Busy, but built to cope! (Kings Cross Station)

Member Name: CokaCola

Product:	Kings Cross Station
Date:	30/01/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of shops & Amenities, Clear Travel Info

Disadvantages: Getting from Tube to Train is a bit of a maze.

Kings Cross is one of the most important Stations in London, and pretty much all connections to other regions of the South East/East via London go from this Station. I tend to go to Kings Cross from Paddington, (I live in south Wales) and on the whole, my experience of the station has been exceptionally good.

I'll start by telling the one problem I have with this station. It is probably just me, but the signs connecting Kings Cross underground Station with Kings Cross Railway station seem to confuse me to the point where I get lost. Once I got off the tube and ended up on the high street, despite following the Signs and once, I ended up in St Pancras international. I am going through Kings Cross again in a couple of days time, so I'll be interested to see if I make it from the Tube to the Train without doing a U turn.

As with all the London Stations that I have come across, the travel information is updated regularly and displayed on easy to read screens. One qualm I have with these screens is that the Co ordinators of them are particularly clever. On my recent travels though Kings Cross, I was heading for Cambridge. The train on the screen for that time slot however was apparently a train that terminated in foxton. I asked a member of staff, who told me that the train did indeed go all the way to Cambridge, just because it is a popular destination, the staff display the terminus as foxton to prevent everyone cramming into that train - cheeky!

I always seem to be unlucky at Kings Cross and find I need the toilet. I am not used to having to pay for this facility back at home, so I always forget and am reminded of the shock when I have to fork out for this most basic human need. The main problem is not that you have to Pay, it's making sure you actually have change on you - because often I do not.

Some of the shops at Kings Cross include Upper Crust, WHSmith and Railnews. Pretty much the standard shops and amenities that you'd expect to see at a major railway station.

The platforms can take a little bit of searching to find, because many are tucked away around a seperate corner. It's no biggy, just watch out for it, and try to find your platform as early in advance as you can unless you are quite familiar with the station.

Seating isn't as freely available at Kings Cross as it is in Paddington in my experience, and I have often seen people sitting on the floor beneath the information screens.

On the whole though, I have no problems with commuting via London Kings Cross and it's quite a nice station to pass through.

Summary: Have fun in London!