Update!

I booked the second hotel. This was off Hotwire, as a blind bid, and I have the Royal Garden Kensington. Location seems excellent for our purposes, and it looks like a nice hotel. I was a little over that 200, but not by much.

The hotel is at the top end of Kensington High Street so good for bus routes. Plus the doorman can call cabs for you.

I've been noodling around on google maps, and it looks like not only is it a good location for tourism purposes, there's easy access to all kinds of shopping and restaurants, We're quite excited,

Update.

Our tour to Canterbury has been cancelled. I was quite annoyed, especially as we had made a Sunday lunch reservation we were quite looking forward to. We had considered just going by train, but decided not to. I'm probably going to make a reservation at someplace called the Builders Arms that will serve an entire platter of roast dinner for Sunday lunch.

Speaking of trains, our visit is coinciding with the proposed rail strike. We had just about decided on Heathrow Express, and while technically the day, 15th, we would be riding it isn't a strike day, it's sandwiched among them. I'm trying to decide if I should go back to the car service idea, but I'm assuming traffic is going to be extra horrific as a result..

My original reason for switching was concern about an unbreakfasted DS. If we get the upgrade I put a bid in for, they'll give him a bacon roll and a little fruit, which is probably enough to keep him from eating any of the fellow passengers. If we're in economy, it's juice and a nutri grain bar. We have a very tight connection in Dublin, and they may not have much on the plane to London (I obviously don't mind paying for it, but he may be stuck with a scone). In T2 arrivals there seems to be nothing but a Caffe Nero, and while I can schedule the pickup with enough theoretical time for DS to run in and grab a filled roll, at that point he may have been rolling without a real breakfast for about four hours. A twenty minute train ride, directly to a train station with pubs that will put a full English in front of him, seemed like a much better plan than an hour plus car ride. An hour's wait on a platform for a train, that's theoretically coming any minute, not so much. I may be hungry, but he's going to be predictably ravenous, possibly to the point of finding it difficult to function, if no substantial food has happened, although if we're on our own schedule, I can make sure he gets into that Caffe Nero before we try to get on the train. So I'm still undecided.

The last night we are staying at the T5 Hilton. I did make an early dinner reservation for the Toby Carvery in Slough Langley (more roast dinner), which seems to be reachable by bus, although we may get a cab.

If you are in the Royal Garden Hotel, there are some charity shops on Notting Hill Gate, several on Portobello Road and a good Oxfam on Westbourne Grove; it's a wealthy area, there are some good 2nd hand clothes there.
I see a mention of bacon roll; Dishoom, near your hotel, do a fabulous breakfast with bacon naan.
I wouldn't worry about breakfast on your departure day, pick something up near the hotel.

Sorry, I see you are worried about breakfast on arrival. You are really overthinking this. Airports are full of places where you can pick up something to eat, even with a tight connection time. And they sell food on planes. You will not starve if you do not have a full English breakfast.

Normally, I'd say yeah to the overthinking. We've had issues in the past with not planning access and assuming we'd run into something.

Unfed DS is AWFUL. He knows he gets awful, too. He has some relatively minor developmental delays, but at this point is essentially a functional adult. He gets very stressed out by hunger, very quickly, and he's a very large (tall and broad) man who eats a lot. A relatively stressful situation will make him hungrier, too. If he's hungry enough, he's suddenly no longer a functional adult, and halfway to a full autistic meltdown.

If he's able to grab something in Dublin it should be fine, but our connection is only about an hour and a half, and I have wheelchair assist, so it may not be easy for him to run into something on the way to the gate. One (or even two) of Aer Lingus' scones is not going to cut it for very long, and I don't know if they're going to have sandwiches that early in the morning.

It is completely true that he doesn't need a full English to function, much as he likes them, but he does need a reasonable amount of food with some kind of protein (fish, eggs, meat, cheese). A bacon roll at some point should be enough to keep him from falling apart, but he's still going to be hungry. No bacon roll or similar and he's going to be having a very hard time, possibly at a point when I really need him to be a functional adult.

This information is shared with his permission, and he is in agreement with it. He did add that I get extremely grumpy when I'm hungry, too, so he comes by it honestly.

And thanks so much for the charity shop updates! One of DS's superpowers is finding really good stuff in them.

Could you not pack some food in your hand luggage?

There are so many places to buy food at LHR, you can pre order if you think you'll be short of time. Some places like Pret a Manger have really long lines, so pre ordering can help, collection from a dedicated collection point.

https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airp...gory=Pre-order

I probably will, but there's not too much that we can take through from Philadelphia. Something like a sandwich isn't practical, I'm assuming fruit/vegetables are forbidden, I don't really want to bring nuts/peanuts into that kind of closed environment, so I'm probably limited to something like granola bars/pastry/cookies, which will help tide him over in an emergency for a few minutes, but are only sort of real food.

If we're upgraded, we should be okay, since it's more food anyway, and he might get the chance to run into the lounge in Dublin (I have a bid in), plus we'll both be less tired and stressed out. If we're in economy, he'll be more tired and stressed, and if there's nothing by the gate, or there's a line, it may be an issue, The Pret is not in Arrivals, although it does seem to be before security, so he could be sent up there if we have time, or I suppose we could both go in search of something to eat if we're on our own schedule. The pickings in Arrivals are slim, but I'm assuming we can get to the Departure hall as long as we're landside.

