It's Pints Kim, But Not As We Know It! NY - 10/02/18

[Leyfy]

Day -01 - Pre Travel Day. Our House/Holiday Inn Terminal Five

So, here we are at another trip report! Not Florida for a change, but New York! I'll be honest, I've had a crack at two other New York trip reports and not finished them

Forgive me though, as my Florida trippie reports all have been finished, including the latest installment - our honeymoon trip! (The link can be found in my signature at the bottom of this post if you fancy a read) Anyway, I solemnly swear...

*cough*

Well, yes that, but also I solemnly swear that I will actually FINISH this New York trip report!

So, stick with me, buckle up and hold on for the ride as I officially declare this New York Trip report... IN PROGRESS!

So, it's currently Saturday morning, 10th of February 2018 at 10am. We are due to leave for the airport and I have DONE NO PACKING! Yep, Mrs. Super-Organised, ADR 180 days in advance and planning extraordinaire has not even printed out the itinerary at this point!

So, I did what anyone sensible would do - I went into town to meet my friend for coffee and cake!

In my defense - we were not sure what the weather would be like and I'd had a really mad couple of weeks at work, which included not being in for a single evening at all apart from Friday. Friday I had loads of plans for, until our beloved and spoilt cat ended up nearly being eaten by next doors dog so instead I ended up at the emergency vets!

(Totally our cats fault btw, no blame on the dog or her owner. Luckily the cat was fine and more hacked off about being thrown in the carrier and dragged half way across town for the vet to put a thermometer in a *very* uncomfortable place! I will say no more!)

After that nightmare, I needed a medicinal glass of wine and a sit down!

Anyway, for all these various reasons, packing had not yet occured by Saturday. I made my way home after meeting my friend for a long overdue catch up and some delicious cake at Patisserie Valerie and finally packed my suitcase. Do you think I have enough Disney themed luggage?!

By now it was less than 24 hours until we flew and I tried hopelessly to check us in online using the United app. After successfully scanning both our passports by waving the phone at them for about 30 minutes, I finally hit a brick wall when it said that we couldn't check in online and to see a 'United representative at the airport'! Okay then... Total waste of time, that was!

As we couldn't print out our boarding passes I did a bit of last-minute printing of all the other documents we needed and we left the house at 3.30pm, ready to head to the Terminal 5 Holiday Inn at Heathrow. Originally we were going to park in the 'easyparking' car park but I got a deal which meant we could stay at Heathrow the night before and have breakfast included for £20 more. It also meant not having to leave the house ridiculously early on Sunday morning as well.

The journey round to Heathrow was event free but very boring as Phil insisted on listening to first the football and then the rugby on the radio

We got to the Holiday Inn at about 5pm and checked ourselves in. We had a room on the fourth floor. He took my car registration and I asked if we were able to leave the car park and come back. The person checking us in said that was fine, the car was booked in until we left, we just had to find a parking space when we got back. The hotel didn't seem that busy and we'd parked easily, so that was good.

We made our way up to the room. It was functional and clean:

(Spot the Disney luggage again!)

I got changed and Phil went down to the bar area to try and see if they would put the rugby on for him so he could watch the England game. Unfortunately the TV was only programmed for BBC news and they said they couldn't change it! He ordered a beer and was dismayed to see there was only, in his words 'crappy lager'.

I came down and ordered a coke as I was driving us to our evening meal. Phil was able to officially point at his first pint!

He also had the opportunity to write in his brand new beer notepad! The original one from our 2013 trip to Florida was both full and falling apart, so he'd had to go out and purchase a replacement before this trip!

It was now 5.30 and our table was booked for 6.30pm at the Orchard Restaurant at the nearby Sheraton Hotel. I suggested making our way to there to see if they had a) the rugby showing and b) better beer!

Phil agreed, and we made our way back to the car. I put the coordinates into the Satnav and we made our way to the Sheraton, which was about 15 minutes down the road. We made our way to the car park and when we got to reception they confirmed that if we were eating in the hotel we could park for free.

As we were about 45 minutes early for our meal we made our way to the bar, where only football was showing. We ordered a small wine for me and a beer for Phil. 'Point' number two:

Phil was pleased that there was a better selection but his beer was SIX POUNDS FIFTY! In comparison, my small wine was six pounds!

After several heart attacks caused by the price (and the only time we'd noted that Phil's beer was more than my wine!) we drank our drinks, and as there was a break in the football, the bar staff kindly put the rugby on for a bit so we could check the score. At 6.30pm we made our way round to the totally empty restaurant... Glad we bothered booking, then!

We were, unsurprisingly, seated right away and Phil ordered a beer and I got an appletiser. We browsed the menu:

For mains I had a goats cheese, beetroot and melon salad:

This was lovely! Phil had chicken liver pate. I then went for a steak, which I'd ordered rare:

It also came with a side of chips. Phil had pork belly for his main. My steak was alright, bit tough in places. Behind us they had a counter with their wine selection laid out ready for the servers to pour, which was right in front of us. Some bloke with an American accent came up, grabbed a glass and just started browsing the bottles! The look on the restaurant managers face was priceless as he clearly didn't know what to do! In the end the manger sent him (politely) in the direction of the lounge, which the bloke, totally unfazed, walked over to and sat down! If that was me I'd have wanted the ground to have swallowed me up!

A few more people had arrived in the restaurant at this point but it wasn't busy at all. We finished our meals and looked at the dessert menu but neither of us fancied anything so we paid the bill and left about 8pm. I drove us back to the Holiday Inn and we found a parking spot relatively easily. We went into the hotel and sat down in the bar area, which was a lot busier by now. I ordered a wine and Phil got a beer and we were sat in the corner chatting when a lady approached us and asked if we were paying for our drinks. It turned out she was part of a group who were there as part of a tour and they had been given five free drinks vouchers each! Her and her husband had had two drinks but didn't want any more so gave us six free drinks vouchers!

We thanked them profusely - although after another glass I'd had enough and made my way to bed, ready for our travel day tomorrow!

Tomorrow - Travel to New York

[TractorBoy]

Looking forward to reading more as we are off to New York in June

[christybell]

Ooohhh...
free drinks... hopefully Phil made some use of the vouchers?

Nice relaxing start to your trip

[nickyjw]

Great start, looking forward to following along.

[Leyfy]

Originally Posted by TractorBoy

Looking forward to reading more as we are off to New York in June

See more...

Hope you have a fantastic time, we love it there. Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by christybell

Ooohhh...
free drinks... hopefully Phil made some use of the vouchers?

Nice relaxing start to your trip

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He didn't because the vouchers were only for specific drinks and he didn't like the beer they were offering!

Was nice to get there the night before and just chill though

Originally Posted by nickyjw

Great start, looking forward to following along.

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Thanks for reading

[Goldia]

We enjoyed NYC last summer and I love reading trip reports where people go there. I hope you had a fantastic time.

[mick]

Crikey £6:50 for a beer

Joan

[Leyfy]

Originally Posted by Goldia

We enjoyed NYC last summer and I love reading trip reports where people go there. I hope you had a fantastic time.

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We did thank you - it's odd to think this time two weeks ago we were on our way!

Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by mick

Crikey £6:50 for a beer

Joan

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I know - so much!

Thanks for reading

[DisneyDreamer81]

Ooh I'd totally missed you starting this! £6.50 FOR A BEER?!?! My Northern heart is wincing in pain! Off to read the rest now

[Leyfy]

Phil (Kim's / Leyfy's Husband ) here - £6.50 made me wince too and I lived in central London for 15 years !