Since our departure was delayed by bad weather, my six hour stopover in Heathrow was cut down to five. Still plenty of time for strolling up and down the promenade pondering my need for electronics, cosmetics, and Swarovski kitsch. Plenty of time for deciding between an overpriced sandwich from a fridge case, an overpriced meal in a cleverly named restaurant, or an overpriced plate of sushi at the counter. Plenty of time for finding a comfortable chair at long last and then, losing it because I had to get up to find the loo. Right? Right.
Except. This mostly sensible girl decided she’d had enough of that crap and booked herself in to the lounge. And there are loads of comfy chairs here and snacks that, if mediocre, are free, and plenty of stuff to drink – if so inclined, a person could mix themselves a cocktail, I kid you not. I’m looking at vodka right now.
The best thing of all is the wifi, of course. Because I spent a bit of time chatting with K who told me that yes, I should buy the isolation headphones, (Shure e2c, fyi) and then I did a price check and found that actually, the airport shop isn’t totally extortionist and then I went out and bought them and then I came back and watched the planes in a silent empty room and then I wrote this run on sentence.
It’s 18 pounds – about 35 bucks to use the lounge. And that may seem like a lot of money. But an hour of wifi is about 12 dollars and a cup of tea is about three dollars and a plate of cheese and crackers is about 8 dollars and oh, let’s just say it adds up. Plus, there’s the fact that right now, I’m slouched in a comfy chair with the laptop in relative quiet. What’s that worth?
I don’t think I’d have bothered were I traveling with a companion. But since I’m solo, I’m finding it worth every nickel. I’m going to be disappointed when I have to quit slouching, put my shoes on, log off, and head for the plane.
Those headphones are da bomb, aren’t they?!
More technology … seems I’m going to have to out myself with a new name, and that would be Di Flintstone.
Singapore, I used to buy a shower and try to start again halfway through the trip home from Istanbul to NZ. No idea what countries I’ll pass through when I go home from Europe but I like the idea of spending some money for peace.
Buy a shower? I recall washing my hair in the sink at JFK in the TWA terminal during a layover from Dublin via London to SFO. 24 hours of hell punctuated by a tepid and quick hairwash in a bathroom sink.
This made me smile…first, because I honestly had no idea you could “buy” single uses of the lounge…secondly, because when we flew ‘home’ in ’03 from the tropics, we had to change planes in San Juan. A friend of ours was on our STT to STJ flight and when we got to San Juan, he invited us to join him in the lounge. You KNOW I was all over that…but J (having–atonishingly considering his world travel–never been in a lounge) just didn’t see the point. I was like, but comfy chairs, free coffee and continental breakfast, newspapers! He was like, where’s the bacon and eggs?? We hung briefly…and then made our way to counter seats in some diner. 🙂