Never Say Never! - December 2014 - Day 1 - Travel Day

[Hannikins]

Never Say Never! - December 2014 - Day 1 - Travel Day

Better late than never eh? ! It’s over a month since we got back but with the joys of christmas and the inevitable getting back into the swing of things in the new year I’ve only just got round to thinking about starting this trippie. If I’m honest the lack of new trip to plan hasn’t helped matters, but with a sneaky trip to a park I’m yet to visit in early planning stages for November this year I think I’m ready!

Now if you’ve been following my pre trippie (if you haven’t why ever not!) you’ll know that my last post was the morning before… and I still hadn’t packed.

I started with the usual, going to work, trying to do something productive and failing miserably. Annoying everyone I could with my cheery mood and holiday spirits…. not welcome in early December I can tell you!

I decided to give up the act at 1pm and headed off, I had packing to do after all. I nipped first to drop the keys off at the home of the lady cat sitting for us before running home to start packing.

Although that didn’t happen, I did rush home, washed my hair, then it all went downhill and I ended up sitting with a baileys and a mince pie for a further 2 hours! Starting as I mean to go on :P

Finally, at 3.40, with 3 hours to go until my parents arrived to take us to the airport I decided now might be a good time to pack. No idea why I left it this late. You’d expect a planner like me to be “on it”, packed with weeks to spare, but I really hate living out of a suitcase so this never happens, still, I don’t think I’ve ever left it this late before!

In the end it really didn’t take all that long, Adam had made some nice piles of clothes earlier in the morning so I just threw my stuff in as well. I had a mental note of roughly what I wanted to take and threw those bits in first and then added the “extras”, you know, the nice to haves that you’ve never worn and you know won’t be worn this time either, but you know… just in case! . Despite this I had decided to travel light this time, if I could anyway, so I was overjoyed when the cases came in waaaaayyy under, like 10kg under! I also hadn’t even packed a carry on bag for me, instead I had put a holdall at the bottom of the suitcase to bring stuff back in. By stuff I mean lots and lots of goodies!

Once done I had an hour to spare, see not so tight in the end! So I dibbed for a bit and also sent a slightly frantic email to hot topic since I hadn’t heard from them that my order had been dispatched. It hadn’t, eeek!

Mum and dad arrived at 6.40 and we were off! journey was uneventful I happily wittered on (I do this when excited… well more so than usual!) the whole way. They dropped us off with our baggage at bewleys where I’d managed to get a room after much searching (I was determined to get my free room!). We kissed hugged and they headed off.

We usually have a room on the right from reception so I was excited when we were given a room on the left. I got a little lost as this meant heading through the bar area but I found the lifts in the end!

Our room was on the 8th room, again another first, we’ve never been this high! We were joined in the lift by a couple and during the silence you get with strangers in a confined space, we commented on how chilly it was and how lovely it would be to get some sun. Except they weren’t heading anywhere with sun… AWKWARD…

As we usually drive ourselves to the airport we always stop somewhere on the way for dinner, however as we’d been dropped off we were a little limited on choice! We either walked to the terminals or we ate at the restaurant. I hadn’t heard amazing things about the restaurant at Bewleys but I was to shattered to consider an alternative so we headed down to take a look.

We arrived at 8.10 and were greeted by a small queue at the restaurant reception. I glance ahead and realised that the reason for the delay was a small irate german gentleman arguing with the host.

Bewley’s seat guest in “slots”, the next slot being in 20 minutes at 8pm. But this guy just didn’t get it. He just kept gesturing at the almost empty restaurant and saying “so I have to wait 20 minutes?”. Bless the host, he was so very polite throughout! I can only assume this method of guest management didn’t rub well with the uber efficiency of our german friend as he gave up and headed off in a huff. When we got to the queue the guy explained about the wait until 8pm, now only 10 minutes away. We just smiled at each other and I said that would be fine :P

We decided to grab a drink from the bar first, I started with my first of many glasses of bubbly and Adam grabbed a beer.



and here’s the first of many god awful pictures I seem to have managed this year!



I look drunk, I wasn’t at this point I can assure you!

At a few minutes to 8 we headed back over to the restaurant (basically at the other end of the bar since it’s all attached) and we were quickly seated.

I was pleasantly surprised, it was really nice! The tables were a little close together, I felt like I was sharing our table with the guy next to me, but the general feeling was relaxing and calm.

They were offering a great set christmas menu but I realised I could get the main from the set menu and a slightly different dessert by getting them separately so I decided to go with that. I passed on starters, I don’t like eating too much the night before a flight, I always feel uncomfortably full if I do.

Adam however does not suffer in this way so he was straight in there with some chicken wings from the three course set menu



and I really mean straight in there, I didn’t even get chance to take a piccie! The first foodie pic and it was a complete fail, we’ll get into the swing of it though :P

These were nice, obviously not completely fresh as they arrived minutes after ordering, but certainly very tasty!

He followed this up with a trio of pulled pork sliders for main, each with a separate sauce.



Again very tasty, the meat was very lean and the BBQ sauce was YUM!

I went with the gammon and turkey roast minus the gammon, so basically just more turkey!



This was AMAZING! soon much nicer than I had been expecting and the veg was tasty to, lots of sprouts!

I mentioned before that the tables were close together and we were close to the guy next to me, by his accent we think he was italian, ANYWAY. during his meal he spent a long time browsing, and due to his proximity to me I could see what he was browsing…. flights maybe? dining reviews perhaps? NOPE! he was browsing for something a little more niche… let’s call them “ladies of the night”, I kid you not, he wasn’t even bothering to keep his phone hidden. Granted he may not have reckon on little nosey me but still! I kept trying to show Adam without drawing to much attention as he didn’t believe me!

Anyway he only managed a snack before making a call and leaving, I can only assume to find his new friend!

Anyway back to the meal…

We ordered a glass of wine each with the main, we considered a bottle but Adam doesn’t like white wine and with a busy day ahead we decided against it… I’m getting very sensible in my old age :P

The roast had been so good I couldn’t manage dessert as I had originally planned but Adam had one as part of the set menu. I think if was a sticky toffee pudding with dates and custard. I had a little nibble and it was lovely and moist despite it’s slab like appearance.



It was only 9.30 but the wine was making me sleepy so we skipped coffees, paid up and head back to the room. I was worried that my “few drinks” might have been a problem, I’m a light sleeper after booze. This turned out not to be an issue, once I was snug in bed I managed half a chapter of my book before I nodded off, good job Adam remembered to set the alarm!

TODAY'S SPENDS
beer & champers - £12
Dinner at bewleys - £50

TOTAL - £62

[itsrachelhere]

You started, hurrah! I hate being at work on a travel day - I have given up on such things now . Looks like a nice meal. I think I would have been impatient like the German guy to be honest if it was that quiet - it seems a really strange set up to me!

[EllieP]

Wahey I've been waiting for you to start! A lovely relaxing evening, ready for travel day!

[Puggle11]

Hurrah!

[Guest]

Ahaha the Italian guy at the table next to you... been looking forward to this one... cant wait for the rest.

[lovedisney89]

Great start

[FLORIDAMUM3]

Yay I've been looking forward to this! Good start!

[twinkleshmoo]

Yippee you've started!

[mrsdjh]

Ooh I've been looking forward to reading your report

I hate packing way in advance but Im not that relaxed about it!

Cant wait for more..no pressure!

Diane

[Guest]

Yay you've started! Looking forward to reading more. Ooh what park you going to in November?