Should you try out Meet & Greet parking?

Our most recent holiday was always going to be splendid, involving a luxurious hotel (the Domes of Elounda, which we will write about soon) in a beautiful place (Crete). However, I did have one major concern, which worried me even before we were going to leave the country. And that involved how we would get to the airport.

We were flying to Heraklion Airport, going via Gatwick and coming back on a bank holiday Monday where there was the risk of a rail strike. My husband and I decided we should drive to the airport in case the strike did go ahead, but this meant the risk of traffic jams, then all the hassle of airport parking. It was not a very cheery thought.

Ah yes, airport parking. In my experience this involves stress and rush. At least until now.....

I say this because we were really spoilt this holiday. Instead of a frantic drive to the airport then struggling with luggage and children while jumping on a courtesy bus to the airport, we tried out Meet and Greet parking via APH. And I have to say we were impressed.

If you don't know what Meet and Greet parking is, it is exactly what the name suggests - someone meets you and then takes away your car to look after it for a week. Having looked into parking at the main airport car park, we were surprised to find that Meet & Greet was in the same kind of ballpark when it comes to money. And it is rather more relaxing.

We drove to Gatwick the day we were leaving, having already giving APH an idea of when we would get there. We also rang from the car to confirm when we would arrive. Barry was waiting for us in the short-stay orange carpark when we arrived. He was extremely friendly and checked over our car with us (so we would know if anything had happened to it when we were away), noting down any scratches or dents. He also told us that the distance to the depot was seven miles away, so we would see an extra 15 miles on our car when we returned from our holiday.

After filling in the paperwork, he reminded us to take our hats, mobile phones and gloves and wished us a good holiday! It was as simple as that. We were off to check-in, with no transfer to a minibus or hassle at all. We all felt remarkably relaxed, and we knew our car was safe.

[caption id="attachment_1787" align="alignnone" width="940"] Barry was helpful and friendly![/caption]

On our return to Gatwick, it was similarly straightforward. We rang APH when we were in baggage reclaim and another Barry (maybe only men called Barry are allowed to work at this company) met us in the orange car park with our car. It was all incredibly quick and I have to say, it really did take away one of the negatives I associate with holidays. There is simply so little stress with this method and it is also something we would try again. Plus I think it would be even more rewarding if you had small children and all the paraphernalia that involves....

[caption id="attachment_1788" align="alignnone" width="940"] We look quite relaxed for a return from holiday, don't we?[/caption]

Disclosure: We tried out APH's meet and greet parking on a complimentary basis, but the company had no input into this blog post. One week’s Meet & Greet airport parking at Gatwick Airport with Airport Parking & Hotels (APH) costs from £74.95. To book, visit www.aph.com or call 01342 859536.