Category: Heathrow Terminal 1

It’s no secret that London, England is booming and buzzing with tourists. After all, this European city has plenty of attractions, such as the British Museum, National Gallery, Palace of Westminster, the Tower of London, Tate Modern, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. These hot spots draw in more than 14 million tourists each year from all over the globe. Still, getting to and from the Heathrow Airport in London is no simple task. Here are seven travel options to keep in mind CHECK http://www.iparkairportparking.co.uk/blog/

Take a Taxi

Heathrow taxis are one option. Since this bustling airport has more than 600 different taxi services, it’s prudent to book London city airport taxi ahead of time. This way you can get the ride at a fixed rate, and the taxi will be waiting outside of the terminal when you arrive in London.

Ride the Bus

The cheapest route is a city bus. Travelers can purchase a single fare at the travel centre in the Heathrow Central Bus Station for only £2.20. The travel centre is open between 6 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. This travel method is certainly less expensive for groups, as well as those traveling long distances.

Travel in Luxury with the Heathrow Express

For a more luxurious method or travel, the Heathrow Express train is a fast way in and out of the London airport. The cost is £20 to £34 per standard fare. Those at terminal five can board this train from their terminal, while passengers at terminals one and three need to get on at Heathrow Central. As for terminal four, travelers get on the free transfer train, which is headed to Heathrow Central as well.

Try the Heathrow Connect

Heathrow Connect is another transport option. Fares range from £5.60 to £9.50, and it’s about a 25-minute trip to London Paddington Station. Three underground stations are also available at Heathrow Airport, and tourists can reach the airport from central London by taking the Piccadilly Line. The cost is only £5, and the trip is about one hour.

Take a Shuttle

If you’re not up for Heathrow Airport taxis, a shuttle ride can be booked in advance, and at a low cost, which is commonly 70 percent less than London airport taxis. These convenient shuttles take travelers to the airport terminals and hotel locations.

Residents Take Their Own Cars

Those who reside in London can take their own cars to and from the Heathrow Airport. After all, there are several parking options, which include long stay parking at Heathrow, Heathrow meet and greet parking, valet parking, special assistance parking, short stay parking, and Heathrow Hotel and parking packages.

Travel in Style with a Private Car

Lastly, some travelers opt for a private car. This is more comfortable the other ones. Private cars can be booked in advance, and private hire services like A4Cars are available around the clock. The fee is dependent upon how long you book the car for and the distance you need to travel.

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London Heathrow Airport is a major international airport in London and is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom. It is 14 miles west of Central London and has two parallel runways. There are five terminals in Heathrow airport and Terminal 5 was officially dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II. This airport is facilitated with comfortable lounges, a wide range of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, play areas and lots more. Heathrow Express provides service every 15 minutes to London Paddington and Heathrow Connect offers service once every 30 minutes check here for your car parking http://www.iparkairportparking.co.uk/blog/

London Gatwick:

London Gatwick is the second busiest airport in the United Kingdom and offers a high number of point to point flights. There are two terminals – The North terminal and The South terminal. The North terminal is the base for British Airways and charter Airlines First Choice Airways and ThomsonFly. The South terminal is home to 50 airlines including domestic, international and charter flights. Both of the terminals are facilitated with Lounges for travellers with children, business travellers, shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs, hotels and lots more click here for car parking http://www.iparkairportparking.co.uk/blog/

London Stansted Airport:

London Stansted Airport is located in Stansted Mountfitchet and is 30 miles Northeast of Central London. It is the base for many low cost European air carriers including Ryanair that serves over 100 destinations. This airport has all facilities such as shops, restaurants, cafes, meeting rooms, lounges, showers, a prayer room, cash machines, bag wrapping and much more. The Stansted Express runs to London Liverpool every 15 minutes and coach services are also available from this airport to various locations in London. There is a direct transport facility every hour between Stansted airport and London Heathrow by National Express coaches.

