Friday, June 20, 2014

Homeward bound

Day 15 (Mon, 16 June 2014)

This was theoretically not a day in London because we left at 6am for the airport. But I thought I would just record it in a post to complete the journey.

Our flights were a little out of the ordinary, in the sense that we flew into Heathrow but were leaving from Gatwick. There isn't a Tube station at Gatwick so when I was researching ways to get to the airport from London, one of them I found was EasyBus - a low-priced bus that regularly ferried passengers from Earl's Court area directly to Gatwick Airport. In fact, this was the main reason that we decided to stay at Earl's Court in our second leg of London, we could easily board the EasyBus.

Among all the different ways to get to and from Gatwick, EasyBus is by far the cheapest - from £2 one way! That's even cheaper than a Tube ticket! It seemed almost too good to be true and I guess that should have triggered my suspicions but it didn't. We booked four tickets for the 6.20am bus. (Only one seat per bus trip gets the £2 special price so here's a tip: even if you're travelling in a group, book one ticket first and if you're the first one, you get it at £2. The rest will cost more but if you click say, four tickets at one go, you immediately get charged at the higher price.)

After we'd booked the tickets, I thought I'd check out reviews for EasyBus and to my horror, found that the service was panned very badly online. Lots and lots of reports of no-shows, late buses, buses getting lost... and NO REFUNDS. Yikes.

I had to have a Plan B on hand and after more research, found that we could also take the rail from West Brompton station (about 100m from the EasyBus bus stop to Gatwick. So we decided to do this: since we'd already booked tickets for EasyBus, we would go to the bus stop and pray the bus arrives. We'd give it 15-minute grace and if it didn't show up, we would make our way to Gatwick via rail.

So rather apprehensively, bright and early, we dragged our luggage to the bus stop. And lo and behold, the EasyBus drove up a few minutes after we'd arrived! Yay, our prayers were answered!


EasyBus is a small bus so there are limitations with baggage but we didn't face any problems. The driver was a quiet fella. He collected our tickets and helped with the bags without saying much. The drive all the way to Gatwick was smooth and uneventful.

So were we just fortunate? I don't know. I think God was looking out for us. Also, I don't doubt that all the bad reviews are true but I suspect that with such services that operate multiple trips almost round the clock, the bad reviews still form a small percentage of all the times that the bus actually worked. People tend to only report the bad experiences, afterall. Or maybe we weren't leaving at a peak hour when traffic is more unpredictable. So if you're thinking of taking the EasyBus, do consider the pros and cons. It's a very cheap and convenient airport transfer, only if you can stomach the possibility of a no-show.

Incidentally, Gatwick Airport is very pleasant. Everything looks new and modern, and it isn't as crowded at Heathrow. It's just a little less convenient to get to.

We were on Emirates which meant a stopover at Dubai. Even though we chose Emirates only because of its cheap fares (flying direct via SIA would have cost us 50% more), transiting at Dubai turned out to be a very welcome break for me. I tend to find it hard to sleep on planes so a long-haul flight can be torturous. After 10 hours, I feel like screaming and punching something. A Dubai transit cuts the journey almost exactly in half, which is great. Seven hours is about my limit - two meals, two movies. Each time I disembarked from the plane this trip, my knees creaked. I'm starting to feel my age. It was good to get out and stretch.

On the way back, we had a 7-hour layover - that was the shortest transit time we could get. We figured that was too long to be hanging around the airport so we booked a room at Dubai International Hotel. It's in the transit area so you don't have to pass through immigration. A bit pricey for a few hours but we figured we'd all appreciate the rest. (You can also book a recliner chair at the lounge but since they charge per person, for a family of four, I'd say it's more worthwhile to book a room).

It turned out to be fantastic. There's a meet and greet service to take you straight to the hotel (it can be hard to find if your gate is at the other end of the airport). The room is huge (you can request for a king bed or 2 singles) and there's a long leather sofa that can easily serve as another bed. There's free wifi and the washroom even had a bidet! You can also use the pool and gym but who has energy for that...


The beds were very comfortable. I didn't sleep much as my body clock was all haywire but Kenneth and the kids were out like a light. You can get the receptionist to inform you of the gate of your next flight and they offer a wake-up call to ensure you don't miss your flight. It was a terrific rest stop. Well worth the price.

Another 7-hour flight and we were back in hot and muggy Singapore. Nevertheless, it's nice to be home!



23 comments:

Rachel Tan said...

Hi Monica! Did you book your Emirates tickets via the Emirates website, or through a third party site like Zuji? The fares to London seem cheaper on 3rd party websites.....

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your London and Paris trip! I'm actually amazed your family was game enough for the London Underground after the long flight to London!

monlim said...

Rachel: We booked directly via the Emirates website - it was the cheapest deal back then (we booked way back in Jan!)

Haha, we were dog tired upon reaching Heathrow! But the Tube is really the easiest way to get to central London and we didn't even have to change trains :)

Glad you enjoyed reading the holiday posts!

Rachel Tan said...

I will succumb to hiring a private cab... they charge around 60 pounds i think.

