Travelling abroad, for business or pleasure, can often be a stressful experience. If you are taking your young family on holiday you will most probably have a whole heap of baggage. And when you return you'll have loads of gifts and duty free booze. What you need is an easy, convenient and practical way to get to and from the airport.
These days we are all encouraged to use public transport wherever possible. But if you and your family are flying to Florida or Europe from the UK's busiest airport at Heathrow, is it really feasible to use a bus or train to ferry you, your family and your baggage to the airport? That would be a recipe for stress and arguments. The other options are to take a taxi all the way or to drive yourself.
Taking a taxi can be a good idea, particularly if you don't live too far from the airport terminal. But as soon as you need to go more than a few miles the taxi fare can become painfully expensive. So if you are travelling on a budget the only remaining option is to drive.
Driving to Heathrow airport will mean that you will need to find somewhere to park that is within easy reach of your departure terminal. Heathrow provides an abundance of airport parking lots, both on-airport, which tend to be nearer to the terminal buildings, and off-airport, which can be some miles away.
Some of the important things to bear in mind when considering your airport parking requirements are:
- Transfer times: How long does it take to get from the car park to the airport terminal.
- Disabled access: Do you need to be particularly close to the airport or any special facilities.
- Security: Many car parks have some very sophisticated security systems in place.
- Availability: Although Heathrow provides a lot of parking space, during peak periods demand can be very high.
- Price: Many people are painfully surprised by the heathrow parking charges applied for parking at Heathrow if you don't pre-book.
It is really important that you anticipate your parking requirements and book in advance. Otherwise you can find yourself in a parking lot paying more than double what the person parked next to you has paid for the same parking space.
