Travelodge Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

When was the last time you stayed at a Bed and Breakfast?

February 22, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

I have to admit, that for the longest time, I haven’t stayed in a B&B. There was definitely a time in my life, when I wouldn’t hesitate to stay in Bed and Breakfast over a Hotel, but in truth – several bad experiences has made me very wary.

One of the first strange experiences was at least ten years ago. My then husband and I, stayed in a Bed and Breakfast for one night, while having a very rare night away. The place itself was lovely, but the shower was in the same room as the bed! Now obviously I was with my husband so it wasn’t the end of the world, but imagine if you’d gone with a friend and had to shower (not much frosted glass!) in the same room as they were watching TV!

The very last time I stayed in a Bed and Breakfast was with my best friend Amy. I won a competition to stay in a beautiful hotel and have a trip to the theatre to see Grease. We decided to extend our stay and extra night, but couldn’t afford the same hotel and instead booked a B&B near Camden. It was, no lie, the most awful place I have ever stepped foot in. I won’t freak you out with the details but needless to say we slept fully clothed and we even tried getting drunk to help us sleep!

These days I tend to stay in a Travelodge or Premier Inn, as at least you always know what you’re getting, however I have been looking at a B&B for an upcoming holiday we might be having. Is it time I braved it again? Or will one more time be the sealing of the deal! Here is an interesting infograph by Toprooms I wanted to share with you, about all the reasons we should stay in Bed and Breakfast. What do you think?

Holiday!!

May 19, 2016 by Bel 1 Comment

I’m not counting this as day one as we’re still in the UK, but technically we left the house today and are therefore on holiday!

I’m so excited about this weekend away, because finally I’m going to Paris. I can’t even begin to tell you how long I’ve wanted to visit for and even though we’ve been to DLP before (and even driven past the Eiffel Tower), I’ve never actually been to Paris itself.

Tonight we’re in a Travelodge in Maidstone, where we’re catching some sleep before heading off early in the morning. We will be traveling across the Eurotunnel and into Paris tomorrow, where we will check in to accommodation and then visit the Eiffel Tower! I hope to find time to update, even just a little, every day, so for now I will say good night and leave you with these pics.

Our pre-Christmas Break – Newcastle

January 13, 2016 by Bel 1 Comment

As you might be able to tell from my lack of posts so far this week, it’s a busy one! I have so many things I want to write about but no time to actually get writing. However one thing that I wanted to make sure I wrote about, before we got too far away from Christmas, was two wonderful trips we had in December. The first (this post) was to Newcastle the weekend before Christmas and the second (my next post hopefully) was a trip to Disneyland Paris, the weekend after Christmas.

On Friday 18th December, the girls had already broken up from school the day before and so we had a fairly lazy day. However we packed and got ready to go away, setting off for my mum’s house around 6pm. There we met up with my partner Chris, who had just finished work and was leaving his car there and the four of us set off on our weekend away. We were staying in a Travelodge in Newcastle (technically Gateshead)and it was one I hadn’t been to before so I was excited. I vowed to not get stressed with the kids and really enjoy this family time we had near Christmas! The journey is a fairly long one, about 3 hours, but we broke it up by stopping for a Burger King dinner at a services on the way. This meant it was about 11pm when we got to the Travelodge but the lady on the desk was wonderful and friendly, meaning that even though it was late, check-in was stress free.

We pretty much headed straight to bed and so in the morning we didn’t bother to set an alarm – just getting up when we woke naturally. Chris headed down to collect the Breakfast boxes, while the girls got dressed and I jumped into the shower. I have to admit to being a little disappointed with the Breakfast boxes – I’m sure there are people out there who like that type of thing (like a Graze box I guess) but for us they were just too much fruit/nut/seed, especially on the first morning.

On the first morning there was only one “Good Morning” box left and so we had three “Rise and Shine” boxes. The contents of the Good Morning box were better than the other – having Cornflakes and milk, orange juice, a Nutri-grain bar (strawberry) and a blueberry muffin. The “Rise and Shine” box on the other hand had a heavily seeded, fruit and nut muffin, with an almond and something cereal bar, a yoghurt and some orange juice. Needless to say we didn’t eat much – Lily had the blueberry muffin and Megan had the cornflakes, while Chris tried a bit of everything and left it. I didn’t even attempt anything as I just knew I wouldn’t like it. Though this was a big disappointment, I have to admit it was the only one of the whole stay.

