A few small London related questions...

*Is there anything I need to know about the left baggage desk at Heathrow? According to their website there's one in every terminal and it gives the hours and prices. I don't know enough to know if there's anything I need to know or do other than leave a bag and pay to get it back. I've never had a reason to use a left baggage desk before.

*I'll be taking bus 77 or 71 out to Windsor during my long Heathrow layover, do I pay the driver for the ticket or is there a ticket desk/kiosk somewhere I need to buy a ticket from first? I'm not finding the website right now, but do I remember correctly that the Oyster card does not work for these routes?

*Any laundry soap suggestions for doing small laundry in the sink? I'm assuming normal liquid laundry soap is okay. I'm so overthinking this one, aren't I? I won't buy clothes that are hand wash only so this is a new one for me.

*I'll probably book Dot2Dot soon, does anyone have any "oh no, not them!" type warnings for me before I do? I've seen quite a few suggestions for Just Airports, but for me traveling alone they're twice the price of Dot 2 Dot. I can wait for a little while for that much.

Thanks for your help

Why can't you check your luggage through?

Left luggage offices tend to be busy - don't be surprised if you wait 30 minutes depositing / retrieving your luggage
Left luggage offices will X-Ray everything you deposit
Use the left luggage office at your DEPARTURE terminal so as to save anything up to a 30 minutes transfer between terminals

What's Dot2Dot got to do with anything else you ask? They are a service that takes you into London from Heathrow. Depending on where you are going there are several other ways to get into London that will be quicker - and a lot cheaper

For hand washing clothes in the basin, we often use the little bottles of shampoo that you get for free in hotels. It's cheap and works fine. You can buy tubes of laundry liquid in travel or camping type stores if you want. You'll need to set something up for the clothes to drip once you've washed them so a travel clothesline is ideal, you can put it over the shower then put the clothes on it, or you can use the coathangers from the wardrobe, but often they are the annoying type that don't have a proper hook on the top. After they have finished dripping (overnight usually) you can put them in the wardrobe to finish drying.

Not sure about paying on the bus, different companies have different rules. You can ask once you arrive, the buses run quite often so if you miss one, you shouldn't have to wait too long.

With the left luggage, alanRow is right, it might all take longer than you expect so allow enough time. You also can't get luggage back during the day - to get something out for example - and put it back. Once it's stored, that's it, until you pay to retrieve it.

Kay

On your other thread you said that you're checking luggage through to Egypt so I'm guessing you want to leave your carry on bag at Heathrow while you go to Windsor.

Check at the castle to see if they have a place for luggage at the entrance; many places do have a coat room type of place for coats, umbrellas, day packs, etc. where you could leave your carry on bag for a while during your visit and retrieve it later after you've toured the castle and town.

Bring a sink stopper (flat, rubber disk you can buy in the supermarket) if you're planning to do hand laundry during your trip. You can use any liquid soap, including shampoo to wash your clothes or buy washing leaves so you don't have to pack extra liquids.

Recent change--buses to Windsor now depart from Terminal 5. If you're not arriving at Terminal 5, the train below all terminals is a free connection between terminals 1,2,3 (single stop), 4 and 5.

We used Dot2Dot to get our daughter to her hotel at night as we didn't want her taking the tube. We were happy she was safely deposited at the hotel and she was very happy with the service - it was worth the money for our piece of mind.

Re the travel wash.

I buy Aveda Calming Body Cleanser, which you can shower or bathe with, wash your hair in, and I use it for washing clothes by hand as well.

"<i>Check at the castle to see if they have a place for luggage at the entrance; </i>."

There is no luggage check at the Castle, and neither of the train stations in Windsor has left luggage.

Maybe I'm confused, are you going into London after heading over to Windsor and back? How can you book dot2dot? If you are going to Windsor and back and queueing to retrieve your bags, you won't know what time to book the shuttle.

If it was me - I'd use left luggage in T-5 (since that is where you'll catch the bus) and then after visiting Windsor go back to T-5 and take the tube in to London.

