam and then onwards from Amsterdam (instead of going to Heathrow).  This might even be cheaper than a Heathrow flight, although a "through booking" won't be possible (SEN-AMS is easyjet) so you need enough layover time and have good travel insurance (and a good credit limit for replacement tickets out of pocket) in case delays mess up the connection

Android07

MilesT6060842 said:

Wonka_2 said:

One way hire car ?

Likely to be expensive.  Although sometimes you can get cheap "repositioning" day hires from specialist websites for a few £ but these usually are inter-airport moves e.g. Stansted to Heathrow, but you can go where you want for a few hours after collecting the car but must arrive at the nominated drop off by a time. 

The other option that may be worth looking into is getting a flight from Southend Airport to Amsterdam and then onwards from Amsterdam (instead of going to Heathrow).  This might even be cheaper than a Heathrow flight, although a "through booking" won't be possible (SEN-AMS is easyjet) so you need enough layover time and have good travel insurance (and a good credit limit for replacement tickets out of pocket) in case delays mess up the connection

That is actually a pretty good idea.

I had a quick look. I booked flights to Tokyo for travel in June two months ago and it cost me £790 with Qatar from Heathrow.

If I look at flights today, easyjet between Amsterdam costs £130 and the onwards trip between Amsterdam and Tokyo costs £700.

So, for £40 more, it saves me so much hassle and road/train travel.

MilesT6060842

Android07 said:

MilesT6060842 said:

The other option that may be worth looking into is getting a flight from Southend Airport to Amsterdam and then onwards from Amsterdam (instead of going to Heathrow).  This might even be cheaper than a Heathrow flight, although a "through booking" won't be possible (SEN-AMS is easyjet) so you need enough layover time and have good travel insurance (and a good credit limit for replacement tickets out of pocket) in case delays mess up the connection

That is actually a pretty good idea.

I had a quick look. I booked flights to Tokyo for travel in June two months ago and it cost me £790 with Qatar from Heathrow.

If I look at flights today, easyjet between Amsterdam costs £130 and the onwards trip between Amsterdam and Tokyo costs £700.

So, for £40 more, it saves me so much hassle and road/train travel.

There is one issue with using AMS as in interchange airport to be aware of: you will have to reclaim your baggage and re-check in (both ways).  In effect going to the public side of the airport (though customs, entering the Netherlands) and then check in your baggage on public side for next flight and go back through security.  Which is a bit tedious, and AMS is a big airport (all in one terminal, but still takes a while to move from place to place).  I have done this once in the past many years ago, all happened efficiently but it took time and walking.  

This hassle can work to your benefit, though, if you can take the time--schedule a really long layover between flights, reclaim baggage and check in baggage right away, then go into the centre of Amsterdam (or even to nearby cities) and do some sightseeing.  The trains from the airport are really frequent and not too pricey.   Even staying in the airport there are things to do (there used to be a free display of some artwork from the Rijksmuseum in the main terminal, maybe that is still there), also there is a hotel in the airport (airside) if your layover is overnight (although staying off airport works too). 

The other variation on this theme, if you have the time:  take the overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, and then Metro and train to AMS.  The ferry is quite cheap (there are combined "Dutchflyer" train fares both sides), however it is a fair amount of baggage carrying to do (train to ferry to metro to train to checkin)

macman

Changing at Ilford, Shenfield or Romford will be far quicker than LP St. After 21/5 there will be a minimum 2 trains an hour on the Elizabeth line direct to Heathow from Shenfield. Or just change trains at any station between Whitechapel and Paddington: it's a 3 or 4 minute same platform change.
Pointless to use either the Picadilly line or the Heathrow Express now. The former is much slower, the latter more expensive and requires changing at Paddington.

Android07

Thank you everyone! Much appreciated.

CKhalvashi

Train to Harlow Town then the bus to Heathrow (for £2) will ultimately probably be the cheapest. If I recall it's the 734. This could IIRC be done through Stratford, avoiding London Terminals for ultimate cost saving.

It won't be time effective though.