"Nous sommes fiancés!" Day 0 - Pre-Travel Day!

[oh_darling]

Friday 23rd May 2014
Day 0 - Pre-Travel Day

This was only really a tiny short day, but I’ll include it as everyone loves a P-T Day It all gets a lot more interesting from the next day onwards!

I had booked this day off; originally just the afternoon, then the full day as it got nearer to the holiday. I’d had a pretty awful week at work; finding out on the Tuesday that things at my company weren’t going so well. See this thread for the full, gritty story So that put a dampener on my day off and in fact the whole holiday, but now I’m back I’m feeling a lot happier and positive which is making it easier to write the trippie. I’ll try not to dwell on it too much but just imagine a big dark cloud hanging just in front of your eyes and dropping down in front of them every so often for 7 days, and it’ll give you an idea of how the Job Situation was hanging over me!

So, back to the Friday. We’d been out for dinner with fam the previous night and despite the copious amounts of alcohol consumed (the dark cloud was hanging quite low that night) I washed my hair when I got in, and plaited it, so it was all clean and lovely the next day. Yay! So I backcombed it into the coiffed look I frequent, got changed and headed to my Mum’s for a. a chat, and b. European plug adapters. It was really lovely to see her and we had a nice long talk about TWS (The Work Situation) I got the plugs and drove to the village to pick up my contact lenses (Dailies! Exciting! ) before heading back to the flat. I hadn’t packed yet so that was a long and laborious job but it didn’t take as long as I thought it would, and before long I had a jam-packed case with all the essentials (Minnie ears, false eyelashes, optimistic summer wear etc) and I was ready I went into the lounge to chill out and paint my nails



And at 4.30, Benj was home He threw some bits into his case (he’d already packed) and after a long, drawn-out Saffie goodbye, we left the flat about 5.30pm. We had to drop keys into our friend Jason’s flat who was staying at our flat for the week looking after Saffie for us <3 and then we were really on the road!





The journey to Ashford was uneventful apart from we had to pull into a services at one point because Ben thought the bonnet wasn’t shut properly and he could see it bumping up and down! EEEeeekk! I wouldn’t know a loose bonnet if it hit me in the face (ouch) so I trusted Ben’s knowledge and we pulled over. Sure enough, he hadn’t closed it properly after checking it the day before! TENSE. But, all sorted

I helpfully stayed in the car and took photos while he was fixing it:



We were back on the road again and I took a god-awful selfie which I’m only including to up the photo count;



And one of the handsome driver.



At about 7.30 we were in Ashford, yay! We had both thought it was going to be super posh and fancy, not sure why? No offence to Ashford dwellers, but we were a bit disappointed It was just a normal town centre! Yeah, I don’t know what we were expecting. but it must have come from somewhere as we both mentioned it haha! Anyway. So, we found the George Hotel which was the hotel where we were staying, and a lovely lady came out to direct us into a spare parking space as there was a band on tonight as otherwise we’d block them in. A band! Thought we. How nice! Hmmmmmm…….

We went inside with our luggage and it seemed quite nice in the pub bit. We’d planned to have dinner in the restaurant there but when I was checking us in I asked the lady if they were open, and she said ‘`Oh no, we don’t serve food on Fridays.’ Of course you don’t. Why would you? It’s only the 2nd most popular night of the week to eat out. After this bombshell, we took our keys and she led us upstairs to our room. En-route to the room I began to notice how grim this place really was. Skanky carpets, peeling walls and a general whiff of not-nice things. Mmmmmm! Oh well. It was only for one night. I don’t have any photos of the room because…well…I don’t think you’d want to see them. We quickly freshened up and headed out in search of dinner as it was like 8.30 by this point and we were hank!

We were literally right in the middle of town so we wandered around looking at a few different options. We didn’t want to spend too much and there only seemed to be the usual Pizza Expresses etc around – ain’t nobody eatin’ at Pizza Express without a voucher! But then, divine intervention!

We’d decided on an Indian at the back of the hotel which smelt really good, so we started walking that way. But, then we walked past a sign on the pavement outside a restaurant, and both stopped dead in our tracks. “WORLD BUFFET, CHINESE, INDIAN, SUSHI, ITALIAN, 13.99” We just looked at each other, nodded, and walked in haha! We’ve been to a few of these world type buffet places, not for agggeeeesssss though as we realised we weren’t buffet people and always ate so much it was just gross. But, this was just what we fancied tonight! And how cheap!?!? That’s like one pizza at P.E! I was fully onboard. We walked in and the waiter directed us to a table next to a couple I’d unfortunately clocked as soon as we entered…let’s just say, they’d had a drink. Or twelve. The woman had her head on the table and the guy was just shouting incomprehensible words at her. Hmmm, I think we’ll sit somewhere else thanks! The waiter then took us round a corner into a much nicer area, so I was happy We both ordered a pint of cider, and then were let loose on the buffet

It was good, actually! I had loads and loads of Chinese stuff. I realised these buffets are actually quite good for me, because when I get a Chinese I like to have a little bit of everything, but obviously it costs me loads. So this was an awesome way of trying all the appetizers etc I love, rather than having to just get one dish!

