Five-hour layover at Gatwick - what else to do besides getting liqoured up?
May 8th, 2006, 05:34 AM
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Five-hour layover at Gatwick - what else to do besides getting liqoured up?
Four of us will be incarcerated at Gatwick for 5 hours next Tuesday, awaiting a British Air flight to Marseille. Our wives will probably be satisfied to shop, which is definitely not one of my favorite pasttimes. Since I don't sleep on planes, I will have read for most of 8 hours on the overseas flight, so that's not a great option. Besides sitting in a pub and getting completely stewed, is there anything else for my friend and I to do?
May 8th, 2006, 06:17 AM
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Why would you want to do anything other than the aforementioned "getting stewed?" I mean really, Gatwick, though no Stansted, is no Heathrow either, and in all 3 of those I have been known to nip my way towards chipper.
May 8th, 2006, 06:38 AM
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laclaire - It will be a very long day ... by the time we reach London, well have been up about 21 hours straight, then the 5-hour layover, next the 2-hour flight to Marseille, then about a one-hour drive to the Bed & Breakfast near Avignon.
Even with all that, I agree that "getting stewed" is the most likely option; I'll probably be on my third wind by then.
Even with all that, I agree that "getting stewed" is the most likely option; I'll probably be on my third wind by then.
May 8th, 2006, 07:41 AM
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As you can't sleep on planes, I assume that you can't sleep camp-style at the airport. So, here comes a more serious suggestion. If you are someone who writes postcards, get it all out of the way at the airport. With 5 hours, you can get a ton of London postcards and just write away. You can even post them there and spend the rest of your vacation doing things just for you and yours. I bet that will get a good 2 hours out if you include friends and family.
Also, though it is not particularly interesting, I like to walk around airports to get some exercise and keep my lazy blood pumping. It can be fun (bear with me here) to walk from terminal to terminal and time yourself. Then in the future you will know how long to make your connections.
Also, though it is not particularly interesting, I like to walk around airports to get some exercise and keep my lazy blood pumping. It can be fun (bear with me here) to walk from terminal to terminal and time yourself. Then in the future you will know how long to make your connections.
May 8th, 2006, 08:07 AM
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Sure, Brighton is only 30 mins from LGW - but you will be lucky to get there w/i 90 minutes of landing (getting through immigration and waiting for next train). The beach/pier is about 3/4 of a mile walk from the Brighton train station - but you could take a taxi. Then you have 30 min train plus security queues back at LGW. So basically you'd have have less than an hour in Brighton - and if you truly don't sleep on the flight you might be a bit disoriented and miss everything.
So just stay at LGW and buy you way into a lounge. OR you might get a room at one of the airport hotels and sleep for a couple of hours.
But I certainly wouldn't get stewed - if you are that exhausted who knows how it will affect you.
So just stay at LGW and buy you way into a lounge. OR you might get a room at one of the airport hotels and sleep for a couple of hours.
But I certainly wouldn't get stewed - if you are that exhausted who knows how it will affect you.
May 8th, 2006, 08:10 AM
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Thanks for your suggestions.
laclaire - Though I normally don't send postcards, I do a fair amount of walking around airports, so there will be some of that going on. I enjoy the girl ... uhhh people-watching.
laclaire - Though I normally don't send postcards, I do a fair amount of walking around airports, so there will be some of that going on. I enjoy the girl ... uhhh people-watching.
May 8th, 2006, 08:41 PM
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Larry- were you at heathrow in September of 2001 when I flew through? Actually, were you the 40ish, slightly tall man who followed me into Lacoste, then into the scarf store, then tried to buy me a Cadbury bar at the kiosk? If so, I totally should have said yes because my flight got delayed and nothing would have been better than a chocolate bar while waiting. That and you were kind of cute in a sketchy way.
May 9th, 2006, 07:17 AM
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Walk to nearby Crawley, a small town about a mile or so from the arrivals terminal - i did this recently whilst waiting for a flight - just go out the front and turn left on the small footpath which soon emerges in Crawley, a town with shops, pubs, etc. Something besides an airport. An easy walk.
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