More London Travel Questions

[spartan7886]

Spurred on by a previous poster, I have my own travel questions for London I'm hoping someone can answer. We will be spending one night in London on our way back from Italy in a few months due to the way the flights are scheduled. We arrive at Heathrow at 1:30 PM, and leave at 11 AM the following morning.

Question One: Will we have to pick up our checked baggage and take it through customs, or will it stay in the custody of British Airways? The online information sounded like they keep it, but the man on the phone with the hard-to-understand accent said we have to pick it up. He didn't really sound very sure, though.

Question Two: Hotel arrangements - there's a Doubletree at the far terminal from where we need for 30k points, or a nicer Hilton (with triple pane windows) at the terminal we need for 50k points, or another Hilton property right on the tube line we would take into the city. Any recommendations between the three? How much of a pain is it to take the shuttle? It seems like Heathrow is pretty big. How late are there steady flights out of Heathrow that might keep us up if we don't have the triple pane windows?

Question Three: You have one afternoon in London. Any suggestions other than just check off the tourist spots in the Westminster Abbey/Buckingham Palace area? Not my preferred way to see the city, but two weeks in Rome/Florence/Venice was the point of the trip. London just happened.

[Gardening Grandma]

Question 1. When you check your luggage, if you check it to your final destination, I believe it stays with BA until your US port of entry.  I'd ask when checking in.

Question 2. Don't know the answer, but I'd check reviews on trip advisor for all three and see if there are complaints about noise.

Question 3. Depends on your own preferences. I'd do one of the following
a) Take a tour on one of the red double decker buses. After that, have a nice dinner and get a good night's sleep
b) Tower of London

[whoami]

When we flew to JFK from Rome, we picked up our bags, went through immigration and customs and then immediately rechecked the bags to DFW. I assume because you are entering another country from Italy, it is probably the same procedure.

I would also recommend the double decker bus tour. Some have hop on/off privileges so you can pick them up at their various bus stops for one price and see a lot of the city in a fairly short time.

As far as hotel noise, I stay at a lot of airport hotels and the noise from airplanes almost never bothers me and Im a pretty light sleeper.

[Deleted]

You might actually have a choice as to whether or not you check your bag through to the US and probably won't get the final word till you check in in Italy.  (No matter what you hear over the phone, it boils down to what the person at check-in says.)  DH and I once stayed overnight in London (shorter stay, though) en route to the Orkneys and just kept a few overnight items with us in our carry-ons. The checked bags went straight through to Kirkwall, our destination.  That's the opposite direction, though.

We've stayed at the Hilton on the premises at Heathrow. I have a review on TripAdvisor (I also use Athena53 there) but it's pretty old. No noise problems. The restaurants are crazy expensive, though. I'd bring food in from the airport or town if possible. The glass bathroom walls are a little bizarre, too.

Because Heathrow is a royal pain and you have to get there darn early, I'd be more inclined to stay at the Hilton right there so you have minimal stress getting to your flight the next morning.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Good recommendations, all.  I had this happen when we flew to Rome a few years ago, but our unexpected stopover was in Amsterdam.  We had a really good time in our 7 hours in Amsterdam, though!  We dropped our bags in an airport locker, took a canal tour of the city, did a couple of museums, ate a bite, and returned to the airport.  It was kind of a fun surprise in the middle of our previously-scheduled vacation. 

[pinkbow832]

I've stayed at the Hilton on Park Lane and the location was fantastic.  It's walkable to lots of things and on the same tube line as Heathrow, so really convenient location if you want to stay in the city.  Otherwise, if you are just going to the city for a few hours from Heathrow, I think the Heathrow express runs to Paddington station and is a lot faster than the tube- it's about a 45minute tube ride from Heathrow-Knightsbridge area.

So many people going to London!  I want to go too!

[Deleted]

Feb 26, 2014 10:01:56 GMT -5 pinkbow832 said:

I've stayed at the Hilton on Park Lane and the location was fantastic.  It's walkable to lots of things and on the same tube line as Heathrow, so really convenient location if you want to stay in the city.  Otherwise, if you are just going to the city for a few hours from Heathrow, I think the Heathrow express runs to Paddington station and is a lot faster than the tube- it's about a 45minute tube ride from Heathrow-Knightsbridge area.

So many people going to London!  I want to go too!

While I love the Heathrow Express, it's a lot more expensive so you need to be prepared for that.  It may also be less convenient than it looks if you need to change subway lines a couple of times to get where you're going from Paddington.  I once took a shared taxi from Paddington to the office in the City.  BIG Mistake.  It took forever and cost a fortune even though there were 4 of us (and I was the last one dropped off, of course).  When I'm not in a rush and/or encumbered by a lot of luggage I take the tube between Heathrow and London.

[Baby Fawkes]

Feb 26, 2014 9:40:37 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

You might actually have a choice as to whether or not you check your bag through to the US and probably won't get the final word till you check in in Italy.  (No matter what you hear over the phone, it boils down to what the person at check-in says.)  DH and I once stayed overnight in London (shorter stay, though) en route to the Orkneys and just kept a few overnight items with us in our carry-ons. The checked bags went straight through to Kirkwall, our destination.  That's the opposite direction, though.

We've stayed at the Hilton on the premises at Heathrow. I have a review on TripAdvisor (I also use Athena53 there) but it's pretty old. No noise problems. The restaurants are crazy expensive, though. I'd bring food in from the airport or town if possible. The glass bathroom walls are a little bizarre, too.

Because Heathrow is a royal pain and you have to get there darn early, I'd be more inclined to stay at the Hilton right there so you have minimal stress getting to your flight the next morning.

I think the requirements are that if you are leaving out of customs / immigration and therefore 'entering the country' you are required to take possession of your baggage from the airlines. I can't find specific documentation of the requirement, but this is how it's been explained to me by a good friend who works for customs at Heathrow. They have luggage storage that you can rent lockers (like Rocky Mtn Saver mentioned) to keep you bags secure and they aren't all that expensive. Definitely worth it if you plan to head away from the airport towards the city.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

I honestly don't recall where the lockers were located in the airport (before or after customs) in Schiphol.  We travelled carry-on only, so we didn't have anything in the airline's possession. 

[Baby Fawkes]

Feb 26, 2014 12:59:41 GMT -5 Rocky Mtn Saver said:

I honestly don't recall where the lockers were located in the airport (before or after customs) in Schiphol.  We travelled carry-on only, so we didn't have anything in the airline's possession. 

I've never been to Schipol (yet) but for Heathrow, in terminals 1, 2 & 3 they are all located not too far from the exits from customs / immigration where people can meet arrivals. For more specific details, here's the info: www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/services-and-facilities/left-baggage 

[spartan7886]

So it sounds like the double decker bus is a consensus and we should be prepared to pick up our checked bags. Thanks all. I was in a meeting all day today, so I didn't get a chance to check in at work.