I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's not that hard to get in from any airport.

Heathrow is probably easiest since you can get there by Tube, but flights there are usually a bit more expensive.

Gatwick has an easy, quick, though somewhat expensive, train service to central London called the Gatwick Express.

Luton takes a little bit longer: I usually go by easybus since it's cheap, but there's also a train.

Never flown into Stansted.

Great! Thanks, TheophileEscargot.

Stansted is also not a problem (fast train to Tottenham or Liverpool St then tube) but transatlantic flights mostly go to Heathrow or Gatwick. Heathrow is nearer to central London than Gatwick is, and you can get the Tube all the way from Heathrow into London, which makes things cheaper, but it's still not too far to Gatwick (30-45 minutes, I think, and there are slower trains which are cheaper than the Express). Heathrow is horribly crowded but you needn't spend too long there.

If you're planning to go to Brighton (do! it's great!) then bear in mind that Gatwick is halfway between London and Brighton.

What'll you do on your trip?

Awesome, thanks altolinguistic.

Don't know yet about the trip. I have a *lot* of people to visit with, old friends, family, hopefully some bunnies, but at the same time, mr. gaspode has never been to England so we will be trying to be tourists as well. I think we will have 6 or so days, so I'm trying to get a happy medium of visiting people and things. (doesn't help that they are all *my* friends and family and none of his).

wow, six days isn't long! Barely time to get over the jetlag. Still, hope you enjoy yourselves.

turtlegirl and I will be in England (and possibly Wales) from December 18 to December 31.

Ooh, piggybacking on the "I'm gonna be in London" train happening here. I'm only going to be in London from September 17-22 though. I don't know a lot of London folks, but holla! At this rate maybe we should create a sidebar for "people who are going to be visiting London" or something. A Metaexchange program of sorts.

Oh yeah, I didn't actually give dates. I'm going to be in the country from September 29th until October 7th. Don't know when I'll be in London in that time, probably for most of it, but there will be trips to other places, too.

It doesn't make a lot of difference. Heathrow is a fair bit closer that the others but it's a sprawling over-congested mess.

I'd recommend against getting any of the premium airport express trains. They're priced for business travellers and only really save you a few minutes. The Heathrow Express is particularly bad - It's £16 single and once you add the delay of waiting for one at Heathrow and changing to the tube at Paddington, you haven't saved much time over getting the tube all the way. There's also now Heathrow Connect, which is a much cheaper stopping service on the same route as the Express.

Likewise, Gatwick's railway station is right on a very busy main line, so has all sorts of services to London that are cheaper than the Express, and some of them go to other central London stations that might be more convenient for you.

I've taken Heathrow Express, then catching a black cab at Paddington without any problems.

then caught