Aldo and Maria Marcangelo, married 62 years ago, celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary by travelling around Italy instead of having a fancy dinner and champagne. Now aged 88 and 84, the couple are among the 13,000 people who travel on Heathrow Express every day and are sharing their story as part of One Seat, Thousands of Stories, a new film celebrating the people who make those journeys.
A holiday becomes real on the train
Maria said the moment she boards the 15-minute service is the point her holiday becomes real. 'Until you actually sit down with your suitcase beside you, you're still at home in your head. I'm thinking 'Have I packed everything? Have we got the passports? Has Aldo remembered his glasses?''
'Then the door closes, the train starts moving and suddenly you think: "We're off!"'
'People hear 84 and 88 and think we should be sitting in armchairs. Absolutely not. If I can get on a plane, I'm going.'
'One day is now'
For Aldo, travelling is about making the most of life while you can. 'When you get to our age, you stop saying 'we'll do that one day'. One day is now. If there's somewhere we want to see, we go,' he said.
Another traveller, Izzie Rabin, describes how the short time she spent on Heathrow Express felt like the biggest part of her journey home after a year spent studying abroad in Nova Scotia, Canada.
For author Yvonne Garber, the journey marks the beginning of a milestone adventure, as she swaps a traditional 60th birthday party for a family trip to Bali. 'I got to 60 and thought, I don't really want another handbag or a room full of balloons. I want everyone I love in the same place, doing something we'll actually remember,' she said.
Planning turns into holiday
For Laura Lythall and Siobhan Proudfoot, taking their seats marks the moment months of planning finally turn into a holiday. Laura says: 'You can spend weeks talking about a trip, making lists and sorting everything out, but it doesn't properly start until you're actually on your way.
'Once you sit down with the bags and the train pulls away, you can finally switch off.'
There are around 4.5 million journeys made on Heathrow Express every year, from homecomings to celebrations and adventures, stories that the person in the next seat may know nothing about.
Heathrow Express media manager Juliana Demi said: 'Thousands of people sit in our seats every day, but no two journeys mean quite the same thing.
'We might only be 15 minutes of someone's journey, but those minutes can mark the start of an adventure, the final stretch home or part of a milestone they'll remember for years.'
