London travel/transportation

Thank you! Any suggestions for my travels?

I will also be traveling to England this spring and have booked a transfer from Heathrow to Bath with taxi2flight.co.uk. On the way to Bath the driver will take us to Stonehenge. It is a bit pricey but we decided it would allow us to make our way to Bath and see a sight that we would otherwise miss. We've both been to England several times but have never made it to Stonehenge.

Some tour companies will allow you to get off and make your way on your own. Some will let you bring luggage if they have room and they may not discount the fare. Make sure the guide knows where you are leaving the tour so the rest of the group doesn't needlessly wait for you.

You might stay in the Bloomsbury area near St. Pancras. It's a lovely area with a number of hotels.

The area around St Pancras has very good transport links and is much less sleazy than it used to be. (Still maintain situational awareness when you're off the main streets, though.)

For travel between London and Bath (not an expert on Stonehenge) the best route is by rail. If you can lock yourself down to a specific time, you can get a significant discount if you book NOW at www.gwr.com. I don't think that it would be a good idea to try to get back from Bath to Heathrow on the same morning as your flight - I would strongly recommend coming back earlier and staying in central London or near the airport. If your flight takes off at ten am you need to be at Heathrow two hours earlier at least.

Sightseeing buses are infrequent and unreliable as an actual transport means - get an Oyster card and use the normal buses and Underground. Be warned that Oyster cards can be used to reach Heathrow from London by the Piccadilly Line, but not by the Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect trains from Paddington station.

If you don't mind getting up very early, National Express (nationalexpress.com) has coaches (buses) that will get you from Bath to Heathrow in time for your flight. Search for coaches from Bath to Heathrow, NOT Bath to London. There's one that leaves Bath at 4:30 and one that leaves at 6:00. In choosing between them, make sure to check the terminal that your flight leaves from at Heathrow. There are several terminals that are nowhere near each other. If you fly from terminal 2 or 3, the 6:00 coach might get you there in time, but if you fly from terminal 5, it won't.

Because May 8th is a Sunday, the trains don't start running that early. To get from Bath to Heathrow by train, you'd need to leave the night before.

"Also is the hop on hop off bus a good way to see London or should I be getting an Oyster card?"

Yes.

What I mean is, the HOHO is a good thing to do upon arrival, taking one full circuit to get oriented and say you've "seen" lots of famous sights. It's not a good way to get around after that, as it takes a long time. For sightseeing, you will want an Oyster card.

staying near the st. Pancreas station is a convenient area for sightseeing as it provides easy access of transport to most of sightseeing places...