After getting dressed, we headed out in the car, down the road two minutes to the Metro Centre. Here we planned to spend the whole day, even meeting up with Amy for part of the day. When we arrived it was easy to find parking and so we entered on the ground floor and started to wander around. Since we’d not really managed breakfast that morning, we treated ourselves to fresh pretzels and that was amazing!

We did quite a lot of shopping and bought a few bits. Megan had birthday money to spend and Next vouchers too so it was nice for the girls to feel free to buy things too. At around lunch time we met up with Amy and we all headed to KFC for food. It was quite busy but not too bad considering it was the weekend before Christmas!

In the afternoon we wandered around the top level of the shopping centre. However when the girls got tired (and Chris wasn’t feeling 100%) we sat down for a coffee and to catch our breath. After a while Amy and I wandered off to Primark together and left the girls with Chris. Eventually we headed back and sat down again for a short time. We decided what we were going to do next and since it was almost time for Amy to leave, we said our goodbyes. I headed to the car to drop off the bags and Chris took the girls into the nearby arcade. Though we aren’t big into gambling or anything, we do love our 2p machines and the girls love anything that spits out tickets!

After killing some time in the arcade (and spending plenty of money), we cashed in our tickets – the girls very kindly got Chris a Pac-Man tankard) – and headed back to the Travelodge. Here we all just lay on the beds and chilled out for a while. The girls claimed their free half an hour of wifi on their iPads, I read and Chris played on his phone. Eventually we decided we should eat dinner and so we headed out of the Travelodge again and went to the nearby TGI Fridays (literally a 2 minute walk).

Despite the fact it was a Saturday night, TGI’s wasn’t too busy. They fitted us in to a nice booth and we got a lovely server who made balloon animals for the kids and gave really good service the whole night. Going to TGI’s is a real treat for us as at home our nearest one is at least an hour away. It was nice to spend time just chilling out, enjoying a glass of wine (because we walked) and eating amazing food.

After dinner we were full and tired and so glad to not be far from the Travelodge. We walked back, the girls got changed for bed and then lay there playing on their iPads for a little while. I read again and Chris played on his phone and once we felt our food had gone down, we all went to sleep.

Again in the morning, we just woke when we woke naturally. Chris went for the breakfast boxes and this time we all managed to get the “Good Morning” boxes. This meant that Megan and I could both have cornflakes and Chris and Lily could have blueberry muffins. Sadly Chris was the only one to like Strawberry Nutri-Grain bars too so we just packed those to take home with us, along with some of the orange juice that was left. We packed up all our stuff, checked out and headed to the car. We’d have a lovely weekend away and the Gateshead Travelodge was so close and easy for the Metro Centre (and TGI) that we would definitely go back again!

We headed home and stopped for lunch at a services on the way. It was a lovely weekend break but it was good to get home too!

Bank Holiday Weekend – Saturday

August 29, 2015 by Bel 1 Comment

It’s Saturday night and I’m coming to you live from a London Travelodge!! We’ve had a fab day, traveling on the train from Newark to London, then checking in and enjoying London. The train journey went great and everything was on time for a change. We traveled the tube to our Travelodge in Hounslow Central though and this took ages!

On the way back, we got off at Knightsbridge and met up with my friend Tim for lunch at the Disney Cafe in Harrods. The food was pretty expensive and the cafe was nothing special, but the service and food was good and the girls got “free” Disney ears. Afterwards we went to Harrods Disney Store. It was much nicer than a lot of Disney Stores I’ve been in and they did seem to have things that other stores didn’t. I bought Megan a beautiful jacket and to be fair to Lily, she got some Disney Infinity characters. Finally we headed out and went for a wander, before deciding to grab coffee and sit for while to chat. At 5pm Tim needed to go so we said our farewells. The girls and I did the London Eye (thanks to Avios Reward Scheme) which was great and then finally we traveled back to the Travelodge for dinner.

Dinner was very average but it hit the spot. We then went back to the room and collapsed. We’re now heading to bed, though we’ll probably watch X Factor first!!

