The Anonymous Widower

Why Does Anybody Use Gatwick?

To get to Athens, I used the 9:00 easyJet flight out of Gatwick. It was a mistake in that to get this flight I needed to leave home about seven to get the train to the airport. For a similar flight to Heathrow or Stansted, it would have been a little bit later.

To make matters worse no-one seemed to be able to tell me what ticket I needed, as of course I can get to the Zone 6 Boundary on my Freedom Pass. As also finding the right platform at London Bridge or Victoria is a nightmare, I decided to take Thameslink from St. Pancras. In theory it should have worked well, but because of the miles you have to walk in the tunnels at King’s Cross, I missed one train and had to wait twenty minutes. I suspect the designer of the new King’s Cross was some sort of sadist, as although it may have more capacity, it defintely puts you off changing trains at the station. I had hoped to catch a 56 to City Thameslink from home, but they had gone missing.

And then of course the train was delayed coming into London Bridge, so I got to Gatwick a few minutes late.

I checked in reasonably quickly and security wasn’t too bad.  But if I’d had to take my shoes or belt off, I’d have thought seriously about abandoning flying again.  I was only carrying one back-pack and I wouldn’t with anything more.

I was fairly late for the gate and it was queues and no seating, when I got through the last check. 

But we did get away from Gatwick just a few minutes late.

Let’s face it, if I fly again, I’m not going out of Gatwick.

March 23, 2011 - Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , ,

6 Comments »

  1. It depends where you live. From Bedfordshire if one is flying to the States, there is really only Heathrow and Gatwick available. Heathrow is a total nightmare to get to, and I should kinow, I have had to do it hundreds of times (saw you there once as we passed like ships in the night). Gatwick on the other hand is easy. I can get a train from just up the road that goes all the way and stops in the airport. Delta fly out of Gatwick and as Cincinnati and Atalanta have been common destinations for me, then Gatwick is good. Everything has its raison d’etre, but I am having difficulty finding one for Heathrow.

    Comment by John | March 23, 2011 | Reply

  2. I’m coming back by boat to Italy and then a train.

    Comment by AnonW | March 23, 2011 | Reply

  3. […] I thought Gatwick was a disgrace going out, it was only because I hadn’t tried it going […]

    Pingback by Welcome to the United Kingdom « The Anonymous Widower | March 31, 2011 | Reply

  4. Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words
    in your article seem to be running off the screen in Opera.
    I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let
    you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the issue resolved soon.

    Kudos

    Comment by Heathrow Airport Transfers | August 9, 2012 | Reply

  5. […] space, let’s look at Gatwick.  Two years ago, I flew out of Gatwick to Greece.  Read what I wrote in this blog. The last statement […]

    Pingback by Do We Need More Runways In The South East? « The Anonymous Widower | May 1, 2013 | Reply

  6. […] I used to hate Gatwick, as this post from 2011 indicates. But after a change of ownership and better train links from East London, I […]

    Pingback by Hot Air Over London’s Airports « The Anonymous Widower | December 20, 2013 | Reply


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