Help with travel to/from Gatwick from north west

[Mr & Mrs Duck]

Hi all.

What options do we have if we’re travelling from the north west to Gatwick?

We always travel to Orlando from Manchester but we’ve noticed there are some great flight prices going from Gatwick. We could drive, however with two car seats, double pram, cases and hand luggage we’d probably struggle to fit all of this in our car.

Open to all suggestions as we’ve never taken this route before.

Thanks in advance

[jdybnsn]

2 x one way rentals of an estate car or minivan to Gatwick.

...or rent your car seats from your US rental car hire company.

[LLamb]

We flew from lgw in May and the drive didn’t put us off as we have booked again for next year. Also the fact that we got half term flights for £300pp.

So as I said we drove down, two car seats (hhb and a stage 2 belted) double baby jogger city mini. Three hand luggage cases and a trunki.
I took my Skoda karoq and got it all in the boot. Just took the wheels of the pushchair and folded the bag for it until we got there. Same for the car seats. You wouldn’t really save space by hiring as you still need the seats in the car for the kids when you drive down.

I was careful with what we packed clothes wise (always usually over pack anyway) and everywhere we stayed had a washing machine.

I drove up to departures and dropped my husband and the kids off and then took the car to the long stay. Will do exactly the same next year.

I think with young kids the train is out.
You could arrange for a transfer but when I looked it was about £400 which negates the saving.

Fly to lhr and then transfer to lgw, too much hassle.

You could also look at getting one of those soft roof bags. Or look into a luggage transfer service. They collect your bags and deliver to your hotel. BA offer it but the luggage has to be collected from somewhere in London.

[Blue nose]

Cases and car seat should fit fine. You'll be using the seats anyway. Can you rent a buggy on arrival?

[Mr & Mrs Duck]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We’re thinking if we go for it, the car is really our best option. It’s just a shame Manchester flight prices are so expensive at the moment

[LLamb]

I also found lgw to be a much more pleasant experience than Manchester too.
Don’t pay for luggage trolleys, we did twilight check in, security was great. And our luggage was out in about 5 min. Unlike the hour plus on return to man.
This year our flights and car were £1352, next year £1582.

Cheapest I’ve ever had from man was £379 without car. We probably wouldn’t be going next year if we held out for man flights.

We have hired a double buggy in the past and it is great to not have to lug it through the airport. I would probably go with that option.

[Mr & Mrs Duck]

Originally Posted by LLamb

I also found lgw to be a much more pleasant experience than Manchester too.
Don’t pay for luggage trolleys, we did twilight check in, security was great. And our luggage was out in about 5 min. Unlike the hour plus on return to man.
This year our flights and car were £1352, next year £1582.

Cheapest I’ve ever had from man was £379 without car. We probably wouldn’t be going next year if we held out for man flights.

We have hired a double buggy in the past and it is great to not have to lug it through the airport. I would probably go with that option.

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Gatwick wasn’t really an option we wanted to explore but we can’t ignore those prices.

Did you drive straight home after the return flight? If so how did you find it?

Thanks for all your help by the way! It’s been really useful

[LLamb]

Originally Posted by Mr & Mrs Duck

Gatwick wasn’t really an option we wanted to explore but we can’t ignore those prices.

Did you drive straight home after the return flight? If so how did you find it?

Thanks for all your help by the way! It’s been really useful

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Your welcome. We drove straight home. I slept really well on the flight (I can sleep anywhere!) However I was fully prepared to get a day room and sleep first.

You can walk upstairs to the bloc, day room from 7am-4pm is £57.

Kids went straight to sleep, and slept most of the way. I stopped quickly at Beaconsfield for the toilet and bacon sandwich.
Then we stopped again near Stafford. We got home around 2pm.
Dh napped a bit but I drove all the way. It rained none stop but we didn’t get any traffic. Left the airport around 9-9.30am.
That was a Friday.

I was expected to drive to be awful but it honestly wasn’t. We have done it a few times but pre children. The key is having a sleep.

Other option is book a premier inn further from the airport for circa £30-40 and then drive home the next day.

I do a fair amount of driving for work so it doesn’t bother me. Next year if I’m the slightest bit tired i will get a day room for sure.

Unfortunately unless something happens I can’t see us going from Manchester anytime soon.

Sorry one last option is man-lhr-Mia.
We flew into fll this May and had a few days by the beach. Drive up/down again was fine. Just a bit more traffic around Mia.

[Mr & Mrs Duck]

Originally Posted by LLamb

Your welcome. We drove straight home. I slept really well on the flight (I can sleep anywhere!) However I was fully prepared to get a day room and sleep first.

You can walk upstairs to the bloc, day room from 7am-4pm is £57.

Kids went straight to sleep, and slept most of the way. I stopped quickly at Beaconsfield for the toilet and bacon sandwich.
Then we stopped again near Stafford. We got home around 2pm.
Dh napped a bit but I drove all the way. It rained none stop but we didn’t get any traffic. Left the airport around 9-9.30am.
That was a Friday.

I was expected to drive to be awful but it honestly wasn’t. We have done it a few times but pre children. The key is having a sleep.

Other option is book a premier inn further from the airport for circa £30-40 and then drive home the next day.

I do a fair amount of driving for work so it doesn’t bother me. Next year if I’m the slightest bit tired i will get a day room for sure.

Unfortunately unless something happens I can’t see us going from Manchester anytime soon.

Sorry one last option is man-lhr-Mia.
We flew into fll this May and had a few days by the beach. Drive up/down again was fine. Just a bit more traffic around Mia.

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That’s great thanks. Good to know about the day rooms!

We’ve done Miami pre children and that drive isn’t too bad so that could be another option.

Do you mind me asking who you booked your flight with? Did you go for a fly drive?

[LLamb]

Not at all, booked both fights direct with Ba and yes both fly drives.
Means you only have to pay £300 deposit.
It sometime actually works out cheaper to do a fly drive than flight only. Or you pay very little for the car. All insurances are included with BA.

Make sure you have a ba exec account, sign in when looking as you sometimes get more discount.
BA will allocate seats for families about 5 days before the flight. We weren’t split up on our flights and had really good service. Even pre boarded as we had children.