Minnie Mouse in the Harrods Disney Store

Week 31 – Monday Round-up

August 3, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

I’m very behind this week so I’m going to make this quick! I have so much on and I’m trying to spend every moment sewing. However it’s also Summer Holidays and I want to spend time with the kids – finding time to blog is just not fitting into that balance right now! There hasn’t really been things that are noteable everyday, so I’ll just cover the things that are!

Wednesday the girls went to their dad’s and Nat came over for the day. It was really nice to see her, especially since it had been almost 2 weeks by that point. We spent a lovely day together, even though I was tired from lack of sleep (next door woke me at 3am and I was unable to get back to sleep). That evening I also installed Windows 10!

I don’t remember which day, but we also officially booked to go down to London at the end of August. We have train tickets and Travelodge booked now and just need to decide what to do while down there. I wrote a post about Planning a Family holiday to London on Saturday!

Sadly I genuinely can’t think of much more that I did! The girls started a YouTube channel called Double the Geek. I helped make them a trailer and that was pretty fun. Umm… what else? Chris and I went out to a dinner party on Saturday night, at my brother’s house. That was pretty nice and I got to dress up smart for a change, so it was nice to be an adult.

So yeah… that’s my week! Gosh that sounds so dull. It wasn’t though, it was nice and it was relaxing but I also spent so much time sewing that there doesn’t sound like I did much. I’ll update you soon on my sewing though!

www.ClosetGeek.co.uk

Planning a Family Trip to London

August 1, 2015 by Bel 3 Comments

As you probably know, we live in Lincolnshire and sadly not an awful lot goes on up here (especially when it comes to Blogger Meets and Events… but that’s a different story!). However this summer we’re lucky enough to be heading down to London for a weekend and honestly I can’t wait.

Although I’ve visited London several times, both with and without the kids, I still get excited at the prospect of going. Living near a city like Lincoln, is not the same as actual city life and for me there is just nothing quite like London for a day in a “real” city! This particular trip we’re taking down to London is specifically because a US friend is over for the week and we’re tying in seeing him. However we’ve decided to make the most of the Bank Holiday weekend and actually get a few days holiday in!

As I don’t currently work (and we’re trying to get the house ready to sell), we’re having to take the trip on a budget. I’ve bought train tickets and booked a Travelodge already, as those are the things that prices go up on if you leave them too long, but everything else is still open for deciding upon. I had originally hoped to take the kids to the theatre (we’ve seen Wicked twice, Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Starlight Express) but even though its Kids Week (kids go free throughout August), there doesn’t seem to be anything reasonably priced that we’re interested in. Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were both options, but these are coming in over £100 for the three of us. The Railway Children is still a possibility though, but even that will be £60.

With that in mind, I took to the internet this morning and decided to find out what exactly there is to do in London, that the kids might enjoy.

Now before everyone shouts museums and art galleries, I want to point out that these things don’t especially interest my kids. We have done the Science Museum before and they loved that, but other than the Museum of Childhood out at Bethnal Green, I really don’t see them enjoying any of the others. This is sad however, as most are free.

I asked the girls what they would like to do and the London Eye was pretty much the only thing they could think of. For the three of us, this would be £47.25, or if we wait for Chris (he’s traveling down on Sunday to join us), then it would be £66.60. However Chris isn’t great with heights so we’d probably do this without him. I did also find a couple of alternatives to the London Eye. They are The View from the Shard – which is actually Western Europe’s Tallest Building. This is actually more expensive than the London Eye, coming in at £131.80/£95.95 (with/without Chris) if we go in the daytime or £91.80/£65.85 if we go at night. The other option would be ArcelorMittal Orbit (better known as London Orbit Tower) which is the UK’s Tallest Sculpture. Prices for this would be £26/£20 depending on whether or not we went with Chris.

The London Orbit Tower is in Stratford, which is also where Beach East is. This is a summer only event, which is free entry and includes Beach bars, paddling pool, funfair and more, all on Stratford Waterfront. If the weather is nice, this is definitely a possibility and it would be great to tie that in with the Tower too (which is also the cheapest of the “tall” sight-seeing options).

Aside from these attractions, I also discovered some others that you may or may not have heard of before.

