The wonders of walking (plus a shameless plug for sponsorship)

Once upon a time, before the children, and back when I thought I was fat but had no idea of what was yet to come, Lee and I decided to walk the Cotswold Way. We both liked walking and would think nothing of walking eight miles on a Sunday afternoon, so a walking holiday seemed like a good idea. Neither of us saw the point in staying in one place and going for a different circular walk each day - we wanted a walk with a purpose, with a starting point and a separate destination. We opted for the Cotswold Way, a 100-mile walk between Chipping Camden and Bath, partly because we were under the (total) misapprehension that it was fairly flat (it isn't). (On the subject of misapprehensions, I was also under the mistaken impression that desert boots are the same thing as walking boots. They're not.)

As you may have guessed, I'm not a fan of hills. Another thing I don't like is carrying stuff. I'll carry all the essentials, of course - phone, tissues, inhaler, etc. - but if I can sneak the lunch and the water bottles into Lee's rucksack, I'll do it. Hats off to all these 'proper' outdoors types, who carry their tents, sleeping bags and worldly goods on their backs - simply carrying spare clothes and overnight stuff is too much for me. To be fair, we were planning to do the walk over six days, so that's an awful lot of changes of clothes. We hit on the perfect solution when we discovered the company Sherpa Van, who transport all your bags for you. You can opt for the simple baggage service, where they pick your bags up from each of your stops and transport them to your next place of rest, or you can go for the advanced service, where they also arrange all your accommodation, according to the route and the stops that you have chosen. Not the cheapest way to walk a long-distance trail, but certainly one of the most pleasant.

So, bags packed with comfy clothes, trainers, desert boots (yes, I know...!) and wash stuff, we drove to Chipping Camden, having arranged to leave our car there for the duration of the walk and with the plan of getting the train back from Bath at the end. Our B&B, as I remember it, was very pleasant. It was one of the more traditional ones, like a small hotel, unlike many of the other places we stayed at. Several of the B&Bs were basically a room in someone's house, which felt rather strange, and the frequent lack of en-suites was not particularly accommodating to our desperate need for a shower after a long day's walking. Still, we did pick the cheap accommodation option! On the plus side, the personal touch came in handy on more than one occasion, with one B&B owner picking us up from and driving us to the appropriate point on the trail, and another driving us to a restaurant for dinner. The surprise factor in terms of where we were going to end up certainly added a certain je ne sais quoi to our walks!

Our first walk was around 20 miles, by far the longest distance either of us had ever walked. On the plus side, it was dry and sunny. On the negative side, it was hot and sunny - and I'd forgotten to put sun tan lotion on. It was also very hilly (my favourite), which meant that 20 miles felt more like 30 (I'd imagine). Walking 20 miles up and down hills in the blistering heat was every bit as exhausting as you'd imagine. To make it worse, I'd worn trainers and my poor weak ankles and flat feet did not cope very well. The final straw was arriving at our B&B, only to find that our room was upstairs - never has a flight of stairs felt so much like a mountain.

The next day I resolved to give up on the trainers and wear my desert boots. By the end of the day, my ankles felt much better than they had previously, but my feet were killing me and the first of many blisters had formed. The rest of the Cotswold Way carried on in much the same vein as far as blisters and sore feet were concerned. The weather varied, from boiling hot on the first day to torrential rain (when, I'll shamefacedly confess, we ended up getting a bus for some of the walk, as we were soaked to the skin!) on another. One of the hardest parts was always the walk from our B&B back out to dinner in the evening, after our muscles had stiffened up. The blisters multiplied and grew to sizes never seen before (by me anyway). We didn't really stop for lunch, as we knew it would be difficult to start moving again, and we were fairly oblivious to our surroundings, focused as we were on not getting to our next destination too late. Our nicest day was a short walk of around ten miles, when we got to our destination at around lunchtime and had time to look around and relax. The worst day was the last one, when we saw the city of Bath ahead of us. I think my body did that giving-up thing, as I thought we were nearly there - unfortunately, we still had around five miles to go, and it was like that dream when you're walking towards something but never get there. By the time we reached our hotel in Bath, my feet were in agony and I was literally in tears.

