Figured out hotel, now need food and plug advice Heathrow

We are staying in a cheap hotel near Heathrow, so that is B"H set. Now I am looking for food advice.

Is there a service like kosher.com is in American that we could order food from and have delivered to the hotel or a kosher retaurant that would deliver between 9pm and 8am? I am traveling loaded down with medical equipment so I would really prefer not to have to bring snacks and breakfast for everyone but our layover isn't long enough to go exploring, just hopefully to recharge batteries (literally) and sleep.

I checked that sandwich situation and there is nothing at the terminal we are flying in and out of. Are the terminals very far from each other? I don't have koach to run around much.

Also, what kind of plugs do they have in Britain? I thought it was the same two circular skinny prongs like here in E"Y but someone just sent me hair clippers and the plug has big rectangular prongs.

Thanks!!
_________________
Liba, mommy to Zlata Tova 5/6/98, Tziporah Faiga 1/12/01, Esther Rivka 7/13/04 and Avraham Chaim 7/2/2006

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 1:40 am Post subject:

no idea about how to get food delivered to the hotel, perhaps on of the london residents can help you with that. There are a bunch of cereals by Kelloggs which carry a Manchester Beis Din hechsher (very widely accepted) on the box, sold in regular supermarkets. Perhaps you could bring a box or two of UHT milk from EY and buy some cereal?

Plugs: you'll need an adaptor. The plugs are nothing like either the ones for US or EY. They are much larger, three pronged things that look like this
http://www.stokesleyscience.org/Core%20Science/Chemistry1a/Metals/uk-plug.jpg

Plugs - you need an adapter - which I think I probably have at home, please pm me this evening and I will look. If not you can buy it at the airport here.

As for food - www.hermolis.com

they will deliver packed meals as far as I know.

I suggest you bring some snacks and things from her though.
_________________
Hila
Certified doula/birth assistant
In Israel, Ima to 4 kids and 1 dil and two sils
and the four sweetest grandsons in the world

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 1:42 am Post subject:

We thought of the milk, but there is no way we will get it through security.

I think we found a food source...
http://www.hermolis.com/site/ Smile

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 1:43 am Post subject:

thank you!! We posted at the same time.

you can put milk in your check in baggage. or powdered milk.

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 5:49 am Post subject:

u dont need an adaptor u just have to push down the top prong with a pen while u plug in the plug and then it should work. although its better to have an adaptor. food im not really sure maybe u could speak to one of the restaurants near by and see if they can deliver alternatively u could always send a cab with food from one of the places in golders green or ask the hotel to get u hermolis

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 7:37 am Post subject:

drumjj, so the circle plugs fit into the rectangular outlets? They look so incredibly different...

Raisin, I thought of that, but I think we are checking our checked baggage all of the way through. I wonder if that will be an issue. I certainly don't want to shlep it back and forth to the hotel.

Senior Member Joined: Mar 17 2010 Posts: 146

I would not play around with the electricity - the voltage is the same you just need an adaptor so it fits in the socket - they are not expensive and much safer than pretending to be an electrician

good luck - ps hermolis food is really really good!!!!

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 10:51 am Post subject:

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 11:03 am Post subject:

I could bring dry cereal, but I am stuck on the idea that if they start out well fed and happy the whole day (which will be a long one) will go more smoothly for all.

Traveling with kids isn't fun when they are overtired or off schedule which we can't control. Hungry just adds another level of grumpy that I would like to avoid.

I am looking for plug adapters. Smile

They aren't expensive, but figuring out where to buy them is a bit of a challenge. Interesting on the American plugs fitting. I don't plan on trying it, but it is nice to know!

Thank you all!!

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 11:15 am Post subject:

don't forget you can buy fruit ANYWHERE, so if your kids like to snack on bananas or apples that's another option. (you may get a shock at the prices though!)

adaptors are definitely for sale in the airport, but I can imagine you probably don't want to leave it to the last minute Wink

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 11:20 am Post subject:

mummy-bh LOL no, I don't do last minute well at all. Smile

It is funny, fruit will be hard to buy (emotionally) without seeing a good teudat hashgacha. It is good to remember that we can do that. Airport prices are always a huge shock, but the kids get free breakfast at the hotel, so if there is uncut fruit there they actually could eat that as well.

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 11:31 am Post subject:

for sure. you could also ask for a whole nectarine or pear or whatever, most hotels are accommodating.

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 1:41 pm Post subject:

I guess we are going to be doing fruit for breakfast.

I emailed asking about having the food delivered before we got there (we are IY"H arriving at the airport ~10pm and Hermolis delivers between 1-5pm) and they replied:

"Good evening,

My manager has just come back to me and what he says is that due to health and safety reasons we are unable to accept any food delivery unfortunately."

I wonder if it is good that I checked or if I hadn't asked they would have found a way to make it work...

if the hotel are serving breakfast they probably have the kosher brands of cereal. (rice crispies, cornflakes, shreddies, cheerios, weetabix, fruit and fibre are all kosher, plus some of the more chocolatey revolting ones) Maybe you can ask for a closed box. Also they may even have soy milk.

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 2:43 pm Post subject:

I wonder if I could manage to get some powdered milk into our hand luggage without them thinking it was anthrax. LOL

there is a chabad shliach in ealing (20 minutes drive from heathrow) who is also (I think) the official chaplain for heathrow. Maybe give him a call, perhaps he can arrange some food that you can pick up, or he will have some other ideas on how to get food.

If you can't find his name and number I can pm it to you.

Posted: Thu, May 05 2011, 3:00 pm Post subject:

I know the chabad rabbi there also,and yes he is the chaplain of heathrow. im sure if you speak to him he will help you out they are lovely people.
the plug thing, well I do it all the time as I have appliances for pesach that I bought in israel and I use them in the uk without adaptors but if you dont want to take the risk then get an adaptor.
breakfast isnt an easy one, maybe if there are no food allergies you could also take or buy some granola type bars to eat for breakfast.

Gold Member Joined: Feb 15 2011 Posts: 1107 Location: UK

I wouldn't recommend to use a plug without an adapter. There is a reason why there is a 3rd prong for safety reasons and I don't think you want her to blow up the hotel.

It's a shame your hotel wont allow you to have Hermolis food as it's a really good option. Maybe have them deliver to you outside or in the airport? Or perhaps to this Shliach in Ealing. I also know of them and believe they are helpful in this regard.