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Yesterday I talked about how to book awards with layovers of up to 23 hours to see even more cities en route than would be allowable with normal stopover rules. Is it a good idea?
I’ll review two recent 23 hour layovers I had, which were actually eight hours in London and thirteen in Frankfurt.
London
In London, I had to fly into Gatwick and out of Heathrow to make sure I could get an en route stopover in Tampa on an AA award. (Why?) Since I knew I would have to leave the airport anyway, and since I thought I would arrive rested since I flew over in a bed, I decided to have an eight hour layover in London, from 8 AM to 4 PM.
When I arrived at Gatwick, I hustled out to the easyBus pick up point. easyBus is a cheap bus service from Luton, Stansted, and Gatwick to London, owned by the same people as easyJet. By purchasing the ticket online way in advance, I got my seat for £2.49. I picked a bus departure time 40 minutes after arrival, but I was at the stop 20 minutes early.
I expected there to be a hassle or fee to get on the bus that was waiting, but the driver let me on with my later ticket for free. It was a cramped hour to the city, but the price can’t be beaten, and I recommend the service.
Once in the city, I had about four hours to walk around. My first stop was my favorite British restaurant: Tesco.
With a boxed sandwich and pasta in hand, I headed for Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. I went for a nice walk and saw preparations for the Diamond Jubliee all around. Little kids prepping some routine and this horsemanship:
It wasn’t enough time to have new adventures in London, but it reminded me of my trip there last year as I walked through familiar places. It even reminded me of Love, Actually. “Wandsworth, the dodgy end.”
After about four hours in the city, I took the Tube to Heathrow for £5.50, so a total of four hours and £8 spent in London.
Considering that my alternative would have been a few extra hours in Paris, where I was spending a week on the trip, I would have rather spend the marginal few hours in London as I did. I consider it a successful “23 hour layover.”
Frankfurt
Frankfurt was not my choice. There was simply no way to get from Kharkiv, Ukraine to Los Angeles without spending the night somewhere. And if I wanted a bed back to LA, I had to route through Frankfurt. But Frankfurt turned out to be a great place to visit.
Frankfurt is up there with Las Vegas in terms of easy accessibility from the airport to the city. From the train station in the airport to the central train station was only four euros and 11 minutes.
My hostel was right outside the central train station, which means it was in the heart of the red-light district. I checked in just in time to watch the nightly Euro Cup game and meet the other guests. After the game, we went out in Frankfurt until 3 AM.
Threes hours later, I was up and on a train back to the airport. I made the most of my thirteen hours in Frankfurt, walking several miles during the night, having some local brews, and meeting a few travelers and locals.
Considering my alternative to a night out in Frankfurt was an extra night in Kharkiv or LA, the night out in Frankfurt was a better option, so this layover was a success too.
Deciding whether to include a 23 hour layover
I think there are three things to consider when determining whether a 23 hour layover is right for your trip.
- Ease of access to the city– The easier and cheaper it is to get from the city to the airport, the better a 23 hour layover option is. Frankfurt scores well here, and London doesn’t. Research this before deciding on any 23 hour layover.
- How tired will you be– No layover will be worth it if you’re too miserable to function. I think this strongly suggests doing 23 hour layovers in Europe on the return trip since you will be arriving on short flights without any jet lag. The fact that I was not jet lagged when arriving in Frankfurt made it better than the London layover. But the London layover was still tolerable since I had just slept five hours on my bed on the flight.
- What’s your best alternative– If the layover cuts into a day that you’d rather spend elsewhere, don’t take a 23 hour layover. In my case, I felt like I had plenty of time planned everywhere I was going, so I was happy to spend a little time in the UK and Germany.
Any other considerations I’m forgetting? What are your best 23 hour layovers?
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I think these layovers add a lot to a trip. It’s something that may be completely different from the rest of the itinerary. I love doing these layovers on United (and partner) trips. Right now I have lots of US Airways miles to use. Do you have any experience on whether a trip with 23-hour layovers bookable through United will also be bookable with US Airways miles? I know I can call and try, but the hold times at US Airways are gargantuan and if somebody already knows the answer, that would save some time. And as one who has a visit to Peru scheduled in August on a multi-stop South American journey – booked just before British Airways changed its rules – I’ve enjoyed that series too.
Yes, you can get the same layovers on a US Air award.
I have a 14 hour layover at Frankfurt planned for a trip in the near future. This will be the first time I’ve added a quicky into a trip and had a couple of questions about luggage. If I recall reading correctly, you are a small carry-on traveler, but hopefully you may have some ideas. My stop in Frankfurt is a connection between IAD-JNB and I was curious if:
1) Is it possible to thru-check my checked bags so that I don’t need to deal with them for the 14 hour layover or 2) Is there any simple way to store my bags at FRA for the same reason?
According to the FRA website,left luggage service is available in both Terminals 1 and 2. It costs 7 euros for up to 24 hours. Service is from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. (there are other rates for very short or for longer terms).
Good info from Dave S. You should be able to check the bags through to the final destination, and if not you have a back up plan.
I was thinking of an eight hour layover in HongKong, from around 8 AM to 4 PM. Any suggestions on what to do, what to eat?
There is an excellent Airport Express train to the city. It takes about 25 minutes to the last stop, and runs every 10 minutes during the times you’re talking about. Your time is limited, so some sightseeing suggestions:
1) Go up Victoria Peak on the funicular for great views and walks.
2) Take the Star Ferry across to Kowloon, or a harbour cruise for magnificent views of the harbour.
3) The airport is on Lantau Island, which is a great place for sightseeing in its own right. You can see the Big Buddha, Po Lin Monastery, great views of the airport and mountains from the cable cars going up and/or down (you can also go one-way by bus much cheaper and just use the cable cars one way). The base for catching the cable cars or buses is right on the transit line. An 8 a.m. airport arrival is perfect, since you want to get there early in the day before huge crowds arrive. I’d take the bus up as soon as you get there, since the cable car doesn’t start until 10. Then take the cable car down when you’re ready. The site has a cafe/restaurant with typical Hong Kong food. If you’re looking for fine dining, though, you’ll need to get to the city.
4) If you’re looking for museums, the best ones, in my opinion, are in Kowloon, again, quite accessible by Airport Express, and, if you prefer to get closer on transit than Kowloon Station, by subway connections. Your choice depends on whether you’re more interested in history, science or art.
Really appreciate it! Hopefully I can get enough rest in the bed of CX’s Boeing 777-300ER (I will fly business from SFO to HKG, layover, then to PVG). So, I guess I can check my bags through my final destination Shanghai, right?
Thanks for you great posts!
From LGW you can take a train to Victoria and if you buy tickets in advance, they can be around 4GBP. Train is nicer, takes just half hour and you get to Victoria. At Victoria you can pick up a couple of pies for about 5GBP (stilton&beef or apple&pie are just examples) and skip terrible Tesco food 🙂
There’s something about a boxed sandwich on the Welsh coast. I have positive associations with Tesco food.
There was more than one octopus present at the birth of Jesus?
“the chubby girl?”
“oooooo, would we call her chubby?”
great movie