Would need to know where in Kent, it's difficult to avoid London especially for the Medway towns or Thanet. With National Express they might be able to change at London Victoria or Heathrow Coach Station. By train there's a chance at Reading but not much.

Thanks a lot for your reply. We thought they`d have changes.

it will probably have to be a mix of rail and coach/bus if you can tell us where in gods own county they are going we may be able to give you a better idea

wizard

They`re going to Sheerness.

the Quickest route

Abertawe rail direct to Paddington...underground [or taxi] to St Pancreas..rail to Sittinbourne.. change for rail to sheerness on sea

aprox 5Hrs coach/bus would be cheaper more changes and around 7/8 hrs

wizard

Thank you very much for the info. I`ll pass it on.

St Pancras may be marginally faster but uses the HighSpeed service on the Channel Tunnel route - so costs more. Victoria would be better.

steve
i gave that route not for hi speed link [it dosnt go through sittingbourne] but as the most ergonomic

wiz

Thanks.

Wizard

St Pancras to Sittingbourne is via HS1 - how else could it call at Stratford?

True the service leaves the route at Ebbsfleet and then potters down to Faversham but Southeastern still class it as HighSpeed and it's shown in that section of their decidely low speed website.

To be honest I wouldn't want to make this journey with kids. Swansea to Paddington is simple enough but both St Pancras and Victoria are too spread out to change at if you aren't familiar. And it isn't helped by the demise of the inter station bus. Assuming that people from Swansea won't have Oyster cards the underground will work out expensive but could they get 2 adults and 4 kids in one taxi?

St Pancras to Sittingbourne is via HS1 - how else could it call at Stratford? True the service leaves the route at Ebbsfleet and then potters down to Faversham

the high speed link is from St pancras via stratford [east london] then goes under the thames near swanscombe through to ebbsfleet and on to ashford it dosnt go anywhere near sittingbourne,.... or am i missing something...
you can get a train from several london stations that use what we use to call the north kent line streight to sittingbourne without changing

I agree re travelling all that way with kids. It won`t be at all easy with the changes. Just thinking of all the luggage, pushchair, & keeping an eye on the kids is enough to make you go Also it`ll be quite expensive for them.

Wizard, yes you are missing something! To be honest I didn't spot it until this question was asked.

HS1 has connections with Network Rail and Southeastern run trains from STP to Faversham (Broadstairs in the peak) as part of their Highspeed service which only use the STP - Ebbsfleet bit. Off peak it's the pink line on this map http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/app/webroot/files/cache/High%20speed%20off%20peak%20services%20route%20map.pdf

Beebee - saving money we can help with but the hassle doesn't appear to be avoidable. I think the Underground will be out of the question but I'm not sure they'll fit in one taxi.

Look to se if your local rail company does inclusive deals with underground passes. We did a trip from ther Midlands to London last year and we got tickets for £58 return 2 adults and 5 kids which included tickets for the tube. If we had to pay for the tube that would have been over £30 on its own.

Sometimes the best deals can be had by going to your local station and asking the staff at the window, they can quite often get you a better price than going online or through a centre where someone in Mumbai doesn't even know where Swansea and Sheerness are! If you do go choose a quiet time outside of rush hours. Then the staff will have time to search for you.

Doesn't matter whether you ask the call centre in Mumbai or the information office in Swansea - Sheerness is at the end of a remote cul de sac and is difficult to get to from anywhere. Price isn't the main issue here, even if Boris gave them free tickets for the underground the journey is basically impossible with the combination of kids, buggy and luggage.