Oxon Flyer

Allie, for Oyster-related questions I recommend checking out the wikipost at the head of the excellent Oyster FAQ thread in the UK & Ireland forum, and if you have any further questions that's the best place to have them answered.

geo1005

The Oystercard has a pre-paid amount on it. The daily cap means means you will only be charged on any given day until you reach the daily maximum of Ł6.40. Even if you take 20 trips in one day that would cost Ł2 each you can only be charged the daily max of Ł6.40. If you skip a day's use there is no charge or penalty. Also, no sharing cards, each traveler needs their own. More info here:

https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-informatio...or-oyster-card

Also, as for heading to Paris for a few nights, I say great idea! Book Eurostar out of Victoria in advance for savings. I would not recommend the discount carriers for flights as the savings on airfare can be eaten up getting to/from Gatwick and the in/out of Paris on the other end. Eurostar takes you right in to Paris Gare du Nord station which is centrally located.

Allie Abby

ok understand now about the card , I thought same thing about cost getting to and from airport if went to paris , so now have to check into if its better to take train alone to paris and find hotel or to get package deal train and hotel ,any advice on which is better for cost ?

geo1005

Book Eurostar and hotel separate. If your stay at the Park Lane burns up all your Starwood points, you should be able to find an inexpensive yet decently located hotel in Paris. FWIW, there are a few well-located Holiday Inn properties in Paris (Notre Dame, Grands Boulevard and St Germain are the three that come to mind) that could work well for you. Of course if you have Starwood points to use in Paris as well, the Westin Vendome should do nicely.

iflyjetz

He mentioned on page 1 that he also has some Marriott and IHG points. For Marriott, I don't think you get good locations until you get to category 8, which is 40,000 points per night.

Allie Abby

ya checked out marriott and IHG hotels for points there pretty high ,ill just see how it goes , I thought maybe package deal for train and hotel ,but someone said to do them separate, not going till next may ,but never been to uk or france so I fell better if I had most of my hotel booked early , really happy with my 5 nights in London so far.have crazy question would it make sense to book heathrow hotel on sw point my last night in London but I'm flying out of Gatwick ,flight at 930am, is it a big deal to go from 1 airport to another.

geo1005

VERY bad idea. Heathrow and Gatwick are nowhere near each other.

If you depart early morning from the Sheraton on your last day it will take about an hour to leave the hotel and get to Victoria to catch the Gatwick Express train out to LGW Airport. Leave at 6 AM and you're fine. If you prefer to stay at the airport the night before your return flight, look on Kayak or Travelocity and book an inexpensive hotel at Gatwick. They are far more modestly priced than hotels in central London.

Allie Abby

what about BEST WESTERN Gatwick Skylane Hotel ,can I get there from London fairly easy ? is it close to Gatwick.

iflyjetz

Like most of the hotels in the area, there's a shuttle. It charges 5GBP round trip - that charge looks pretty standard for hotels in the area. You can take the Gatwick Express to the airport and get to the hotel from there; it's only 2 miles from the airport.

Allie Abby

ya seen the shuttle on there website , 1 last question before I decide where to book hotel , what about aloft excel in London my last night , can get it on pts , my flight at 930 am back to Canada , would it make sense to stay there or not ? or not worth it.

ac777

Since your flight to Canada is at 0930, I'd suggest the Sheraton Heathrow or Sheraton Skyline. Of course that is if you are flying out of LHR. Both hotels have free buses to the airport--the one from the Sheraton Heathrow is a few meters walk, the one from the Skyline is across the road. Leaving from the downtown London for that early a flight can pose a problem.

iflyjetz

He's going out of Gatwick.

The travel time from Aloft Excel to Gatwick is going to be a bit under 2 hours.

sandiegofun

I've stayed at the skyline at least 20 different times and always take the Hoppa into the terminals. Are you saying if I cross the busy street there is a public bus that might be cheaper or more timely and it goes straight to main bus station?

Allie Abby

ok tks for the help ill just book hotel at Gatwick my last night,we booked aloft for our last 3 nights in London ,but made sept bookings so ill cancel the last night there.

Zinzan

Yes, indeed! The stop you want is Harlington Corner (Stop J), visible across the road from the Skyline, but to cross the road you need to turn left leaving the Skyline to cross the road at the traffic lights. The 105, 111 and 140 buses from that stop to Heathrow Central Bus Station are all part of the Heathrow Freeflow zone (i.e. are free!), and are more frequent than the Hoppa buses (bus timetables can be searched here, but during the day and early evening the Heathrow-bound buses are so frequent from that stop it's hardly worth checking the timetable).

The Freeflow buses obviously work from Heathrow Central, too. To get to the Skyline, alight at the New Road stop outside the Marriott, and the Skyline is a short walk on from there.