– Ripley’s Believe It or Not
This is probably high up the list of things to do as Chris and I would enjoy it too. Ripley’s Believe It or Not is a sort of museum, filled with amazing art, unusual artefacts and strange experiences. It’s on 6 floors and though it’s existed for AGES, I have never been before and that makes it quite unique for me. Prices for us with/without Chris would be £59.96/£50.13 though Tesco Clubcard offer discounted tickets, as do places like Groupon from time to time.

– Shrek’s Adventure
This awesome attraction has not long opened in London and personally I think it looks fantastic. Similar to the type of rides and attractions you get in places like Orlando, this is something London is probably lucky to have. A 4D adventure, including ride and walk around, you meet several of the Shrek characters on your adventure. Prices £84.24/£60.84.

– Harry Potter Studio Tour
We’ve been before, but that doesn’t stop me wanting to go again – especially now the Platform 9 3/4 section is open and with it being Summer there is a special Sweet and Treats exhibition on. There is only availability on the Sunday at the moment so that would mean going with Chris too and the family ticket price is £101.

– The Enchanted Mirror, Hidden City
To me, this sounds absolutely amazing and even the kids are a little intrigued. A mystery/clue trail that runs from the V&A Museum and ends a “hidden” location. The trail is set around a fairytale story, loosely based on that of Snow White. The trail is said to be aimed at adults (i.e. the clues are hard) but that kids are welcome. It’s supposed to take 3-4 hours, depending on how easy you solve the clues, if you get lost and how many “taverns” you stop at along the way. Teams should be up to 4 people (though I have no idea if that includes kids or not) and the price is set at £60. I would absolutely love to do something like this but I would be worried the kids wouldn’t actually enjoy the walking and that Chris and I might not be smart enough to solve it all, without other adults in our group!

– Kidzania
I’d heard mention of this before but I had no idea what it was until my search today. A 75,000 square foot child-size city has been created, where kids can take on over 60 roleplay roles and experiences. It looks like parts of Eureka Museum but on a greater scale and honestly if I was a kid I would be itching to go. It’s a 4 hour experience and for a change adults are cheaper than kids (I imagine because it’s not really aimed at us). Prices are £89.00/£72.50 with or without Chris.

The weekend we’re visiting London is also Bank Holiday weekend. This means Nottinghill Carnival which is also a free event. Running from 10am till approx 6.30pm on both Sunday and Monday, the Nottinghill Carnival is apparently spectacular. I don’t know whether or not it will fit into our plans but I’d definitely like to catch a glimpse of the parades!

Finally something else I have wanted to do for quite a long time, is visit Harrod’s Disney cafe. Ever since getting back from Florida, there has been a distinct lack of Disney in our lives. While I’m sure it’s nothing like being in WDW itself, its probably the closest we’ll get for several years now. From what I’ve seen the reviews are quite good and the food is reasonably priced. Apparently it’s the drink prices you need to watch out for though!

Sadly most of the really fun sounding stuff carries quite a high price tag, so I’m not exactly sure how many of these things we’ll end up doing. However I’m convinced there is something for everyone and I’m sure that no matter what we end up doing, we’ll have fun!

Does anyone have any “visiting London” tips to share?

Week 21 – Monday Round-up

May 25, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Last week was another busy week but not as crazy as the one before. Monday to Friday were school as usual and Chris was working all five too. I don’t really remember what I did for most of Monday but I know it was computer based – blogging, uploading pictures and catching up on stuff. Nat came around in the evening so we had a good catch up. Tuesday was similar too but it started off with McDonalds breakfast and taking Chris to work (after the usual school drop off) and then resulted in watching lots of OUAT (I caught up to the end of season) and having a bath. The kids came home with their dad but pretty much went straight to bed, while Chris and I spent the evening catching up on TV – in our grumpy wear.

On Wednesday it was Lily’s class assembly and I agreed to work in the office too. I spent all morning at school, waited for lunch too as Megan was having a sale (hand made items from school) and then headed off to Mum’s to spend the afternoon there and have a cup of tea. After I picked up the girls and we headed home, monging out and doing silly quizzes on Facebook.