Still, we made it. And, apart from our short bus trip (which I pretend to myself never happened), we felt like we'd really achieved something and were pretty proud of ourselves. We kind of enjoyed it and said we'd do a walking holiday again, but shorter distances this time, so that we could actually enjoy it instead of feeling like we were on a mission.

So why, over ten years later, and having walked no more than seven miles in one go since, have I signed up to walk a marathon? Yes, on May 16th, two friends and I will be walking 26.2 miles across London in the middle of the night, in our bras. We haven't gone entirely mad - this is how the London Moonwalk works. It seemed like a good idea. In an attempt to get fitter (and thinner), I had started doing some short walks around my village, so when someone suggested the Moonwalk, I thought it would be a good challenge, and easier than the Race for Life. After all, I liked walking and had walked 20 miles in a day before - how hard could it be?! Well, I seriously underestimated what a difference the last ten or so years have made to my fitness levels, as walking is nowhere near as easy as it used to be. Still, with regular training, I'm starting to see a real difference. The walks are feeling easier, the weight is steadily falling off and my resting heart rate has gone down dramatically. I've opted for proper walking boots this time, although they sadly haven't stopped the blisters completely. This week we completed our first half-marathon - hopefully, by the time May comes around, we'll be able to complete the full 26.2 miles and keep up a reasonable pace too (while I say I have no time-goal and my only aim is to complete it, I still don't want to be last...!). If you're feeling inspired and would like to help the amazing breast cancer charity Walk the Walk, which funds both treatment and support now and research for the future, you can sponsor my team, the BBs, here. All sponsorship is greatly appreciated!

 

Emu Walk Apartments, Ayer's Rock Resort - Australia Part 2

Here's the second in my long-overdue series of reviews of where we stayed in Oz. To put this into context, in the red centre of Australia is a massive rock known as Uluru by the aboriginal people (and still called Ayer's Rock by many of us), as everybody knows.

What fewer people know (and I didn't) is that near Uluru (relatively speaking) is a group of strangely-shaped rocks called Kata Tjuta (or the Olgas).

These are in the middle of a national park, which is basically hours away from any town. However, there is an airport and there is a small 'town' nearby called Yulara, which basically consists of Ayer's Rock Resort. The resort is made up of several accommodation options plus restaurants, supermarket, etc. Unless you undertake an unbearably long day-trip from Alice Springs, staying here is basically your only option - hence the astronomically high prices, unfortunately. We stayed in the Emu Walk Apartments, which were a good option for travelling with children - we always prefer staying in apartments, as it gives us somewhere to sit (other than the bathroom!) once the children are in bed. I understand they're currently in the process of refurbishing the apartments, so my video may soon be out of date, but hopefully it'll give you an idea of what they're like. Anyway, cut-and-paste Trip Advisor review coming up:

We stayed here last August, so I can't remember as much as I'd like to, but I'll do my best! We had a one-bedroom apartment, which was fine for our family of four. We found where to check-in with no problems (perhaps because we'd been reading the reviews here!) and found our apartment okay. It was on the second floor and consisted of an open-plan kitchen, dining area and lounge (with sofa bed), a double bedroom and a bathroom leading off the bathroom. The kitchen wasn't massively well-equipped, but we weren't planning on doing much cooking! It did have washing-up equipment, tea and coffee sachets, milk, etc. The dining table and chairs seated us easily and the lounge area was comfy. There was a TV, although it didn't get much use! The apartment was fairly spacious (to a Brit, at least!) and didn't feel crowded. The only downside was the bathroom being off the bedroom meant that the children had to come through our room to use the toilet. Staff on reception were very friendly, the supermarket was well-stocked and we had a nice takeaway from the amusingly-named Ayer's Wok. The only less-than-pleasant experience was dinner in Gecko's, where we found staff unfriendly and were basically ignored - maybe we were just unlucky. We would recommend hiring a car from the airport and making your own way to Uluru and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Although you can get a free transfer to the resort, the hire car enables you to get there ahead of everyone else and avoid the crush. You can also pay for a permit for Uluru National Park, which allows you to drive to and around all the sights, with various parking, walking and viewing opportunities. There is a free ranger tour around Uluru every morning to give you some first-hand information, and the park was very easy to navigate. We preferred seeing what we wanted at our own pace (particularly with children), and it was an awful lot cheaper than the official tours. Parking at the resort was always easy to find - although not necessarily that close to the apartment. The price for the apartments, of course, is pretty extortionate, as the resort has a monopoly on accommodation. However, I would say these apartments are the best price relatively speaking, and they are a good option if you are travelling with children. I just wish we'd stayed more than two nights and been able to see a bit more of the resort!

