On Jun 2, 11:42 am, "Jack Taylor" wrote:

[On Heathrow Express] you get assaulted with adverts blaring from the
tvs.
Heathrow Connect takes a little longer, but costs half the price of the
express.

I took the opportunity of riding the HEX today for free (engineering work
on Pic).
Sad, I know, but I just wanted to see what it was like.
I have to say that I didn't find the en-route 'entertainment' intrusive at
all.
On the contrary, I found a quick update of world-wide weather and the
latest headlines
quite enlightening. And I wasn't even going anywhere, nor had I spent 16
hours
secluded from the outside world. I didn't notice the adverts to be
'blaring' at all.
As far as I can remember most of them were silent save for some quiet
muzak. The only
spoken advert I remember was the one encouraging me to travel first class
next time. (10 second
advert once each way.)

On the other hand, I use the Heathrow Connect fairly regularly to commute
between
Hayes & Harlington and Paddington. I can honestly say I have never
traveled on a more
annoying train. I haven't timed them yet, but I'm sure the P.A.s take up
more than half
of the journey time and none of them are the slightest bit interesting or
useful. Indeed,
the voice used for the announcements sounds like someone who is barely
awake!

To sum up, if you have just arrived in London off a long-haul flight, and
your
accommodation is near Paddington, and you have spent a lot of money on your
visit to one of the most expensive cities in the world, go ahead, splash
out an
extra tenner on the HEX. Well worth it. If you're on a budget, get the
tube.
--
Fig