Almost two weeks before arriving in London, I began to stress about how I would travel from the airport to my accommodation. Having never travelled outside of my country before, I wondered if I would be able to navigate the public transport system on my own. Here’s a recap of how I made my way from the airport to my accommodation and some helpful tips that might assist you when it’s time for your arrival in London.
Firstly, I was part of an unofficial WhatsApp group for students at LSE who were arriving from India. As a group, we decided to create a Google Sheet where people could enter their arrival time and date, the arrival terminal and airport, and the area of their accommodation in London. This helped us figure out who else was arriving at the same or a similar time, and if we could travel from the airport together. Through the sheet, I was able to find someone who was arriving at a similar time and was headed to central London. Despite finding someone to travel with, I was still anxious. So I called a friend living in London to come pick me up at the airport. In hindsight, I feel like I could have navigated the travel by myself but having my friend there when I first arrived helped alleviate my anxiety.
Once I cleared customs and immigration, which took three hours, we took the tube to Holborn, where the girl who was arriving with me was staying. This can be very challenging to do alone because you will be arriving with multiple suitcases that can be extremely difficult to carry on your own. By the time we reached Holborn, it was already close to 1am, which meant that many public transport services were inaccessible. So, we decided to take an Uber, costing us about £12 for the ride.
Since then, I’ve travelled to other airports during my year at LSE, and I find that using public transport to get to or from the airport is the easiest and most convenient option. When traveling to and from Heathrow, the best options for you are the Heathrow Express or the Elizabeth Line. Both are good choices and easily accessible from Central London. When traveling to and from Stansted Airport, you’ll need to take the Stansted Express, which is also quite convenient. Don’t forget to purchase a separate ticket for the Stansted Express on a ticket website such as Trainline, and be sure to get their Digital Railcard for a ticket discount. Having taken the Stansted Express, I found the journey to be easy to navigate each time I took it from Liverpool Street Station. Lastly, I recently travelled back from London Luton Airport and used the Thameslink to reach my destination. This was also easy to navigate.
In my opinion, traveling to and from the airports in London can be easily manageable; however, it’s always recommended to do a bit of planning ahead and to check for train times and disruptions on the day.
