Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Hounslow (Borough of)

  • Heathrow – Ibis Heathrow

    Since I have a flight from Heathrow which leaves relatively early in the day (well, afternoon, but I need to sit in the lounge for six hours) I thought I’d get a nearby hotel for the night before. It transpired that the rail fares were expensive to do that, and Accor had a “buy two nights get one free” offer, so I went for three nights at this Ibis Hotel on the Bath Road which also worked with my £10 rail fare.

    One thing I hadn’t realised until reading the reviews of this hotel is that Heathrow Airport offer a free bus service to the hotels on Bath Road. It was introduced to limit traffic between the airport and the limited surrounding area, but that meant I could get to the Ibis for free. Very handy, as I really don’t like the National Express Hoppa bus, it’s unnecessarily expensive and price gouges, a dreadful image for the company in my view.

    There’s a large dining area, all was clean and organised.

    One of the more generous vouchers that I’ve seen, and actually one of the clearest in what customers could order.

    I went for a free pint of London Pride, very lovely.

    And there is the London Pride. I very much liked the big chairs, gave a feeling of privacy for those customers wanting a private chat. I was on my own though, so didn’t need the privacy, but I liked the chairs anyway as they looked exciting. I don’t get out much…..

    The room was clean and had everything that I realistically needed for the stay. Well, other than a Greggs chicken bake, that would have been nice.

    The plug for the kettle was about two inches long as it had been cut back. However, there was no nearby socket to plug it into, so the set-up wasn’t entirely practical.

    I’ve heard about this, but never seen it. The hotel will probably claim it’s to do with tracking their towels during the cleaning process, but realistically, it’s to stop customers pinching them. I’ve never stolen a towel from a hotel (bar once at a hostel in the US where I left with it by mistake), namely because it’s theft, but I approve of efforts to stop people doing it.

    Anyway, the stay was all fine, no noise problems either internally or externally and the staff were all friendly. The member of staff at the bar was particularly engaging, and for an airport hotel it met all my expectations.

  • Hounslow – Moon Under the Water

    Another day, another pub from the Good Beer Guide and today I visited the urban delight that is Hounslow. The only entry that I could find in the guide was for the Moon under Water, another Wetherspoons outlet. However, if it’s good enough for the Good Beer Guide, it’s good enough for me to try.

    Clean, well maintained and there was a reasonable choice of real ales, although I didn’t notice anything on the darker end of the scale which looked particularly exciting. However, it was still an acceptable range given the size of the pub, which was relatively small for Wetherspoons.

    Pleasant little area towards the back of the pub, it felt more like a country pub.

    For someone who doesn’t eat full English breakfasts very often, I do appear to be doing quite well this week with them. This traditional breakfast and unlimited coffee came to around £4.50, decent value anywhere and especially so for London.

    And onto the service offered in this pub. It was excellent and much better than that at the Botwell Inn yesterday. There was a friendly welcome when I arrived, when I approached the bar and when I ordered. The team member was friendly, they engaged and they checked if I had everything I needed when they brought the food. There was a timely check back and I was asked if I had enjoyed the meal when the plate was collected. Staff were being pro-active in serving customers who were struggling slightly to get around and the pub had a real community feel to it. For a Wetherspoons it was exceptional, and even on the higher expectations of the Good Beer Guide it was an excellent effort.

    Given the low prices being charged, this was a really pleasant experience, and it was a spotlessly clean environment despite being busy. All very lovely.

  • Lounges – Heathrow T3 (British Airways)

    Since I was the first person into the BA lounge today, it gave me the opportunity to take photos without including other passengers in the shots. So, since I’ve had no sleep, I amused myself by walking around taking photos whilst drinking coffee to keep me awake. It worked beautifully.

    Usually when at Heathrow T3 I would lounge hop around the other Oneworld lounges, but 5am isn’t an ideal time to do that as some aren’t yet open. That can be the focus of another post though…

    The fruit selection, with the accompanying yoghurts located a little further down, is carefully separated out with the different fruits. None of that mixing it all together and having people pick the bits out they like thing happening here… The kiwi fruit was a bit hard, but the grapes were rather lovely. Although I of course didn’t go overboard with the fruit.

    This is the informal seating area near to the front of the lounge, usually occupied by diners.

    The self-service alcohol selection, which I decided not to sample since it was 5am. Incidentally, and often not known by passengers, it is possible to get champagne by asking one of the staff members in the lounge. It’s also possible to get Marmite, another request only product (it gets stolen otherwise).

    The chilled drinks selections in the fridges.

    There are lots of different seating types in the lounge, which helps make it feel more relaxing and less like some giant school-room.

    This is often the section I end up sitting in, as it’s right at the back of the lounge and hidden away. There are power points in this area, which is something that this lounge isn’t great at providing. When BA modernise a lounge they do add a lot more power points, so it’ll improve one day.

    A little snacks section, with BBQ corn balls, spicy corn snacks and berry surprise. The berry surprise, which seems a little enthusiastically named, is rather addictive.

    Another seating area.

    Cinnamon rolls.

    Bacon rolls and some sort of egg thing.

    Croissants, pastries and soups.

    The business area of the lounge, where there are printers and computers that passengers can use.

    The room for kids. There are endless discussions about how children should behave in lounges, but if they’re being loud, I like it when they’re shoved in here. I’m sure Dylan and Leon would like the room for a while, but then want to explore the rest of the lounge though….

    Beautiful. I mean the crisps in the background, but it’s all rather lovely.

    Very decorative.

    The lounge also has showers and Elemis travel spa facilities free for those who want them. The showers are useful, but the Elemis travel spa facilities are a complete mystery to me, but it’s something to do with pampering. I just go in and eat crisps, that’s my pampering.

    It’s all very functional, but the lounge can get quite busy. As mentioned earlier, I’m a fan of lounge hopping when at T3, which isn’t something possible at T5 as there are only BA lounges there. It’s possible to hop between BA lounges at T5, but that’s not quite the same as hopping between lounges operated by different airlines.