Hotel & parking at Gatwick??

[Katymac]

Am I going to get more convenient than staying at the Hilton at Gatwick with parking and then having the car brought to you when you get back??

It seems great - but is it the easiest way to go?

god no
easiest way is to ust eh long term parkgin right oppt he terminal

agree re long term parking, unless you are flying at godawful o clock in the morning in which case I would go with the hotel.

Before we stay at the hotel or after we have booked in?
(bear in mind we have a 5 hr journey before a 7am check in)

i neve rsleep at hotels the night before anyway

It depends how far away from the airport you are. We used the "meet and greet" service whereby they meet you, take and park your car and then return it to you when you get back. It was excellent, our flight was 0600 and we phoned them just before we arrived at the airport at about 0430 and they met us and took the car and on our return we phoned them when we had our baggage and they met us and returned the car. We booked in half-term and it was very reasonable on £38 for Sun - Fri. We prefered it as kids had a better night's sleep at home and we didn't have to unpack our bags for one night's stay before the holiday.

It will be a horrid drive to be sure to get there by 7am

there awas ana rticle int he paper abotu cars eing parked on wasteland though so chekc where they take it

So which hotel do we stay at to use the long stay parking (how much is the parking?)

no idea
do a thread search

well I'm just back from 2 weeks in Orlando and we flew from Gatwick - stayed at the Holiday Inn the night before and did the twilight check in with Virgin, left the car at the hotel and got a taxi back when we landed.

Packed overnight bags for the stay in the hotel and left them in the car, together with the dirty clothes - turned up at the airport at 8.30 am and got on the plane as had checked the baggage in the night before.

A very civilised way to do it IMHO - and avoided the hell that is the M1 and M25 in rush hour - something to bear in mind.

That sounds lovely Iota

we think we will be off at 3pm the evening before (due to getting the cat in the cattery) at the hotel easily by 7:30/8pm hand the keys over then check in to the hotel

Walk to the airport pulling the cases (apparently 4 mins) and then met by the car when it's all over (in the middle of the night)

It just seems so civilised

Katymac - it was fab [sigh]

my top tips are twilight check in if you can and take a separate overnight bag to leave in the car with your dirty clothes

have a great holiday - where are you going?

Egypt (sailing) - I can't wait - we won't be able to do the separate bag thing tho' our car will disappear when we park it

But I love the car coming to the airport when we get back - it makes it so easy

I don't know if my company will do the evening check in (but I will look into it?)

kaytmac - not being able to leave a bag in the car may be a bit of a problem - when we flew you could not take any liquids or gels in hand luggage, including lipstick, mascara, moisturiser shower gel and all that stuff , so you may have to chuck stuff away if you do twilight check in - however if you still have your cases you can pack them in the hold lugagge.

better check with your airline as things seem to change from day to day

also on Virgin it was strictly one piece of hand luggage per person and a handbag counted as that one piece ( I managed to put mine inside a bigger bag)

Yep - most of the stuff is medication etc. I don't think we can check that in out luggage - it would be dangerous to be without (asthmax2)

We can use hotel toiletries (for the short time we are there) - but so far there is nothing in our docs to say we can check in early (yet)

So we keep oursuitcases and just pull them accross (hope it isn't too far)

Psst my handbag is a larger bag on holiday...the cr*p I keep in it

We've used Superbreak for this before - lots of hotels to choose from depending upon budget and how long you're going for.

Katymac - I have asthma and had to get a Dr's letter or repeat prescription to carry a Ventolin inhaler in my hand luggage ( not that anybody queried it on the day)

had to chuck my lip chapstick at the boarding gate

Be careful using the meet and greet operators - some of the chepaer ones just park on the local roads (industrial or council estate is common) and even leave the keys under the bumper !!! Local police are clamping down on this. Get a guarantee that your car will be parked in a secure, approved area. Hilton is probably as close to South terminal as you can get but there are others nearer North terminal(ie. Sofitel).

They've relaxed the hand luggage restrictions from tomorrow - you can now carry limited quantities of toiletries, make up, medicine etc in a clear plastic bag but you have to take it out at the security control for separate scanning.

I am glad about the relaxation of the rules...I will check the airline just before I travel to see if they are the same

I have lots of repeat prescription slips will they be enough for the medication

Katymac we have booked for next year at the Gatwick Marriott they give you a voucher for the long stay car park at the airport so that we can just dump dirty kit in the car and we are also with Virgin so I am pleased to read that the twilight checkins are still available as I was afraid they might have done away with it due to the new restrictions the marriott worked out about £20 more that the long stay car park alone so well worth it in my opinion although never done it before but sounds like the relaxed option from what Iota says!

Personally I'd stay in the terminal as it's so much easier for an early morning flight. We've always used the Hilton for the South terminal.