London Luton Airport:

London Luton airport is located in Luton in Bedfordshire and is 35.1 miles north of central London. This is the fourth largest airport in London and it serves as an operational base for EasyJet, Monarch, Ryanair and Thompson Airways. The National Express service operates between Luton airport, Heathrow airport and central London. You can also travel by bus from this airport to central London.

London City Airport:

London City Airport is located in the London Borough of Newham and is 6.9 miles east of the city of London. It has a 4,900ft long runway and was the fifth busiest airport in London. This airport is facilitated with complimentary Wi Fi, restaurants, shopping areas and much more. Short term car park and long term car park facilities are available within a short distance from the terminal.

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Lounges:

Airport Lounges are the best way to escape from the bustle of the airport. These lounges are facilitated with Free Wi-Fi, Quiet areas to relax, Children friendly areas, complimentary cuisines and a selection of drinks, business facilities, meeting rooms, magazines and newspapers, entertainment and much more. No.1 Traveller’s north terminal lounge offers spa service and shower facility.

Business Travellers:

Gatwick airport has all facilities for business travellers including executive lounges, conference halls and business centres. Executive lounges for business travellers are available in both the North and South terminal. The No.1 Traveller’s Super Lounge in the North terminal is facilitated with private meeting rooms, internet, scanner, printer and a fax machine. It offers a business center and passengers can also hire a conference room. The BAA conference and business centre in Gatwick’s south terminal and business centre in the north terminal has 16 air conditioned meeting rooms and conference rooms.

Travelling with Children:

Gatwick airport has great facilities for those travelling with children and there are family lounges available in both South and North terminal. The Super lounge in the North Terminal has a mini cinema room, games room, computers and more. Servisair’s Wentworth Lounge in the North and South terminals offer a fun zone with soft play, video games and toys. Well equipped rooms for feeding and changing facilities are available in both of these terminals. Child-friendly restaurants, snack shops, book stores, toy shops and much more are available at Gatwick International airport.

Shopping and Eating:

An extensive range of shops are available in both of the terminals. You can enjoy shopping with retail stores, book stores, electrical outlets, souvenir shops, fashion and accessories, beauty and cosmetics and more after security control, in arrivals and before security. There is an assortment of restaurants, bars and pubs, food outlets, Coffee shops and more available in Gatwick airport.

Gatwick Hotels:

Sofitel London Gatwick is very close to the North Terminal and Hilton London Gatwick is two minutes walk from the south terminal. There are many other hotels in the vicinity of Gatwick Airport which provide comfortable parking facilities. Holiday Inn Gatwick Airport, Days Inn Hotel Gatwick, Courtyard by Marriot, Crowne Plaza, Ibis and Holiday Inn Express are a few of the best hotels in close proximity to Gatwick airport.

Parking:

There is a wide range of parking options available at London Airport including Long stay parking, short stay parking, premium parking, valet parking, Blue badge parking and more. You can also pre book your parking space for a few of these parking options at Gatwick. These car parks are close to the terminals and are facilitated by a regular bus shuttle service from the long stay car parks.

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The future starts today….

The number of cars used in the U.K. is steadily increasing, and many families now own more than one car. In 2009 for instance, the ownership of cars rose by 30%, while the population increased only by 4%. And this trend will probably continue; on one hand, many new cars are purchased and licensed in Britain every year, and older cars are also more frequent on the roads – as cars become more resistant.

What does this mean for car park planners? They have to develop new technologies, as parking space will become scarcer and scarcer. Especially inside large towns, which were built without the planners having imagined that one day millions of vehicles would cross their roads – and look for a free space to park.

Even where large car parks are still available, and sufficient for today’s requirements, techniques to increase parking space will soon have to be considered.

At busy airports for instance, where many travellers like to park their car as close to the terminal as possible, an extension of the available parking will soon become necessary. Also, the wider spaces around airports – that are taken by car parks today – may be coveted by large hotel chains, companies, malls, banks and convention centres that will need additional car parks for their own purpose as well. So how will the need for more parking spaces be satisfied?

fully automated car parks

In fact, the technology to increase parking space – simultaneously saving surface space – is already in the making, and has been implemented in several towns.