Janis - re: Windsor Castle do you carry your coat, umbrella, day pack, etc. through the building? No place to check anything? Thanks!

FYI - The OP is going to Egypt and then coming back to London. Long layover is on the outbound flight to Egypt (according to the OP's other thread).

when i was at the castle - yeh a few years back - you indeed could check items like adrienne says at the entrance. Janis probably has never info to say there is no check room at the castle entrance?

"<i>Windsor Castle do you carry your coat, umbrella, day pack, etc. through the building?</i>"

yes. They will be searched for security, but there is no place to check them.

There is no coat/luggage/bag check at Windsor Castle -- and hasn't been for years.

There is no coat/luggage/bag check at Windsor TIC

There is no coat/luggage/bag check at either Windsor train station.

Now there ARE a couple of nearby hotels that <i>might</i> hold things for you but I sure wouldn't count on it.

Be careful about UK English terminology as well. If you ask a local person "is there a bag check at the castle?", he/she will probably think you are referring to the security check (ie inspection) of bags made at the entrance. What Americans call "bag check" is called "left luggage" here in the UK.

It's been a few years since I was last at the castle but I think Janis is correct that there are no left luggage facilities there. In view of the fairly obvious security issues, it's hardly surprising they would not be keen on providing this facility.

I_R - Tide has little flat sachets of single-use soap meant specifically for a sink-sized load. I took a few on our last trip and they worked fine. Look in the travel-size product section of your drugstore.

Adrienne, you rock. Thank you for clarifying my oddball post. I was more than a little tired when I posted and it made sense at the time...


I'm flying to Cairo, via London. My layover in London is 10-11 hours so I'm planning to take the bus out to Windsor for the morning and early afternoon. I'll return to Heathrow and then on to Cairo for 8 days. After Egypt, I'm returning to London for 6 days. I want to take a change of clothes, and anything I really need for the trip in a duffle bag as carryon incase my checked bag goes wandering but I don't want to take it out to Windsor if I don't have to. Thus the left baggage desk at Heathrow for the day. I'll check my main bag to Cairo so that's not a problem.

When I return to London, I'll take a car service to the apartment I'm renting for the week. I don't want to dink with a suitcase on the tube or a bus (yes, I'm being lazy). Before I booked with Dot 2 Dot, I wanted to see if anyone would say "Oh no, bad choice" first. I've seen so many glowing reports of Just Airports, but they're about twice the price for me. I've seen a few bad reports of Dot 2 Dot, but those were mainly based on it likely taking more time than a direct service like Just Airports.

As for left baggage, 30 minutes, yikes. That stinks. Leaving it shouldn't be as much of a problem as I'll be ready to drop it off right about the time they open for the day. However, I'll be returning in early afternoon which I'm assuming will be a very busy time. I'm pretty sure I'm arriving at and departing from from terminal 5 so that's less of a hassle, no terminal hopping.

Thanks for the handwashing tips. A travel clothesline is already on my list, but I hadn't thought of a sink stopper.


Thanks all, and sorry for the utter confusion of my first post. Yeesh, I should know better than to post when I'm barely awake anyway.

Oh - now I get it <u>two different trips through LHR</u>.

So, yes you can book dot2dot in to town. For a single traveler they will be fine (as long as you don't mind maybe having to stay on the coach while others are dropped off first)

My complaint about d2d is mainly their super shuttle-like model where they carry folks to several different hotels and having no control over whether you are first or last off.

But they would be cheaper than a car service for one.

There was one thread a couple of months ago w/ several posts about them being bought out or changing management (don't 100% remember all the details). One poster was concerned about them losing financing but apparently whatever it was, was cleared up.

Thanks Janisj

In view of the fairly obvious security issues, it's hardly surprising they would not be keen on providing this facility.>

i think janis and you are no doubt right - but would it not make sense to have a place where backpacks, etc. must be checked for security reasons - there are many important tourist sights - such as many Paris museums IME that require you to leave such items in a check-room.