Hi Janet, you can always book trips locally, the thing that puts me off booking the whole package from the UK is that if you are perhaps unwell for couple of days usually the money is not refundable, so I intend to book a few from here and the rest when I get there, it just means carrying extra money with you as you can't play by credit card.
As regards arriving at the airport, I only live 30 minutes away from H'row but like to arrive and in plenty of time for looking around the airside shops before going to the lounge, I look on this as part of my holiday and the 31st is coming around so quickly, and I look forward to meeting everybody soon
Ange S