Several companies, like A.P.T., already installed fully automated parking. The principle is simple: you drive up to the garage – whether constructed over the ground or underground – and leave your car on a special surface, as instructed by laser sensors that guide you exactly to the centre of the platform. You close the engine, and leave your car. The car plate is automatically scanned, and a picture of your car is taken. The system also makes sure nobody is left inside the car. After you left the platform, you confirm pressing a button. The platform – also called “pallet” – than starts shifting sideward, upwards or downwards – depending on the closest free space the computer system has attributed to it. A “shuttle” – a flat vehicle loading the pallet with your car – drives it than to the assigned space, which can be on any of the many floors of the parking garage – as the storeys are only half the height of a usual building floor.

During all this procedure, your car is moved smoothly and gently by the robot system – and no human hand ever touches it. Astounding, isn’t it?  Of course, the garage is not completely emptied of human life – at least one technician is always present to fix any problem that may occur to the automated system, and specialists familiar with the system oversee its excellent functioning from their control room. But you will hardly ever see any of them.

When you come back to collect your car, a device scans your ticket, and the computer system calls up the “shuttle” with your car on its pallet, ready to be brought to you – also fully automatically. The pallet with your car is shifted on place, so you can just enter it and drive away – and the whole process doesn’t exceed two to three minutes. Such systems are operational mainly in Germany, built under a famous ancient hotel in Austria, decongesting Copenhagen in Denmark, and a garage able to hold 1100 cars is planned in Dubai.

Similar systems – but built as round towers or underground pits – are also planned and operational in Japan. The system consists of a palleted elevator hold and moved around a huge central iron pole – that shifts the cars into free slots around it on several floors. Such fully automated systems have also been built to store bicycles – which are deposited on the elevator with its gripping mechanism at the entrance and than “parked” into the pit.

Not only do these automated garages liberate precious space in places where many people convene – they also offer the possibility to cover them with ecology-friendly parks, walkways, shopping centres etc. doubling their utility.

Probably within some years from now such automated parking systems may be
found around London, and also next to the terminals of the busiest London airports.

THE PLEASURE OF MEETING A SMILING PERSON

But for the time being, we still have the privilege of being able to choose among a large variety of parking options at any of London’s airports, at prices varying according to the comfort of the offered service. If we opt for the “Meet and Greet” option, we also have the pleasure of meeting a smiling professional driver at the airport entrance who will park our car in a secured parking during our journey. This is certainly a friendlier way of delivering our car to a specialized car park than being just met by a robot saying “stop” and “go”.

Who knows, maybe in future the automated robot parking will also offer a cup of coffee?

How to spend the time you are waiting at the airport

In order to provide organized and secure flights for the millions of travellers passing through the World’s airports every year, passengers are asked to arrive at the airport two or three hours before their flight takes off. Transfers between one flight and the other also may last several hours. If passengers didn’t mentally prepare themselves for this waiting time, it can be quite frustrating to wait for several hours after having checked in and passed security checks..
There are additional challenges if you are travelling with children, as you have to keep them busy.

Fortunately, many airports are prepared for these events, and offer a wide range of services, entertainment, shopping opportunities and cafés or restaurants you can access during your waiting time. Just be careful not to miss your flight….

Visit an art gallery…

Let’s have a look at the many ways Heathrow Airport is offering relaxation and entertainment to their passengers while they are waiting for their flight.

Heathrow Airport displays one of the World’s only on-airport art galleries at Terminal 5. An ideal opportunity to discover the variety of artwork by renowned artists, and also produced by young artists starting their career. At the Art Gallery your time will go by in a fly…

Relaxation and massage!

