Is this the first time you are arriving at London Heathrow airport?

Well arriving first time is bit nervous, fear of what will happen next, how will I reach place of living etc. Every one who arrives first time may not be lucky that some one come to receive them on the airport. When I arrived in october 2005 I was very confused that how to reach home with less money, but I couldnt find it. Then at last I hired a cab and it cost me £70 to reach the home and this was the most expensive journey of my life within a city.

Well journey in London is very easy. Underground tube will be the cheapest solution to reach anywhere in the London. Before you plan to visit London prepare your journey plan, keep your destination address & phone number of your friends/relative in uk handy. Always ask for the house number and post code for your destination, with the help of these 2 you can reach your destination in London.

Now how to reach your destination with use of underground?

Visit website of Transport of London website, use the journey planner to find the tube you need to use to reach the closest underground station of your destination. In from type “Heathrow terminal X” (X = terminal number) & in Station to type “postcode of your destination” & click on “Leave Now” button. The next page may ask you for number of options of heathrow terminal, select your terminal number from the drop down list & click “Continue” button. You will see number of trains leaving to your destination. Click on “View” button to see complete route, you may need to interchange trains at other underground tube stations. Make a

note or print this route planner. The last in the route planner will be a small walk to your destination from the last underground station, click on the map icon to find the exact directions to walk towards your destination. There will be street name written at the beginning or end of each street, either on a board or on a wall facing that street, so it should not be difficult to find the street from your map.

After you finish the immigration clearance & collect your baggage and come out to the arrival lounge follow the signs to “Underground” or if you want to go through a Taxi (mini cab) then follow signs for “Taxi”. You need to walk for approximate 7-8 minute to reach the underground station.

For more help to travel in London Underground, I will write another post later. Please read it carefully, it will make easy for you to travel anywhere in the London.

At Heathrow Underground station you will find picadilly line train only, that will connect you to central london and many other lines to different destinations. Before you take a train buy a ticket at the station. Please donot hesitate to take help from “Information counter” on airport or on the underground station, you may also get assistance from any london underground staff or people around there.

Once you are on train you will see a list of stations where the train will pass from, so you can see where you are now and which station you need to reach.

It will be a totally new experience for traveling first time in London Underground, but make sure you have all the necessary address/contact information journey plans etc.

After you reach the final station of your underground travel, and when you get out of the station look for the street name or ask some one & show them the map to reach home, so they can help you to get right direction to move. I often use google map to find the path. Just type the post code in the search bar and click on the search. I use “Satellite” view to see how the streets look like. Move the map up down or left right to see how it will look when you will reach there. Live map is even better then google map. You can click on bird’s eve link, to see the 3D view of the area and thats really very helpful to get feel of how it looks. Even you can see the shop names, boards signs etc. so you fell familiar when you reach there.

Anyway I gotago now, I think this post will be helpful for you. I will write more posts that can be helpful for you to get settle easily in the London.