We'll have a 4-hr layover in LHR (11:30-3:30), deplaining in Terminal 3 & leaving via Terminal 4 on our way to CDG. After landing in Paris and getting to our AirB&B, it will be after 7pm.
Our question is: Should we find food at LHR or should we wait until Paris? It will have been a long day of travelling (about 25 total hours) so trying to be as efficient as possible on our 1st day.
Any thoughts & suggestions on where to eat (city and/or dining option) will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Not sure it matters
Eat when you are hungry?
Carry some snacks
Having spent way too much time in Heathrow - but usually Terminal 5 - my advice is to make your way to Terminal 4 immediately and get transport and security over with before thinking about food.
In T4 there is the inevitable Pret A Manger and T4 has a few casual restaurants and coffee places as well. You'll probably have a couple of hours to kill so you could do a restaurant but we usually just default to Pret A Manger and get as much as you feel - maybe a sandwich or salad and chips to split. And maybe coffee if you feel you need energy to make the last leg. Eating is a way to pass the time since time in the airport seems to slow to crawl while you're waiting for your gate announcement, but we're rarely hungry on the back of eating plane food and feeling out of time and place.
One tip: Pret a Manager had aluminum water bottles in T5 in May when we went through and they served us the whole trip as refillable bottles.
Paris will only start to opening up for dinner at 7:00 or 7:30 so getting food in Paris will not be an issue and staying up for a couple more hours may help you start to get on local time.
I'd say don't over think it. If you're really feeling hungry you'll have time to eat in LHR but there will be better food available in Paris when you get there so just do what you feel.
Don't fly hangry and enjoy Paris!
=Tod
Would you mind sharing the location of your AirB&B? People might have some dining options for the area and not having to think about options on top of a long flight day might make a difference.
For those who aren't hip with the airport abbreviations, LHR is Heathrow near London.
Had to look it up and thought others might benefit from, you know, actual words instead of abbreviations.
25 hours from Tacoma to Paris? Wow. I've flown many, many, many times from Portland to Paris and it never took that long. I hope you got a financially good deal because you're paying for it in other ways.
Not sure where your Airbnb is, so it's impossible to respond to your question about dining. Are there restaurants nearby? Are they any good? You've posted an impossible question unless you provide more information.
And --- what a shame on your flight. I'm sure you could do better next time.
Wow! 25 hours from USA west coast. The only time I flew that long was LA to Nairobi with plane changes in Chicago and London. I know it's really long from Australia or New Zealand to Europe. It sounds like you have some long layovers somewhere else besides London. Are you adding in the time to get to the airport and the 3 hours before the flight? I hope your layovers aren't too unreasonable, or that you got a super good deal on airfare.
Bonne chance!
I fly from the west coast through London Heathrow (LHR) a bunch and the flight to London is 10-11 hours, layover in the airport and flight onto Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) is another 1:15 flight or so. With 4 hours in Heathrow you're probably looking at about 15-16 hours airport to airport but that doesn't include travel time to the airport of into Paris itself. Add being there 2 hours early and 45-60 minutes into Paris and you can easily be at 19 - 20 hours of actual travel.
What OP may have been referring to is that the flights land in Paris about 24 clock hours after you get on the plane. My last flight to Paris left at 4:40pm and landed almost exactly 24 clock hours at 4:40pm Paris time. Now that trip includes a 9 hour time zone shift so it's not 25 hours of travel... but it can sometimes feel like it.
But I guess if it wasn't worth it we wouldn't do it.
=Tod
I’m guessing OP has a flight with extra layovers. Direct flights from the west coast have increased in priced substantially, making a longer flight with codeshare airlines in the 22hr. range quite common… and that’s before any potential delays.
After landing in Paris and getting to our AirB&B, it will be after 7pm
This is not a particularly late time to dine in Paris (actually, it can be on the early side). But if you choose this, and depending on how popular the area is in which you will be staying, you may want to plan on a place ahead of time, and possibly have your hotel make arrangements/reservations. Personally I would choose this as a nice way to relax into your new city after arrival, instead of rushing a meal mid-day and hoping it keeps you through the night. YMMV.
Personally, I would be exhausted. I don’t know where your Airbnb is, but I would consider asking your host if there is somewhere nearby they could recommend for carry out. Bring it back to your Airbnb, take a shower, get your jammies on, and enjoy a glass of wine with your dinner in the comfort of your own place. FWIW, that would be my plan for the first night after traveling that far.