If you'd like a little tour of our apartment, you can watch the YouTube video below. You can also visit my YouTube channel (Holiday Obsessive) for more holiday videos (with more to come soon).

Thomas Cook comes up trumps

Woohoo! They paid up!

It's a relief - I'm not very good at boycotting. Back when I was at school, it was all about boycotting L'Oreal due to their testing of products on animals. It was easy enough until I started dying my hair and found a magnetic pull towards their Feria range. More recently, I've read several articles urging me to boycott Nestle, due to their unethical advertising of formula milk in developing countries, as well as numerous other unethical practices. Much as I agreed with the idea in principle, I was honest with myself from the start - I like Mint Aeros and Nestle Clusters just too much.

I should probably add that I refused to book with British Airways again many years ago, after their air miles turned out to be rather a swizz - we flew to Benidorm with them in 2013 and were very impressed, and we've booked with them again this year!

So was I really going to be able to boycott Thomas Cook forever? If there's anything I like 'just too much', it's got to be holidays. And while we may have been able to get this October's trip to Tenerife for a fraction of the price we'd have paid with Thomas Cook, the same can't usually be said for long-haul destinations. In a couple of years from now, if we found the perfect Caribbean break with Thomas Cook, can I really say I'd have been able to pass it up and pay more to a different company on a point of principle? Hmmmm, I don't think the odds are good. When it comes to holidays (and chocolate), my integrity is sadly lacking.

Still, it doesn't matter. Thomas Cook paid the money they owed me, as I asked. They apologised, as I asked. I have no idea whether they've reviewed their computer systems, as I asked, but they did at least promise me they had sent my email to the relevant departments. Much as I was unimpressed at the inconveniences we experienced, they responded (slowly and with a bit of pushing) as I wanted them to. I am officially allowed to book with Thomas Cook again, if I should so want. Phew!

Seashells Scarborough - Australia Part 1

It's now six months since our Australian adventure, and I'm slightly ashamed that I've not yet put any hotel reviews on here. The worst bit about that is the fact that I've forgotten lots of the finer details, so my reviews won't be quite as helpful as they could have been. (It's been a nice trip down memory lane watching my videos, mind you, and it's reminded me of things I'd otherwise have forgotten.) Anyway, hopefully the reviews will still be useful for anyone considering a trip to Australia, particularly with family, and I plan to upload some more videos and reviews over the coming weeks.

I'll begin with my usual Trip Advisor cut-and-paste review of the Seashells apartments in Scarborough. Scarborough is a small town/village about fifteen minutes away from Perth in Western Australia. The apartments are situated across from the beach, with amazing views, and I can wholeheartedly recommend the three-bedroom Sandcastles apartments for families.

We stayed at Seashells in August 2014, so my memory may be a little hazy on some aspects! We arrived late at night, and had already been given a key code in advance to access our room key from a little box outside reception, which is closed at night. There are plenty of parking spaces opposite the apartments to enable you to visit reception, and we had no trouble finding the apartments or accessing our room package. We were allocated a parking space (possibly two?) in the underground car park, and I believe there was a key or code access to the car park to make it secure. From there, there was a lift up to the apartments. We had booked a superior two-bedroom apartment, but we found out on arrival that we'd been upgraded to a three-bed Sandcastles apartment. I was slightly apprehensive, as I had a feeling that I'd read that the Sandcastles were lower starred than the superior two-bed, but I needn't have worried, as we really couldn't have asked for anything more.

