Hi there,

I've got a friend arriving at Heathrow Airport in a week, and he's
going to be staying at my place. The problem is that he's arriving in
the morning that day, while I myself won't be flying back in via
Gatwick till later that evening. The plan is that he's going to
explore London on his own, and that we'll meet up together later on
and take a train to where I live (Uxbridge-ish).
He's going to be bringing luggage along, and will be travelling into
London on the tube. I was looking for a convenient station (no
changing trains and somewhere in central London if possible) for him
to leave his luggage, that is on or close to our route back home.
Wouldn't want to be travelling back to Heathrow to pick up the
luggage, and rather not
Later that evening I will be getting into London via the Gatwick
Express to Victoria, and from there on it's Victoria line to Green
Park, Jubilee to Finchley Road and Met. onwards.

Green Park might be a good station to meet up with him, but does it
have lockers? What other stations do?
We could meet up at Victoria since I'm going there anyway, but I
rather not have him change trains with all the luggage.
Any other suggestions? King's Cross would be a bit far out but I
suppose that since it's a big national rail station it will definitely
have lockers.

We could meet up at Victoria since I'm going there anyway, but I
rather not have him change trains with all the luggage.

Understandable, but there is the option of changing from the Piccadilly Line
to the District Line (for Victoria) at Hammersmith or Barons Court where the
interchange is a few yards on the level across an island platform. That
would at least make his incoming journey bearable with luggage even if it
doesn't help with the later journey.

In message om, sweek
writes

We could meet up at Victoria since I'm going there anyway, but I
rather not have him change trains with all the luggage.

Why do people take so much luggage when visiting other countries? Do
they think that washing machines don't exist? !

Anyway, his best bet is probably to use the facilities at Victoria -
even Americans with several hundred-weight of excess baggage can manage
the cross-platform change from Piccadilly to District at Barons Court
(or Hammersmith, but BC is less crowded).
--
Paul Terry

Alright then I'll let him change at Baron's Court then. It's a short
interchange and he can't get confused with District lines going to
Edgware Road or circle lines over there, so it should be alright.

I am not actually sure how much luggage he'll have on him, but too
much to walk around London all day I bet.

Thanks guys.

sweek wrote:
Alright then I'll let him change at Baron's Court then. It's a short
interchange and he can't get confused with District lines going to
Edgware Road or circle lines over there, so it should be alright.

Normally that's true, but just occasionally there'll be a High St
Kensington train through Barons Court eastbound, for example when the
District is disrupted. So it's best to tell him to check that the
platform display says Upminster or Tower Hill, or anything except HSK.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Paul Terry wrote:
In message om, sweek
writes

We could meet up at Victoria since I'm going there anyway, but I
rather not have him change trains with all the luggage.

Why do people take so much luggage when visiting other countries? Do
they think that washing machines don't exist? !

It can be inconvenient trying to find a washing machine in a far-off
land. Not to mention that might not be where you want to spend your time
when you have spent hundreds of pounds or more on a trip.
--
Michael Hoffman

On 4 Mar 2007 06:20:30 -0800, "sweek"
wrote:

Hi there,

I've got a friend arriving at Heathrow Airport in a week, and he's
going to be staying at my place. The problem is that he's arriving in
the morning that day, while I myself won't be flying back in via
Gatwick till later that evening. The plan is that he's going to
explore London on his own, and that we'll meet up together later on
and take a train to where I live (Uxbridge-ish).
He's going to be bringing luggage along, and will be travelling into
London on the tube. I was looking for a convenient station (no
changing trains and somewhere in central London if possible) for him
to leave his luggage, that is on or close to our route back home.

Any other suggestions? King's Cross would be a bit far out but I
suppose that since it's a big national rail station it will definitely
have lockers.

Kings Cross would be my other suggestion. However the issue here is that
the station is very complex and busy - and that's just the LU side. With
there being 3 NR stations of which 2 have "Kings Cross" in their title I
imagine it might be a bit much to expect a completely new visitor to
London to cope with it all.

http://www.excess-baggage.com/rail_station_services.php

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Sun, Mar 04, 2007 at 10:16:08PM +0000, Michael Hoffman wrote:
Paul Terry wrote:
Why do people take so much luggage when visiting other countries? Do
they think that washing machines don't exist? !
It can be inconvenient trying to find a washing machine in a far-off
land. Not to mention that might not be where you want to spend your time
when you have spent hundreds of pounds or more on a trip.

Most hotels have employees who will drive the washing machine for you.

--
David Cantrell | London Perl Mongers Deputy Chief Heretic

Us Germans take our humour very seriously
-- German cultural attache talking to the Today Programme,
about the German supposed lack of a sense of humour, 29 Aug 2001

David Cantrell wrote:
On Sun, Mar 04, 2007 at 10:16:08PM +0000, Michael Hoffman wrote:
Paul Terry wrote:
Why do people take so much luggage when visiting other countries? Do
they think that washing machines don't exist? !
It can be inconvenient trying to find a washing machine in a far-off
land. Not to mention that might not be where you want to spend your time
when you have spent hundreds of pounds or more on a trip.

Most hotels have employees who will drive the washing machine for you.

I don't think I would agree on most, unless you are only talking about
expensive hotels. And all the hotels laundering fees I have seen are at
extortionate prices.
--
Michael Hoffman

On Mar 4, 2:20 pm, "sweek" wrote:
Hi there,

I've got a friend arriving at Heathrow Airport in a week, and he's
going to be staying at my place. The problem is that he's arriving in
the morning that day, while I myself won't be flying back in via
Gatwick till later that evening. The plan is that he's going to
explore London on his own, and that we'll meet up together later on
and take a train to where I live (Uxbridge-ish).
He's going to be bringing luggage along, and will be travelling into
London on the tube. I was looking for a convenient station (no
changing trains and somewhere in central London if possible) for him
to leave his luggage, that is on or close to our route back home.
Wouldn't want to be travelling back to Heathrow to pick up the
luggage, and rather not
Later that evening I will be getting into London via the Gatwick
Express to Victoria, and from there on it's Victoria line to Green
Park, Jubilee to Finchley Road and Met. onwards.

Green Park might be a good station to meet up with him, but does it
have lockers? What other stations do?
We could meet up at Victoria since I'm going there anyway, but I
rather not have him change trains with all the luggage.
Any other suggestions? King's Cross would be a bit far out but I
suppose that since it's a big national rail station it will definitely
have lockers.

The mainline rail termini nearly all have manned left luggage
facilities. I don't know of any underground station that does.

It won't be lockers (or if it is it will be INSIDE the office which
will close at some stage in the envening) - I won't say they don't
exist anymore in the UK but they are rare.