Heathrow Express and a bear from Peru
Once we landed, we quickly made our way through security and customs, picked up our luggage and made a beeline for Heathrow Express, the super speedy train that travels to Paddington Station.
I’ve traveled on Heathrow Express so many times that I actually feel like I’ve officially arrived in London when I take it. Something about the smell of the carriage, the lighting and the news segments playing on the TV. It’s just serene and nice! The price, on the other hand, is getting a bit steep! It’s £20 for a single adult ticket, £34 for a return (or round-trip) adult ticket, £10 for a single child’s ticket, £17 for a return (or round-trip) child’s ticket. Kids under 5 are free. We found out later that it is much cheaper, when there are two or more people traveling, to take a mini cab from central London straight to Heathrow. But never mind! There is also something to be said for tradition and I loved the trip. It’s 15 minutes and you’re there! Paddington!
I love the little Paddington Bear statue at the station. There’s also a little Paddington Bear shop upstairs, which sells all manner of Paddington items – books, stuffed toys, plates, cups, aprons, tea towels, chocolates – you name it!
Paddington Station also has plenty of options for food. We stopped for lunch at Patisserie Valerie, which had a nice selection of bakery items, sandwiches and desserts. I got a simple ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette and a cappuccino (ah, can anyone explain how Europeans get coffee so very right?!). It was the perfect precursor to our trip to Paris, which was only hours away.
More tomorrow!
Posted on 17, April 2013, in Travel and tagged Britain, Heathrow Airport, Heathrow Express, London, Paddington Bear, Paddington station, Patisserie Valerie, travel. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
BRITRISH.COM 
Paddington! Bless his little wellies!
I think I’ve only been on the Heathrow Express once or twice: that price is eye-watering, but 15 mins is unbeatable.
It definitely beats taking the Tube all of that way, which I have done more than a few times, too!
Yeah, British stations have come on a long way in the last few years – probably because there is a lot of competition with air travel for longer routes.
I know you travelled mostly by train on this trip, but I’d be interested in your thoughts on the differences in car travel in UK and US (apart from driving on the opposites sides of the road). Differences I notice are that, off the major routes, UK roads are narrower and more twisty than US ones; and US roads have fewer signs (warning signs and directions) than the UK. Oh, and US tend to use road names a lot more, whereas UK uses road numbers (which is something my sat-nav can;t get it’s head round). Generally in the UK we only use names inside residential areas, whereas the US gives names to mote major roads.
This is just something I thought about while driving home from the next town on a typical UK narrow and twisty road this evening.
Interesting regarding road names vs. road numbers – I haven’t thought about that, but true! My biggest gripe with US roads is that on freeways, we typically have an entrance point right before a freeway exit so you have people trying to get on the freeway, just as you have people also trying to get off the freeway. It’s always chaos and could be completely avoided if they swapped the two around like they do in the UK!