As a Brit, used to fairly cramped hotel rooms, the spaciousness of the apartment was the most striking thing. We had three bedrooms (obviously), which meant the children could have their own rooms. The main bedroom had a large en-suite bathroom with corner jacuzzi bath, while there was another good-sized shower room/toilet nearer the boys' bedrooms. There was a large living/dining area and a reasonable-sized kitchen. Overall, the apartment was bigger than plenty of family homes in the UK. It was also well-equipped - free Wi-Fi, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, microwave, TV & DVD player, CD player, safe, iron & ironing board, etc. Toiletries and plenty of towels were included, and extras in the kitchen, such as dishwasher liquid, milk, sugar and salt & pepper, made life easier.

I believe that the apartments are all individually owned, so the decor and level of upkeep differs. I can't speak for the other apartments, but we certainly had no complaints about this one. Yes, if you want to be picky, it is not brand spanking new - there was a crack in the bath and there were the odd chips or marks in the paintwork. But it certainly didn't look shabby and it was all very clean and comfortable, which was good enough for us.

The apartments are located directly opposite a beautiful beach, and the views from the lovely large balcony were amazing. Sadly, because we were there in winter, we couldn't take advantage of the balcony, although I'd imagine it would be lovely to sit out there for breakfast. Similarly, there was an outdoor pool, sauna and BBQ equipment, but it wasn't the weather to be able to use these.

There is not too much to Scarborough itself, but it is only a short drive to Fremantle or Perth city centre. The main attraction of Scarborough is the beautiful beach, but there is also a big supermarket next to the apartments, and several restaurants within easy walking distance (I'd recommend the Wild Fig Café or Grill'd).

The apartments were very quiet - we couldn't hear our neighbours and only rarely heard people walking past the front door. We had to call in at reception the morning after arrival (can't remember why - think we needed to check in properly or something), and they were very friendly. All in all, the apartments felt like a real home-from-home, and would be an excellent base for a long stay in the area. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

If you'd like a little tour of our apartment, you can watch the YouTube video below. You can also visit my YouTube channel (Holiday Obsessive) for more holiday videos (with more to come soon).

Don't accept anything less - persistence pays off (part 2)

So, I gave up on my £50. And soon enough it was time for our holiday. I checked in for our outbound flights online, and seats together were allocated. Then the screen asked me if I'd like to check in for our inbound flights as well. I was a bit surprised, as you normally can't do this until 24/48 hours beforehand. Still, I clicked on 'yes', thinking it would save us time and hassle on holiday - how wrong could I be? My husband and I were allocated seats next to the window. My five-year-old was allocated an aisle seat in the row in front (so not even directly in front of us). And my eight-year-old wasn't allocated a seat at all! I was confused (as you would be) - the seat next to us was showing as available (as most of them were, over a week in advance) so why had they left it empty and put my youngest son in the row in front? And why on earth hadn't they given a seat to my eldest?! I tried to change the seats around, but it was impossible without paying the fee for pre-booking seats - and yes, I would have had to pay simply to put my other son on the plane at all! Eventually, I decided it must have been a computer glitch and left it. When I tried to print our boarding cards for our outbound flights, it printed them in one long line so that they went across sheets of paper, reaffirming my assumption that they were having computer problems (and somewhat defeating the object of checking in online, as we still had to queue at the airport to get some usable boarding cards). And off we went for a lovely week in Tenerife.

The niggling doubt kicked in on the transfer to the airport at the end of our holiday - should we have spoken to our rep about our check-in problem? But surely, as the website had obviously been having problems, it would all be irrelevant? We joined a nice long check-in queue and looked enviously at the almost non-existent queue for people who'd already checked in - maybe we should have tried to check in again from the hotel. At the front of the queue, the lady told us we'd already checked in. I explained what had happened, pointing out that we would never have chosen those seats ourselves and that our eldest son hadn't been checked in at all. She shrugged her shoulders and told us she couldn't change our seats now and the only spare seat for our son was 13 rows back. We were understandably horrified but she told us there was nothing she could do. Now, I appreciate that most of the seats may well have been allocated at that point, and she may have been unable to change the seats of people who'd already gone through into the departure lounge; however, I wish she'd told us that instead of giving us some cock-and-bull story about 85% of people having already checked in online - one glance at the relevant check-in queue told us that was a load of rubbish. Either way, she told us our only option was to ask the cabin crew if they could rearrange people. Cue a rather stressful two hours in the departure lounge, wondering where we were going to end up sitting. Obviously, my husband or I would have sat in the seat 13 rows back rather than our son, but that in itself caused problems because of how we'd organised our hand luggage, not to mention our lunch (it's hard to share with someone not sitting nearby). The bigger problem was how distraught the boys were, knowing that one of them was going to have to sit on their own in the row in front, next to strangers. None of this would have been quite such a problem if the flight had been shorter, but it was over four hours - a long time for a little boy to sit on his own. I would also have accepted it if it had happened simply because we arrived late at the airport and they were the only seats left. But I was pretty angry that we were in this situation due to a fault in Thomas Cook's online check-in system.

