Back in day when I lived and worked in London (off and on for almost three years), I spent a lot of…read moretime pounding the terminals of this massive airport. Heathrow can be incredibly busy, so come prepared. If you are arriving in Heathrow, there are plenty of shops for souvenirs from cheap touristy keychains and tea towels with Princess Kate's face plastered on it, to very high end luxury brands - think anything from Marks and Sparks (M&S) to Chanel. If you have a layover and need to connect with another international flight, be prepared to literally walk miles to get through one terminal and on to the next. It was mind boggling just how far of a walk it was. If you are tired and jetlagged, it's exhausting. If you are departing LHR, you might find a few shops to get your last sausage roll bite before you board.

Not much to rave about here. Getting around this airport is surprisingly cumbersome, often…read morerequiring multiple transfers between buses and trains just to reach your destination. The food options are also underwhelming. While I didn't visit every terminal, I did spend time in the major ones. There are a few snack stands and a couple of decent restaurants, but very little that is both quick and genuinely good. The sit-down restaurants I tried were solid, but they're not always practical when you're short on time. My biggest frustration was Terminal 5. The gates are incredibly far from the main food and shopping area, and a glass wall runs down the middle of the corridor with very few crossover points. To make matters worse, when an arriving flight is deplaning, sections of the hallway are closed off, forcing passengers to wait around 20 minutes before they can continue walking. It's an unnecessarily inconvenient design that makes navigating the terminal far more frustrating than it should be.

I was able to use Oscar cars in August while I visited London on business. Their office is…read moreattached to the holiday inn Ariel hotel right by Heathrow airport. The driver, Abdul was outstanding. I needed him to drive me about an hour north and he was the friendliest and kindest driver I've ever had. He also came back and pick me up when I needed to come back and gave me tons of tips and advice on visiting London. I also had him take me to Piccadilly Circus and he again was like a tour guide the entire time! I literally could not have been happier with him as a driver!!! Highly recommend them!

Good, was assigned the service over the week while staying in the hotel, have no problems with the…read moreservice what so ever.

Driver was waiting when we arrived. Got us and our luggage to Heathrow in a comfortable Mercedes…read morevan.

Used Heathrow Gatwick Cars on the recommendation of a friend and so glad we did. Easy to use, Tim…read morewas waiting on us in both locations and easy to find. Loads space for us and our luggage. On our trip back from Gatwick to Heathrow we had less time and there was backed up traffic but Tim ensured we were at Heathrow in plenty of time for security and our flight.

Arriving, the customs, immigration line can be long. They do have a Kiosk scanner, but you have to…read morelay in there correctly because if you don't, staff sends you to the waitlist line & you have to check in with a customs agent. Be prepared for lots of wait-time & questions. Ok, from there you go around to see the luggage carousels. Grab them then over to the shops, lounge & pick up spots Departures: First find your airline terminal. Second find your section (usually a letter) your airline is assigned. Go that way &'prepare for TSA style check. Solo travelers go through quickly. I was allowed to move up in the line & got glaring looks. Put your items in a bin, get the body scan & retrieve your items. You're in like Flin & the rest is a waiting game for your flight or enjoy the shopping & the restaurant

We used the Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 Underground Station Tube (Subway) stop to get to our hotel…read morefrom Heathrow Airport in London. Specifically we took the Elizabeth Line to get to Stratford Station. Had to wait about 15 minutes for our train to arrive. It is helpful that there is a monitor showing folks when the next train is scheduled to arrive for whichever train line they are waiting for. It was less expensive to travel to our hotel this way as compared to using a taxi , bus, or other means of transportation. It was smooth trip that took about 30 minutes. Faster than the other modes of transportation. The Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 Underground station is convenient to use and easy to navigate even for tourists like us. The signs give good direction and instructions. If you have questions, there are attendants all over the station to help. Just ask.

"Because of the pandemic," you can no longer reach a human at Tristar but must book online. Virgin…read morealso used this to eliminate the spa in the Upper Class Lounge. I didn't realize the Virgin website to book Tristar used military time and booked a 1:45 pickup from hotel for a 6:20 p.m. flight from Heathrow Upper Class on July 30. Tristar arrived at 1:45 AM!! Did it not occur to them (they had the flight information) that most people would not want to spend 15 hours in the middle of the night at Heathrow when Duty Free is closed as well as the Upper Class Lounge? Tristar charged me in full to wait 5 minutes until hotel told them to scram, then charged in full again to come back at 1:45 p.m. No accommodation made for a longtime customer used to booking in person and not used to military time. Even a driverless car would have known something was up with a 1:45 a.m. pickup. Will book a comfortable black cab in the future. Too bad about all the takeaways at Virgin.

