Tips for Planning a Long Weekend in London

{This is a collaborative post}

January is my bookings month, it is when I make plans for the year ahead. Where will the family go on holiday? Will I treat anyone to a weekend away for a special occasion? Should my hubby and I have a romantic getaway? It's the same every year, the minute Christmas is out of the way I am on my mission; it is as if the next year feels better for having some trips away planned. 

Of course, last year turned out to be a series of disappointments on the going away front. I can't even begin to tell you how many wonderful occasions and trips were cancelled but I am feeling far more optimistic for this year ahead and being able to have some amazing times away from home. 

The one trip I missed the most was my annual mother and daughter trip to London for Mothers Day. My Mum and I have chosen to spend our Mothers Day weekend together for a number of years now, and we've decided that this year has to be bigger, better and longer to make up for missing out on our 2020 break. Realistically we're not going to have our break in March this year as who knows what will be happening with lockdown and tiers but I feel confident to book for a July break to tie in with my Mums birthday too. A double whammy celebration!

Here are my tips for booking a long leisure weekend away in London. I think we are going to have at least 3 or even 4 nights this year -

Book your Travel about 12 weeks in Advance

Once you have your dates set, think about how you'll be getting into London. My Mum and I always use the train, as it means we don't have to think about parking and we can travel from different areas and meet easily at one of the stations. I think one of the 1/3rd off discount rail travel cards are worth it if you'll travel a few times in a year and look to book your tickets about 12 weeks in advance, as you'll often find advance or super-saver return tickets then and can bag a bargain. 

I look forward to my hour train journey as the start of my stay away. A time when I can read a book and shake off the realities of home and work. 

Image Credit: SITU

Book a Serviced Apartment rather than a Hotel

When Mum and I stay away we always want it to be somewhere a little luxurious and not just a functional but boring hotel room. I'd really advocate checking out serviced apartments as somewhere to stay in London. Not only will you have a comfortable bed to lay your head at night but you'll also have a lounge area, well-equipped kitchen, clothes washing facilities, Wi-Fi and so much more. Serviced apartments are a home away from home and depending on the length of your stay they generally have a housekeeping service too. 

I spent a happy hour on the SITU website planning where Mum and I might stay in June and I was really surprised at the great places that came up. I had a budget of £100 per night in my head and didn't really expect to find anything nice, but there was a good selection within that price range and I am booking The Gloucester Road Escape apartment that came up at just £332 for 4 nights stay.  I think that's a great price. 

I've been very pleasantly surprised and I'll be using SITU again to choose an apartment next time my family all go to stay in London as they have a very large range with many multi-bedroom serviced apartments, not just in London but all across the UK and further afield too. Do have a look at SITU Serviced Apartments if you fancy staying in a serviced apartment in London. 

Girls Time in London - Remembering to be Thankful! #R2BC

Despite the promise of strong winds, rain and pretty horrible weather all round, as well as a landslide closing my regular train line and thus having to take a much longer route, I headed up to London last Friday to meet my Mum.

It's become a tradition that we meet just before Mothers Day and enjoy some time just the two of us. We were booked in to the Premier Inn at County Hall on the South Bank and had plans to go to the Shard on Saturday morning but the rest of the time was free of plans.

We love to see a show together, so were hoping for a musical but due to my train problems I didn't arrive into London until much later than normal. I hadn't managed to bag any deals in advance even though I'd played the theatre lotteries and tried to get rush tickets via TodayTix and I figured we were a bit late for the Leicester Square half price ticket office so I went for tickets for a play instead. I'd read rave reviews for The Curious Incident but sadly it didn't turn out to be a play we enjoyed. It was certainly clever and an excellent insight to what it must be like to live with Aspergers but we ended up leaving half way through.

This one hic-cup didn't spoil our time though, here's some of the things I was super grateful for -

*  Finishing up series 2 of Designated Survivor on the train. I love that you can download Netflix programmes,

*  Great bedroom at the Premier Inn, County Hall. The position is amazing, you get two king size beds in a twin room and we even got a free breakfast as we were woken by noisy door slamming by the staff.

