London Layovers + A Giveaway!

Neil and I have been traveling for years and neither one of us had even been to England before 2019. Hear me out here: London was never a place that I really had any interest in seeing. I got to travel to Europe a bit as a kid and with all the other countries I had the opportunity to visit, England wasn’t one that anyone even mentioned. So as our travel plans for 2019 unfolded, we had two trips that each included nearly a full day layover in London. Let me take you through how we made the most of those few hours and saw different things both trips.

Layover at London Heathrow

Our first trip was early May 2019. On our way to the Maldives, by way of London and then Sri Lanka, our initial flight departed around 3:00pm Dallas time. I had every intention of sleeping on the flight, but my neves got the best of me since it had been a while since I had last flown, and it just didn’t happen. Thankfully, we had brought Dr. Singha’s Tavel Tonic and I had several droppers full in the few hours before we landed. We arrived at London Heathrow around 1:00pm London time and our departure was at 9:30pm that same day. Since our flight was still many hours away, we used one of the baggage holding services in the airport terminal. For about 11 pounds per piece of luggage held, we used just our one daypack and headed out. It was a rather cool Saturday, I think the high temperature was around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Heathrow is about 45 minutes outside of the area of town with all the popular tourist sights. Doing research prior to our trip, we had found the Heathrow Express train which would cut our travel time down into the city a bit. This train will depart from the airport and take you to Paddington Station in just over 30 minutes. Buying tickets online saves you a few pounds and you can buy the return fare good for the same day as well. There are a few different classes on the train, but we figured it was such a short ride, we didn’t need to upgrade to have a nicer seat.

Once we arrived at Paddington Station, we worked our way towards Hyde Park. About 10 minutes into the walk, it started to rain. London in the summer has a tendency to spontaneously burst into showers, so taking a packable rain jacket is probably a good idea. I had stubbornly left mine in the checked luggage back at the airport, so had to resort to my shawl to cover my hair while Neil had his ballcap. Thankfully I also had my sweater since nearly all the other clothes I had packed were for the much warmer weather of the Maldives. We strolled through the park for a bit and then made our way to Buckingham Palace. Since it was later in the day, we had missed the changing of the guard, but still got to marvel in the beauty of the palace for a few photos. 

After the Palace, the skies were starting to look angrier, so we sought out a place for lunch. Neil wanted classic fish and chips, so we found a cute pub in the nearby Westminster-Victoria area and grabbed a seat. The place was definitely a local hangout with a few tourists sprinkled about. Neil placed our order at the bar and our food brought out in about 20 minutes or so. I had some tasty lamb and apricot sausage, creamed mash, red wine gravely, and ale onions. For under 30 pounds, it was a great meal and nice chance to get out of the cold weather for an hour. From here, we walked towards Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. The Abbey was stunning in its size and Big Ben was under renovation, so we just paused to view it from the outside.

As we headed towards Westminster Station, the London Eye was clearly in view. London is a very walkable city, and crowded despite the cooler temperatures on that May day. We grabbed our traditional souvenir keychain from a small shop and hopped on the tube back to Paddington, and after arriving there, got on the Heathrow Express to return to the airport. We reclaimed our checked bags from the storage service and then checked into our next flight. The whole day went pretty fast, but it was a great chance to see some of the sights of London without spending more than a few hours. 

Layover Between London Heathrow and Gatwick

Our second trip to London was in August of the same year. The logistics of that trip were a little more complicated, but resulted in a fun alternative to the plan we had laid out earlier in the year. As I tend to do, I had once again done some research in preparation for this long layover. The inbound flight was to land at Heathrow while the outbound flight left from London Gatwick Airport. Our flight was scheduled to land at 7:00am and our next flight would depart around 4:00pm. Since we had to check-in for our next flight at a different airport, we had two possible plans before we left. If our flight was on time, we’d head straight to Gatwick and use a baggage holding service and then explore around that area for a few hours. However, if our flight was late, we’d have left our bags at Heathrow, toured around London for just a short while, and then headed to Gatwick. 

Thankfully, our flight got in on time and by about 9:00am, we were on our way to Gatwick. There were options to take trains from one airport to the other, but we opted to use a car service instead. The trains would have required a transfer and cost us a bit more than a car service or taxi. We actually went into the taxi queue before requesting a car, but they wanted nearly double the rate. Travel tip: always use an app that tells you the approximate price (like Uber or FreeNow) so you can compare and pick the best rate and timing for you. Our ride was about 50 minutes between airports that time of day on a Sunday morning. 

Upon arrival to Gatwick, we quickly oriented ourselves with where we had to check-in for our next flight, and had the brilliant idea to see if we could actually check our bags that early. As luck would have it, they did allow for us to check them in that early. I had already located the baggage storage service within the terminal, so we still used that for one of our carry-on bags, but that was 2 bags fewer than we had intended on storing. After a quick change of clothes and grabbing some coffee and water, we began the trip towards our next destination.

As I mentioned, prior to this layover, I had done some research on where to go near Gatwick. There are a few options, but one was of particular interest since it included a beach. Brighton is about a 45 minute train ride directly south of Gatwick. I knew we wouldn’t have too much time since it was nearly an hour each way, but thought it was worth it to get to see an entirely different part of London. The train was standing room only when we boarded, and it only got more full at each station. By the time we made it to Brighton, it was just before 11:00am. It was a much warmer day than when we had come to England in May, probably around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It was an easy 15 minute walk from the train station towards Brighton Beach. There is a colorful pier with carnival rides and tasty treats. The edge of the beach is lined with restaurants. Oh! And the beach itself is pebbles! I had never seen a beach quite like it and thought how cool it would be to live in a town with the beach that close, even if it wasn’t the white sandy shores of many other beaches. 

As lunchtime was approaching, we grabbed seats at a restaurant with a large outdoor seating area. Neil was hankering for fish and chips again, and this time, since we were right on the water, I couldn’t resist. The portions were huge and served with excellent “chips” and mushy peas. Once we wrapped up our frozen fresh blueberry daiquiris, I consulted Google Maps to figure out where we should walk to next. We strolled through the Royal Pavilion Gardens and then made our way to The Lanes. The Lanes are a fascinating area just north of the beach where some very narrow streets are lined with cafes and shops selling jewelry and sweets. I could see how you can wander through the area for several hours, but we didn’t have too much time. Around 2:00pm, we were back at Brighton Station and were able to get on a train that was leaving in a few minutes. Our tickets were good for any train, and we found ourselves on a much nicer car on the way back to the airport. We quickly reclaimed the one bag we held in storage and then were on our way to the lounge to grab a drink before our boarding time.

I am really glad we had these opportunities to get out of the airport and walk around while seeing tiny portions of a country we hadn’t explored before. If you have more than a 6 hour layover, I feel that it’s in your interest to try and leave the airport and do something within reason, accounting for all aspects of travel time as much as you can. 

Giveaway!

And now, for the exciting part! These layovers would not have been nearly as eventful if we arrived tired and jet lagged. Taking a few drops of Dr. Singha’s Travel Tonic on each flight really made a world of difference. The all organic and natural herbal supplement helps you ease into your next time zone without any difficulty, and keeps you going for many hours. We are thrilled to announce we are partnering with Dr. Singha’s to give away 5 bottles of their incredible Travel Tonic ($16.95 value). Make sure you follow us on Instagram @2gorostravel for the official contest announcement with contest rules.

This entry was posted in Europe