How about relaxation, massage, make-up and even manicure? At all Heathrow Airport terminals – and in many international airports – you can get a fast or more extensive massage to relax your muscles before flight. And if you want to look like a movie star, you can even have a specialist giving you make-up and manicure. If you are a man, you might prefer to get your shoes shined… a free service is provided. And the best, these astounding services are free of charge….

Some airports even offer a yoga studio, fitness equipment or ping-pong tables – at Singapore Airport you can find a swimming pool and Jacuzzi. While you can go ice-skating at South Korea’s Seoul Airport, Hong Kong’s airport even offers an on-airport golf course! You may use your spare time to get common vaccinations – like flu vaccination; you may even have your teeth whitened.  So get a health shot…

While Dubai Airport impresses through its wonderful inner decoration, if you travel through Kuala Lumpur you can visit the rainforest – right inside the airport!

Have a nap!

Travelling is tiring, especially if you travel through long distances. You may get a solution even to that problem. Many airports now offer comfortable seats, in which you can relax or have a nap. At Heathrow Terminal 3, you can even rent a small Yotel room (for a minimum period of 3 hours), but only during daytime.

Go shopping

You may also like to go shopping in the luxury duty-free shops, or just have a look at the many items around. Think about loved ones, friends and colleagues to whom you could bring a souvenir from your trip… You could even give some to people at the hotels or places you visit! They will be delighted…

Or play games

Why not choose to play a game. If you travel with other people, a card game, board game or guessing game may be fun, even more so if children travel with you. Some airports also offer gaming stations – for free. What about a “flash mob?” These flash assemblies of people at a certain point of the airport – often performing a short theatrical movement and quickly dissolving – is an amusing way to distract the crowds. Why not be delighted by a “flash mob” done – let’s say – by beautiful stewardesses? You may even participate in one… And can you guess what Las Vegas Airport offers to its travellers? A casino with slot machines of course!

Yes, of course, you are at a busy airport. There are several coffee shops at Heathrow giving you a view on the runways. Don’t miss that exceptional opportunity…

Maybe you feel hungry (or thirsty) and planned to fill your waiting time having a good dish or sitting at the bar.

Another entertaining activity is to observe people from all-over the World passing by. Try to guess where they are from, or observe their clothing and behaviour – you may guess something about their culture, or try to imagine their personal story, their profession, and the aim of their travel… This is also a fun activity if you travel with children, and gives you the opportunity to teach them something about other regions of the World.

Entertain your children

As a similar activity, you may look at the departure board and locate the many towns that appear. Did you know all of them? If not, you can look them up through the Internet. This as well is a curious activity to practice with your accompanying children. Similarly, you can take a seat overlooking the airplane traffic and let them guess the various plane types. By the way, there are some excellent books to keep children busy during your journey (but you might have to buy them beforehand). You can order them online through the following link:

http://www.usborne.com/catalogue/book/1~AB~ABHT~4167/50-things-to-spot-at-the-airport.aspx

Some airports also offer a supervised play area for young children.

Are you travelling alone? That may be an opportunity to know new people… If you spot another lonely traveller, you can start a conversation with a friendly “Hello”. You might meet interesting people, and possibly even become friends!

If you still hesitate, you can just use your smart phone or tablet to surf the web – most international airports offer free Wi-Fi connections. Or use your time to read a book or a newspaper, maybe you don’t benefit often from this opportunity.

Take a city tour…

You may have a long transit time until your connecting flight; but don’t be desperate, you may even participate in a city tour! This wonderful idea has been turned into reality by Utah, Istanbul and Singapore airports; they offer a free visit of their city in their own buses for passengers in transit through their place. Singapore even offers a day- and a night-tour… Not only is it an ideal means of entertaining their travellers, they might easily be convinced to come back to their town next time!

Great future!

Singapore’s Changi Airport also stuns its passengers with a 4-storey slide, a cactus garden, a butterfly garden with more than 1000 species, a free cinema as well as free computers and famous TV program displays. A new feature is LG’s “Social Tree”, a large round screen with consoles all around where people can “video chat” in real time. And that’s not all! The airport plans a new glass-covered 134’000 square meter complex, with gardens, shopping and restaurants – but the main attraction will be a 40 meters high water fountain, which will feature laser light illumination and synchronized light and sound shows! This fabulous attraction should open in 2018.