Visiting Paris with the Paris Pass - Was it Worth it?

At the beginning of July I travelled to Paris with my Mum and brother for my Mums 70th birthday treat. We only had two full days in the city with travelling time on the two days surrounding them and having now returned home I wish we’d had three clear days for exploring, as Paris is just so vast and there is a crazy amount of things to do, especially included with your Paris Pass.

What is a Paris Pass you might be wondering? 

Well as the name suggests it is a pass that gives you access to most every attraction in Paris as well as a Paris Visite travel card for use on the metro, rail, tram and bus. I say most every attraction as there are a couple of exceptions, like the Eiffel Tower and the catacombs but it is very comprehensive and there are also a load of special shopping and restaurant discounts that you can take advantage of too. 

You can buy a Paris Pass for 2,3,4 or 6 days and there are differing prices for children (4-11 years), teens (12-17 years) and adults (age 18 plus).

The Adult price ranges from €131 for a 2 day pass to €244 for a 6 day pass
Teens - €81 - €135
Children - €44 - €75
So, as you can see the price per day gets better when you buy a longer pass but of course it depends how many days you'll be in Paris for.

Planning our Perfect Paris Getaway

Eiffel Tower by MarinaDa, thanks to Shutterstock

In July my Mum hits a big milestone age, I won't reveal as that's not my story to tell but we thought it was worth marking with something a bit special. My Dad isn't much of a traveller so he didn't fancy going abroad but Mum really likes to get away and has hardly travelled at all in her life. So lucky for me Dad offered to fund a trip for my brother and I to take our Mum away.

I knew straight away we'd go for a city break as we'll only be there three nights and I thought taking the Eurostar might be fun as neither my brother nor Mum have before and even for me it has been almost twenty years since the last time.

Arranging our Travel
I managed to get a good price on the Eurostar with the three of us travelling at decent times both ways for just £234. That's £78 each and I couldn't find a flight with better prices for daytime travel, I think the key is to book early. You seem to be able to book about six months before your date of travel and there are lots of £29 one-way deals at the moment.

Reasons to be Cheerful - Home, London and Singing #R2BC

So glad the fog is clearing here. The last few days have been just awful but look how gorgeous home normally looks in the winter sun. Today's #1goodthing is being able to live here

A photo posted by Michelle Pannell (@michelletwinmum) on Jan 25, 2017 at 2:37am PST

Hello friends, how are you?

1. Love where you Live
What is it like where you are? It has been super cold, foggy and plain nasty many of the days this week in East Sussex but there have been glimpses of bright blue skies too and some enjoyable times to get outdoors and enjoy the amazing landscape here. So that is my first reason, that I get to live in the most amazing place, just look at that picture above, pretty cool - right?

2. Trip to London
Last weekend, my husband and I got to have a one night, two day stay up in London whilst our lovely friend Annie stayed with our kids. We saw Wicked the musical, had fabulous Chinese food, walked the Thames, looks round the Tate Britain museum and I loved it. It was so good to spend time just the two of us.

Review: Leather and Canvas Personalised Holdall from Bags of Love

Oh my word, I am in love! Just look at this beauty that arrived this week -

Most weeks I receive an email from a company making personalised canvas prints or photo gifts and if I'm honest I groan a little as I have made so many over the years that I've exhausted the mug, mouse-mat, keyring, phone cover routes for gifts for people. I have to admit to being intrigued when Bags of Love contacted me though as they suggested I might like a personalised leather backpack and this was something quite different to anything I'd seen on the market before.

I headed over to their website for a search and what did I find? Absolutely tons of products that I have never seen personalised before - tea towels, blankets, duvet covers, wash bags, wallets, aprons, tea trays, bowls. I could go on and on as they have so many products to choose from and they all look stunning.

Yes, it really was gift heaven. My family are not easy to buy for as there is never anything they want, they are not material but what they all love most are their family, so personalised gifts with the grand-children's faces smiling out at them are just right.