What to do with a 6 and a half hour layover at HEATHROW

[Dauphin]

I know at Christmas time just gone my brother had to collect his luggage and recheck it in when connecting on an international flight at Chicago, and using American Airlines for both flights. It may be that you have to collect your luggage regardless at some airports, due to security issues.

The BAA website (BAA operates Heathrow) was of no help in its FAQ on this issue.

[Dis]

doesn't sound like enough time to do much.

I had a 4 and 1/2 hour layover at Amersterdam back in the 90's. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. The problem was, according to what the pilot was saying, the airport was outside the city. Was that enough time to hit the red light district? I should have chanced it. How many times will I get the opportunity to be in amsterdam?

As for London. WTF is there to see in london. :

[Provost Harrison]

Never heard of Kings Cross, Dis?

[Flubber]

hmmm

Book a local "model" for an hour at an airport hotel and then bless us with your insights in the prostitution thread.

nah



That layover is just long eneough that you want to do something but short enough that you can't do much of anything. I don't know London/Heathrow but I'd skip the idea of trying to get into the city if there is anything to do around the airport itself. I'm thinking

some nice food
a batting cage or driving range or casino
anywhere that you can get outside and away from concrete etc

After a long flight and facing another, I just want a change -- You've been just sitting forever so any opportunity to actually do something is welcome

[MOBIUS]

Can't be bothered reading the thread, but I'd say basically you're screwed...

Might as well get a good book or something, because killing time is all you're likely to be doing. Still, it's got a lot of the US franchises etc so you'll feel right at home...

Sorry, just being honest!

[duke o' york]

Originally posted by Flubber

some nice food
a batting cage or driving range or casino
anywhere that you can get outside and away from concrete etc

What the heck's a batting cage? Something like cricket nets?

[rah]

Well the almost 7 hour layover was "fun". I now am quite familiar with terminal 4.

I'd like to thank the country for confirming that they are indeed the "land of the funny hat's"

I did get to play the typical stupid american.
Since I was going to be there 7 hours and a couple of hours on the return flight, I exchanged some american dollars to facilitate some transactions since it seemed that whenever you tried to pay in american dollars they took advantage of you.

So I traded some dollars in for Euros
What a rube.

The dollar is dying there. it Was nice to get to Cairo for a more favorable conversion rate.

[rah]

And what's up with not assigning the gates untill sometime almost 50 minutes before the plane leaves.
(mostly about 60-65 minutes prior)

There were people staring at the boards in the center of the terminal then having to run for 10 minutes to get to their gate. That's the silliest thing I've ever seen.
A lot of running people knocking down others all over the place. Quite barbaric.

[Japher]

or entertaining... dependent on your take

[rah]

And the air cleaners in the smoking lounge. I could smell the lounge when I entered the terminal from hundreds of feet away. (at least I didn't need directions)
They have the curved glass around them to contain the smoke but anybody over 6 feet tall is holding their cigarettes above that height.
I don't want to sound like it's a negative thing since AT LEAST THEY ALLOWED US TO SMOKE. In almost any American airport this would not have been allowed at all and it would have been a real torture.

All the people were very friendly and I felt like I was just part of the group. A wonderful country, even though all I ever saw was the terminal and the landscape on takeoffs and landings.

But it was funny to see almost everyone in the smoking lounge had a cigarette lighter with them. Considering that they're not allowed on most airlines. There is no way to enforce it and people have obviously figured that out. I haven't been stopped because of it yet.
They should just drop the rule.

[rah]

Originally posted by Japher
or entertaining... dependent on your take

Well yeah, it was entertaining but I didn't want to sound too evil. This one guy hit an 80 year old lady and bowled her over, but lost his direction and ended up crashing into a person in a wheelchair. These types of incidents were repeated every couple of minutes.

[Japher]

it's like watching americans trying to drive in one of them circles

[Dinner]

Originally posted by rah
And what's up with not assigning the gates untill sometime almost 50 minutes before the plane leaves.
(mostly about 60-65 minutes prior)

There were people staring at the boards in the center of the terminal then having to run for 10 minutes to get to their gate. That's the silliest thing I've ever seen.
A lot of running people knocking down others all over the place. Quite barbaric.

It's the government's latest plan to fight obesity. They figure they can get a few people running and that has to be worth something.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by rah

I did get to play the typical stupid american.

[rah]

Originally posted by Japher


it's like watching americans trying to drive in one of them circles

I've never had many problems with that. But if you really want to see crazy circle drivers, Cairo is right up there. They make all of us western drivers look like pansies. I never saw anybody stop for a red light. And I'm not talking about slowing down for a red light. I'm talking about totally ignoring them. Our taxi driver told us that they were just advisory. They have a point system on their driver's licenses there similar to ours.
But there it's based on how many people you hit. After three, you lose your license. Every taxi driver we asked said they were sitting on two and had to be careful. Being careful there means fleeing the scene of your third forth fifth etc. Fleeing the scene is quite popular there.