Living in the South West of England usually entails having to travel up to London the night before a flight from Heathrow in order to be comfortable, and today was no exception. I had booked First Class tickets on First Great Western (FGW) from our local station to Paddington, followed by First Class tickets on the Heathrow Express (HEx). At least one of the Heathrow airlines usually has a promotion with HEx, whereby if you go to their website, you can book heavily discounted First Class tickets by being creative when the system asks for your airline booking reference. Normally, I couldn't justify spending the extra for First Class on the HEx, as the only real benefits are a slightly bigger seat with table and a free newspaper. However, this month Virgin Atlantic were offering a complimentary return First Class upgrade together with 15% off the Standard Class fare, so it was pretty clear what had to be done!
The train journey up to London typified why First Great Western is dubbed Worst Late Western by so many regular commuters. A delay of 20 minutes or so was to be expected (after all, this is the British rail system we're talking about), but onboard was completely packed. After politely turfing a couple out of our reserved seats and piling our luggage on the seat across the aisle (due to a complete lack of storage space), the journey actually flew by. The First Class seats on FGW are fairly wide and comfortable, but the service is non-existent at weekends when the weekday trolley service is removed and is replaced by nothing, unless you count a choice of one type of biscuit and one hot drink from the buffet car as an adequate replacement. Later on in the journey it was announced over the PA that all food and hot drinks had run out (both complimentary and paid-for), leaving a choice largely consisting of water or water. The couple who had been in our seats were now sitting opposite us, and we had a bit of a laugh about this and a good chat about the various holidays we had been on and my life at university in London.
We arrived into Paddington some 30 minutes late, and just made the connection to the HEx on the next door platform, eliminating the need for a 15 minute wait. The carriage at the end of the HEx was a haven of peace and tranquility after the hot and stuffy atmosphere of the packed FGW train. Within 15 minutes we had arrived at Heathrow Central (for T1, 2 and 3). Since T5 was built, the HEx doesn't serve T4, where BA and Qantas codeshare flights to BKK, SIN and SYD (as well as Qantas flights to HKG and MEL) will continue to operate from until they transfer to T3 in late October to join the rest of the oneworld alliance there. We crossed platforms at Heathrow Central to catch the Heathrow Connect (a slower train service from Paddington which stops along the route to T4). One stop, and about 3 minutes later, and we had arrived at T4.
The Hilton has the advantage of being connected directly to T4 by a covered walkway, and so after taking the lift to Departures, we started the 5 minute walk from check-in to the hotel. I guess the Hilton has suffered a significant drop in bookings since T5 opened, as far fewer flights now operate from T4. Perhaps because of this, I had managed to secure a great price of £99 including breakfast for this one night stopover. After a speedy check-in in the bright and airy atrium, we settled into our room on the third floor, which featured a fantastic view of the back of the infamous Victor Pier. I had asked when booking for a view over the airport if possible, and was rewarded with a partial view of the end of runway 27L and the front of T4. Our room was the standard Hilton offering, nothing special but certainly more comfortable than any Holiday Inn. I did expect a little more of the bathroom, however, as it was particularly characterless.
Twin Room
Desk area
T4 viewed from the room
End of 27L and an El Al tail
Victor Pier behind the connecting walkway to T4
The design of the Hilton Heathrow may not appeal to all, as half of the rooms overlook the atrium. Modern in design, the open-plan restaurants and bars do not afford much privacy to these rooms, despite the attempts at blacking out the windows. We ate at the vastly over-priced casual restaurant, and although the food and service was adequate, it was certainly nothing to write home about. The open-plan design does not afford much ambiance, and I would recommend anyone else with a little bit of time on their hands and who's not bothered about a 5 minute walk, to dine at one of the landside restaurants in the terminal.
Atrium viewed from lift landing
Restaurant area
One point which is always worth analysing in a hotel is the comfort of the beds, and I'm pleased to report that the Hilton beds were very comfy indeed. I had set the alarm for quite early the next morning to allow plenty of time for breakfast, which took the form of a buffet with part waiter service. There was quite a variety of items on offer, and the staff were pleasant and helpful. We checked out of the Hilton at around 8am using the express check-out card posted under our door during the night, and headed off along the walkway with excitement building for my first flight on the A380.
Sunrise over T4
Next: Heathrow to Singapore Aboard the Qantas A380 in Business