Lizzybear
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2006
- Messages
- 2,955
Pre-trip
17th September 2008
Steve had managed to wangle today off as lieu time by doing overtime a couple of days earlier so we got an extra day off together and spend it doing last minute packing and tidying. We (perhaps unwisely!) had agreed with my dad, who also happens to be our landlord, to get the bathroom redone when we were away.. Much needed as the old one was avocado green, had been there since the seventies and tiles were literally falling off the walls! It also meant I had an excuse to not spend too long cleaning before we went away, *** you know everywhere would just get dusty.. That's my excuse and i'm sticking to it! My dad was due to pick us up at 4 so of course at 3 I had my usual last minute irrational OH GOD!! panic and ran about like a headless chicken worrying we wouldn't be ready when my dad arrived but eventually pulled myself together and we were picked up and off to the Crowne Plaza at 4 on the dot, via several detours (you can tell my dad does a traffic heavy commute, he knows all the sneaky shortcuts!) Got a bit confused trying to find the hotel entrance due to a heck of a lot of roadworks near the airport but got there in the end and checked in no problem. The room was OK, I think Bewleys has the edge, but it's more expensive than the Crowne Plaza (for now!)
Probably the best hotel 'freebies' of the whole holiday, haha!
Look excited!
Go away!
Bit of a 'Myspace shot'
We settled in, had a cup of tea (sadly I forgot to take pictures of the tea and coffee making facilities this year, I was hoping to make it an annual thing!) and watched some rubbish TV then set off in search of dinner. The hotel restaurant didn't really appeal as it was Chinese and in the UK me and Steve are pretty much loyal to the Tai Pan which is an awesome Chinese restaurant here in Liverpool and our favourite restaurant in the world. Others have tried to convince us to go elsewhere for Chinese food, and sometimes we have, but i've yet to find anywhere that even comes close! Anyway, we set off for terminal 2 as i'd heard there were restaurants landside. Being the blimmin fool that I am I didn't realise that this meant before security as in no way to get out once you're in! So we walked back to the hotel 'cluster' (via a quicker route than the way we'd come, Steve gets annoyed by this kind of thing but I call it an adventure.. You can tell he's the practical one!) and decided to try the restaurant in Bewleys which turned out to be a great decision. I should state now that I didn't really 'do' food pictures this trip and since this place was mostly populated by people wearing suits or beige we were already drawing sufficient attention to ourselves with no effort! The food was all delicious though: We shared baked goats cheese for a starter and for mains I have the sea brean with linguine and vegetables and Steve had vegetarian lasagne (there were several other vegetarian option aswell) Bill was £33 including tip which we were happy to pay for the quality of the food and would recommend the restaurant to anyone. After dinner we headed back to the Crowne Plaza and watched yet more rubbish TV before eventually falling asleep. We really enjoy doing the airport hotel thing the night before.. We live fairly close to the airport anyway but feel as if we're starting the holiday off a little bit early and it also cuts out any last minute panic the morning of the flight day (if i've forgotten anything I can buy it out there!) Hopefully we can do the same next year.
17th September 2008
Steve had managed to wangle today off as lieu time by doing overtime a couple of days earlier so we got an extra day off together and spend it doing last minute packing and tidying. We (perhaps unwisely!) had agreed with my dad, who also happens to be our landlord, to get the bathroom redone when we were away.. Much needed as the old one was avocado green, had been there since the seventies and tiles were literally falling off the walls! It also meant I had an excuse to not spend too long cleaning before we went away, *** you know everywhere would just get dusty.. That's my excuse and i'm sticking to it! My dad was due to pick us up at 4 so of course at 3 I had my usual last minute irrational OH GOD!! panic and ran about like a headless chicken worrying we wouldn't be ready when my dad arrived but eventually pulled myself together and we were picked up and off to the Crowne Plaza at 4 on the dot, via several detours (you can tell my dad does a traffic heavy commute, he knows all the sneaky shortcuts!) Got a bit confused trying to find the hotel entrance due to a heck of a lot of roadworks near the airport but got there in the end and checked in no problem. The room was OK, I think Bewleys has the edge, but it's more expensive than the Crowne Plaza (for now!)
Probably the best hotel 'freebies' of the whole holiday, haha!
Look excited!
Go away!
Bit of a 'Myspace shot'
We settled in, had a cup of tea (sadly I forgot to take pictures of the tea and coffee making facilities this year, I was hoping to make it an annual thing!) and watched some rubbish TV then set off in search of dinner. The hotel restaurant didn't really appeal as it was Chinese and in the UK me and Steve are pretty much loyal to the Tai Pan which is an awesome Chinese restaurant here in Liverpool and our favourite restaurant in the world. Others have tried to convince us to go elsewhere for Chinese food, and sometimes we have, but i've yet to find anywhere that even comes close! Anyway, we set off for terminal 2 as i'd heard there were restaurants landside. Being the blimmin fool that I am I didn't realise that this meant before security as in no way to get out once you're in! So we walked back to the hotel 'cluster' (via a quicker route than the way we'd come, Steve gets annoyed by this kind of thing but I call it an adventure.. You can tell he's the practical one!) and decided to try the restaurant in Bewleys which turned out to be a great decision. I should state now that I didn't really 'do' food pictures this trip and since this place was mostly populated by people wearing suits or beige we were already drawing sufficient attention to ourselves with no effort! The food was all delicious though: We shared baked goats cheese for a starter and for mains I have the sea brean with linguine and vegetables and Steve had vegetarian lasagne (there were several other vegetarian option aswell) Bill was £33 including tip which we were happy to pay for the quality of the food and would recommend the restaurant to anyone. After dinner we headed back to the Crowne Plaza and watched yet more rubbish TV before eventually falling asleep. We really enjoy doing the airport hotel thing the night before.. We live fairly close to the airport anyway but feel as if we're starting the holiday off a little bit early and it also cuts out any last minute panic the morning of the flight day (if i've forgotten anything I can buy it out there!) Hopefully we can do the same next year.
