To celebrate Pride London, Heathrow Airport commissioned a unique version of the iconic rainbow flag: this one is made entirely of colored kisses planted by 6,000 international passengers.
The flag started coming to life in Terminal 2 on 1st July, in the departures area, where passengers were invited to stamp their kiss in a choice of vibrant red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple lipstick, onto the blank canvas. After the passsengers donated kisses, airport staff added more as the flag made its took a tour of the control tower, fire station and BA Crew Centre, before being sealed and placed on the flag pole.
Here’s a video Heathrow shared about the making of the flag, which will be flown over Terminal 2: The Queen’s Terminal until the end of July.
When Prince Harry and Megham Markle get hitched on Saturday, Heathrow Airport will make sure passengers don’t miss a thing.
The airport promises that on Saturday all TV screens in the terminals will be tuned to BBC News 24, which will offering live wedding-day coverage. Giant TV screens tune to BBC1 will be set up in Termionals 3 and 4 as well.
Inside the terminals, arriving passengers will be treated to 1,000 ”royal’ lemon and elderflower cupcakes, which are inspired by Harry and Meghan’s break-with-tradition lemon elderflower wedding cake with buttercream frosting and fresh flowers.
Special Royal Wedding cocktails are being servied at the United Club this week and over the weekend at Heathrow as well.
For those who can’t make it to Heathrow, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has revealed a (funny-looking) bobblehead of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
And, back in London, Madame Tussauds has added a Meghan Markle wax figure standing beside a refreshed Prince Harry.
As an airport aficionado, I’m a big fan of hotels that are right in or right at-the-airport. So, when heading to London recently for a business event taking place near Heathrow Airport, my first thought was to stay at the Hilton London Heathrow Airport (connected to Terminal 4) or the Sofitel London Heathrow (at Terminal 5).
I’ve stayed at both hotels in the past and adore the convenience, but no favorable rates could be found, so this trip I decided to give the Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 a try.
Except for a bit of transportation inconvenience (more details below) I see why this hotel is especially popular with business travelers and why it gets so many repeat visitors.
The Welcome: Arriving worn and weary well before official check-in time, I was expecting nothing more than a place to store my bags. Instead, check-in was a breeze, I was given helpful “what’s where” information, and I was in my room within 5 minutes.
The room: I didn’t tour all room types, but my room had a super comfortable Hilton bed, complimentary Wi-Fi (no password hassles), a large flat screen TV, a speaker in the bathroom and both UK and International power plugs at the roomy desk. There was even a cookie with the coffee and tea set-up.
Executive lounge privileges came with this room and I stopped by one morning for the complimentary breakfast and both evenings of my stay for the complimentary evening cocktails and canapes.
Hotel dining and amenities: In addition to a 24-hour fitness center, this hotel has a spa area with a don’t-forget-your-swimsuit hydrotherapy pool. For dining, there are two bars, a lobby coffee shop, and the Gallery Restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
This Hilton hotel also has a surprise hidden treasure: Mr. Todiwala’s Kitchen. Closed Sundays, I missed my chance to eat there, but now that I know its reputation and uniqueness (as a hotel restaurant, but also for London), I will make an extra effort to go back. Chef Cyrus Todiwala has an award-winning restaurant – Café Spice Namaste – in London proper and many of the signature dishes from that menu are offered at his popular restaurant at this Hilton, which draws locals and out-of-towners alike.
Getting there: Except for the hotels inside the airport, getting to any of the hotels near Heathrow can be confusing and time consuming. This is not one of the Heathrow-area hotels accessible by a free local bus, so an Uber or the Hoppa Bus (buy tickets in the terminal before you board to save a pound each way) is the best way to get back and forth from the airport. Call or email the hotel ahead of time for instructions and study the Hoppa timetable so, like me, you don’t dawdle and miss the bus by two minutes on a cold night and have to hang around at the bus stop for an extra half hour.
(I received a discounted media rate for my stay the Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5; opinions are my own.)
Set to a Petula Clark song, this promotional video from Heathrow Airport tells the story of Doris and Edward Bair and builds on the sweet meeting story that began in a video the airport put out last Christmas.
Both are charming. And both may make you tear up a little.
Heathrow Airport, The Beatles depart from Heathrow on their American tour. August 13, 1965. Courtesy Heathrow Airport
Next time you’ve got some time to spend at London’s Heathrow Airport, take a moment to read some of the commemorative signs the airport posted to mark its 70th birthday in May, 2016.
There are 70 of factoid-filled signs throughout the terminals, marking everything from where the The Beatles were met by screaming fans (repeatedly) in the 1960s to where film scenes were shot and where the Concorde last landed at Heathow in 2003.
The copy on the signs ranges from cute and corny to cheeky.
In Terminal 2 departures, one sign marks the spot where actor and pilot John Travolta landed his Boeing-707 in 2002. “He had recently completed his flight training. Fact, not pulp fiction,” the sign notes.
In Terminal 4 departures is the spot from where Muhammad Ali flew, “like a butterfly,” in 1974 to fight George Foreman in The Rumble in the Jungle.
And in Terminal 3, a sign notes the spots where the opening sequence in the film “Love Actually” was filmed. “Think of here whenever you feel gloomy,” Heathrow advises..
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