Terminal 3

After a while, you begin to realise that the only times you get to sit down and update your weblog is when you physically cannot do anything else; on a bus, in jail, or in an airport.

Well, that’s not quite true. I could read a magazine or a book, or gaze at the various electronic goodies in Dixons. I could even ruminate on why, inexplicably, the World News store is the only place in Terminal 3 where you can buy newspapers, magazines and sweets – you would’ve thought that other shops would try to tap into the captive audience of hungry, bored travellers carrying a lot of spare cash. Maybe they’ve been granted a monopoly or something. In any case, the end result is that there is an absolutely enormous queue at World News and I can’t be bothered getting anything to eat (not that they sell anything that wouldn’t immediately give you diabetes).

I got to Heathrow this morning using a rather cheap trick. Because the London Underground is doing one of its periodic ‘the District line doesn’t work and never worked’ maintenances, you can’t actually get to Heathrow via the tube. I would never try it myself anyway, normally I get a taxi because the tube takes far too long and is rather depressing, but in this case, because of the maintenance, London Underground has struck a deal with Heathrow Express where you can travel on it for free if you have a Zones 1-6 Travelcard.

Zones 1-6 Travelcard: £6 offpeak
Heathrow Express single: £14

There’s no competition. I honestly felt sorry for the guy on the train I saw paying full fare. The Heathrow Express itself is a fine enough train but it’s not really worth getting unless the traffic is bad, you’re travelling on your own, and you’re coming from central London. It’s also worth considering that when you get off the Heathrow Express, you still have quite a bit of walking to do before you get to Departures. I suppose if they reduced the price it might be worth the hassle, but I can’t see much difference between it and a taxi.

I’m on my way to Toronto today for a week’s holiday, so there’s even less chance that I’ll update in the near future. I’m also going to be heading to Montreal in November for the Montreal Games Summit to do a presentation on ARGs, which should be fun. Who would’ve thought I’d end up becoming a games designer after doing a degree in neuroscience? Life is strange.