Och aye th' noo! OR There's bin a murrrderrrr!
Q. Well just how much activity can you cram into a weekend without killing yourself?
A. A helluva lot more than you might think!
And to prove it you just need to take a look at Jan's Blog or if you can't be bothered to make the click I'll tell you about it here and even include pictures (if I can remember how to do that bit)!
Friday: 6pm (give or take) Eventually pick Jan up from the airport (jet-setting again! Only Romania this time - been there; done that - am I bovvered? Not in the slightest - they have earthquakes!!) after several missed calls and text messages - I was busy - sorry....
6.30pm Home and get ready to go out to leaving do for Jans colleagues
8.15pm Finally find Wagamamas in Guildford and walk right past everybody in the queue (sorry Nick & Fay, I wasn't wearing my glasses or lenses...)
10pm-ish Stagger back to car ~hic~ wos-a-big-glassh-of-wine :-) ~hic~
10.45pm-ish
Have to pack now....
12.00pm-ish (no pumpkins here!)
Back in car and being driven to Nottingham...
2.30am or thereabouts (had to swap drivers...) Arrive at Jans Mum & Dads house..... ZZZ...ZZZ...ZZZ...
Saturday: 5.00am First alarm
5.10am Second alarm
5.11am Alarm clock takes flying lessons
5.30am Jans mum comes up to wake us up! Rats! (I make Jan shower first.. so I can grab another 20 seconds sleep...)
6.00am Left the house -still asleep- and drove to Nottingham East Midlands Airport... the plane leaves at 7.45am -whose idea was this again?
6.30am Dumped the car at Prestige Airport Parking and traipsed the 26 miles to the check-in desks... Can I just suggest to the owners of Prestige that it would be a fantastic customer service opportunity to buy yourselves a couple of mini-buses and run a 5 second shuttle service from your place to the check-in hall which is no fun to walk at any time of day with luggage! Who knows... you could even factor it into your car parking costs... I'm sure the tourists won't notice too much... 6.45am Checked in
6.55am Checked into the loo...
7.30am Checked out of loo... God I didn't feel very well....
7.45am Chocks away boys!
We landed at about 8.30am and while Jan, his Mum and Dad all went to collect baggage, I went to sort out the hire car... Europcar do some good deals on short rentals!
We rented a VW Passat TDI 2.0 Automatic Diesel (silver) ~a bit like the one shown here~ and had a lovely time with it...
Not as powerful as Jans Citroen Xantia V6 or his Mercedes AMG C43
But both of those were in Nottingham or even further south!... not very useful when you've just landed in Glasgow!
After our visit, we went back to the Brunswick Hotel to dump our bags before going to the Michael Flatley show - Celtic Tiger (not actually worth the time, money or effort we took to see it, but we had a great weekend anyway...). Now the Brunswick Hotel on their website looks stunning, just be advised that while it is lovely and contemporary in decor, it has become a little bit shabby, so if you're into shabby chic then fine but otherwise, a new coat of paint would do the place the world of good...
And so onto the show....
Celtic Tiger... what can I say... pseudo nationalistic, emotional clap trap... Considering Michael Flatley was born and grew up in America the emotional connectivity he professes for the land of his forebears is stifling, bordering on the absurd. Celtic Tiger appears to be just another chance self agrandising money spinner... hopefully there won't be anymore such offerings. At least if there are please make them original and not the same dance, different outfit... please. Having said all that you have to admire the man's ambition and success and plenty of people love his stuff - I was one of them.
After the show, we went to Frankie and Bennys ~one of Jans parents favourites~ and had a lovely meal... then it was back to the hotel and a very early night!!
The next day was less hectic so no need for a blow by blow timetable.
We had a leisurely breakfast, checked out of the hotel and drove in our lovely hire car to Stirling Castle. The ticket prices might seem a bit steep at first inspection but the castle is well worth a visit. The audio tour is worth investing in too as you can then mooch about the castle at your own pace rather than be route marched around like a bunch of squaddies!
It has an interesting and prominent place in Scotlands history being the monarchs seat for quite sometime. The castles strategic location has made it the site of many battles, principally between those pesky english and stubborn highlanders, so the historic significance of the castle is almost tangible! Photos below:-
A statue of Robert the Bruce at Stirling Castle (you can learn more here)
A. A helluva lot more than you might think!
And to prove it you just need to take a look at Jan's Blog or if you can't be bothered to make the click I'll tell you about it here and even include pictures (if I can remember how to do that bit)!