On Thursday I had a day at home and while I had lots of blogging planned, next door being super loud and a pain in the ass meant that I didn’t get a lot done. I headed out early to go shopping and then pick the girls up from school, just to get away from the noise. On the plus side my new dress for my birthday party arrived and I’m super thrilled with it. Now I just hope I can make my face and hair look good for the evening, as usually it never all comes together. On Thursday evening we all packed ready for the weekend, we picked out where we wanted to eat and ordered vouchers from Tesco. The next morning, Friday, the girls and Chris went off to work/school and I finished getting organised. I did some blog work and made sure my camera was charged etc. before heading off to get the girls and then go to my mum’s.

Megan, Lily and I spent the evening at mum’s house, where she made us lasagne and we lounged around. At 8pm we headed out to get Chris from work and then set off to Toddington where we would be staying the night. It was about 10-10.30pm when we got to the Travelodge so we all settled in for the night and got to sleep. In the morning we got ready fairly early and then headed out to North Ealing station, where mum dropped us off and we caught the tube into London. We headed for the Excel, which took quite some time, seeing more cosplayers the nearer we got.

We arrived with near perfect timing for MCM Comic Con as we didn’t have to wait long for the doors to be opened and the “general” tickets to be let in. It did take some time to filter through but it was steady moving and really didn’t matter. We looked around about a third of the stalls/stores before deciding we needed lunch. Food was expensive but there was plenty of room to sit and it even looked like we could have taken our own food with us to save on cost. We then wandered around the rest of the stalls but the kids were pretty bored, my bag was heavy and a lot of this distracted from the fun. I really wanted to get some autographs but the place you bought the autograph passes from had a queue of an hour and a half, even though the people I wanted to meet had no queue. In the end I passed up on meeting Cruella De Vil and Ursula from OUAT and we just continued to wander around. Chris bought a new board game, Lily bought a Honey Lemon plush, Megan bought a Cinderella Pop Funko and I bought three Pop Funkos myself – Belle, Cogsworth and Daryl on his chopper.

We were finished looking around by about 3.30pm which left two hours until our dinner reservation. We decided to head for Oxford Street and the Disney Store, even though I knew we probably wouldn’t buy anything. After a wander around there, where we didn’t buy anything, we headed to Lush instead. I’d read a few blog posts about The Comforter being made into a shower gel and that it was only available in Oxford Street branch. I wanted to get my hands on some and since we were nearby it made sense. Though I had skimmed over the information in a blog post, I hadn’t realised that Oxford Street actually had over 200 new products in there, unavailable anywhere else at present. I couldn’t help myself and before I knew it I was stocked up on loads of new stuff, totaling almost £45! (It is my birthday this coming week though…).

After lunch it was time to head for dinner and we decided it would be nice to walk. It took about 10 minutes from where we were so that wasn’t bad and mum was waiting for us when we got there. We had a lovely meal with amazing service (a rarity for our recent trips to London) and though the bill came to £80 as it was, I left an additional £10 because we’d all enjoyed it so much. Our meal was at Bella Italia on Irving Street, in case anyone wants to give it a go! Finally after dinner we headed for Her Majesty’s Theatre which was only a couple of minutes away and got to our seats. People were sat in them which really peed me off but they moved when we asked them to so…

Phantom of the Opera was great, though not as good as I’d remembered. The music and cast was amazing but it seemed like they’d changed some of the pacing, ordering and certain other bits and I was just left feeling a bit disappointed. That said, it was really fantastic and the kids both loved it so that made me enjoy it even more. When the show finished we all headed off to catch the tube back to the car and then mum drove to a different Travelodge (M4) where we were staying that night. The kids were exhausted and it was late but they fell asleep as soon as their head touched the pillow and before the lights were even out. Chris and I weren’t far behind them as it had been a long day and we hadn’t slept much the night before.

In the morning the girls went to mum’s room for breakfast and I went for a shower. Chris brought us coffee and bacon butties which was really lovely. We then headed off home, fairly late by our standards as we’d all managed a lay-in but it wasn’t long after 1pm by the time we got back to Lincoln. We immediately switched to my car and headed home. We all had a light lunch and then chilled out for the afternoon. We ordered takeaway for dinner and just hung out together as a family. Once the girls were in bed, Chris and I caught up on TV before grabbing a fairly early night since it had been a long weekend.