What do you do when you have to get to the airport before the public transport kicks in? If you're…read morelike me, you probably booked your flight without even considering getting there at that ridiculous hour, then suddenly found yourself in a bit of a pickle. You see, (at the time of writing) the first Heathrow Express train from Paddington to Heathrow is at 5:10am, if you have one of the first international flights out of Heathrow, that doesn't leave much time to play with, plus you have the hassle of getting to Paddington to start with. With all this in mind, I asked around my more jet-set friends and was recommended Tristar cars. This is no minicab service (which start at about £35), but a chauffeur-driven service that is used by many of the top airlines. Including all taxes, I was quoted about £70 for a 4:30am pick-up in Bloomsbury. This is more than a black cab is likely to cost at that time, but this is more than just a black cab. I booked over the telephone and they were very professional and helpful. I received a confirmation email, so ticked it off my list and started thinking about beaches and flip-flops. On the morning of my trip I received a text message a few minutes before the arranged time of my booking informing me that the driver was here. As soon as I emerged from my door he was out the car assisting me with my luggage. The car was a brand new Volvo (you can pay more for better cars, such as Mercedes S-Class), immaculate inside and out and set up for optimum legroom and comfort. The driver was very polite and was just the right level of professional whilst not being too formal. When we got to Heathrow he patiently waited at the drop-off area for a good spot to become available and helped me with my luggage, wished me well and I was on my way, pretty much as happy and relaxed as you can be arriving at Heathrow at that hour. All in all, I'd say that while it's not cheap, the service is faultless so I still think represents good value vs other alternatives. If I were travelling with a group of people, then it would be my first choice every time and is also a no-brainer if your company is picking up the tab. My only slight grumble is that credit card payments have a 3% charge, but if you use the regularly then you won't need to worry about this as you can arrange an account with them. I'll certainly be using them again, not just in London either, they seem to have most major cities covered worldwide by their network.

Given my choice of airline, I don't often fly out of Terminal 4, but it still has a lot going for…read moreit when I have. Fast security times due to multiple entry points allows you a little pre-flight buffer if you arrive closer to departure. Use some of that saved time to hit up the quick or slow dining options before you depart: The Commission, Star Light, Caviar House for you high-rollers, Prince of Wales for the rest of us, and of course (of course) Pret! Pro tip 1: since they never put flight gates up until 1 hour before, walk down toward gate 14 to hang out in a less-crowded space instead of right beyond security. Also kids will love the play area there, and head up the stairs to the birds eye runway view (everybody loves that--even an elevator). Pro tip 2: T4 by TfL means train transfer (Piccadilly and Elizabeth) unless you get the every-30-min T4 direct. You know I'll return, because if my ticket says T4 what else am I gonna do?

The other cities in Europe have something to learn from London. When you land in a new city, it can…read morebe daunting to try to figure out how to utilize the public transportation. But in London, things are made much easier because you can use your apple pay to tap in and tap out. Easy peasy lemon squeezie! The airport is far from the city center- about an hour ride. So get ready to get comfy!

This is a perfect hotel for what it is. It's affordable and next to the airport. Service is…read morefriendly and the in house restaurant menu is impressively extensive. Rooms are slightly larger than the human body and windows are so small they feel as if they should not meet egress requirements. A room with 2 twin beds means the beds are so close, it would be uncomfortable to stay with someone with whom you are not in an intimate relationship. Stay for one night, make your flight, enjoy it for what it is!

The shower door only covers half the shower so water goes everywhere. A group member flooded her…read morebathroom because of the stupid door. A family room is too small. There is a small cot/twin bed and a queen bed. Small tv in the room. Outlet in the bathroom isn't powerful enough for my roommate to use the blow drier. No air conditioning so we had to open the window and put white noise on my phone so we wouldn't hear the city noise. There isn't room for our suitcases. We have to large ones and one small one. There is tea in the closet along with water by the sink.

Our last night in London found us staying at the Sheraton Skyline near Heathrow Airport. I chose…read morethe airport since it was in the Marriott Bonvoy network and about five minutes from the airport so we could quickly head over to check in our bags and go through security ahead of our flight the next day. Overall, we had a solid stay there. The room was the sofa and king-sized bed was lovely. We had plenty of space for our luggage. The closet space was good. The bathroom had enough space to move about and go between the sinks and shower, which had ample water pressure. The one drawback was the lack of outlets by the night tables as well as usb outlets. You had to leverage the one spot on the desk that had them. Also the lamps were not the easiest to use and gave my wife some frustration. The concierge was decent outside of not being the helpful regarding gluten-free options that were available. We figured it out but that was a bit of a challenge. The restaurants in the hotel were decent although the 1970s sports bar theme that looked straight out of Smokey and the Bandit was cringe. The food was ok. I preferred the breakfast spot that has plump sausages as that was good. We were able to take advantage of the Club Lounge while we were there. While the accommodations between the comfortable seating and buffet style options were nice (paneer, beef casserole, nachos), I found the staff hovered a bit too much around the room, so it was a little challenging to relax as much as we would prefer. Still, it is a solid stay if you need something that is close to the airport for the night.

The rooms are kinda old looking and the ac doesn't work properly in the rooms. The lounge was…read moreclosed due to Christmas and Boxing Day so didn't have access to that either. The gym didn't have enough straps for the machines and very old. At least they did have a water refill station in there. Breakfast was included in our stay but again nothing special about it. You have to ask your waitress to get an omelette from the kitchen. They do have a cool sports bar downstairs in the lobby and location isn't bad.

Good services alway on time friendly drivers Last time used…read morethem from heathrow to London did rang when I was ready they picked me up in 10 mins