Car Rental Pickup Location Options

[Julie]

We will be departing London for Stonehenge, tooling around the Cotswolds for awhile and spend our last day in Oxford before flying out of Heathrow. So I'm wondering if there is a good strategy to the car pickup that minimizes time, money and stress (2 American couples, with some experience driving on the left, but not totally comfortable with it). Our London location is Shoreditch area. Specifically wondering if taking the train down to Gatwick and picking up there helps get us out of the city traffic and a bit closer to Wiltshire, or is the Heathrow Express train a better use of time and again gets us out of the City, or just rent within the City, bite the bullet to be on our way without changing transportation modes. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[Mom83]

We picked up our rental car at Heathrow last summer after flying in from the States and returned it there after 12 days in Wales and our last day in Oxford. Quite easy. We rented from Sixt and we were very pleased with the car and the company. Driving from Oxford back to the Sixt location at Heathrow was very easy - about a 50-60 minute drive for us at about 9:30pm on a Saturday night.

 

[CindyP]

Mom83. I see you don't live that far from me. I'm in Erie PA. Did you fly out of Cleveland? Wondering how the jetlag effected your driving when you arrived in London. We are looking at renting a car at Heathrow upon arrival and driving to the Cotswolds. It doesn't look like a long drive, but I'm a bit hesitant about the driving immediately upon getting there. It certainly makes the most sense time-wise.

 

[Mom83]

We are not far from you in Erie at all - a little over a 2 hour drive.
We actually tend to drive 2 hr 10 min to the Detroit airport and fly nonstop to most places overseas and even to places in the western US. We flew nonstop Detroit to Heathrow last July, arriving about 6:30am or so. My husband is the driver and I am the navigator - works for us. We always drive after we land as both of us sleep fairly well on the flight and neither of us are badly affected by jet lag, especially if we just have one long nonstop flight.
This particular drive took much longer than we anticipated because of an accident on the highway near Birmingham that brought traffic to a dead stop for over an hour. We had planned on a 5 hour drive to Capelulo, Wales, but it took us almost 7 hours. Still, we got to our rental cottage by 3:30pm or so which worked out well.
Heathrow to the Cotswolds should not be bad at all - maybe a 2 hour drive depending on what town you are staying in. That being said, if you arrive early am like we did, rush hour traffic is hectic in the Heathrow area - just have it mapped out on your gps and take it easy. You have to decide for yourself how you are affected by jet lag - some people are bothered more than others. And remember - you will be driving on the other side of the road and sitting on the right hand side of the car.
We are flying nonstop to Rome in September - again from Detroit and then driving 2 1/2 hours north to our rental outside Siena. We have done this drive several times before which makes it somewhat easier since we know the roads.

 

[Julie]

Thanks for the reply. Even though Gatwick looks closer, it's actually a fast drive from Heathrow, so we're going to come and go from there, and thanks for the Sixt rental car recommendation, they have good prices!

 

[CindyP]

Mom83, I didn't realize that you were that close to DTW. Nice. We are planning to fly out of Philly. Six hour drive for us, but we have family there so we spend a night and they drive us to the airport. We have to get to JFK, PHL or Toronto to get a direct flight anywhere. Toronto is technically the closest, but going through customs is always a gamble as to how long you will be in line. Also we have Global Access cards and those don't work in Canada so we prefer to fly in and out of a US airport.

Goodness, driving all the way to Wales on your arrival day! A five hour drive would be too much for us after flying, but I'm thinking we can manage the 2 hours or so. However, I'm finding rental prices quite a bit more expensive at LHR then in the cities we could train to, so we are looking at perhaps training to Bath or Oxford and spending at least a night and renting the following morning. So many decisions.

We were in Italy in 2015. We flew into Milan and immediately took a couple trains to get to the Cinque Terre region. Long day but definitely worth it. There was a bit of confusion with the ticket machines in the terminal, but once we figured it out we were fine. We didn't want to book those tickets in particular in advance because heaven knows if your plane is going to arrive on schedule. We did a day trip to Sienna by bus out of Florence. It was lovely. How lucky you are to have done the trip several times. I love returning to the same places, the familiarity of the unfamiliar is a good feeling.

Cindy P.