Road Trip Tips

May 20, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

I am always looking for spontaneous adventure! Next week is my birthday and I’ve looked at so many ideas from driving to Disneyland Paris, to hopping on a ferry to Ireland or Amsterdam. There are themeparks to visit, restaurants to eat at and shops to go shopping – all of these would require me driving there and I’m absolutely fine with that. I just love a last minute decision. Age UK (charity) recently posted these tips, but I wanted to share mine with you!

For the cheapest offers, plan in advance! I know I said spontaneous adventures are my favourite, but a couple of years ago we went to Disneyland Paris and planning in advance definitely saved us a heap of money. We got a cheap Travelodge on the way out, a cheap offer on the actual holiday and also planning meant we could save! Our Travelodge on the night out, was £30 compared to the last minute one on the way back (£80!). Our holiday was £1 for the Ferry travel and £400 for the holiday, compared to the usual cost of about £1000 on the Disneyland Paris website.

Break up the journey and takes lots of stops! As with above, road trips are all very well but to really enjoy it, breaking it up (and ultimately extending the holiday) can make it way more enjoyable. Travel a large part of your journey and then do an overnight stopover. Set off early the next day fresh and ready for another good long drive. Likewise on the way home, do a good chunk of the driving but stop and sleep before finishing your journey fresh in the morning. Everyone gets tired and for the passengers in the car, they can sleep anyway. However its important that the driver definitely catches a few Zzzzs.

Always pack food and drink for the trip. Of course its always good to stop for a coffee break or even McDonalds but ensuring you have food and drink for the journey is also a good tip. Kids get hungry and thirsty easily anyway but its always good to have something to keep you refreshed. No matter where you’re road tripping to, you’re always subject to traffic jams! You don’t want to get caught out in two hours of traffic with nothing to eat or drink!

Take a SatNav or smartphone capable of navigation. Okay so technology isn’t foolproof but in this day and age its definitely a lot easier to have some sort of navigation helping you. As a driver its impossible to concentrate on the road and read a map, and road signs aren’t always that useful. A good SatNav will keep you alert and listening, while also helping you to get where you’re going. It might not be the best route, the fastest route or even the most sensible, but chances are it will stop you getting lost – or if you get lost, help you get unlost!

Keep an eye on petrol and prices! Petrol is incredibly expensive and so if you’re taking a road trip the costs can add up. Try not to leave buying petrol to the last minute as the chances are you’ll pay through the nose for it. Petrol stations near to airports, docks etc are likely to be more expensive as they know people often need petrol before immediately going somewhere or immediately coming back. Fill the car whenever you find it somewhere cheap and make the most of the lower price. Also cars tend to run better on the top end of the tank than they do on the bottom end!

Change your plans if necessary. As with all the advice above, change your plans if necessary. We originally planned our road trip to Paris with an overnight stay beforehand but a drive straight through the night on the way home. However when we got back to Dover I realised I was too tired to drive us home and instead we checked into a Travelodge (the expensive one). It may well have cost us twice as much as the pre-booked Travelodge, but it possibly saved our lives if I’d have driven tired.

This weekend we’re traveling down to London and I can’t wait! We leave at 8pm Friday night (so a day time nap is on the cards) and we’re staying Friday night and Saturday in Travelodges. We’re going to MCM Comic Con and also to see Phantom of the Opera. This is my birthday treat and I can’t wait!

Our Weekend Away – Edinburgh and Berwick

November 6, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Not last weekend, but the weekend before, our family had a lovely weekend away. We started out on Friday morning and returned home Sunday evening. Though it was a bit of crazy morning, we left the house just after 11am on Friday and set off on our journey to Berwick Upon Tweed. The journey was fairly smooth, even though the weather was a bit up and down, and we stopped midway at Scotch Corner. After lunch, a toilet stop and a coffee, we headed off again – getting to Berwick for about 4pm. We headed straight to Amy‘s house for a cup of tea and a chat, before heading to our Travelodge to check in.

