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London Heathrow

Gordon Ramsay Planning New #&?$@! Restaurant

December 17, 2007 at 2:00 PM | 0 Comments

London Heathrow is banking on Gordon Ramsay to help bring a little class back to air travel. The toxic-tounged toque plans to open Plane Food, a fine dining restaurant that will be his ninth outpost in London, at the airport's new Terminal 5.

Background checks for kitchen staff are still underway, but the airport's retail director is sure things will be ready for the terminal's opening on March 27, 2008. He's particularly excited about the business travelers ready for an in-airport Michelin-star worthy experience:

I'm rather hoping they'll sit there, rich, comfortable and slightly bored and say, 'Let's go and eat out.'

Along with Ramsay's restaurant, some high end shops will round out the list of airport diversions. Paul Smith, Prada, Coach, Harrods are among the outlets where you can get rid of that extra sterling before leaving London.

Related Stories:
· Ramsay Aims to Land Michelin at T5 [Daily Mail]
· The Good News About London Heathrow [Jaunted]
· London Heathrow coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of T5: Daily Mail]

Airport Restaurants

Airport Dining 101

November 12, 2007 at 4:15 PM | 0 Comments

There are few skills more valuable than mastering airport dining. A post on New York magazine's Grub Street blog, did a fantastic job of breaking it down clean and simple. Pay attention, we'll review.

If you have the cash to spare, by all means travel first class, and not just for the cushy seats. With that ticket you get access to the First Class Lounge and all the delicious treats there. (Caviar bars, anyone?) Second, pick the quick dining option. Those sit-down celeb chef restaurants aren't anywhere near as good as they promise.

Next, go with what you know, as it's hard to mess up simple breakfast foods, hot dogs or corn dogs. Sure, corn dogs aren't the best thing for you, but all that deep frying will kill any lingering germs. Plus, you know you want to indulge.

Other tips are more obvious, like staying away from anything spoilable (ie. chicken salad, sushi) that looks like its hardened and been re-heated or re-anythinged. And also, follow the crowds, lines are long at certain snack spots for a reason, the food's probably good and not illness-inducing. Or do what we may do, and pack extra leftovers this Thanksgiving. Sneaking into the lounge to re-heat the mashed potatoes may be tough, but well worth it!

Related Stories:
· How To Master the World of Airport Dining [Grub Street]
· A First-Class Sandwich [Budget Travel, via MSNBC]
· Airports coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: su-lin]

Airport WiFi

WiFi Wednesday: Mile High Edition Redux

June 13, 2007 at 9:04 AM | 1 Comment

Awhile back, we called out Denver International Airport for charging for Internet access. True, a bunch of business road dogs love the place--and we're beginning to like it, too--but we could never truly love a place that charges for 'net day passes.

Luckily, when we dropped in recently, we found a free WiFi hotspot. Truth be told, we went up to the Presidents Club in Concourse A to pull a Wendy Perrin. That's when we picked up a signal for a network called "MesaVerde." A quick walk downstairs revealed this to be the hotspot of a restaurant in the concourse of the same name. So there's the trick to DIA: pay for AT&T WiFi or sit outside Mesa Verde soaking up the bandwidth for free.

Related Stories:
· Airport WiFi coverage [Jaunted]
· WiFi Wednesday: Mile High Edition [Jaunted]