London Transport

For those who have visited London, you will know that the London Taxis are very very expensive. So daddy did a fair bit of homework for the transport arrangements. Airport transfer will cost us a total of 140quid on the first and last day if we hire a London Taxi, while renting a car will cost less than 200quid for 7 days in London. The choice was obvious! We will rent a car and drive around UK!

Using a comparison website, daddy found a good deal for the car rental. One key requirement: We need to pick up and drop off the car at the airport as we have 2 big luggage, 2 small luggage, 2 hand carry and 1 baby stroller. Daddy will not be able to carry all this! Mummy will be carrying Natalie so daddy is pretty much the luggage man. From his University days, daddy knows that there are 4 airports in London; Luton, Stansted, Gatwick and Heathrow. The correct one that we will be using is Heathrow.

So, on the website, daddy entered "London Heathrow" as the pickup location and dropoff location. The money was paid online and daddy printed out all the documents needed. He was pleased with himself. After flying more than 12 hours, the family reached London Heathrow. After we got pass the customs, we were looking for the car rental signs. We followed the signs to the car rental booths and were trying to identify the rental company 'Green Motion'. There was no Green Motion. It was 7am in the morning and all 3 of us were tried. We really want to get in the car and start the 1 hour drive to our new Apartment but there was no Green Motion. A frustrated daddy want to enquire at the Airport Information counter. The Angmoh lady told us that there is no Green Motion Car rental company in the airport! We need to take a Airport Hoppa coach to go to Holiday Inn Hotel where the company is located!

"I am not going to the Hotel!" daddy thought... the car must be at the airport. At least, according to what was written on the confirmation printout. So daddy went scounting around Terminal 3 of Heathrow airport... the search was futile. No Green Motion.

Perhaps the other car rental companies may know where Green Motion is? Daddy went up and asked the guy behind Hertz counter. "Green Motion is not in Heathrow Sir. You will need to take a transfer using coach" came the reply. Sigh! It is 8.30am already! So Mummy, Natalie and daddy went towards the Hotel Hoppa Coachs and paid 9quid for a single trip. We reached Holiday Inn and found the elusive Green Motion! Apparently, "London Heathrow" is not the same as "London Heathrow AIRPORT". In Singapore terms, Changi is not the same as Changi Airport. Got it? The company did not say it was located at the airport! It merely stated London Heathrow as the area address! Holiday Inn was located in Heathrow area of London! Brilliant isn't it?!

In any case, we managed to get our car started at around 10am. More than 3 hours have lapsed since we touched down. Here comes the second bomb... "I don't like the car! I don't like the car seat!" exclaimed Natalie. The car was too small for Natalie's taste since she is used to a 3300cc Chrylser in Singapore and we rented a 1400cc Vauxhall. And yes, the baby car seat smells badly! The car rental company had not wash it for decades! Mummy tried very hard to convince Nat to take her seat while daddy was trying very hard to squeeze all the luggage into the small car... at this moment, daddy wished he had chosen a bigger car! Why did I save on the 100quid! After some effort, we managed to semi-force Nat to take her seat and load up all the luggages! Phew! Nat fell fast asleep soon... despite the vomit smelling baby car seat! I was pretty amazed myself.

The third bomb; the GPS took us across central London where there are 101 traffic lights at every corner! I knew that London had ERP charges but I did not know how to pay for them. Is it the same as Singapore? Do I need a IU? Toll booth? Anyway, we drove through central london and reached our new apartment at noon time... tired, hungry, smelly!

On the second day, 1 hour before midnight I was going through the documents for the apartment and car rental when I saw the fourth bomb! We need to pay the ERP charges online! The ERP charges are 10quid on the same day, 12quid the day after and 141quid as penalty if we fail to pay up by the day after! WTF! I quickly logged onto the internet to arrange payment. Took out my VISA credit card and it prompted me for the OTP. OTP is the new security feature, it stands for One Time Password. For online payments, VISA will send a 4 digit OTP to your registered handphone. You have 100 seconds to enter the OTP for the payment to be successful.

The fifth bomb; I left my personal handphone in Singapore! I could not access the OTP! WTFish! Tried Mastercard... also need OTP! Tried another VISA card and another Mastercard.... no luck! The system demands a OTP all the time! I have less than 30 minutes before I will be hit with the 141quid penalty! I almost broke down! Why is everything against me now?!

All of a sudden, I saw my under-utilized AMEX card. Took it out, entered the numbers and BINGO! It got through with NO OTP!! I love AMEX! I saved 141quid!!

Take Home Point: For those of you who wants to drive in London, you will need to do a lot of homework!