Driving into Heathrow for a pick up at arrivals, but...

Joel, there is a shuttle bus from the terminal to where the car rental places are. You could meet him at a predetermined car rental office. That way you would avoid the airport.

Where are you staying the night you arrive?
Where are you heading after the pick up?

Whose car is it (is it a hire car?). Make sure you have registration and insurance documents with you, and, if it is not registered in your name, you need written permission from the owner. I assume you are taking it back through the Channel Tunnel to return it some time.
Driving on the "wrong side of the road" requires a lot of concentration at first. You need to go back to basics, back to the rules you were taught when you learned to drive. All your automatic sub-conscious driving needs to be re-learnt. Cars coming past you on the wrong side can be intimidating. Resist the urge to swerve.
It really isn't that difficult, you should be OK after a day. Coming out of the Channel Tunnel feeds you straight onto the M20 motorway, just remember to keep in the left lane unless overtaking.
DO NOT park on the right side of a street. The risk is too high you will get into your car and just drive off on the right side of the road!

BTW, on the French side the tunnel is signposted "tunnel sous La Manche".

Thanks. to address each:

Richard: I believe we are staying in or near Carston Close (airbnb), but I am not in charge of that reservation. The idea was to stay outside of London and take trains in and around. That was under the assumption our pickup was coming into Gatwick. That just changed.
We would be dragging his luggage back to the flat (wherever it may be) and then head into the city from there.

Andrea: that's a good idea. If they are sufficiently far away and easy to get in and out of. I'll have to look.

kiregolla91: I love rugby but don't have time to watch the live stream of Scotland VS France :-( that's where the youtube link goes. I bet it was supposed to be an entertaining romp around Heathrow, right?

Q??? since we no longer are picking up in Gatwick, WHERE ELSE would be a good location to park the car and commute into the city? we are going east to Bath and Wales after London.

Thanks all! j2

Not from the BIG city, hopefully marco or emma might roll by soon.
Can you confirm postcode that I got right address
From east London, eltham, will be a difficult trip. Indeed quick scan of routefinder its quicker for him to catch the train and arrive a mile from your accomodation than you can drive to heathrow.
You are going to give up 4 hours minimum for the return trip, and get stressed to your eyeballs, and its very likely he arrives early morning when traffic is at its worse and assuming his flight arrives on time
The first results for the train trip, are typically 1 hour 30.
That said , you could post flight arrival time might sway other posters
Ask the hosts first, I would think non permitted street parking is likely, If not maybe the website. parkonmydrive might throw something your way

A journey like that would be very difficult as someone unfamiliar with the British road scene - although you may have already adjusted though as it will be tedious enough getting there the day before, although having taken another look at your location this might not be as difficult as I was thinking as the M20 & A20 take you nearly all the way.

The quickest way in theory to LHR would be to take a route right through central London that would coincidentally pass by a number of major sites, which you could take a good look at as you crawl by (don't forget to pay the congestion charge). The main alternative is skirting round on the South Circular A205, but as any Londoner will tell you this is no more than a series of roadsigns on regular streets. Not sure what a satnav would come up with but it won't be easy to follow.

I'd back up to questioning why you are coming from Paris by car rather than public transport unless you are doing something enroute. If you are planning extensive driving in England, being on the wrong side of the car isn't going to make things easier.

Lots of questions and comments and ideas ... I will try to clear things up below,

but first, let me start over with:

HI, I am driving down to London for a few days and need to meet up with a friend flying into LHR. Where would you recommend I locate myself (and my car) outside of the city center that

1) Has good public transit access into the city center for daily tourist commuting, and

2) Will be convenient for me to meet my friend at LHR and get him back to our rented flat? If I can avoid driving through LHR, all the better.

I am not picky as to what ‘burb. I just need a relatively safe place to stash the car and sleep for a few days and isn’t excessively far by train from the Tower. Once I recommendations on an area to focus on, I will then search for lodging.

Thanks. J2
…

And to try and clear things up a bit, the following:

I am in Europe for 4 months (mid-feb to mid-june). Arrive/depart Frankfurt. Yes I am aware of the Schengen visa and will not overstay (hence UK and Ireland).