Once on the plane, we explained the situation to the cabin crew, who, luckily, were very helpful. They suggested we sit in our allocated seats while they tried to sort it out, and the very nice man sitting next to me offered to swap with our son in front if they couldn't sort it out. Eventually, the cabin crew managed to swap our seats with some people at the back so that we could all sit with my husband. I thanked the people who were moving, and they looked at me blankly. I later found out from my husband that they had been none too keen on moving, asking what was in it for them and saying they'd think about it. Jeez, how about just a warm glow from knowing they'd helped two young boys to sit with their family?!

Well, that's the long and short of our problems with Thomas Cook - nothing dreadful, but something that wasn't our fault and should have been avoidable. Thinking back to the £50 we never received, I decided to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). And this is where I come back to making a reasonable request - what did I actually want? What would be fair? Well, I wanted an apology, because our airport experience had been pretty stressful through no fault of our own, and it hadn't been dealt with very well (cabin crew not included). I wanted them to look at their computer systems - after all, we had had two problems due to their website, and surely we weren't the only ones? And I wanted my £50 - as I had been promised. I didn't ask for £300 or a free holiday to make up for what we'd experienced - after all, it really wasn't that bad and it's important to be realistic (although we'll never know if I'd have got more if I'd asked for it!). I just wanted what I felt we were entitled to. So that's what I asked for. I had to fill in a form on the Thomas Cook website and immediately received a template email letting me know I could expect my problem to be resolved within 28 days.

Several days later, I received an email from someone saying they would be dealing with my case - but first, could I please let them know whether I booked my holiday online or in store. Hmmmm, let me think about this. I went into a store, asked them if I could borrow their computer to book my holiday and didn't think to ask them about the £50 offer that flashed up on the screen. Good to know she'd read my email thoroughly. I replied politely (but still pointed out that it should have been obvious from my original email that I'd booked online). And then I waited. After a month and a half, I emailed again, noting that I could now add 'not dealing with complaints effectively' to my list of grievances - 28 days my foot. Finally, 2 months after her last correspondence, and just as I was considering Facebook or Twitter as a more public way to get a response, I received an email from the same lady. She apologised for taking so long to reply, but she had been waiting on a response from her manager - okay, thanks for the apology, but an interim email to explain might have been nice - 2 months with nothing?! She also apologised for the stress we'd experienced at the airport but pointed out they can't guarantee seats unless we pay to pre-book - okay, thanks for the apology again, but she's kind of missing the point. The seat issue was down to a computer problem and not our failure to pre-book (not to mention, in over 20 years of flying, I've never once paid to pre-book and I've never had a problem). Finally, she was very happy to send me a £50 holiday voucher as a full and final settlement.

Hold on a minute? A £50 voucher? That's not the same as £50 in currency! The voucher assumes that I'm actually going to book a Thomas Cook holiday again; if I don't, I lose my £50 and if I do, Thomas Cook gains the money I wouldn't have otherwise spent. Who's the winner here? And, let's be honest, £50 doesn't go a long way towards the cost of a holiday - given that they regularly offer £100 or even £150 off the price of a holiday if you book on a specific weekend, I didn't exactly feel sufficiently compensated. (I could add here that we've booked to go to the same hotel this October - we've booked directly with the hotel, which entitles us to a taxi transfer to/from the airport, and we've booked flights with BA, saving us approximately £1,000 in comparison to the same holiday with Thomas Cook - but that's another issue...) As a final insult, no voucher was attached to the email and, as over a week has since passed, I assume no voucher was put in the post, either. This was the point last week at which I was going to publicise my Thomas Cook battle, perhaps putting a link to my blog on their Facebook page. Still, in the meantime, I wrote back, explaining exactly why I didn't consider a voucher to be a full and final settlement in any way. And within literally five minutes, I got a grovelling email back, apologising profusely and asking for my details so that they could transfer the £50 to my bank account.

