When in doubt, go watch airplanes. Or, in my case, given a rare half day off after crossing the Atlantic, rest in my hotel room and watch the Heathrow departure pattern.
This time around I stayed at the Ibis Heathrow Airport on the northeast corner of the field, just opposite the threshold for 27R. Departures were running to the west on the southern runway (i.e. 9R in use) which meant the planes were a little further away but also that I had some fun opportunities with the foreground as well.
Suffice it to say, while I was tempted by the idea of a nap I managed to avoid it in favor of just watching the planes all afternoon.
As hotels go this one sits squarely in the “cheap and sufficient” category. Small-ish room, friendly staff, decent beers in the lobby bar and a reasonable pub a 15 minute walk up the road; McDonald’s is a bit shorter walk.
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Welcome to my world…
I hate the BA 747 business class seating. It’s just horrible. They need to scrap that.
doing same this morning at the renaissance – they have runway view rooms too ?
I ‘plane spot’ on flightradar all the time.. not the same but a compromise 😉
I’ve stayed up and down bath road, and still can’t find a hotel I really like. The (newish) Hyatt Place is pretty good, but still not in love with any of them…
The best I can do in Utah is watch the planes to/from LAX/LAS as they hit the Fairfield VOR…some days are so nice and clear I can see livery colors at altitude! Throw in SLC traffic much lower and I’ve got a nice little layered experience. Not quite as awesome as next to a runway but FlightAware completes the experience 🙂