A Magical New Year: Day 0 - Harry Potter and the Twilight Check-in

[Stewboy]

Index

Friday 28th December 2018

The Friday after Christmas. We’d had a lovely Christmas - spending time together, seeing our families, eating a bit (not as much as usual), drinking a little; I’d had to do a little bit of work, but that was all out of the way and now it was the day before our holiday.

It was going to be a busy day as tonight we were off to stay at the Premier Inn Gatwick North, and there was still plenty to do.

Jo went to the gym, I went out for a run - both of us hoping to burn off some of those Christmas calories. We finished packing, gave Isabella a bath, and Jo painted Isabella’s toenails in the colours of the four Hogwarts houses and a Harry Potter scar (Isabella’s design!).


Harry Potter toenails!

My job was to head off to the local petrol station to fill up the car and check the tyres. When I got back, we had lunch - our last unphotographed meal for the next week! - and with the car packed we were ready to go.

The time was almost 3pm - half hour later than originally planned - which gave us 3 hours until our 6pm dinner reservation at the Thyme restaurant in the Premier Inn. We wanted to do twilight check-in before that, and as we had to park up and actually get to the hotel first Jo decided to give the Premier Inn a call and move the reservation back to 6:30pm.




On our way!

Once this was sorted we could relax a little knowing we wouldn’t have to rush too much; Jo even decided to crack open one of the M&S ‘cocktails in a can’ that we’d bought to enjoy pre-dinner.


The holiday starts here!

Fortunately, it being the Friday after Christmas, traffic on the motorway was light and we arrived at Purple Parking at about 4:15pm. Jo unloaded the car while I checked in. After some confusion over return flight numbers (which Jo had already provided when she booked) we were good to go.

Because of the flight number kerfuffle we’d missed the shuttle to the airport that had been waiting when we’d arrived. Another one was waiting for us, so we loaded up the case, and had about a five minute wait until it departed.

At about 4:35pm we were making the 10 minute drive to the airport - we were officially on holiday!


Bus selfie

The bus pulled up at Gatwick North Terminal, and we’d been discussing whether to check in to the hotel first or do twilight check-in first. Although the Premier Inn is close, it seemed easier to do check in first as we were stood right outside the terminal entrance.

With the suitcases off of the bus, we headed to the Virgin desk. Twilight check-in began at 5pm and we arrived dead on time.

It’s a great feeling, checking in the night before the flight in a practically empty terminal. With the luggage offloaded we were now free to enjoy the rest of our evening. We had plenty of time until dinner, so we had a little wander through the terminal. There isn’t much to see or do in the North Terminal, so we were soon on our way across the road to the Premier Inn.


I don't think Jamie was really there!

Getting there proved to be trickier than expected due to the multi-storey car park between the terminal and the hotel.

Fortunately checking in to the Premier Inn was more straightforward and by 5:40pm we were enjoying our M&S cocktails in our room!


Just one more (busy) road to cross!






The room


Cheers!

The room was nothing special, just your usual Premier Inn room, but it was clean and comfortable. We were all happy chilling out in our room watching Pointless and drinking our drinks.

At about 6:25pm we headed down for dinner. The restaurant was really busy tonight - it was a good job Jo had booked a table!


Pre-dinner selfie

We’d booked the meal deal, meaning we got a drink included; Jo had a red wine, I had a Worthingtons bitter - it wouldn’t have been my first choice but it was ok if a little bland.

The menu options on the other hand were much better. After some deliberation I went for the sirloin steak, and Jo chose the tandoori mixed grill. Isabella had the grilled chicken breast.

As the meal deal also includes a starter or dessert, we opted for one of each and for the starter we got the pulled lamb with hummus and flatbread to share. Isabella had also gone a starter of cheesy flatbread.


Cheers


Voldemort/Tubbs from League of Gentlemen!


Cheesy flatbread smile


Sirloin steak


Tandoori mixed grill


Grilled chicken

Dinner was delicious - the food at the Premier Inn is underrated in my opinion, and it’s great value too.

For dessert the three of us shared the sticky toffee pudding - it was certainly big enough and very enjoyable. After dinner we stopped at the Costa Coffee for a couple of decaf lattes to take back to the room.




Sticky toffee pudding


Happy

Isabella didn’t need a bath tonight and went straight to bed; once Jo and I were ready we had our coffee in bed, whist watching the first two episodes of the new ‘The ABC Murders’ on the iPlayer. I was a big fan of the old Poirot series with David Suchet back in the 90s so was looking forward to seeing this new adaptation with John Malkovich as Poirot.

We finished the second episode, downloaded episode three, set an alarm for 7 o’clock in the morning, and then it was time to go to sleep. When we wake up it’ll be travel day!

Thanks for reading.

[Zomax25]

Looking forward to reading along! Thanks for sharing your first day.

[Stardust5]

Great start, really looking forward to reading along.

[mouselover22]

Looking forward to another Sears trippie

Love the Voldemort thing

[Floridafour]

Yay, so pleased you’ve started this. Love an M&S cocktail in a can, looking forward to more 🙂

[PJB71]

Looking forward to reading more 👍🏻

Isabella looks so grown up 💕

[ziggyzag]

Wow Isabella suddenly looks really grown up and not such a little girl anymore! Fab start x

[00swan]

Brilliant - nice, gentle start

[Rob & Jan]

Great start, looking forward to reading about your trip.

[i love jack]

Nice pre travel day, can’t beat a premier inn.
Liking Jo’s new hair!