Arriving in any new country can be a bit of an adventure so I hope my jottings may ease some of the concerns you may have in arriving in London. London has two of the busiest international airports in the world and these two generally run quite smoothly.

London Heathrow is perhaps the most well known and currently has five Terminals. The new terminal five is almost exclusively British Airways and one world alliance flights.

A lot of information can be found on their web site

http://www.heathrowairport.com/

T5 as it is known as is a large terminal but very well directed and now the initial bugs have been dealt with a joy to use.  It is quite quick to leave the plane and be in your taxi in 30/40 minutes with hold luggage.

Following from the plane can be a long  walk and assistance can be arranged if you need it with either  wheelchairs or electric buggies with driver who will see you through immigration, and baggage re-claim.  They may also get you a taxi if you ask. I am not aware that a BA customer has to pay for this. It is as well to ask for this service at check in or very early into the flight.

Look for the signs for baggage reclaim or if onward flying for connecting flights particularly within the one world alliance.

Immigration at the newly named British border is efficient and non confrontational, try to stand in front of the desk for clear visual eye contact, Have your return flight details to hand as occasionally you may be asked for them. Immigration officers do not carry guns or batons.

Baggage reclaim is well signed so you should find the correct carousel as there is good signage. On leaving baggage reclaim chose the correct exit there are three Red for declaring goods on which duty may be payable, green for no duty to pay and Blue if you are arriving from within the European community. Just because you can not see customs officer do not imagine that they are not there. If you need to declare goods have a list backed up by invoices. They will generally be very fare with you unless you try it on. DO NOT TRY TO BRING DRUGS INTO THE UK. You will be found out due to the new technologies

Getting from the terminals to London is straight forward you have the following options, Taxi, underground train and fast over ground trains to London Paddington. Look for the signs, these are quite clear

Heathrow Express

This is the fastest option. Heathrow Express trains run to and from London Paddington every 15 minutes, and the journey takes 15 minutes.

Heathrow Connect

The stopping service to London Paddington runs every 30 minutes, and the journey takes 26 minutes.

London Underground

Piccadilly Line trains offer the most cost-effective journey to central London, taking less than an hour.

Railair coaches

Not travelling into London? Buses and luxury coaches connect Heathrow with the national rail network at Feltham, Watford, Woking and Reading.

Taxi. The fare varies depending on time of day, and congestion but allow between £30and£70 I suggest you look at the link on the BAA web page reading Taxis. They are highly regulated and have been for about 150 years, strangely some of the laws relating to horse drawn cabs still apply.

DO NOT TAKE A RIDE IN A CAB IF YOU APROACHED IN THE TERMINAL OR FORCOURT. This is called touting and not only may the driver be arrested if seen, but you can be delayed while evidence taken. Secondly these so called cabs often are not insured for passengers and you may easily be ripped of.

The London Black cabbies have to take vey extensive training, know the shortest and quickest routes around London as well as most of the major buildings businesses and places of entertainment. So getting into your cab and asking for example the Crowne plaza St James Buckingham Gate will be enough for you to be delivered to you hotel. Cabs meters run even when stationary, so if the driver takes a longer route it is to reduce the cost as he is obliged to do. They are usually informed of any potential traffic problems at the beginning of their working day.

The other Terminals are all having work done on them , T2 may well be closing for some time, T3 is for intercontinental other than BA although there are still a couple of BA flights that have yet to be relocated to T5. The arrivals procedure is much the same in all the other Terminals.

London Gatwick is to the South of London and farther away. And their web pages are:- http://www.gatwickairport.com/

Gatwick has two terminals and the newer North terminal is mainly a British Airways Terminal and Easy jet. There are both train and bus connections to central London. Taxis fares are in the £75-£ 80

Region and takes around 65/75 minutes. If you are coming from Europe and need either the City of London or the financial centre at Canary Wharf then consider London City Airport. This is right in Docklands new development.

http://www.baa.com/ For the most up to dare information, it often changes.