I only took photos of our first plates…I wish I could say they were the only plates, but unfortunately there were a few more. Each.

Mine!



Benjis! (why is there so much more on my plate than on Ben's? )



We were both pleasantly surprised with this meal, and even more so when we got the bill! It was like £38. BARG. I’d def recommend it for a quick bite if you’re staying in Ashford. The delightful couple from earlier continued to be obscenely loud and awkward for pretty much the entirety of the meal, before the man left the woman on her own. Hahah! Luckily, by the time we were ready to go she’d moved on, with the crazy amounts of water on the floor around the table the only sign she’d ever been there.

With full tummies, we left about 9.45 and headed back to the hotel, just in time for GOGGLEBOX yeahhhh! Ben’s favourite show of all time, pretty much. It was jammies on and into bed to watch it It finished at 11 and I then went into the bathroom to remove make-up etc. As I was in there, all of a sudden, REALLY LOUD MUSIC started. Like, obscenely loud. I threw the door open and just looked at Ben. “What is that!?!? ” He was like “uhhh I guess, the band?” THE BAND! ?!? IT’S 11.30PM. What band starts at 11.30? We figured the band had been and gone! ? Apparently not. What followed was honestly the worst nights sleep of my life. If I even slept at all. Our room was right above the beer garden, which I think had the doors from the bar thrown open, right where the band were. The windows were not double glazed, so essentially we were sat in front the band. In fact, we could have been sat ON the band, it was so loud. If you can believe, this went on until 1.30am. Ben told me I did fall asleep for a bit, but then woke up in a frenzied rage attack, effing and blinding about how ridiculous it is to have hotel rooms right above the bar when you think it’s fine to play live music until 1.30am. Honestly. It was surreal! The music finally stopped and then with ears ringing, we were subjected to the sound of 100 odd drunk people being sheparded out of the beer garden by the barmaid. Oh jeez. Kill me now. Eventually, there was quiet. And we were allowed to sleep for a beautiful 4 hours, before our alarm went off at 5.30.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH! Don’t ever stay at the George Hotel. I’m going to email a complaint this weekend so I’ll let you know if anything happens!

Tomorrow – Travel day and our first frolics in the magic!

[gtyrel10]

Oh dear Libby what an awful night! I'm impressed you stayed in your room I would have been attached to my boyfriends leg trying to drag him back to the room while he was desperate to go complain!

But at least you were on your way to Disney, and you got a yummy buffet for a great price! Sometimes a cheap and cheerful buffet is what we all need!

Looking forward to your next day and really pleased your work stuff has calmed down and you are feeling much better about it xxx

[disneyfan87]

Oh no! What a nightmare!

[neverbeen]

OMG I can't believe they'd let out a room above the bar! Thanks for the warning, we were looking for hotels for the night before, I'll steer clear of this one. Looking forward to the rest of your report

[lovedisney89]

Oh no that sounded like an awful hotel, I hate not being able to sleep.

Glad you had a nice buffet dinner (apart from the other couple lol).

Look forwrad to reading about the the rest of your trip

[suziwong_96]

Look forward to reading! xx

[Jesslydevie1]

Oh dear not a great start , but I wouldn't have left without my money back , hope things I prove am sure they do lol !

[sarah_lou]

Sounds like a nightmare, and you would think they would let you know this stuff before you booked up! I would definitely be writing them a wee email! Hopefully all your bad luck is gone today!

[Wonder]

Great PT day! I've got to say I love a Workd Buffet- soooo good!

Oh and about the bonnet... I was in my pals car going along winding country roads way too fast about 10 years ago (as a passenger) when suddenly *CRASH* and darkness! Bonnet had been loose and he'd not noticed, it had flung up and smashed the windscreen- honestly I screamed so loud and am so careful about the bonnet being secure now whenever I've been into the car engine. So big well done to Ben for being so on the ball as its blummin terrifying!

[Guest]

Lovely report as always Libby! Sorry to hear about your work stuff that's really pants and your 1st night hotel sounds pretty grim but I'm looking forward to reading the rest! I love your reports, you guys remind me of us so much!

Katie