There is nothing better than freedom when it comes to travel. To get away from the schedules of planes and trains, you need to get behind the wheel of the car and embrace the freedom that comes with being out on the open road. You may not have considered a road trip for your next holiday, but this could be everything that you need for this year. We went on our road trip on Route 66 in the USA last year and frankly it was one of the best holidays that I've ever had! If you’re used to jet setting and seeing the world from the sky, you may not have considered how a road trip could change things for you. If you don't own a car right now, don’t…
I've always liked Bath as a city, it's probably because I spent a load of my childhood growing up and living in Cambridge that I've always found the city to be a great place to visit. The mixture of the old stone work, the historical buildings, the narrow streets, and all the charm that this brings always makes for a nice trip to Bath. Due to the lack of choice of Hotels, I had a bit of an upgrade to a standard that I wouldn't usually go for on my recent stay here. The M Gallery Francis Hotel sits high up in the Accor range of hotels. This is no Ibis! Recently renovated it describes itself as "an exemplary ensemble of Georgian townhouses on Bath's original classic square". Quite frankly…
In the last year or so I've become a bit of a convert to the IHG chain of hotels. A number of reasons really - but I find them to be good value and a bit more consistent than my previous chain of choice with Accor. Due to location of meetings though I stepped away from the usual Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn express and stayed in the Crowne Plaza in Basingstoke. The hotel is situated just off a main road quite close to the city centre. As always I arrived quite late in the evening - so didn't really have time to explore the neighbourhood around the hotel. Parking was ample for the car and was free (which makes a change from a few of my recent stays!) On…
After a short xmas break I was back on the road again! In the first few weeks of 2017 a short hop from Stansted with easyjet took me to Glasgow for an industry conference and exhibition. Given the conference was at the SEC there is really not a better place than the Crowne Plaza. Situated literally 2 minuets from the doors (or if you can work out the internal network of passages you don’t even have to go outside!) This modern, clean business focused hotel is a great place to stay. Not having stayed at a Crowne Plaza in a while I found the booking process on the website to be fast and efficient and this was continued to the standard of welcome at the hotel. The reception staff knew the…
I don’t often stay in Central London due to the close proximity to home and travel being simple, but due to a late finish and early start in December 2016 I tried out the Z Hotel Victoria. Following on from the very successful “simpler” room format mastered by the likes of Easy Hotels, there is a new breed of Hotel chains like Z Hotels which keep the rooms simple but in theory more cost effective. Pitched between the Easy Hotel and normal hotel chain its meant to bring luxury to simpler rooms. It’s possible to book the rooms with or without a window. Having stayed in windowless rooms before I can honestly say I don’t like them – so on this occasion I stayed away from these options when booking.…