Once we were checked in, we headed out to find somewhere to eat. We drove through the main streets of Berwick before parking up and going for a short walk. We eventually decided on a Fish & Chip Restaurant called “Cannon” which had a wide variety of options, not to mention it was also a Fish & Chip shop, so food would be fast. It was a nice meal – Chris had Fish & Chips, Megan had Steak Pie & Chips, I had Scampi & Chips and Lily had Sausage & Chips, but as a kids meal. The food came fast and despite Megan not feeling well and Lily spilling her water everywhere, we all enjoyed our meals.

After we left the Fish & Chip shop, unfortunately Megan was sick! It was through no fault of the food, just something unfortunate that happens when she gets a headache occasionally. We pulled up the car outside Morrisons and while Chris tried to clear up, I dashed into the shop for baby wipes and a change of clothes. We then attempted to change Megan and clean the car before heading back to the Travelodge where I could wash her clothes properly. Megan fell asleep fairly promptly and so Lily, Chris and I sat up for a while, watching TV and checking our phones/ipads. Eventually Lily fell asleep and then Chris and I decided we’d head to bed too.

The next morning was our planned day in Edinburgh. We got up and the girls had breakfast, before we got dressed and headed out. Since the only Disney Store in Edinburgh is on the outskirts, we decided to head there first. When we arrived at the shopping centre we went straight to the Disney Store and I bought the girls a couple of soft toys each – they got a Christmas Tinkerbell and a blue dress Aurora. We then had a little wander to see what else was in the shopping centre, stopped for coffee at Starbucks and then got on our way into Edinburgh.

When we got into Edinburgh, we parked the car and climbed the hill to the Castle. It was freezing cold but a pleasant enough day – we were all glad to actually get inside the castle itself. Luckily we had bought and printed off tickets, so we didn’t need to queue and wait. There was a quiz for kids to do while walking around the castle and so we picked up one of those for Megan to do and started to look around.

We took our time walking around. The kids loved it and while I remembered majority of it from when I visited last time, it was still very enjoyable. We finished looking around at about 1pm and so headed down the hill and towards The Elephant House. One of the few things I’d wanted to do was visit there, as I mentioned in the post I made when planning our holiday. It wasn’t very far from the castle and since it was lunch time, we all settled down to have lunch there. All four of us had paninis and shared some coke.

After lunch we weren’t really sure what we wanted to do. I looked up where Primark was on my phone and we all headed in that direction. This took us to Princes Street – the main shopping area. We stayed around here for quite some time – shopping at Primark, H&M, Lush and Build-a-Bear.

In the end, we headed back to the car, to drop off our shopping. We sat for a while to catch our breath, before heading back out to Hard Rock Cafe. We stopped on the way to watch a street display, lots of drums and people dressed as zombies. After a while we carried on to Hard Rock Cafe, asking for a table when we got there and having to wait about twenty minutes for our table.

When we sat down, it was obvious we would be there a while. It was really busy, as well as being a Saturday night, but that was fine as I just wanted to eat in a Hard Rock Cafe. The people who served us were lovely too. Chris and I ordered burgers, while the girls ordered macaroni cheese and pizza. Unfortunately the girls weren’t too keen on their meals so ended up sharing ours. It was all nice though and I’m really glad we went. Chris had a milkshake called a Twist and Shout which included bacon! It was actually really nice though. I let the girls have ice cream after their meal, even though they didn’t finish, just to make sure they’d eaten enough.

By the time we left it was about 7pm and we had quite a long walk back to the car. When we eventually got there we were pretty cold but we soon warmed up on our journey back to Berwick. It was about 8.30pm by the time we got back to the Travelodge and as soon as we got in, Megan and I put the X Factor on. We all sat and watched until it finished, then at 10pm we all turned off the lights and got some sleep.

The next morning, we had plenty of time to spare so the girls had breakfast and then I gave them both a shower. Chris had a shower too and then headed to get us a McDonalds breakfast. I showered and then we all packed, making sure everything we had was packed into the car. We then checked out of the Travelodge and headed back over to Amy’s house again. We spent a few hours there, drinking tea and chatting, before heading out for lunch. We decided on Wetherspoons – a place called The Leaping Salmon – for lunch and Amy, Olivia, Megan, Lily, Chris and I all headed there for food. After eating out, we dropped Amy and Olivia back off at their home, before beginning our journey home. Traffic was pretty awful on the way back so we ended up stopping fairly early for coffee, a place off the A1(M) at Junction 64. The girls had hot chocolate and Chris and I had coffee – then, we filled up with petrol and continued on home.