 

[Mom83]

Cindy-
We love the Detroit airport! I think we fly out if there far more often than CLE in the last 10 years. Flying out of Cleveland gives us few nonstop options going anywhere! We both have Global Entry cards and love the convenience of arriving back into the US with them. I also have Nexus for Canada as my daughter and I go to NOTL every summer (this June will be our 23rd year!) and we love being able to use the Whirlpool Bridge with no lines.
We flew Virgin Atlantic from DTW to LHR last summer - big mistake! At that time, they were not set up for TSA precheck, although they may now be - plus the plane was so old and even the premium seats were so uncomfortable. We flew home on a Delta flight which was much better. The drive to Capelulo, Wales was a longer drive than we normally ever do, but we were meeting my cousins in northern Wales and had to start out there. My family is Welsh and I still have cousins with whom I am very close living outside Swansea, so we visit as often as we can.
I do not believe there is a train from LHR to Oxford - just a bus which I have heard is quite good. The train departs from central London to Oxford. Our soon to be son-in-law is from Oxford and we have visited his family in Oxford several times in the past few years although we always rent from Sixt and drive. I have never been to Bath, but want to visit that area one day.
Italy is the country I love the most. I attended college in Florence for one year many, many years ago and our daughter attended college in Rome for a semester. Italian was my minor in college. We try to visit different parts of Italy every 2-3 years, if possible, as my husband now loves it as much as I do - his father's family is from Sant'Agata di MilItello, Sicily and he still has relatives there. This Fall, we have rented a villa in San Gusme (about 20 minutes east of Siena) for a week and will then spend our last 5 days in Rome. My very favorite area of Italy is the Val d'Orcia - I could spend the month of October there every year if I could convince my husband!
So many places to see!!
Pat

 

[Ian Sutton]

On the question, I'm leaning towards Heathrow, though that might mean a walk to Liverpool street & then tube across to Paddington for the train - a bit of a trudge, but I've done worse.

Coincidentally I was in Shoreditch yesterday, at a little bistro called Popolo (Rivington St). The portions are a little small and indeed it can be good to treat it more as a (Mediterranean) tapas place , but tip-top quality. Their Agnolotti is as good as I've tasted (and that includes places in Piemonte). The pigeon wonderful as well, and they had some amazingly tasty talleggio cheese. Only the sea bream carpaccio was moderately disappointing. Very friendly / accommodating staff, but avoid a busy night (probably Thu/Fri/Sat) as it's quite cosy inside. The wine list now rather interesting as well - very imaginative but they seemed confident on matches (we had a 'trendy' skin contact white wine off the list for the cheese, and a very fine recommendation it was). On balance I'd certainly recommend it, especially if you want really tasty food without wanting to east too much.

 

[Julie]

Excellent, thank you for responding Ian! We're excited about immersing ourselves into the East End, and I'll probably post separately for some other restaurant and club recommendations.

 

[Felicity]

Have you thought about hiring a car in Oxford, Julie? A lot of the people who come and stay with me do that, with great success. Thus, they avoid the nightmare of driving on the motorway, first thing! You can easily drive from Oxford to Stonehenge if that is the next place on your list. There is a rental place just within walking distance of Oxford station (Avis, I think) if you are coming from London on the train (leaves from Paddington). And if you are coming from Heathrow (or Gatwick) there is a bus service to central Oxford, although if you have a lot of luggage you might want to get a taxi from the bus station to the car rental place. I have since re-read and I see you only thought of going to the airports in order to pick up a car so train from London would be best. Enjoy Shoreditch, down with the hipsters! My son is 'next door' in Clapton, Hackney.

Edited to add, the drive to Stonehenge from Oxford is under an hour and a quarter and if you are subsequently going to be in the Cotswolds at the latter part of your trip, then that is a very convenient dropping off point on your way back to the airport.

 

[Julie]

This is the perfect plan! Thanks so much for the clarity, Felicity. Yah, we're totally down for Shoreditch!

 

[Pauline]

We've picked up a rental car in Oxford before, for going to the Cotswolds, and that worked well. The train station and rental car places are south of the city center and you can get out of the city without driving through it. Oxford traffic can be thick.

 

[Archie]

Mom83. I see you don't live that far from me. I'm in Erie PA. Did you fly out of Cleveland? Wondering how the jet effected your driving when you arrived in London. We are looking at renting a car at Heathrow upon arrival and driving to the Cotswolds. It doesn't look like a long drive, but I'm a bit hesitant about the driving immediately upon getting there. It certainly makes the most sense time-wise.

Having flown a similar route for years (BOS to LHR) I can absolutely empathize with the driving and jet lag issue. You don't want to put off a single moment of getting where you want to be, but driving up the M6 after a sleepless night and 5 hours time change? Part of our planning is exactly that--a quicker way to share it would be have a peek re what I jotted down on dealing with that dilemma, have a look if you like (there are 3 parts). Naps (and food) enroute are essential, and it's fun to figure out where to have those!

JET LAG 1-BEFORE WALKING COMES FLYING.

JET LAG 2--RIGHT HAND DRIVE FULL ENGLISH

JET LAG 3-- NAPPING WITH THE NATIONAL TRUST

 

[Joana]

Your Jet Lag posts are hilarious; really identified with the DVT socks and forgetting to take the Jet-Lag tablets. Will try to use the National Trust scheme next time we are picking up a car directly upon arrival. Thanks!