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Best Travel Pillow and Showers in Heathrow?


shibainuinn
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We have a ten hour flight from Houston to Heathrow and then another ten hour flight from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi in 2 weeks.

 

I have always been the type of person who cannot sleep on flights because I can't get comfortable. Most travel pillows are too soft and push my head forward if the cervical support is too thick. I looked on Amazon today since I can't drive all over town looking for a pillow, but I am looking for suggestions from well seasoned travelers for neck pillows.

 

Also, we have about 5 hours in Heathrow and would like to shower before the second leg of our flight. Are there facilities available and are they worth it? We are traveling on British Airways, for what it's worth.

 

Thanks!

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We have a ten hour flight from Houston to Heathrow and then another ten hour flight from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi in 2 weeks.

 

I have always been the type of person who cannot sleep on flights because I can't get comfortable. Most travel pillows are too soft and push my head forward if the cervical support is too thick. I looked on Amazon today since I can't drive all over town looking for a pillow, but I am looking for suggestions from well seasoned travelers for neck pillows.

 

Also, we have about 5 hours in Heathrow and would like to shower before the second leg of our flight. Are there facilities available and are they worth it? We are traveling on British Airways, for what it's worth.

 

Thanks!

 

If you are traveling in Business Class you will likely have complementary access to British Airways lounges. Do you know which Terminal your are departing from? I think BA tends to be Terminal 5 or 3.

 

If you can stay airside it will avoid having to go through passport control. Plaza Premium operates lounges at Heathrow, I don't think their air-side lounges have showers. The Aspire lounges may, they list one in terminal-5 with showers.

 

The Plaza Premium arrival lounges all have showers, but it is a bit of pain since you would need to go through passport control and enter the UK then exist the UK again.

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Also, we have about 5 hours in Heathrow and would like to shower before the second leg of our flight. Are there facilities available and are they worth it?
If both of your flights are on British Airways, then this is a Terminal 5 to Terminal 5 connection. If you have a single ticket that covers both halves of the journey, then you will only need to clear security; there should be no need to clear immigration or to do anything with your checked bags, which ought to be checked through to Abu Dhabi.

 

On the assumption that your reference to neck pillows means that you will not have a lie-flat bed and therefore you're not travelling in first class or business class, and on the assumption that you do not have access to the BA lounges by frequent flyer status, then your options are both airside in the main Terminal 5 building (T5A). These are the Aspire lounge and the Plaza Premium lounge. The FlyerTalk threads to which I've linked will give you quite a bit of detail about each of the lounges, including some photos.

 

Whether these are worth the money will depend on how you view the prospect of spending about £40 per person to get into the lounge, plus a further £15 or £20 extra for a shower. Also, I notice that the Plaza Premium lounge's website currently does not mention showers at the T5 lounge (although it does list them for the T2 and T4 departures lounges), so it is possible that these are no longer available. In any case, you should check before committing yourself to using either lounge.

 

Because these options are both in T5A, after disembarking from your inbound flight you should follow the purple signs for Flight Connections Terminal 5 (which will initially be the same route as all other Flight Connections). As your inbound flight will very probably be at one of the satellite buildings (T5B or T5C), this will route you down to level -2 for the transit which will take you to the main building. There, continue to follow the Flight Connections stream which will route you through a check of your onward boarding pass and then upstairs to security before decanting you into the main departures shopping area.

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I had seen too that the Plaza Premium Lounge in T5 did not specify if they had shower facilities. Aspire quoted us £70 for two people, but it hardly seems worth the money for a shower. Here's a preemptive apology to our seat neighbors.

 

I had asked about a neck pillow since we are traveling in peon class and I'd like to get some sleep during the flights. The wedge, inflatable pillows that are placed on the tray table look terribly silly but I didn't know if anyone would give it the thumbs up.

 

 

If both of your flights are on British Airways, then this is a Terminal 5 to Terminal 5 connection. If you have a single ticket that covers both halves of the journey, then you will only need to clear security; there should be no need to clear immigration or to do anything with your checked bags, which ought to be checked through to Abu Dhabi.

 

On the assumption that your reference to neck pillows means that you will not have a lie-flat bed and therefore you're not travelling in first class or business class, and on the assumption that you do not have access to the BA lounges by frequent flyer status, then your options are both airside in the main Terminal 5 building (T5A). These are the Aspire lounge and the Plaza Premium lounge. The FlyerTalk threads to which I've linked will give you quite a bit of detail about each of the lounges, including some photos.

 

Whether these are worth the money will depend on how you view the prospect of spending about £40 per person to get into the lounge, plus a further £15 or £20 extra for a shower. Also, I notice that the Plaza Premium lounge's website currently does not mention showers at the T5 lounge (although it does list them for the T2 and T4 departures lounges), so it is possible that these are no longer available. In any case, you should check before committing yourself to using either lounge.

 

Because these options are both in T5A, after disembarking from your inbound flight you should follow the purple signs for Flight Connections Terminal 5 (which will initially be the same route as all other Flight Connections). As your inbound flight will very probably be at one of the satellite buildings (T5B or T5C), this will route you down to level -2 for the transit which will take you to the main building. There, continue to follow the Flight Connections stream which will route you through a check of your onward boarding pass and then upstairs to security before decanting you into the main departures shopping area.

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personally, even though we travel with carry ons only, I bring my pillow from home whenever traveling. I pack in in one of those air suction bags, the kind you roll up, i roll it tight, & tie it up with a length of ribbon brought for that purpose. It's amazing how small it rolls down to about the size of a loaf of french bread. ( this is a standard sized, down pillow) I take one extra pillowcase & alternate sending them out for laundry throughout our travel, I know it sounds crazy, but it works for me. I'll travel for a month with two pairs of shoes & 3 days of clothes, but I need my pillow lol. :')

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I had seen too that the Plaza Premium Lounge in T5 did not specify if they had shower facilities. Aspire quoted us £70 for two people, but it hardly seems worth the money for a shower. Here's a preemptive apology to our seat neighbors.

 

I had asked about a neck pillow since we are traveling in peon class and I'd like to get some sleep during the flights. The wedge, inflatable pillows that are placed on the tray table look terribly silly but I didn't know if anyone would give it the thumbs up.

 

The costs reflects the fact you are getting lounge access to more upscale lounge, with complementary wine/liquor, food and other beverages. Keeping showers clean etc. is also fairly labour intensive. If you take advantage of all thous services it is worth it. If not then, it is a bit of a waste.

 

For the same money you could probably have a nice sit down meal in the terminal with better foods and better win.

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