So what's the moral to this? Persistence is key - I suspect they'd hoped I would have simply settled for the voucher I was offered, and lots of people probably would have. Hey, if I'd intended to book a Thomas Cook holiday, I might have settled too. But I think it's important to have realistic and fair expectations, state them clearly and don't accept anything less. £50 isn't a fortune, but it's what I asked for, and I'm happy. Mind you, I'm still waiting for it to go into my account, so there may still be a Part 3 to this story...!

Don't accept anything less - persistence pays off (part 1)

This Blog post was initially going to be entitled 'Why I won't be booking with Thomas Cook again' (I know, snappy, right?). I'm glad to say I've had cause to amend it before I even started writing it, so perhaps instead this post can serve as a case study for similar situations. I should probably start by saying that, believe it or not, I'm not a complainer. If you pop across to Trip Advisor and look at my reviews (vix17 - very original!), you'll see that they're mostly very positive and, I believe, fair. I think to a large extent that life is what you make it, and a positive attitude goes a long way towards making that life a happy one. Is it really worth spoiling a holiday by concentrating on the small patch of damp in the corner of the bathroom? I think not. However, when you genuinely have something to complain about, particularly when that thing should have been avoidable, I think you are well within your rights to expect an apology, a refund or whatever else may fit that particular situation. I don't like it when I perceive things as being unfair - when you don't get what you have been promised, for example, or if people in the same situation are treated differently. These are the sorts of situations where I feel the urge to put pen to paper - and once I get started, I have trouble stopping. But it really is worth doing - I have found that a carefully-worded letter, a reasonable request and the refusal to accept anything less then what you are asking for usually gets the results you're after. Take Thomas Cook, for example...

Back in the olden days, before the internet and before I got travel-savvy, we always booked our holidays through tour operators. We continued to do this when the children were babies - the services of a rep felt reassuring somehow, and it was good to know we weren't on our own if something happened. Our favourite was always Thomas Cook, as they usually worked out cheaper; we were also very pleased with the way in which they handled the ash cloud crisis back in 2010. We were staying in Lanzarote at the time, and ended up stuck there for nearly a week longer. I say 'stuck', but it certainly didn't feel like that - we were able to stay on at our hotel on the same board (AI, thankfully) plus miss a week of work, so we actually enjoyed the whole experience. The rep worked tirelessly, keeping everyone at the hotel up-to-date and dealing professionally with the moaners - we really couldn't fault Thomas Cook at all. In fact, so pleased were we that I sent them a letter of thanks - after all, people are always quick to put pen to paper to complain, and I felt it was important to redress that balance. Over the years, however, as the children increased in age and we increased in confidence in our ability to look after ourselves, we realised just how much cheaper it is to book holidays independently. We booked flights and hotels separately and dispensed with the services of reps and tour operators. However, last year we found ourselves going back to Thomas Cook for a holiday to Tenerife.

