You buy tickets at the underground station at Heathrow (follow signs
for "underground"). Tickets are about £4 each and the ticket office takes
plastic (meaning Mastercard, Visa or AmEx; Discover may be accepted, but
probably only rarely). The underground only goes one way from Heathrow,
which is into London, so there's only one platform. Tube trains depart
every ten minutes or so, and the journey to King's Cross should take
45-60 minutes.
Retain your underground ticket until you leave the Underground system! You will need it to exit the station, via the barriers. If the barrier retains your ticket as you leave, that's OK.
Get a single ticket to Cambridge from the ticket office at King's Cross.
This will be about £16 per person (2006 prices), and they also take
plastic. Check the big departure board in the main station for the
time and platform of the next train to Cambridge (it may be terminating
at King's Lynn or Ely, and merely stopping at Cambridge, but the big
board lists all the stops en route). The fast trains leave
at xx15 and xx45 in the daytime; if a slow train is leaving earlier,
it is usually worth waiting for the next fast train.
King's Cross has 11 platforms. The last three (9, 10 and 11) are off to one side of the main station, and each of them is sometimes also divided into two; if your train is listed as leaving from (eg) 9b, follow signs to platform 9 and make sure you board from the correct half of the platform, which will be signed. So, follow signs to your platform, get on the train (check the platform indicator to make sure it really is your train - not only do they sometimes change them, you will be charged a penalty fare if you get on the wrong train). Get off at Cambridge. On the fast train, this leg of the journey should take 45-55 minutes, and will probably take about 55-65.
Retain your train ticket until you leave Cambridge station. It can be inspected at any time. Penalties for not having it are severe.
If you can call us from King's Cross before you leave, we'll come and meet you at Cambridge station. Public telephones are all over King's Cross station, and require a 20p piece (or larger coin, but you won't get any change).
In case we can't, look at http://www.teaparty.net/data/directions.html for precise directions from the station to our house; we are less than ten minutes' walk away. Or you can get a taxi from the station; this will cost about £3.50 which must be paid in cash.
Go to the central bus station (terminals 1,2,3) or the bus station at
terminal 4. Jetlink services JL787 and JL797 go to Cambridge.
The single fare is £20 per person, an open return is £26 (2006 prices).
You can buy the ticket on the bus and most buses take credit cards
(although Caroline got shouted at once, by a bus driver, for trying
to buy her ticket on the bus). The buses leave roughly once an hour;
the journey is supposed to take about two and a half hours, but three
is more like it. In busy traffic (ie, 0730-1000 and 1630-1900) it can
take up to four hours.
When you get off in Cambridge, at Parkside, find a taxi on the rank there and get a taxi to our house. We're only a mile away but we're *always* too tired to walk after flying from the US. The taxi should cost about £4, and you will need cash.
If you call us before you leave Heathrow, we'll try to meet you at Drummer Street.