Sleeping overnight at Heathrow Airport

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December 5 – London Heathrow airport – The flight from Greece to England on British Airways was a pleasant one as I had a young lady sitting next to me who immensely enjoyed listening to my stories of all my adventures. It made the time pass very quickly and the next thing I knew we were arriving in London.

I was really surprised as I had expected the plane (which was a Boeing 767-200) to pull up to the airport and we would walk off on a covered ramp. But instead we were unloaded onto some buses and got a tour of the airport construction sites before being delivered to Terminal 5. Since I had a 12 hr and 40 minute connection, my flight wasn’t till morning at 9:45, I had intended to find a reasonably comfortable place and nap till morning. However they told me I could not overnight stay in terminal 5 but had to go to terminal 1to stay overnight and catch the 5AM bus to terminal 3. So I caught the airport bus to terminal 1 and found a comfortable enough place to nap a bit on the ground floor.

After a while a woman security type came by and told me I couldn’t stay there overnight but had to go to the lounge on the 1^st floor. So I went through another security screening and went to the lounge area where several other people were resting , mostly Japanese.

At about 00:30 another woman came by and told us all we had to go with her to another lounging area so we followed her like homeless people, and she brought us to an area that had lounging chairs in it and I went to sleep there. It wasn’t the best nights sleep I ever had but it wasn’t the worst either.

About 4 AM the woman rang some kind of alarm and sent us on our way back to the main lounge area. So I went there and then eased over to the security point that was the entry for the escalator down to the bus area. I asked a couple of the security people when they opened and they told me 5AM. So I waited till 5AM when they let us pass and then we went down to the bus loading area and caught the bus to Terminal 3 which is the one American Airlines uses.

Once there I went through yet another security screening and this time they tested my bag with some kind of swab checking for explosives. I didn’t have any and so after the check I went to where the sign said American Airlines check in. Once there a man there told me they didn’t open up till 6:30AM. So I went to the lounging area of Terminal 3 and found a coffee place open. They wouldn’t take Euros since I was technically in England, so I had to dig out my £’s to pay for the coffee. Then I put my €’s away for the next trip. I also put my $’s in my wallet for when I arrive in Ft Worth/Dallas airport.

After having my coffee I explored the terminal a bit and found another coffee place (not Starbucks) that had plugs by their tables and so that’s where I am now at 06:20 writing this onto a Word File to copy to an email next time I get Internet access.

I got a Latte here and it isn’t half bad once you add enough sugar.

My flight departs London at 9:45 AM and is a direct flight to Dallas/Ft Worth and then a transfer to the plane to College Station.

So I guess all there is to do now is “Keep Calm and Carry On” and catch that big bird home. : )

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Comments

[Heathrow airport transfers]

Heathrow airport transfers
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[Sojourner1208]

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