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Old 9 Oct 18, 10:17 PM  
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bambikate
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The 1200 Mile West Coast Adventure - August/September 2018: Day 0: The Crownie takes the crown!

Day 0: The Crownie takes the crown
Sunday 19 August 2018

Pre Travel Day - Travelling to London, staying at Premier Inn Heathrow Bath Road and dinner at Thyme Restaurant.

Index

This year, rather than finishing work and school and driving straight up to London, we had Friday and Saturday off to sort everything out. We were renovating our house so had a skip to fill up and tidy up the garden and this gave us time to finish the itinerary and pack.

On the Sunday all we had left to do was pack the last bits, clean the house, empty the fridge and sort the car. At 9:20am we checked in online and of course my printer ran out of toner so instead, we just opted to pick up boarding passes at the airport. I prefer the card ones anyway.

After a random lunch of whatever needed using (pesto, pasta, chicken, veg and mozzarella!) my Mum and Dad came over to say goodbye and we gave them instructions for cat feeding.

Obligatory sofa shot!





After saying our goodbyes we left home at around 1:30pm as planned.

Super excited car selfie!



The traffic was really heavy and there were quite a few accidents on the way.

We stopped for a Starbucks en route. I had a mocha Frappuccino, Imogen had an apple juice, Andy had a latte and Izzy had a mini hot chocolate.



After a few snacks of crisps and sweets and lots of stop start traffic, the girls needed a loo break.







Scenic route...



We stopped at a service station but all they had was portaloos. They were desperate so didnt really have any choice but to use them. I wont go into detail but the toilets were absolutely disgusting. Never again.

Luckily we were only an hour away from Heathrow so I covered everyone in hand sanitiser and banned any eating until we got to the hotel and could wash our hands.



Our sat nav for some reason told us we arrived at Premier Inn Bath road when we were in the middle of the turning for terminal 5 on the M25!

Arrived Siri said confidently. Ummm no we havent!? As chief navigator, I was ready for this moment. Ditching iPhone maps in favour of google maps we reentered the address and this time we were directed to the correct location.

We arrived safely, parked up and walked into reception with our bags. Paying 10 overnight parking at the machines on the way in.

Check in was quick and easy and we were allocated room 1105 on the first floor. We had an internal view of the main lobby which was cool.

At 6:05pm we got into our room. A long old travel day! We had just enough time to freshen up and head down for our reservation at Thyme at 6:30pm!

We love staying at this hotel, it's probably the nicest Premier Inn we've stayed at and is such a great location. It was also a total bargain; booked it on New Years Eve for the grand old price of 34. You can't go wrong really!

Imogen loving the giant pole vault... I mean pillow...







We headed downstairs to Thyme restaurant, checked in and were shown to our seats.

Our server pointed out a table of colouring sheets and crayons so the girls grabbed a couple of sheets to keep them busy!

We decided not to do the meal deal this trip, which would normally entitle you to one alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage, a main course and either a dessert or a starter and breakfast the next day (kids dinner not included) for 26.99 each but as we would be leaving too early in the morning for a big breakfast we were just paying out of pocket.

They were operating a buffet for the kids which was all you can eat food and one drink for 5.50 each and this seemed like the a pretty good deal, so we decided on that.

For drinks, Izzy had a Pepsi, Imogen a lemonade and Andy and I got a bottle of Merlot.







We decided to dive straight in with mains as we were starving. I went for pizza with three toppings - streaky bacon, mushroom and red onions.

Andy had pizza with six toppings - pepperoni, jalepeno, red peppers, red onion, chicken and streaky bacon.

The pizzas were 10.99 and 12.99 respectively. They were lush but enormous!





The girls chose a nice selection from the buffet...

Carbilicious!





For dessert, the girls chose profiteroles and brownies from the buffet.

Andy and I shared a chocolate orange "crownie" (cookie and brownie) with chocolate orange sauce and ice cream. It. Was. Incredible. 😍😍😍 we shared it with the girls too. It basically tasted like a warm Terry's chocolate orange. Mmmmm.



The total came to 55 plus tip and overall we thought it was a great meal.

We popped outside to get some fresh air and watch the planes landing while the girls did some gymnastics.









It was at this point we discovered that Andy's phone camera was broken, I think it had lost its stabiliser so it wouldn't keep still for any photos. It was pretty gutting as there was nothing we could do now and his camera is so much better than mine! (6s+ vs 6s)



We popped back inside and Andy nipped to the bar on the way back to our room to get some drinks to bring up.

Andy had a gin and juice and I had a pink gin and tonic. The girls had some cans we brought with us and we all watched Spectre in bed with some crisps.≈



Feeling pretty darn excited!







We called it a night around 10:45pm, showered and did our teeth and set alarms for 4:30am!

We were so excited!
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Edited at 10:55 AM.
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Old 9 Oct 18, 11:22 PM  
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Sanny64
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wow great start, cant wait for the rest.

i've already jotted down ideas from your itinerary

well done on the weight loss

thanks.

Edited at 11:24 PM.
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Old 9 Oct 18, 11:40 PM  
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Kat22
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Yay! 😀 love your trip reports! Cant wait to hear all about your latest trip!
Do you have any plans for 2019? We have booked our second Florida trip in may and Im so excited I could burst! X
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Old 10 Oct 18, 07:34 AM  
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katnav
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Just saw on your Instagram you'd started... been waiting for this! Looking forward to the next instalment.
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Old 10 Oct 18, 11:06 AM  
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smithlane
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Ooh I'm looking forward to this, we are hoping to go to California next year so will be picking up lots of tips! That Crownie looks amazing. I live about 15 minutes from the Bath Road Premier Inn, I'm now contemplating going there for dinner one night purely for that dessert 😬
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Old 10 Oct 18, 02:18 PM  
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Doowop
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Both looking good for the weight loss, amazing total!

We were planning west coast but there was so much my daughter wouldnt dondue to autism that it didnt seem worth it, saving that for just me and the husband in the future, looking forwards to reading this to pinch some ideas 😁
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Old 10 Oct 18, 08:36 PM  
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EJSakaAnna
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Really looking forward to this . I had major trip envy seeing your insta posts while you were away!
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Old 10 Oct 18, 08:43 PM  
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Brilliant start! The meal sounds lovely especially the dessert xx
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Old 11 Oct 18, 04:37 PM  
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Leelsisy
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Looking forward to reading more!
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Old 13 Oct 18, 10:59 AM  
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i love jack
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We loved PI Bath Road exciting day
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