Travel to Heathrow or Gatwick for us involves a risk laden journey on the M25. Particularly on weekdays, there is always a risk that an accident will cause major hold ups & tail backs stretching for miles & miles. Enter stress & anxiety stage left. So our risk & stress reduction option is to travel the night before & stay close to the airport in question. Sadly the hotels near the airport are getting more & more expensive, even the budget ones, & those that do seem reasonable often come with some horrific reviews. So this time we decided to try something different for our trip to Heathrow. The Days Inn is a relatively new purpose built motel, situated next door to the motorway services at Cobham, near the A3 junction. It's about 20 miles from Heathrow, so still a little risk but minimal if you leave a little contingency time. Whilst many of the hotels around Heathrow claim restricted parking, chargeable & provided on a first come first serve basis (a real gamble if you don't plan to arrive until late) there is acres of free parking here. I booked on-line, nice simple process & the rate was some £50 cheaper than a comparable hotel near Heathrow. A real bonus was that I could cancel the room up to 4pm on the day of arrival at no cost & credit cards could be used without additional charge (please note Premier Inn). Check in was easy & the positively delightful Chloe was full of smiles, energy & chat to make us feel right at home. We also benefitted from a complimentary upgrade to an Executive room, so that was a nice bonus. The room was nice & modern with a very comfortable bed, TV, fridge, desk, iron & board, hair dryer, a brilliant shower & modern bathroom. Being close to the M25 I was a little concerned about the road noise but I needn't have been. The rooms are well insulated & I didn't hear a thing all night. By morning you could hear some muffled traffic noise but the acid test was that Linda normally has to sleep with earplugs in most hotels, but here she slept through the night without. So pretty much all you could need, including a good speed complimentary WiFi, for an overnight stop. We booked room only but there is a bar & food available if you want it, plus the Motorway services are right next door if you can't wait to get your hands on your next BigMac or other services style fare. A comfortable journey in the morning, albeit in quite heavy traffic, got us to the Long Stay Car Park in good time to check in & enjoy a relaxed breakfast. So I deem this experiment to be a huge success & would recommend this as an option to anyone. We'll certainly do this again.
