American to Britain: How do my visitors get here from the airport?

This is a common question that is asked over and over again. You have several choices.

Take the tube to the train and then pick them up at the train station. I do not recommend this. The reason being is that there are stairs leading up from the tube and from my experience, Americans do not pack light. I tried to tell my friend this when they came here but took advice from someone else (A European who packs way lighter than they did!). When they finally got to my house, they asked me to do number 2 as I suggested.
Take the National Express coach. I highly recommend this. I have done this several times. It does take longer but, you get on and only have to get off at your stop. You get help loading your bags. It makes having guests easier. You can pick them up at a variety of places.
Drive to pick them up. This is okay but if you have a small car and they have 4 bags, this is not ideal. I had my mom, aunt and cousin come here for my wedding and they each had two suitcases. Luckily my father-in-law came in his car because they would have had to wear the same clothes for the two weeks!

There are two ways to get to Heathrow from this area. M11 to the M25. This is okay but you might get caught up in traffic if there is an accident.
The other one is to go A14->A11->M11->M25->M4. It does not seem like it would be faster but it is and all of the people that drive for a living go this way. Use Transport Direct info.

Hope this helps!

Kimx

American to Britain