Island2Dweller

Getting a taxi will be simple, there is a rank outside. Just look for the signs as you exit the station. Traffic in central London can be very slow, the tube (underground) will probably be quicker (and vastly cheaper) if that matters to you.

"Wasn’t sure which one to get the tickets for. Hope ours isn’t. 🤷🏻‍♂️ They aren’t really labeled " They are labelled, but you have to understand the codes. Tickets valid on the High Speed service into St Pancras include the comment "+HS1" on the ticket

Virtually every airline in Europe charges for hold baggage if you're in economy. Another option is train to Gatwick (direct train every hour) then easyjet to Paris CDG. (easyJet use Airbus A320 series). Read baggage rules carefully, hand baggage allowance is probably less than you expect. If you book eurostar, remember that you need to factor in arriving an hour to 90 minutes before departure from St Pancras for immigration (you do the French formalities before boarding the train).

Have you got a great deal on that hotel? If not, I'm not sure it's a location I would choose. Handy for the Tate gallery but not really close to anything else that you are likely to want to visit.

"I've never done this, but is there a place at the London airport where you can sleep? I've heard of some airports having this option. " London has six airports, so you need to say which one. If you meant Heathrow (one of those six), then it has four terminals, and these different terminals are miles apart from each other. Do you mean a couple of hours quick rest or a full overnight? More detail please to get meaningful suggestions

There is a huge variation across Britain's railways in what First class gives you. On some routes, such as using LNER to Edinburgh you get a meal and drinks, plus signiciantly bigger seats. On this route, it is barely any different from standard. Personally, I think even $12 is too much. The first class area is small, so ironically if others have had the same idea, it could be more crowded than standard. The trains to Southampton are 10 carriage long. Get to Waterloo in good time (say 20 minutes ahead) and you'll have no trouble finding space in standard class.

"Bags are still in London, they’re “locating them” all we could get was that she would “escalate” our claim…" Manage your expectations. I very much doubt that any BA staff are locating them - all BA staff and contracted agents who are on duty are dealing with the ongoing mess of today's flights, there are many more cancellations today. They simply don't have any staff spare to deal with mishandled bags. All mislaid baggage gets handed over by BA to a third party company who then do the track / trace / forward to new destination. When BA lost my bag a couple of years ago it was six weeks before it got to me, with zero updates in the intervening period. But I kept all the receipts for replacement clothing that I had to buy and BA paid the claim within a few days, I charged them almost EUR600 for replacement items

Manage your expectations on when you will be reunited with your bags. BA have failed to invest in IT for years and their systems have crashed yet again. Now that the systems are back up, they are concentrating on getting today's schedule running. Dealing with left behind bags is a low priority (to BA, I know it isn't low priority to you). When they lost my bags a couple of years ago, it was six weeks before the bags were returned to me

"you have to check in at least half an hour before departure, premier only ten minutes would you believe" Whoops - sorry - out of date. Because of Brexit, the Schengen immigration checks (which happen at St Pancras before you take the train) are now taking much more time. Arrive only a half hour before and you'll likely miss your train. Arrive 90 minutes ahead is now recommended.

"(I'll be in one in London in July to trade obsolete £20 notes...)" Unless you have an account with them, UK banks won't do this. (Money laundering rules). You need to visit the Bank of England (weekdays only) in Threadneedle Street, who will change them.

"Our docking time in Greenwich is shown as 12 noon on September 15" That's the prediction based on the tide table. The pilot will only bring your ship up the Thames when conditions have reached full high tide - and the actual time can vary by an hour either way from the tide table prediction depending on winds. So you can't be sure of your exact arrival time.

Greenwich to Paddington is quite easy (and cheap) by train. I'm not clear how far you are willing to carry your luggage, so I'll mention the walking distance at each stage. At Greenwich, take the DLR from Cutty Sark station (NOT Greenwich station). This is adjacent to the pier where you disembark. The walk from pier to Cutty Sark station is about the same distance that you'd need to walk to meet a car (car's cannot drive into the pedestrian area by the pier). There is a lift to the platform. Take the DLR to West India Quay. Change here to the Canary Wharf Elizabeth line station, for a direct train to Paddington. About 200 yards walk between stations, lifts available. If you use a contactless bank card or phone instead of a paper ticket, this is only £2.80 (off peak) or £3.40 (weekday peak hours) or £6.70 if you insist onn buying a paper ticket. This will be quicker than a road journey - traffic across London is always slow

"I have read that you need cash to use the rest rooms in London" I've lived here 40 years and I've never seen a pay toilet, except at railway stations. And they are now free.