With all these activities you can do at the World’s airports, you will even regret the waiting time until you board your next flight is not longer….

AIRPORT CAR PARKING – IT’S LIKE A SAFE WHILE YOU ARE TRAVELLING

We agree, the airport car parking is probably not the first thing you think about when you plan a journey. However, it has its significance. As you need to be sure your money is secured in a safe while you are away – protected from anything that could harm it, so you want your car as well to be protected and secured so that you will find it ready to drive you home when you return. That’s why including the airport car park into your planning is important. Furthermore, if you book your parking in advance you will be sure to find a parking space – and you will even obtain price reductions.

If you travel for business, you may pay more attention to the convenience, proximity to the terminal or the option of having your car parked for you by a specialized service. This will save precious time and set you free to perform more urgent tasks. A business traveller may also opt for the most expedient airport to take off to his destination in the first place.

Leisure travellers however take their time to arrange their holidays; vacation planning is part of the joy and excitement they feel even before their actual voyage and it is usually a favourite discussion subject within the family. While arranging their holiday, they are more likely to compare the various options and prices offered by London’s five largest airports. Except if they want to travel to far locations – in which case they will probably fly from Heathrow Airport, they have a large choice of holiday packages offered by the other airports that focus more on Europe- and North Africa-bound vacations. Usually, the airports hosting low-price airlines also provide price worthy parking options, and some even offer special holiday bargains.

Anyway, it is not crucial that you be flying in order to drive to the airport. You may wish to go to the airport with your family as a week-end recreational trip, for a change from your daily environment, to experience the stimulating international environment in this busy crossing point, to eat out… or to let your children take amazing pictures of the various airplanes landing and taking off. It will be a highly enjoyable outing for the whole family.

London airport Parking prices one week, one day or 5 hours

To get a general idea of the prices of London’s Airport Parking, we selected a random week in summer 2015, a random full day and a 5 hours’ stay. As prices slightly vary according to the day of the week, season and month of the year, they are to be considered as indicative only; you should search for the right option through the Internet by yourselves once you know your travel dates and time.

Heathrow Airport:

Gatwick Airport:

 Stansted Airport:

Luton Airport:

London City Airport

THE CHOICE IS UP TO YOU

As we can see, the prices for priority services – Valet as well as “Meet & Greet” parking – are in the same category no matter which airport you choose. Anyone who is in a hurry, who needs to manage his or her time, who travels with children or elderly people, or who needs the convenience of being able to drop his or her luggage close to the entrance of the airport, will certainly appreciate these privileged services. You drive to a specially designated place close to the terminal, and leave your car to a professional driver who will park it on a secured space for you. When you come back from your journey, your car will be brought to you so that you can easily load your luggage and drive home – or to your office. There are several companies offering this kind of service, so you may find varying prices.  While you search for the appropriate option through the booking form on the Internet, you will also find a rating given by former customers to the respective services. This may further help you select the best option.

In general, long-stay parking options are cheaper than short-stay parking lots, as they are located farther away from the airport and require a shuttle service to take you to the airport. If you select this option, don’t forget to secure some additional time to wait for the shuttle – and include the transfer time into you planning.

The terms “short-stay”, “mid-stay” and “long-stay” don’t effectively relate to the time-span in which you want to keep your car at the airport. They rather refer to the distance of the parking from the entrance of the airport, and consequently to the price scale. If you prefer the comfort of driving to the parking closest to your terminal – which is usually the short-stay parking – you may well leave your car there for an extended period of time. On the other hand, if you decide to visit the airport with your family as an entertaining week-end outing, you may benefit from the lower price of the long-stay parking and leave your car there during the whole day for a low fee.