We were home for about 6.30pm so the girls went on their computer for a little while before Lily went to bed and Megan and I watched the X Factor results. That was basically the end of our weekend away!

We had a lovely time and I would definitely recommend a day out to Edinburgh for anyone who fancies it. I can tell you, from a driving point of view, that I didn’t enjoy the drive from Newcastle to Berwick or from Berwick to Edinburgh. Neither direction of those journeys were nice to drive, so I have to admit its not somewhere I’d be keen to go too often. Perhaps it might be better to catch the train if we fancy the holiday again next time, though I always like having the car as it makes getting around easier! We had a lovely weekend away and although it might be some time before we can go away again, I definitely look forward to the next few days away!

Planning a weekend away

October 14, 2014 by Bel 2 Comments

Yesterday on Twice the Mum, I wrote about Planning the Ultimate Family Holiday, but today on Journeys Are My Diary, I want to talk about a much more imminent break (and far cheaper too). In a couple of weekends time, Chris, the girls and I will be going away for a few days – technically to Berwick Upon Tweed, but also to Edinburgh.

While this might sound a little random, it isn’t at all really. As a family, we were originally supposed to be going to France this half term holiday – specifically to Paris. However when Chris went for a job interview in July or August (I don’t remember which) there was a chance that if he got it, we’d have to cancel our holiday as it overlapped the training period. In the end, this resulted in us discussing the plans, the money etc. and actually cancelling the holiday (especially with Christmas and Florida coming up) as it all seemed for the best. Sadly Chris didn’t get the job (well he did, but he doesn’t start until November) and so it was all for nothing – though I know deep down its probably saved us a lot of money and is really for the best. However waiting all the way to April next year for Florida, seemed like an awfully long time to wait for a little time away. In the end, I decided we could do something one weekend in October, around the half term break. To Megan, Lily and Chris I offered three choices – London (our usual go-to place) to see a musical and just get away for a while – Dublin, a place the girls haven’t been before and somewhere one of our friends has just moved to so a good excuse for a visit – or Berwick (with the view to visiting Edinburgh one day) where one of my best friends Amy lives and we’ve all never been before. Berwick won hands down and so I booked us a Travelodge for a couple of nights and began to make plans.

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Though I didn’t realise at the time when I booked the Travelodge, the girls are luckily off school on the Friday we were to go away. Therefore instead of traveling up after school, we get to set off in the morning and have more time away. The Travelodge is booked for Friday and Saturday night and while it wasn’t massively expensive, it did cost me about £75 in total. Our rough plan right now is to leave some time after breakfast/mid-morning, take a pack up with us and eat lunch on the way. Then when we get to Berwick, drop in to see Amy and eventually check into the Travelodge and figure out what we’ll do for dinner.

On the Saturday, our plan is to spend the whole day in Edinburgh. I’ve been before, but only once and while Megan and Lily have also been, Megan was about 3 and Lily was a baby. Since its new to the majority, we’re going to go visit Edinburgh Castle, then probably wander around for a bit and see the sights. We booked the tickets to the Castle last night and in the end they cost us £51.20 for all four of us. Since I paid for the accommodation, Chris kindly paid for the castle and I imagine the rest of the trip we’ll try to share between us.

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The main place I’d like to visit in Edinburgh is actually The Elephant House. For those of you who don’t know, this is where JK Rowling often went while writing her Harry Potter books. There’s no real reason I need to go there to be honest, but the fangirl inside of me would just like to say I’ve been. Other than that though, my main ambition for the day is to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. There are only four of these in existence in the UK and only two of them in England. Until now I’ve never been and I would just love to go!

Finally, after a day in Edinburgh (and hopefully dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe) no doubt we’ll head back to the Travelodge and crash out. The next day is Sunday and we’re hoping to spend majority of the day with Amy and Liv, before eventually heading home in time to meet the girls dad as it will be his night to have them. I imagine its going to be a busy weekend but I can’t wait to get away. It seems like forever since we all had some family time away from home and this will be a lovely (and fairly cheap) chance for a break. After that we’ll be cold turkey until Florida – saving up the pennies in order to spend hundreds I’m sure!