I've been torn between thinking car service might be easier, and worry about holding up a driver if we're having a food emergency. Train gives us more flexibility, but if the train is a nightmare, we'll be sorry, or if he seems okay, and we decide to hold out for Paddington and it's an hour, we'll be sorry.

I know this probably seems a little obsessive, but it's been an issue a few times, he hasn't outgrown it, it's clearly not something he can control, and he's not a diabetic (in case anyone was wondering, since the reaction is so extreme). He won't lash out at anyone, but he'll suddenly become very not neurotypical, clumsy/stumbly, and emotional/weepy/uncooperative. Once he's eaten, he'll be back to normal, and usually extremely apologetic and embarrassed. We'd both like to avoid that.

There was a pay to enter arrivals lounge in T2, and if it were open, I'd just pay for that and be on our way in a couple of hours, but they don't seem to have reopened yet.

I understand. I feel like I have hypoglycemia tho never tested and if I don’t eat I get confused and very irritable. I just am careful snd always take snacks and I’m fine.

It was a couple of years ago, but we had a short connection in Dublin. I ordered a wheelchair assist for my husband. It was awesome. They picked us up in a small van, while all other passengers were on a large bus, and took us straight to our next gate. It could not have been better (except for having to listen to the political views of the porter!!). Hope it works as well for you.

How about those little packages of cheese? I take them sometimes as I also get grumpy if not fed on time. technically they should live in the fridge, but I have never had problems travelling with them. They aren't too large, but it gives you instant protein!

I may try those. I think technically you're probably not supposed to, but since It would shortly be inside DS, I think we'd get away with it.

We are probably going to go with National Express, on the advice of a Facebook friend, booked with enough buffer to let DS run into the Caffe Nero, and then cab from Victoria, which obviously has food.

We did not book the Builder's Arms, for various reasons, and do have a booking for the Prince of Wales, Kensington, which is a Greene King, and cheaper and simpler if nothing else. Also willing to feed DS a roast. Afterwards we have tickets for the Natural History Museum.

I'm now trying to plan around the cold weather. We're used to it, but it means we need different coats than were planned, and I'm trying to decide if it would be odd to wear a fur (fur in question is vintage, and not terribly high end, but it is identifiably a full length fur coat).

Been away for a few days and didn't see all the food discussions.

Take some Keebler PB snack crackers and/or Baby Bells from home and pick a couple of sandwiches, after security at PHL??? Put everything in his carry on. Then no matter what the connection at DUB ends up he'll have real food.

Also -- World Market/Cost Plus and other shops carry a lot of shelf stable cheeses/cold cuts/salami/etc. which can be carried in a carryon.

Thanks!

I'll take a look. I used to carry Go Picnics, but they don't really seem to be around anymore. I think an actual sandwich would be pretty bedraggled by the time it hit London, but if I see something decent and we're in economy I may grab it with the idea that he might want it after that tiny airline dinner. We'll usually eat something before we get on as well, and that shouldn't be a problem time wise.

I don't want PB or nuts, because I don't think he should eat them on a plane, or even a bus.

I had been thinking Baby Bells probably wouldn't get us into trouble, and would help, so I may just do that, or something like string cheese.

I do have a small amount of Euro, so if he has any time at all in Dublin, he can just run in and buy something quickly, and not worry about using a card.

We are in and out of the same terminal in Dublin (T2), so we should be able to stay airside, but I have no idea how far apart the gates are. and getting anywhere in that terminal felt like a horrific slog when we went through in May (which is why I requested the assist).

And my final update!

I hope. We think we have our ducks in a row.

DS has discovered the existence of Camden Market. We're probably going to visit it on Saturday. I think he's planning on eating half the market.

I had kind of wanted to book some kind of theatre or ballet, but we couldn't make up our minds.

We do not seem to be upgraded. This is extremely frustrating, since we WON THE UPGRADE, and I had stupidly given a debit rather than a credit. My bank declined it twice, for security reasons, and I have not been able to get anyone at Aer Lingus who can do anything about it. I've also given the bank a piece of my mind, but it's not like they can force Aer Lingus to give me another chance to pay for it.

We got the upgrade!

I have no idea if any of the conversations I had yesterday with large unhelpful organizations did anything, but the upgrade company seems to have tried one more time, and my bank finally decided to cooperate.

I always feel guilty about spending the money, but we'll have a better first day or two, and it removes a lot of the anxiety about making sure DS has food. I'll probably still pack a snack, but I'm much happier.

If DS is a foodie then he will love Camden Market! It is one of our regular haunts. We often cycle there on a Saturday the range of food on those stalls is amazing. I doubt there is any area of the world not covered. Warning - Camden will be v busy on a Saturday be prepared for crowds!

DS LOVES to eat and is very adventurous.

He's very excited. We're going to try for fairly early, although I figure most of these places are going to be crowded.