LONDON
(Heathrow), England(Contributed by
Davey)
"January 2004 (Terminal 4) - The only good thing about London Heathrow
terminal 4 is that planes leave from there to fly to Australia. I was due to fly
home at about midday one Thursday. I had handed the keys to my flat back the
previous day so I had nowhere to sleep. I was determined not to pay the high
prices at one of the nearby hotels........so I thought "Sleep at the
airport.........cant be that bad"
WRONG.
I got to the airport quite late, and somewhat the worse for wear due to the few
beers I'd consumed over the past 12 hours or so. I staggered in and looked for
something to eat. There was a vending machine with some potato chips, chocolate
bars and other tasty looking stuff in. I didnt mind paying the extortionate
prices as 1. I was drunk 2. I was starving. After spending approx £7 on the
sort of stuff that could induce a hypoglycaemic coma I wandered off to find
somewhere to sleep.
The choices were...uncomfortable seats or the floor. I decided on the
uncomfortable seats. During a period of approx 3 hrs I was woken approx 10 times
by Security Staff/Tannoy announcements/arguing passengers and bleeping mobile
sweepers. Enough was enough and I tried to find somewhere else.
I found a carpeted area near a little cafe (that was closed) There were about 4
other weary travellers asleep on the grimy looking floor. I found a vacant plot,
put my backpack on the floor as a pillow and lay down.
I must have been asleep for at least 30 minutes before I was awaken by a heavy
jolt and the sound of a shout. I screamed and sat up. I had been run over by one
of the afore mentioned bleeping mobile carpet sweepers, driven by what appeared
to be a non English speaking "economic migrant" for want of a better
description. After a few minutes of abuse towards him Security arrived. Sadly
they decided that it was my fault for sleeping on the floor and threatened to
make me leave the terminal. I pretty much gave up at that point and spent the
rest of the night smoking.
That night I estimate I had about 45 minutes of sleep MAX! During the rest of
the time I was hassled by the staff, ripped off by the vending machine prices
and finally run over by a carpet sweeper. NEVER TRY TO SAVE MONEY BY
"SLEEPING" AT LONDON HEATHROW TERMINAL 4!!!!!!" Added 15 MAY 04