what's the best way to travel from London to Boston and back? Train or rental car?
Aug 14, 2019, 11:08 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 336
what's the best way to travel from London to Boston and back? Train or rental car?
I'm currently in London(at the Crowne Plaza near Gatwick, to be precise).
I want to visit a friend in Boston. I can leave anytime after lunch on Sunday, but I absolutely have to be back in London by 6pm Monday. That give me a little over 24 hours.
What is the best way to travel from London to Boston? Train or rental car?
Thanks!
I want to visit a friend in Boston. I can leave anytime after lunch on Sunday, but I absolutely have to be back in London by 6pm Monday. That give me a little over 24 hours.
What is the best way to travel from London to Boston? Train or rental car?
Thanks!
Aug 14, 2019, 12:05 pm
#2
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Normally I would say train, but Boston is a tiny station with no mainline service. A quick check showed 3 and a half hours and 2 or 3 changes. Given all that, I would go with a car, even if it means having to take the M25 around London.
Aug 14, 2019, 12:22 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 336
thanks!
Aug 15, 2019, 12:31 am
#6
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: London
Posts: 1,546
If you use the eastward loop of the M25, note that the Dartford crossing is a toll road. There are no barriers. You must pay (most people do it on the Internet). Camera enforced, huge fine if you don't pay.
If returning in Monday afternoon rush hour, expect serious traffic queues on the M25.
I'm another fan of the trains, but Boston has a hopeless service - rental car is the viable option for this trip.
If returning in Monday afternoon rush hour, expect serious traffic queues on the M25.
I'm another fan of the trains, but Boston has a hopeless service - rental car is the viable option for this trip.
Aug 15, 2019, 2:23 am
#7
Moderator: UK and Ireland & Europe
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The service to Boston isn't that bad - it's on the Notts-Skeggy line and gets an hourly service. From London, you'd go to Grantham and change, and it can take as little as 2h.
Thing is, you're not in London, you're in Gatwick, 25 miles south of London.
Were it a weekday, I'd suggest getting the direct train from Gatwick to Peterborough, and picking up a hire car from there, to save yourself the misery that is the M25 (having just come back from a delightfully slow journey from the M3 to the A1 last Sunday) and the misery that is the M23 roadworks. However, this service doesn't run on a Sunday at present.
You also have the ever present roadworks on the A1 through the Alconburys. It occasionally gets paused at weekends, and occasionally closes the road altogether. Check Google Maps before travel.
The A1 is a quirky road. When you leave the M25 it's motorway as far as Baldock, but then you blink and there's agricultural vehicles on the road, you're driving through people's gardens, there's 90 degree bends over ancient bridges, roundabouts and all sorts of transport cafés and odd, repurposed roadside buildings. It then turns into a 90mph racetrack north of Hunts - and you'll head off through Peterborough. There's a lot of nice places just beside the A1 and decent pubs for lunch. Let us know if you want any recommendations (and how far up). Note that some of the roundabouts (notably the Black Cat) can cause quite lengthy delays at busy times. You'll notice slow going on the Monday as the freight will be back out in earnest
Do bear in mind that cars are manual transmission by default here, and that roadworks generally now have "average speed cameras", meaning you really can't exceed the 50mph speed limit.
Thing is, you're not in London, you're in Gatwick, 25 miles south of London.
Were it a weekday, I'd suggest getting the direct train from Gatwick to Peterborough, and picking up a hire car from there, to save yourself the misery that is the M25 (having just come back from a delightfully slow journey from the M3 to the A1 last Sunday) and the misery that is the M23 roadworks. However, this service doesn't run on a Sunday at present.
You also have the ever present roadworks on the A1 through the Alconburys. It occasionally gets paused at weekends, and occasionally closes the road altogether. Check Google Maps before travel.
The A1 is a quirky road. When you leave the M25 it's motorway as far as Baldock, but then you blink and there's agricultural vehicles on the road, you're driving through people's gardens, there's 90 degree bends over ancient bridges, roundabouts and all sorts of transport cafés and odd, repurposed roadside buildings. It then turns into a 90mph racetrack north of Hunts - and you'll head off through Peterborough. There's a lot of nice places just beside the A1 and decent pubs for lunch. Let us know if you want any recommendations (and how far up). Note that some of the roundabouts (notably the Black Cat) can cause quite lengthy delays at busy times. You'll notice slow going on the Monday as the freight will be back out in earnest
Do bear in mind that cars are manual transmission by default here, and that roadworks generally now have "average speed cameras", meaning you really can't exceed the 50mph speed limit.
Aug 15, 2019, 2:46 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 336
The service to Boston isn't that bad - it's on the Notts-Skeggy line and gets an hourly service. From London, you'd go to Grantham and change, and it can take as little as 2h.
Thing is, you're not in London, you're in Gatwick, 25 miles south of London.
Were it a weekday, I'd suggest getting the direct train from Gatwick to Peterborough, and picking up a hire car from there, to save yourself the misery that is the M25 (having just come back from a delightfully slow journey from the M3 to the A1 last Sunday) and the misery that is the M23 roadworks. However, this service doesn't run on a Sunday at present.