I am leasing a Peugeot 3008 from AutoEurope for the duration. It works out to about $40/day including comprehensive insurance (collision, liability, etc) and 24 hour roadside assistance. Or so they say, I hope not to need to find out otherwise. I have my IDP and all papers will be in order. I am driving so I am not locked into a train/bus schedule, nor have to make reservations months in advance, and so I can go where public transit does not (Umbria, Tuscany, Hungary, Ireland, Wales or pretty much all the stuff I probably will be most interested in). It is expensive to get the car over/under the water, but likely cheaper than renting in all the various places I am going, and taking planes and trains in between. Just my choice this time around.

London is only a few days, and for me would not be a challenge, but I have to coordinate with two others. And that last minute change to LHR. Thus my question about the ins and outs of LHR.

I probably did not cover all, but I can add more if needed.

I am learning too much in these forums. My brain hurts.

Thanks to all, many times over. J2

Carston Close, is that just you for one night then pick friend up and get new ( as yet unbooked) accomodation?
It in a convenient place as you arrive from France, motorway and dual lane until a few miles out
Its not well placed to get to Heathrow. if you really do want to pick him up even though Heathrow is due west 25 miles,I would likely go east 10 miles to the M25 and follow that clockwise
Its a 120 mile round trip,but such is the direct route maybe only 20 mins longer, but multiples easier.
Central London rush hour traffic bumbles along at 20 mph, and the core area its 10.

.

Joel,

For the avoidance of confusion, is your airbnb in SE12, Lewisham, near Lee? That's where some of us have worked it out to be.

If so, the Lee station has trains to Cannon Street, not one of the major stations but very convenient to City commuters as it is only a couple of minutes walk to Bank and central to the City.

Driving from there to anywhere will be quite an adventure, and driving "south of the river" always has its challenges. I may have have missed what day of the week you intend this trip. If it is a weekday please leave lots of extra time for the drive. If it were me and I wanted to be sure I would be able to meet my colleague at Heathrow from there I'd allow an absolute minimum of 3 hours by car, probably more. If a weekend maybe a little less but not a lot.

I don't think that you are much worse off going to Heathrow rather than Gatwick. Gatwick wouldn't have saved you hours.

I wouldn't try to rely on a GPS once you are inside the South Circular or even the M25. What you need for quick journeys inside the M25 is local knowledge because a GPS won't know all the rat runs. You will have to be patient, very patient.

Most of Lewisham is covered by CPZs - Controlled Parking Zones - which restrict parking to residents. You should ask your host if the Close is covered by the CPZ. If it is Zone V, the restrictions are in place Monday to Friday 9am to 5 pm. If it is actually in a different CPZ most of them have longer hours.

It will be difficult to drive in urban areas with the steering wheel on the wrong side, to say nothing of getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, too. In London you may be confused by the multiple traffic lights at some junctions which can have one lane going and another lane stopped. Be sure you understand the laws regarding bus lanes and their markings, and the differences between Urban Clearways, Red Routes, double and single yellow lines and box junctions. If you offend any of those you will likely be caught on camera and receive substantial fines. If you venture into the Congestion Zone when it is in operation be sure to pay the charge the same day. The costs rise astronomically if not.

I also thought Lewisham is off the tourist trail and likely cheap for London accommadation wise. The public transport links to central London are good too .You could do far worse....

You have all described exactly why I have no desire whatsoever to drive through the center of London, or pretty much anywhere else close by unless absolutely necessary.

I will be driving in with one passenger (my eyes on the right). Our pal arrives at LHW 4:00pm, Saturday, May 2.

Where we stay is not booked so we can change. Lewisham may be the actual area I guess. It was described by the airbnb host as "Carston Close" https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1099559?checkin=05%2F02%2F2015&checkout=05%2F05%2F2015&guests=3&s=_QY2#neighborhood . ALL searches mandate available parking.

Where we stay to visit London is more important than how to extract our pal from LHW. That is a one time event and once we know where we are staying, we can then figure out those logistics.

Given this new information - I am now entertaining suggestions for a NEW AREA to search in. Driving in from the east is only a fact for the arrival day. We certainly don't have to stay in the SE. I can get to just about anywhere given enough time.

Thanks again. I am learning a lot, really fast. j2

Where you intend to go after London might have some relevance to coming up with an optimal location. Somewhere in West London possibly, although that will be a longer journey initially.

Going west to Bath and Wales after London. SW would be fine. Yes, longer initially, but it will be a travel day regardless of how long, and probably not more than an extra hour, unless there is a pileup. Poking around on the web I thought maybe Wimbeldon area would be good.