London Travel

Upon further reading, I see my children need a special card to travel for free on the tube. It takes four weeks to get, so that will not work for us. Any suggestions?

Just a couple of thoughts to kick off with... Gants Hill (notice the "s") is way out east, in the eastern fringes of the Central Line. It is in Zone 4 so you will be paying a lot for the use of the Underground. Oyster cards are simple to use, and for the amounts you will have to load on them, they are straightforward. I am concerned by your "late on a Saturday night". For two reasons - first the Underground shuts down around midnight. Are you arriving at Heathrow or Gatwick? (Or London City or Stansted or Luton?) Also, I don't go that far east and only go by what I hear and read. I'm not completely sure I would want to be at the far reaches of the Central Line late on a Saturday night and trying to find my way about. Is somebody meeting you at the Tube station?

We arrive around 850 in Stansted, so not to late. We have to clear immigration. The apartment we are staying at about two minutes from the tube. Should I be worried? Is it not safe?

I have never been to Gants Hill, or anywhere near it, so cannot comment on what sort of area it is. I am never quite sure what tourists mean by "safe", as personally I am seldom concerned about areas that I expect to visit. My concern would be about where you are staying and why. A journey from Stansted to Gants Hill with 3 children, one only 5 years old, and your luggage is never likely to be easy. It will be even more difficult if it is late in the evening, you are already stressed, and don't know where you are going. As Nigel suggests, it would be best if someone met you, either at Gants Hill station or at some other convenient local place. Will you be staying with someone in Gants Hill? If not, why have you chosen it?

I am not to worried about the kids and the trip. We have been traveling around Europe for the last four years with them. They are good travelers. We picked the apartment, due to the fact we are family of five and it was in our budget. It has many wonderful reviews and I spoke with the owner a number of times before deciding on it. Central London would have been ideal, but I could not make it work on the short notice that we book this trip.

I don't know if it is safe or not. As I said, I never go that far east, and I do read the papers about some of the areas that are nearby, and I do know the reputation that the east end of the Central Line has. But I have no personal knowledge. If you are comfortable that you can find the place easily and you feel comfortable taking care of yourselves in off the beaten path places I say go for it. Figure an hour or less to get out of the airport, less if you all have only carry on. You can get the Stansted Express to Liverpool Street Station, then the Central Line form there. The Stansted Express (despite its name it is a stopper not express) goes 4 times an hour on the quarters and takes just over 45 minutes. It calls at Bishops Stortford and Tottenham Hale. After 2245 they take longer as they are on a different route. The last one leaves at 00:30. The Underground takes 21 minutes and goes every 10. If your flight is late or there are problems getting from Stansted you may run into difficulty as the last tube train from Liverpool Street to Gants Hill is at 2311.

Thank you for the info! : ) As long as it is not as bad as Brussels I think we will be alright. I will talk to the owner again and see if he will meet with us. It does look like an easy place to get to. Thank you for all of your help.

And I will admit this is one of the few times I did not research the area before booking the place.

Not that it makes much difference to the big picture, but last spring even our 14 year old traveled for free.

When we were in London last year, we reserved a Black Taxi to pick us up at Heathrow and take us to Kings Cross Station, ( we were going to York) We were very pleased with the taxi service. He actually came in a van that would hold your family. They quoted us a flat fee and it did not increase because there were two of us. The driver's name was Bill Anderson and I highly recommend him. When we returned to London, we called him whenever we wanted a taxi.

if you can call and get a specific driver it it is not a black cab. You cannot reserve a black cab. It would have been a private car hire, sometimes, but in your case inaccurately called a minicab.