"antoine" wrote in message
...
Dear readers I need your suggestion. I will come to England for one week
for visiting London and the sorrondings. Because the airplane is landing
in Stansted, I thaought that taking an accomodation in Cambridge would be
practical for living some days in a beautiful "small" english town and
also being not too far from London.
Is it a good idea to rent a car and to drive from Cambridge to a place
somewhere near London where it is possible to park and to go by
underground train to the center of the city? I always do so when I have
to go to Milan from my town in the north of Italy.
Do you think that the traffic conditions near Cambridge are such that I
can make a good use of the car to visit for instance the seaside (Norfolk)
or another town like Oxford? Or I will be spending ours in queues?
Thank you for your suggestions. I love England where I spent one year
40 years ago (and I also got a british driving licence).


If your main interest is to stay in Cambridge so that you can visit London
you must understand how our railway works. If you want to arrive in London
before 1014 it will cost you at least £32.40. If you take the train that
arrives Liverpool St at 1014 the fare is £19 and you can also buy a
Travelcard (which covers both your journey to and from Cambridge as well as
buses, trains and underground in London) for £22.80 but trains to Kings X
still cost £32.20. The journey takes about 1 hour (slightly more to
Liverpool St) each way so staying in Cambridge to visit London could be
expensive and time consuming if you make several trips.

As for hiring a car to go to London or Oxford I have one word for you. NO.
Traffic is heavy and slow. Parking is difficult and expensive in the
cities. You can park outside the city and travel on by bus or by train but
then you are paying for the car all the time and using it very little; at
home you have already paid for the car! Also, to get to Oxford by train
you will probably go via London and even driving you can come via the
outside of London on roads that look as if they will be fast on a map but
they are often slow.