Summary

Vanessa Brown recounts a challenging 12-hour layover at London Gatwick Airport, contrasting it with a previous positive experience in Istanbul Airport during the Covid pandemic.

Abstract

Vanessa Brown shares her experience of a 12-hour layover in London Gatwick Airport while returning to Canada from Germany. Despite her hopes, she was unable to check her luggage early, forcing her to navigate the terminal with her bags. The airport offered limited comfort, with hard floors, a lack of carpeting, and few seating options conducive to rest. Brown's journey was marked by extensive travel time, delays, and the challenge of staying awake for nearly 48 hours. She highlights the stark contrast between her Gatwick experience and a previous 21-hour layover in Istanbul Airport, which was much more enjoyable despite its length. Her time in Gatwick was spent finding creative places to rest, dealing with cold temperatures, and managing her limited food supplies before finally reaching the transit terminal and her eventual flight to Canada.

Opinions

Brown found Gatwick Airport to be less accommodating than Istanbul Airport, particularly due to the lack of carpeted areas and comfortable seating for a long layover.
She was disappointed by the limited amenities available at Gatwick, especially the lack of open shops in the early morning hours.
The author expresses frustration with the inability to check her luggage early, which would have allowed her to move past security into the transit terminal more comfortably.
Brown remains vigilant about personal security while sleeping in airports, referencing a friend's experience of having belongings stolen.
Despite the challenges, Brown maintains a positive outlook, finding moments of contentment with simple pleasures like a hot coffee and the anticipation of soon being home.
The experience at Gatwick Airport is described as a stark contrast to the pleasant experience she had at Istanbul Airport during a longer layover.

How Was My 12-hour Layover in London Gatwick Airport, You Ask?

Spoiler alert: Not as good as Istanbul!

Tumbleweeds rolling through the airport at 2am. Photo by Vanessa Brown.

Last month I published an article about the mammoth 21-hour layover in Istanbul airport I had in the middle of the Covid pandemic. Despite the long wait and having to stay awake for more than 24 hours, the experience was pretty good.

Two weeks ago I had a 12-hour layover in London Gatwick Airport as I returned to my beloved Canada from Germany.

Hauling my luggage for the last time. Photo by Vanessa Brown.

I started my epic journey in Pentling, Bavaria, where I had been staying with friends and travelled for thirty-seven hours to get home to London, Ontario. As I still had to teach on the day I left, I ended up staying awake for forty-eight hours, bar the three hours of sleep that I managed to get on my longest flight.

The travel time was meant to be slightly less but almost every flight and train was delayed due to weather and staff shortages around the world after the global pandemic.

Getting to Gatwick

After a bus from Pentling to Regensburg, a train and a bus to Munich airport, a five-hour wait for my flight, including a one-hour delay plus forty-five minutes of sitting on the tarmac waiting for clearance from the tower, I was finally on my way to London Gatwick Airport. I couldn’t fall asleep on the two-hour flight as I’m not skilled at short naps, even though I knew there was a twelve-hour layover waiting for me the moment I touched down.

The last, and only, time I was in Gatwick Airport was at fourteen years of age. I was travelling alone to see my godmother, but due to severe fog had been re-routed from Heathrow. As this was in 1987, my memory of the airport is non-existent!

My 12-hour Layover Begins!

I had a minuscule amount of hope that I would be able to check my bags onto my Toronto flight as soon as I arrived, which would have left me luggage-free to wander the terminal and also allowed me to move past security into the transit terminal — no such luck.

You do what you can! Photo by Vanessa Brown.

There I was, along with a motley crew of others, trying to find anywhere to rest until we had paid our time penalty penance! As I wandered through the domestic terminal looking for a comfortable place to lay my weary body, I saw people crammed into every nook and cranny, including one gentleman lying face down on a baggage repacking table! One enterprising, and obviously prepared couple, blew up some air mattresses and tucked themselves in with blankets and blow-up pillows for the night.

Even if that means sleeping on a baggage repacking table. Photo by Vanessa Brown.

It was 2 am in London and nothing before security was open. I found a little spot near the bathrooms and settled on the floor with my luggage stacked neatly next to me and my head nestled into my airplane pillow supported by my backpack.

My spot on the floor and view of the tumbleweeds. Photo by Vanessa Brown.

I had packed some food and snacks for the long journey but my rations were running low. I tucked into a protein bar, nibbled on some nuts, and chased it all with some water.

Now the thing about Gatwick Airport that many may not realize, simply because they don’t have to, is that there are almost no carpeted areas in the entire international terminal. Carpets are a traveller’s best friend, especially in long layovers, as the rows and rows of upright chairs are not the best places to rest. Soon, I was shivering uncontrollably and eventually had to get up and move around to stop the cold from chilling my bones.

It was now 3:30 in the morning, and I had been awake for almost twenty-four hours.

I refuse to fall asleep in airports when I travel alone. Just recently a young friend had her bags stolen whilst sleeping at an airport in Spain, including her cellphone and money. As my life pretty much travels with me, it’s not a chance I’m willing to take for a few hours of rest.

I dragged my shivering carcass off the floor and wandered through the terminal to the coffee shops which were starting to open for the day. After my Canadian debit card wouldn’t go through at one, I took my chance at another, and this time: success! I bought a hot coffee and a muffin — that I later discovered was pure sugar. Like a character from Lord of the Rings, I hauled my treasures off to a spot on the floor near the Westjet kiosks and took a sip of the sub-par coffee. In that moment, I didn’t care, it just felt good to get something warm into my frigid body.

The shot of caffeine gave me a boost as I still had hours to go before I would be rid of my luggage and able to enter nirvana — the transit terminal.

Finally, the time came and I sent my luggage off with a huge sigh of relief as the conveyor belt carried it away. Toronto Pearson Airport now allows some luggage to be booked through to a final domestic destination, which means that travellers are not required to collect their luggage before dropping it off at a connection belt. This may not be the case for all flights, but for the last two years, it has been relevant to mine and saves a lot of time and hassle when making connections.

After five-and-a-half months of hauling two bags and a backpack through Europe, I can’t describe the relief I felt knowing that the next time I handled them, I would be home.

The transit terminal… finally! Photo by Vanessa Brown.

The transit terminal, whilst a better option than the sparse area I had spent the last seven hours, was not entirely nirvana. The lack of carpeting continued to haunt me and the seating options left a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, I wandered through the terminal looking at what was on offer and decided to get a quick bite before my next flight. Alas, it was not to be! After yet another machine didn’t accept my debit card, I gave up and decided to wait for the meal that would greet me on the seven-hour flight to my promised land, Canada.

I found, possibly, the only piece of carpet in London Gatwick Airport and sat watching a few YouTube videos on my phone to while away the remaining time.

A very weary Vanessa. Photo by Vanessa Brown.

A gate change, another one-hour flight delay, and a thirty-minute wait on the tarmac for the go-ahead from the tower, and I was finally able to eat and sleep, if only for a few hours. At this point, I knew that I would miss my connection in Toronto, but I surrendered to what I couldn’t control, just content in the knowledge that it would soon be over.

The view of Canada as we descended filled me with so much happiness knowing that I was about to touchdown in the land I love, yet another epic layover behind me!