Many years ago there was a Kiwi girl and she was super organised when it came to organising her overseas adventures. Fast forward to 2014 and that same Kiwi girl is now super disorganised when it comes to holiday planning mainly due to her job (yes I work!).
Thankfully there is a blooming amazing website to help the damsel in distress out. APH.com are an award winning airport car parking facility but what you possibly don’t know is that their website offers you the ability to book your airport hotel, car parking and lounge access in a few easy peasy clicks and all in one single booking. Meaning you will have more time to pack all your holiday essentials and remember to book your hotel at your holiday destination!
APH offer this service for the following airports – Heathrow Terminal 3 (their flagship facility), Gatwick (North and South Terminals), Manchester and Birmingham Airports.
On our recent trip to Amsterdam we used the APH Off Airport Valet Parking Facility in Copthorne, West Sussex.
Drop Off
We had our trusty little guiding system to guide us to the APH Parking Facility, we did miss the drive as we didn’t see the sign in time, so a heads up for all future users would be to look out for the Fiat Car Yard and Shell Service Station as APH is tucked behind these buildings.
Check in was simple; unload your bags, head into reception with your booking confirmation where they will give you two slips of paper. One to leave in your car with the car keys and the other piece of paper you need to hold onto to show to the bus driver when returning to the APH parking facility.
The shuttle bus is a breeze, the lovely driver places your luggage on the bus securely and stops off at the South Terminal first and then onto the North Terminal. It took us 35 minutes from checking the car in to arriving at the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport.
Pick Up
As per the instructions on the return confirmation paperwork, we contacted APH to advise them that we were through security and had our bags. We waited no more than 5 minutes for the bus to pick us up at the North Terminal. Once again the lovely driver loaded all our bags into the shuttle bus; my tooth brush had accidentally turned on inside my luggage so I had to explain this to the driver – I think he blushed more than I did!
We left the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 1451 hours and were back at our car by 1504 hours – so an extremely speedy transfer to our car.
Once you are back at the parking facility, you jump off the bus, head to reception where you collect your keys, you are informed where your car is parked and given a code to get out of the car park. The driver has by this time removed all your bags from the bus. We were out of the car park within 5 minutes. It was a totally smooth transfer that I can’t recommend highly enough and totally stress free!
APH Parking offers a variety of different parking options from the Off Site Valet Parking (see above) right through to your meet and greet options so there is something for everybody.
While you are booking your car parking needs why not make a booking to use the No.1 Lounge at Gatwick airport for an extra £22.50 per person. For this price you will gain access to the No. 1 Lounge which includes food, drinks, reading materials, a cinema and a very relaxing atmosphere. Sitting inside a lounge means you save mega bucks as you won’t be tempted to buy all those Chanel lipsticks that you really don’t need but always end up buying!
If you have a while to wait before your flight then this area is great if you are travelling with childen as there is a cinema on site to keep them entertained. And if you are travelling with the girls then why not book yourself in to use the spa facilities and get a last minute manicure or pedicure.
You can book all your hotel, travel insurance, airport transfers, car parking and lounge access needs through the APH website.
How do you take the stress out of your airport bookings?
Disclaimer: I was provided free parking and lounge access for review purposes.