Beside the general considerations, we see that parking prices at airports that are more focused on low-tariff flights and vacations are lower. If you are arranging your holiday, it is therefore a good idea to compare the long-stay prices of the airport parking – together with the holiday packages flying from that airport – and to select the best combined offer.

We wish you a nice and happy holiday, with the peace of mind that your car is in secure hands and good care…

Leaving your car with iPark at London’s Heathrow or Stansted airports before you travel is the best means to feel comfortable and assured your car is safe and well looked after. If you have any doubt, just have a look at the reviews and ratings – they will show you how satisfied most customers are with our services. Your car is in the hands of professionals, secure and under camera surveillance day and night, and it awaits you when you come back. Moreover, you can choose from several options – and the prices are very attractive. You can also find our discounts on the custom prices, which let you save even more.

If you choose the “Meet & Greet” option, you will hand over the keys of your car to a professional driver at your departure terminal, and you will find it back ready to pick you up when you arrive from your trip. You will not have to take a shuttle bus and carry luggage, and will gain ease and time. However, when you are back from travel you will obviously drive your car – and have to park it in crowded and complex environments. That’s why we want to share with you some tips and tricks; with some exercise and practice, you will become a parking expert.

Anticipate and check before parking and leaving

Driving a car involves responsibility, as accidents may happen within seconds. Most importantly you have to make sure before and while parking that the chosen parking space is free of children, other persons and any objects. If you park in a lot with many pedestrians or close to children’s’ playgrounds or schools, you have to be particularly cautious, as while parking you may have to cope with dead angles and low visibility and suddenly appearing children or cars. When you return to your parked vehicle, walk around the car and make sure that no children or objects are obstructing its way. This also lets you check that no damage occurred to your car while you were away. At the same time, anticipate how you will leave the parking in your mind, and make sure the road is free. When parking or leaving a parking space, look into the corresponding direction directly, use both side mirrors intensively and – if necessary – loosen the seat belt to see as far as possible into the dead angles.

Angled parking

Angled parking spaces are the easiest to negotiate.

• Choose a space which will leave a comfortable 1-1½ meter distance on both sides of your car
• Signal, approach the free place slowly until you see the centre of the parking space,
• Turn the wheel sharply, about half a turn, and slowly enter the space head on.
• When it’s done, turn your wheels back straight so that you can easily back out when you leave.

Perpendicular parking – forward

Perpendicular parking spaces can be entered forward and backward.

• Choose a parking space leaving enough space on both sides; signal, and position the car so that the front bumper is just beyond the taillights of the car before the space.
• Turn the steering wheel sharply, and slowly enter the space, until your car is properly positioned.
• Straighten the wheels, so that you can leave the space straight back.
• Be cautious when leaving the space, and reverse very slowly, as visibility to the sides is very limited. Reverse only as much as needed to be able to oversee both sides; when the way is free, reverse more and sharply turn the steering.

Perpendicular parking – backward

Entering a perpendicular parking space backwards is recommended, as it lets you leave the space with much better visibility to the side. However, until you get a good practice it may be a little more stressful.

• Choose a parking space leaving enough space on both sides; signal, and advance until your car’s back bumper is just beyond the
• taillights of the car after the space.
• Turn the steering wheel sharply, reversing very slowly, until the rear side of your car just crosses the line below the car beside you. Enter the space slowly, and when your car is aligned straighten your wheels completing the backward motion. Leaving this space will now be effortless.

PARKING ON A SLOPE

When parking on a slope you have to make sure that the brake and gear will hold the weight of your car.

• Drive your car into position, stop and hold the foot brake.
• Place the gear into neutral position, whether it is a hand gear or automatic model.
• Push the button on your hand brake and tighten it completely; check it once more to make sure it holds, than slowly release the foot brake. Select 1st gear, or “Parking “ mode on an automatic car.
• For further security, turn the wheels towards the inner side.

Reverse parallel parking

That’s the most tricky way of parking, but often – specially in towns with narrow streets – there is no other parking space available.

(Inforgraphics by T.W. White & Sons)