You also have the ever present roadworks on the A1 through the Alconburys. It occasionally gets paused at weekends, and occasionally closes the road altogether. Check Google Maps before travel.
The A1 is a quirky road. When you leave the M25 it's motorway as far as Baldock, but then you blink and there's agricultural vehicles on the road, you're driving through people's gardens, there's 90 degree bends over ancient bridges, roundabouts and all sorts of transport cafés and odd, repurposed roadside buildings. It then turns into a 90mph racetrack north of Hunts - and you'll head off through Peterborough. There's a lot of nice places just beside the A1 and decent pubs for lunch. Let us know if you want any recommendations (and how far up). Note that some of the roundabouts (notably the Black Cat) can cause quite lengthy delays at busy times. You'll notice slow going on the Monday as the freight will be back out in earnest
Do bear in mind that cars are manual transmission by default here, and that roadworks generally now have "average speed cameras", meaning you really can't exceed the 50mph speed limit.
Thing is, you're not in London, you're in Gatwick, 25 miles south of London.
Were it a weekday, I'd suggest getting the direct train from Gatwick to Peterborough, and picking up a hire car from there, to save yourself the misery that is the M25 (having just come back from a delightfully slow journey from the M3 to the A1 last Sunday) and the misery that is the M23 roadworks. However, this service doesn't run on a Sunday at present.
You also have the ever present roadworks on the A1 through the Alconburys. It occasionally gets paused at weekends, and occasionally closes the road altogether. Check Google Maps before travel.
The A1 is a quirky road. When you leave the M25 it's motorway as far as Baldock, but then you blink and there's agricultural vehicles on the road, you're driving through people's gardens, there's 90 degree bends over ancient bridges, roundabouts and all sorts of transport cafés and odd, repurposed roadside buildings. It then turns into a 90mph racetrack north of Hunts - and you'll head off through Peterborough. There's a lot of nice places just beside the A1 and decent pubs for lunch. Let us know if you want any recommendations (and how far up). Note that some of the roundabouts (notably the Black Cat) can cause quite lengthy delays at busy times. You'll notice slow going on the Monday as the freight will be back out in earnest
Do bear in mind that cars are manual transmission by default here, and that roadworks generally now have "average speed cameras", meaning you really can't exceed the 50mph speed limit.
Thanks!
If your intention was to keep me off British roads, you have succeeded.
Trains don't sound that that much better.I have asked my friends in Boston to consider a 3rd option... which is for them to come down from Boston and spend a weekend around London with me.
I'll move from my Gatwick hotel to a much nicer hotel near Hyde Park for the weekend. (InterContinental comes to mind)
They seem to love the idea. Right now they are just waiting to hear back from their petsitter to see if she's available.
Their Tibetan Mastiff absolutely does NOT allow any other dogsitter into the house. Pretty sure ther'es no need to ask the InterContinental to see if they allow a really big dog that weighs about 10 stones?
Last edited by Vangrovsky; Aug 15, 2019 at 2:51 am
Aug 15, 2019, 5:12 am
#9
Moderator: UK and Ireland & Europe
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Biggleswade
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Posts: 13,611
Thanks!
If your intention was to keep me off British roads, you have succeeded. Trains don't sound that that much better.
I have asked my friends in Boston to consider a 3rd option... which is for them to come down from Boston and spend a weekend around London with me.
I'll move from my Gatwick hotel to a much nicer hotel near Hyde Park for the weekend. (InterContinental comes to mind)
They seem to love the idea. Right now they are just waiting to hear back from their petsitter to see if she's available.
Their Tibetan Mastiff absolutely does NOT allow any other dogsitter into the house. Pretty sure ther'es no need to ask the InterContinental to see if they allow a really big dog that weighs about 10 stones?
If your intention was to keep me off British roads, you have succeeded.
Trains don't sound that that much better.I have asked my friends in Boston to consider a 3rd option... which is for them to come down from Boston and spend a weekend around London with me.
I'll move from my Gatwick hotel to a much nicer hotel near Hyde Park for the weekend. (InterContinental comes to mind)
They seem to love the idea. Right now they are just waiting to hear back from their petsitter to see if she's available.
Their Tibetan Mastiff absolutely does NOT allow any other dogsitter into the house. Pretty sure ther'es no need to ask the InterContinental to see if they allow a really big dog that weighs about 10 stones?
To calibrate my remarks, note that most of my car journeys involve a lively 2-year-old in the back seat.
Aug 15, 2019, 4:51 pm
#10
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Getting to somewhere like Kings Lynn isn't too bad from Gatwick - either change at Kings Cross / St Pancras or Cambridge. Short-ish drive from there round to Boston. Grantham isn't too bad a drive either (though IIRC a slightly less interesting place to pass a few hours as a tourist), that's a change at Kings Cross / St Pancras for a fast train. I'd lean towards getting to one of those two, buying your friends a nice pub lunch, and hoping that's enough of a bribe for them to come collect you!