The next morning, with no tour to meet and no travel scheduled, we settled into one of the Sofitel's beautiful restaurants for a full, very leisurely breakfast. I was delighted to find Indian food on the breakfast buffet and started the day with basmati rice, excellent chick pea curry, and paratha. Loved it!
Photo: Entrance to the Hilton at Terminal 4
The staff at the Hilton desk greeted us with smiles and our room was ready - a plus. But, the room was very small, and the decor dated to a time when mid-century modern was the popular look in hotels. 1970's? There was a whiff of old dirt in the air from aged carpeting.
Our room was an "Executive King." When we entered, the TV was blaring commercials for "The Boy Next Door" and "The Messenger"; creepy and violent movie images and sounds weren't what I wanted to see and hear. I found the remote and clicked the "Off" button as quickly as possible.
Photo: Hallway leading to our "Executive" room
Photo: Executive King Room interior (1 of 3)
Photo: Executive King Room interior (2 of 3)
I was stunned by the overall appearance of the Lounge. The lighting was over-bright, and entirely artificial. There was not a ray of sunshine in the place. The decor was more of the mid-century modern plastic, leatherette, formica, chrome, and whatever else was popular when humans were turning away from the natural and embracing the artificial. Everything was worn. Even the stains on the fabric-covered seats and backs of the plastic chairs were faded.
John and I were sorry to leave the Sofitel, but because our pick-up for Coopersmith's garden tour was to be inside the Hilton at Terminal 4, I felt it best to book our next night's lodging there, not wanting to risk missing the tour group by some fluke.
Getting from Terminal 5 to Terminal 4 was tricky. I thought we would simply hop on the Heathrow Express at Terminal 5 and get off at Terminal 4, but it was not as easy as that. The route from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Terminal 4:
(1) Take the lift marked Heathrow Express Terminal 5 down to the Platform level;
(2) Find the platform for connecting service to Terminal 4, which takes you to Terminal 2;
(3) Go up the lift at Terminal 2 and find another lift marked Terminal 4;
(4) Go down to the platform where two trains stop, one bound for Terminal 4, the other for Terminal 5 (with continuing service to London's Paddington Station);
(5) Take the train to Terminal 4. This is the terminus for that particular train (whew!).
(5) Take the train to Terminal 4. This is the terminus for that particular train (whew!).
Photo: Gates to the train platform limit baggage size. If your bag won't fit through the gate, it's too big for the train.
Photo: Good signage, but nothing is better than a helpful Heathrow employee. There was always one close at hand to answer questions.
Photo: John, waiting for the train to Terminal 4
Honestly, I am still a little confused by the Heathrow Express trains, but after a few trips, it must be easy?
As soon as we took the elevator up from the platform at Terminal 4, we saw a sign for the Hilton, but it was a long way to the hotel. We walked through a series of old, covered passageways, then continued walking outdoors to get to the entrance of the Hilton. We had our bags in tow; but after two weeks with a Rick Steves tour group, we took that in stride. In all, the trip from one hotel to the other took 30 minutes.
Photo: One of a series of covered passageways to the Hilton at Terminal 4
Photo: Another in a series of covered passageways to the Hilton at Terminal 4
Photo: The last of the covered passageways. The rest of the walk was outdoors.
Photo: A large construction project was underway next to the Hilton at Terminal 4.
The Hilton, like the covered walkways leading to it, was old and tired. The contrast between the Sofitel at Terminal 5 and the Hilton at Terminal 4 was day and night. I regretted my decision to change hotels, even before I saw our room.
Photo: Front wall of the Hilton viewed from inside
Photo: Dining areas in Hilton lobby viewed from third level interior walkway
Photo: Front lobby of Hilton viewed from third level walkway
The staff at the Hilton desk greeted us with smiles and our room was ready - a plus. But, the room was very small, and the decor dated to a time when mid-century modern was the popular look in hotels. 1970's? There was a whiff of old dirt in the air from aged carpeting.
Our room was an "Executive King." When we entered, the TV was blaring commercials for "The Boy Next Door" and "The Messenger"; creepy and violent movie images and sounds weren't what I wanted to see and hear. I found the remote and clicked the "Off" button as quickly as possible.
Photo: Executive King Room interior (3 of 3)
Photo: View from the Executive King room
Photo: Bucky, softening the effects of the ugly lime-green chair and plastic finishes in our room.
Since the room was so small, we decided to use our key card to relax in the Executive Lounge on the first floor. I needed to print some documents from Aer Lingus and knew there would be a public access computer. I expected a place where we could sit in less claustrophobic, more comfortable surroundings.
I was stunned by the overall appearance of the Lounge. The lighting was over-bright, and entirely artificial. There was not a ray of sunshine in the place. The decor was more of the mid-century modern plastic, leatherette, formica, chrome, and whatever else was popular when humans were turning away from the natural and embracing the artificial. Everything was worn. Even the stains on the fabric-covered seats and backs of the plastic chairs were faded.
The music was loud and inappropriate for a work/social space for "executive" guests - not quite the junk-in-the-trunk hip-hop style you might hear in a dance club; more like the baby-lets-get-it-on music you might hear late night in a dark bar. I wished for ear plugs. I asked the host if they played the same type of music all day. He said they were playing whatever was playing in the lobby, but he could take requests. His personal style was theatrical and he pushed it over the top for me. He said they would change the music and turn the volume down for Happy Hour, but things might not stay quiet. There was a nudge-nudge-wink-wink in his tone.
Sadly, it was only 2:00PM. Happy Hour would be a long wait. Would the music improve? It didn't really matter. Music was a small part of what needed fixing here. I smiled "thank you" to the host, and still wishing for ear plugs, tried to find a seat that wasn't under one of the corner-mounted Bose mini-speakers.
After a few minutes, I decided to print the Aer Lingus documents and get out of there. The two public workstations were set up so that people on one side of the room could read what was being done on one of them and people on the other side of the room could read what was being done on the other. No thought whatsoever had gone into planning this space.
The workstation technology was ancient. Windows 7. Word 2010. Really? I managed to print the Aer Lingus documents and went back to our tiny room.
Several hours later, John and I returned to the Lounge for Happy Hour, mostly [in my case] to see if the music had improved. It had, but the food was offputting. "Fresh" was in short supply. The snack buffet literally killed my appetite. John and I agreed to skip dinner too. If that's what they were putting out in the Executive Lounge, the restaurants wouldn't be worth trying.
We decided to make it an early night. We watched a pay-TV movie, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" in our room. It left us with a smile and ready for a good night's sleep.
Photo: Hilton's Executive Lounge
Photo: Computer runs Windows 7 and Word 2010. It's 2015!
Photo: Plastic chairs last forever, and so do the stains apparently.
Photo: "Dear Hilton, Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft. Don't your "executive" guests deserve better? They are certainly paying for it!
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