I am bias but i really do think London is one if not the greatest cities in the world :) It is the one place i really want to bring the kids to. My son wants to visit the Imperial War Museum

monlim said...

Ah yes, you can get a private cab but even then, hire a reputable one. These have been known to have no-shows too. Alternatively, I heard there's a coach service from Victoria station that's very reliable so you might want to try that.

London really is a terrific city. So much culture, heritage and great people in history. Just a bummer that it's so expensive!

Rachel Tan said...

Try Norway! I am not able to recover from the sticker shock. Cheapest stuff to eat i.e. McDonalds meal cost $26 Sing!

London ..... Premier Inn breakfasts plus Sandwich or Wetherspoons or chain pub lunches plus Chinese restaurant (not the highend ones) dinners help keep the food budget in check.

I think one big difference traveling with teenage kids is that they can lug their own luggage which opens up more options for transfers whereas my lower primary kids are not yet constructive or able on this.

monlim said...

London - don't forget all the tv dinners you can get from Tesco/Sainsbury's/M&S. If you have a microwave, they're a super deal for breakfast.

Totally agree with the teenage kid comment. That's why we decided to bring the kids to London/Paris only at this age. We could each bring a smaller bag instead of a massive family one which would have been very cumbersome.

Another plus - they tend to be less fussy about food and can delay meals a little longer if we're not at a convenient spot for food. Although they do eat more!

Rachel Tan said...

While we were briefly at Southampton, I popped by Tesco's and thought the supermarket prices (especially for junk food items, fruits and raw meats) were actually lower than in Singapore!

I would say older children can better appreciate history and art (fine art, literature, musicals, architecture) better than younger kids. So I think it's a good idea to bring them to Europe in their teenage years. Younger kids tend to prefer let's see, nice resorts and fun stuff (amusement parks)- they want play and enjoyment.

monlim said...

Agree with you. That's why we brought our kids to all the theme park stuff when they were younger. We didn't even make a trip to Paris Disneyland this time!

Oh and I love the European supermarts - they have so much variety of cheap ready food. I guess maybe cos eating out is expensive there? Singaporeans eat out so much at hawker centres and food courts, it's often not worthwhile to cook at home, esp if the family is just a working couple.

Rachel Tan said...

Hi Monica! Having read your blog, I got inspired and determined to pin down the year end holidays. Booked the Emirates air tickets. And guess what?? We have traded off better connections with some savings. Connections are fine to London but back from Rome, we are now saddled with an 8 hour layover! I'll have to go figure out the transit hotel option at Dubai now....
Err you see the better connections would cost us $1200 more .....

But yes, thanks - reading your blog has gotten me all excited and yay! I've stopped procrastinating and am now pleased with the progress made hahahaha.

monlim said...

Yay, good for you! An 8-hr layover is actually fine if you book the transit hotel. They don't mind that you book one room for the whole family. The room was so comfortable we wouldn't have minded a longer layover! If you have to transit somewhere, you could do worse than Dubai airport. It's fantastic.

Very excited for you!

Rachel Tan said...

Wasn't it scorching hot at Dubai when you were there? Or maybe you never stepped out :p

monlim said...

Dubai was 35 degrees! But we were in the cool, cool transit area so never saw the sun :D

Rachel Tan said...

Oh no Monica! Sorry for being such a pest!! I am looking at the hotel now but for Terminal 3, which Concourse did you book the room at? It seems like Concourse B or Concourse C rooms would work?

monlim said...

You're not a pest! Feel free to ask questions. We booked Concourse B. It's really luck of the draw cos there's no way of knowing where your the gate for your flight will be. We ended up arriving at D (which was quite a long way, so luckily we had the meet and greet) but left at A. So B or C is a pretty good bet cos they're somewhere in the middle.

Rachel Tan said...

I can't believe the hotel is listed as 5 stars :p
Bought and paid for the air tickets! I'll book Concourse B as there is the choice of twin beds....Thanks for all your help!

monlim said...

Cool! Exciting times!

Rachel Tan said...

$250 for some sleep.
Otherwise the flight combination with the better connection is errr $1200 more.
Anyway we've always wanted to see how bustling DXB is in the wee hours, as it is famed to be so.

monlim said...

Was it $250? I think we paid less than $200. Anyway, definitely cheaper than better connecting flights!

Lin said...

Great post! Do you have a twitter/facebook/instagram page so I can keep checking in on your work? :)

monlim said...

Lin: Not for this blog specifically but I have an FB page for my Kids and Education page where I post updates of both blogs: https://www.facebook.com/Ofkidsandeducation

Thanks for reading!

yeeling said...

Hi Monica,
I read a lot of negative reviews on Easybus too. Yours gave me confidence to book it, and take a risk. But I've left ample time for Plan B too :) Wish me luck, my trip will take place end of this month.

Cheers

monlim said...

Yeeling: As long as you have Plan B, it should be alright. Good luck!

yeeling said...

Hi Monica

My Easybus journey went very smoothly. No delay whatsoever .. highly recommended!