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

[BlackCat]

Yes, they are pretty strange about gate announcement - last week they waited to 30 minutes before departure to figure out where the plane would be. And smoking areas, you should see that one in terminal three - dimly lit, metal gray colors - real cosy - could be used in a retake of blade runner. At least it was put up in a backstage area so we wasn't bothered by all those nasty nonsmokers

[rah]

When we landed there from Chicago the first day, they announced what gate we were going to debark from only to switch it halfway to that gate, a few minutes later the plane just pulled over and let us all get off to board buses. It was pretty hilarious.

[BlackCat]

Well, if you can ignore these small annoyments, Heathrow actuall have one big plus - you can get a 1 litre LaProaigh for only 20 £ - that's half price That even the fact that I can't byuy taxfree due to the evil EU

[Terra Nullius]

Originally posted by rah
if you really want to see crazy circle drivers, Cairo is right up there.

Uerrghh... Cairo.

I had a nightmare where I was back in Cairo - stuck in a taxi going round and round massive, spiralling, dusty four-lane orbital highways.

There are only three or so nightmares that still stand out clearly in my memory, somehow Traffic in Cairo still sends shivers down my spine.

[Terra Nullius]

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

Originally posted by Agathon
The last time I did this, I spent the night in the terminal sleeping on my bags.

I remember getting the date wrong on one of my flights and showing up at Heathrow a day early.

Couldn't be bothered trying to find a hotel, so I looked for a quiet corner of the terminal to crash out. Got talking to three Punjabi-Londoners who'd just come in to look 'round the airport for a day.

They ended up asking me back to their place, fed me fragrant, home-cooked pilaf and pappads, gave me a nice clean bed for the night and sent me off with a package of fresh paranthas in the morning.

Even beat the **** out of a psychotic coke-head on the bus for me... the full London experience.

[rah]

Yes, I wish I could have left the airport and actually have seen London.

[MikeH]

I've never actually been on a flight that didn't allow cigarette lighters, it's normally allowed within Europe at least.

The gates thing at Heathrow can be really rubbish.

[rah]

They've been not allowed on all US flights for at least 6 months. Not very effective. Whenever I'm in a smokers lounge we all just laugh. Someone will come in and ask for a light and 20 people will pull out there lighters.

[Evil Knevil]

Originally posted by rah


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.

What did you think of the place?

Which terminal did you land in in Cairo? Terminal One, from what I remember, was a nightmare of concrete, beggers and a party of Black Sudanese men dressed as waiters. Did a nice guy try to grab your luggage and take you to his office and try to sell you a cruise down the Nile?

[BlackCat]

You are only allowed to have one lighter in the cabin - I had to get rid of my backup disposable to keep my zippo.

A zippo can be made to a pretty dangerous weapon if you shapren the casing

[rah]

Well I left sunday and arrived in Cairo early tuesday morning so I was a bid dazed. But it was just a nightmare of concrete and soldiers with automatic weapons. So needless to say when we flew out and actually saw the airport I was quite impressed. Clean efficient and everyone very friendly. But the guys grabbing the luggage were hilarious. When we got off the bus I told the guys NO NO NO and carried my luggage in. But when I got right up to security two feet away from lifting my stuff onto the conveyer belt, a guy in a jump suit grabbed them to lift them up onto it. Thinking he was an airport employee I didn't jump to stop him. Of course for his two seconds of effort he expected money. hahahhahaha I gave him a buck.

The bathroom was funny. I'm used to the scam with the towel boys since that is common in high class resturants here. So I wash my hands and walk over to the dryer and the guy is wadding up TOILET paper for me to dry my hands with. I was laughing so hard the guy started to look offended. Since we were the only two in the bathroom at the time, I figured it was safer to just give him a buck. I guess it was worth it based on entertainment value.