I booked the holiday online some time ahead. After confirming the price and inputting my details, I was given two payment options: either pay a small deposit and the rest nearer the time, or pay the balance in full straightaway and receive a bonus £50 in local currency. Now, if you have enough money in your account, this is a no-brainer (as it would also be, to be fair, if you didn't have enough money in your account). Normally, I'd just pay the deposit and leave the rest in my account to gather a teeny bit of interest. However, it would have had to be a bloody amazing holiday to gather enough interest to beat the £50 offer, so I opted to pay in full. I added my card details, went through to the confirmation page and looked to see how to claim my £50. And then I looked a bit harder. No, nothing. No mention whatsoever of my £50. It did, however, say that my travel documents would be emailed to me, so I assumed (optimistically) that my £50 would arrive at the same time. Shortly afterwards, I got a receipt emailed to me with a promise of my e-tickets within 48 hours. But no £50. It'll come with the e-tickets, I thought. Eventually, after about a week, I got another email - another receipt. Er, where were my tickets? And, more importantly, where was my £50?! I went on to the website and found that getting hold of customer services was a lengthy process - I could fill in an essay-length email form or spend a fortune (in time as well as money) on the phone. But then I spotted the chat option. I found myself chatting online to a helpful lady who was able to send me the e-tickets I should have already received. However, she knew nothing about the £50 - she didn't know anything about the offer nor how I could claim it. It seems the chat people are limited in their powers to actually do anything - she suggested I phoned them. 'Is it a freephone number?' I asked. Er, no. Then wouldn't it slightly defeat the object to spend money on a phone call for the sake of claiming money? Her only other suggestion was to call into my nearest branch and see if they could sort it out. I finished the chat feeling somewhat dejected. It wasn't exactly convenient to go into the branch. And I hadn't actually got any proof of the offer - an offer that the chat lady had no idea about. I did still plan to go in and try to claim what was rightfully mine, but I didn't get a chance for a while. And then I forgot. And then, by the time I remembered, I felt that too much time had passed. Yup, Miss Complain-when-something-isn't-fair gave up. But that was just the first part of this story...

Beautiful Bruges - and the Novotel Brugge Centrum

As per my last blog, we had a weekend in Bruges just before Christmas, and I'd recommend it as a mini-break destination, especially at this time of year. It's much closer than you imagine it to be - just over an hour's drive from Calais. And it really is a beautiful destination - amazing architecture, lovely canals, museums and medieval buildings.

 

We managed to fit in a visit to the Historium, the Salvador Dali exhibition, the chocolate museum and the cathedral, as well as a boat trip on the canals and a large amount of exploring. There's lots more for families to do that we didn't have time to fit in - plus, of course, hundreds of different beers to drink (and don't get me started on the chocolate...).

And while the December weather limits you slightly, it also brings with it Christmas markets, an ice rink in the main square and beautiful Christmas lights and decorations everywhere.

If you fancy trying Bruges and are looking for somewhere to stay (particularly as a family), then I'd definitely recommend the Novotel Brugge Centrum, where we stayed. Here's my cut-and-paste review from Trip Advisor:

We stayed as a family of four in the Novotel for a weekend break in December, and I really can't fault it. Firstly, hotel prices in Bruges are not cheap - and while the prices at this hotel might not be cheap in themselves, they certainly represent good value for Bruges, particularly when booking far enough in advance. The children stayed free in a superior room and had breakfast free if the adults paid for it, which made the hotel particularly good value for families. The location is very good - in the centre of town and an easy walk to the bell tower and the other sights, and probably a ten-minute walk to the train station. If coming by car, it is easy to find and there is an underground public car park right next to the hotel, where parking costs 8 or 9 Euros a day. The room is a reasonable size, and we found the beds perfectly comfortable. The toilet is separate from the bathroom, and there are toiletries, a hairdryer, TV, mini-bar (which just contained water) and a free safe. There is also free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, which was a bonus. There is a door between the bedroom and the hall area outside the bathroom, which means that parents have somewhere to sit other than the bathroom once the children are in bed! The breakfast offered plenty of choice (hot and continental) and was all very nice. We also ate dinner in the hotel restaurant one evening, and the food was delicious. The staff were really what made the hotel - everyone was very friendly, both at reception and in the restaurant - and made us feel welcome as a family. You can often be made to feel uncomfortable bringing children to a city hotel, but the children were given a gift at check-in and again at dinner, and there was an area for children to play in the reception (and also outdoors, but it was too cold!), with an impressive computer 'table' and an X-Box. We would certainly stay in this hotel again, and would wholeheartedly recommend it to other families looking for a hotel in Bruges.

Here's a video of our room in the Novotel Brugge Centrum. You can visit my YouTube channel (Holiday Obsessive) for more holiday-related videos (with more to be uploaded soon...).