Train to London

Debbie, That's a lot of questions for one post. There's a train station at Gatwick Airport, so you don't really have to "go" anywhere to catch the train to Brighton. I'm not sure how you get from the airport terminal to the train platforms since I've only seen the station while passing through from Chichester to London. First Capital Connect and Southern both have trains going from Gatwick to Brighton, and for that trip there doesn't seem to be much price advantage in prebooking. Anytime tickets are about £8.00 and advance around £7.50, so it's hardly worth trying yourself to a particular train for that price difference. If the trains fill up quickly, then you might want to buy the anytime ticket ahead of time to assure yourself of a seat. I'll leave the other questions to those more knowledgeable than I.

Which train company do you recommend to travel from Brighton to Southampton? Southern runs direct trains between Brighton and Southampton. The standard walk-up fare is £14.80 and it takes about 1 hour 45 minutes. See www.southernrailway.com Does Southampton have a number of train stations from which to take a train to London? Yes, you need Southampton Central Which London station should we look for when booking a train? (We don't have our hotel yet.) I'm not sure what train you are talking about. From Southampton Central there are fast trains to London Waterloo. To and from Gatwick it would be London Victoria. How do we know which dock we will be at in case I book a driver? Ask your cruise company. All the Southampton dock gates are within a mile or so of Southampton Central. On arrival there, exit through the ticket barriers on platform 4 (trains from Brighton usually arrive on this platform), turn left and you will see the taxi rank.

I have booked a driver to a cruise ship at Southampton on a couple of occasions and it has been my experience that the driver always knows which ship is docked where. They have their little ways.