Public transport options have improved in the last year. The opening of the Elizabeth line means you can get from the airport to Greenwich with only one change. There are lifts at the change station. If you want to do this, take an Elizabeth Line train from Heathrow (destination Abbey Wood, not Shenfield) and get off at Canary Wharf. (Use the rear exit). Take the lift to the highest level, cross the psychaedilc bridge (which I know sounds wierd but will be very obvious as soon as you get out of that lift). As you exit the bridge, look right and you'll see the DLR station. There is a lfit to the platform. Take a train towards Lewisham and get off at Cutty Sark. This station is right beside where Viking check customers in. Using a contactless bank card or phone (do not buy a physical ticket), the fare is just under £15 per adult. The Elizabeth line trains are brand new, spacious, air conditioned, and run about every ten minutes from Heathrow. The DLR trains are every five minutes. It will be a touch less an hour overall. Clearly a car service is easier but costs much more and will not be quicker

"London City" is one of the six London area airports. Do you actually want to get to that airport? Don't understand what you mean by "booking.com facility"....

Just in case you try to organise a visit to Orkney some other way. Flights to Orkney are from Scottish airports. There are no direct flights from London

Southampton to Portsmouth "It's about an hour by train but it's not direct." There are normally two trains an hour that are direct, no changes needed.

You have been booked into a hotel that is in a really inconvenient location - for it to include "terminal 5" in the name really is taking the mickey, as it is nowhere near the terminal. There is a Hilton Garden Inn within walking distance of Heathrow T2/3. Could you get a quote to stay there instead? This would be massively more convenient. There are trains between T5 and T2/3 (which are free for this journey). BTW - no hotel at Heathrow has a shuttle - they are banned.

The "plus bus" option would cover you for bus journeys in the Gatwick area. You have no need for this, ignore it

"I am now myself trying to figure out where / which / kind / of ticket /pass to buy as I will be in London for 3 full days" None of the above. Just use a contactless bank card or phone pay to operate the ticket barriers. This gets you the cheapest available fare. The system uses "black magic" to calculate all your journeys during the day then makes one daily charge, at the lowest rate (which has a cap if you travel a lot). Buying a paper ticket will cost more.

Do not buy "visitor oyster" in advance. It costs more than the "regular" oyster that you can buy on arrival and has less functionality. (You'll see it heavily promoted - because the seller makes big commission). Oyster on arrival costs £7, not refundable. If you do decide to use oyster, it takes seconds to buy on arrival, at any underground station, there's one in each terminal. Oyster was revolutionary when introduced, but is now "old tech". Most fares in London are now paid by Contactless bank card or phone, which ends up being cheaper (no £7 up front fee). Do not buy paper tickets for travel in London - they are deliberately priced high to deter use. For Windsor, you can take the regular bus from T4 to T5 (using contactless card, phone pat, or oyster) then take the bus to Windsor. Oyster NOT accepted on that but card or phone will be (99% of buses in the UK encourage payment by card or phone)

"I read that it takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to Gatwick airport from Greenwich" That's a reasonable average but it is not guaranteed, especially if you are trying to do it in weekday rush hour. Greenwich to Gatwick is incredibly easy by train, with just one change (often a same platform change) at London Bridge.Fare is £9.50 (£17.50 weekday rush hour) if using bank card or phone as your payment device - costs more if you buy a paper ticket.

43 minutes from Greenwich to Heathrow??? At 3am on a Sunday morning perhaps, not a chance of achieving that at any other time. If you are flying to Dublin, go from City (airport code LCY), which is almost within touching distance of Greenwich. (About four to five miles in reality). You'll see the airport as you sail up river to the mooring.

Traffic around Greenwich varies between just about OK (3am on a Sunday morning) and can get to gridlock (any trouble at the nearby Blackwall tunnel river crossing causes gridlock for miles). Car service or taxi is easier for those unfamiliar with London transport network but won't be quicker than public transport and will cost much much more. A compromise is to take the Elizabeth line to Canary Wharf, and take a taxi from there. The Elizabeth line starts at Heathrow so you have no trouble getting a seat, they are full size trains with air con, it's swift. There are always loads of taxis available at Canary Wharf. As mentioned above, you can switch from the Elizabeth line to the DLR at Canary Wharf (and it's what I would do) but the stations are not side by side and you might prefer to just grab the taxi at this point.

And you don't even need to buy and Oyster card. The cheapest option (and now what the majority of people in London use) is a contactless bank card or phone pay. You never have a physical ticket, you pay your fare by tapping the card/phone on the entry gate and use the same device to tap out at the end of the journey. This is always the cheapest option for adults. (Can be different if you hold some UK concession card, but a visitor to London is unlikely to have those)