Love Boat to Belfast - Day 0 Travel Day

[Melanie R]

Welcome to my trippie for my second cruise of the year! After a full 18 months of travel restrictions, it feels really good to be taking trips again – even if I’ve restricted them to UK only for the time being!

For those who don’t know, this is cruise 2 of 3 I’m taking this year, all within a 10 week period so the trippies will be coming thick and fast I’m afraid!

This is a solo cruise like my first one, but for anyone who hasn’t read my first report, this one includes a date with a guy I “met” online in Belfast on my last cruise - the plan is to meet up on my scheduled day in Belfast, hence the title of the trippie!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – this trip report starts as is traditional with the travel day. I live in the North West of England right by the sea, just outside Lancaster and so taking a cruise which will sail directly past my home involves a 5 hour trip to Southampton! I’d taken the train on my last cruise as I had struggled to find parking due to a last minute booking, but I had found the journey very simple and relaxing, so had made the decision to do the same for all 3 of my cruises. My train was booked to leave Lancaster at 10:50 and my dad was dropping me at the station, so I found myself wide awake, packed and ready to leave very early on this Tuesday morning!

I was so excited for the trip, I had joined my parents for breakfast and was just enjoying some tea and toast when the cleaner arrived. Ingrid is a lovely lady and does a fantastic job, but she definitely reduced her Christmas bonus for this year when she told me I was looking really tired and needed to get a good night’s sleep! Thanks Ingrid!

Once we had finished breakfast, my dad loaded my luggage into the car and we set off for the station – Ingrid had redeemed herself at this point by telling us about some new roadworks on the way to the station so we now knew to avoid them. As we were leaving the village, I spotted this guy by the gates - we live very close to Heysham power station so had a moment of panic, but it was just the new gardener so panic over 😱

We were at the station by around 10:15 and I headed over to the correct platform and as is now my holiday tradition, collected a coffee from Costa to enjoy.

It was a very smooth and uneventful journey to Southampton – only 1 change of train at Wolverhampton and no delays at all, so I whiled the journey away with my holiday playlist and my kindle – in what seemed no time at all I was arriving into Southampton station and headed to the taxi rank for a very quick trip to the Premier Inn city centre.

It was a smooth check in process until I asked to book a time for dinner – I had prepaid the meal deal as is my usual habit when I stay here, when I was informed they would be refunding me the evening meal portion as the restaurant was running an extremely limited menu – they weren’t joking! She gave me an A4 sheet showing what meals they had – 2 starters, 3 main course options (pizza, curry or chilli) and 2 desserts.

She then informed me that they had no starters and one of the main courses was also no longer available, but they had availability if I still wanted to book a table! I had no transport, I was tired and they had pizza on the menu, so I booked
I headed to my room which was as usual spotless and very functional,

I took a quick shower to refresh after my trip. I called home to let them know I had arrived safely, and messaged my sister and friends to “remind” them I was on holiday (I assure you they all get their own back when it’s their turn!)

I also messaged Andy (my Belfast date) as we had arranged to call that evening so was letting him know I had arrived and would call later after dinner.
I also took a pic of my room number - I stay in so many Premier Inns I have a habit of forgetting which room I’m in - saves the awkward conversation at reception 🤣

At 7, I headed up to the restaurant (there were only 3 other diners!) and ordered a drink – luckily they had no restrictions on the bar menu – they had more choices of gin than food! I ordered a raspberry gin and tonic and a pizza – luckily that was still on the menu as I really didn’t fancy the other option which was a curry.

The pizza to be fair was very tasty and I really enjoyed my gin, but declined a coffee as I planned to have one in my room and call Andy before having an early night – sitting on a train somehow is exhausting!
I settled the bill and headed back to my room, noticing that the lift was still out of order from my last visit!

I popped the kettle on to make a cup of tea. I got ready for bed while the kettle boiled and wasn’t really paying too much attention while I made my cup of tea – big mistake! I had mistakenly used a peppermint teabag – for those yet to try it, it does NOT go well with milk added 🤢
I started over and made a “proper” cup of tea, headed to bed and had a chat with Andy before settling down with my kindle for an hour before I drifted off – tomorrow I would be back on board a cruise ship!
I started my day 163 miles away from Belfast

I was now 470 miles away! I always did have a poor sense of direction!

[mobeckwith]

i was supposed to go to bed,but now engrossed in this trippie so 🙂☺☺

[duchy]

Ha ha I did that the other day with peach tea !
I feel your pain !

[ILoveDaveLamb]

Blimey, the PI limited menu ( with exclusions) is reminiscent of your mum telling you what she’s got ‘in’ for tea. Great travel day. I am fully invested in the journey to your ‘Belfast Babe.’ Looking forward to seeing how it all goes. Great to have another holiday to look forward to after this one. X

[Melanie R]

Originally Posted by mobeckwith

i was supposed to go to bed,but now engrossed in this trippie so 🙂☺☺

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Sorry - I’ll try not to post so late in future 😂

[Melanie R]

Originally Posted by ILoveDaveLamb

Blimey, the PI limited menu ( with exclusions) is reminiscent of your mum telling you what she’s got ‘in’ for tea. Great travel day. I am fully invested in the journey to your ‘Belfast Babe.’ Looking forward to seeing how it all goes. Great to have another holiday to look forward to after this one. X

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Thank you 😂
Having the next one to look forward to has been amazing - would definitely consider this again if UK cruises are offered next year 😊

[P&S]

Good travel day but wow that menu was sparse
Looking forward to the rest