Friday: 6pm (give or take) Eventually pick Jan up from the airport (jet-setting again! Only Romania this time - been there; done that - am I bovvered? Not in the slightest - they have earthquakes!!) after several missed calls and text messages - I was busy - sorry....
6.30pm Home and get ready to go out to leaving do for Jans colleagues
8.15pm Finally find Wagamamas in Guildford and walk right past everybody in the queue (sorry Nick & Fay, I wasn't wearing my glasses or lenses...)
10pm-ish Stagger back to car ~hic~ wos-a-big-glassh-of-wine :-) ~hic~
10.45pm-ish
Have to pack now.... 12.00pm-ish (no pumpkins here!)
Back in car and being driven to Nottingham...
2.30am or thereabouts (had to swap drivers...) Arrive at Jans Mum & Dads house..... ZZZ...ZZZ...ZZZ...
Saturday: 5.00am First alarm
5.10am Second alarm
5.11am Alarm clock takes flying lessons
5.30am Jans mum comes up to wake us up! Rats! (I make Jan shower first.. so I can grab another 20 seconds sleep...)
6.00am Left the house -still asleep- and drove to Nottingham East Midlands Airport... the plane leaves at 7.45am -whose idea was this again?
6.30am Dumped the car at Prestige Airport Parking and traipsed the 26 miles to the check-in desks... Can I just suggest to the owners of Prestige that it would be a fantastic customer service opportunity to buy yourselves a couple of mini-buses and run a 5 second shuttle service from your place to the check-in hall which is no fun to walk at any time of day with luggage! Who knows... you could even factor it into your car parking costs... I'm sure the tourists won't notice too much... 6.45am Checked in
6.55am Checked into the loo...
7.30am Checked out of loo... God I didn't feel very well....
7.45am Chocks away boys!
We landed at about 8.30am and while Jan, his Mum and Dad all went to collect baggage, I went to sort out the hire car... Europcar do some good deals on short rentals!
We rented a VW Passat TDI 2.0 Automatic Diesel (silver) ~a bit like the one shown here~ and had a lovely time with it...
Not as powerful as Jans Citroen Xantia V6 or his Mercedes AMG C43
But both of those were in Nottingham or even further south!... not very useful when you've just landed in Glasgow!
After we had picked up the car we thought we would try and check into 
The Brunswick Hotel in Glasgow where we were staying. General opinion was that it would be too early but we tried anyway - it would have been nice to have dumped the luggage and not cart it around for the day...
Suspicions confirmed - we couldn't check in until 2pm we decided to visit the Falkirk Wheel (see photo right).
Jans Mum and Dad kindly paid for us all to go on a boat trip on the wheel which has replaced the need for approximately 11 canal locks! It is an awesome feat of engineering that is so simplistic but so complex at the same time it takes your breath away! If you get the chance it is well worth a visit
The Brunswick Hotel in Glasgow where we were staying. General opinion was that it would be too early but we tried anyway - it would have been nice to have dumped the luggage and not cart it around for the day...
Suspicions confirmed - we couldn't check in until 2pm we decided to visit the Falkirk Wheel (see photo right).
Jans Mum and Dad kindly paid for us all to go on a boat trip on the wheel which has replaced the need for approximately 11 canal locks! It is an awesome feat of engineering that is so simplistic but so complex at the same time it takes your breath away! If you get the chance it is well worth a visit
After our visit, we went back to the Brunswick Hotel to dump our bags before going to the Michael Flatley show - Celtic Tiger (not actually worth the time, money or effort we took to see it, but we had a great weekend anyway...). Now the Brunswick Hotel on their website looks stunning, just be advised that while it is lovely and contemporary in decor, it has become a little bit shabby, so if you're into shabby chic then fine but otherwise, a new coat of paint would do the place the world of good...
And so onto the show....
Celtic Tiger... what can I say... pseudo nationalistic, emotional clap trap... Considering Michael Flatley was born and grew up in America the emotional connectivity he professes for the land of his forebears is stifling, bordering on the absurd. Celtic Tiger appears to be just another chance self agrandising money spinner... hopefully there won't be anymore such offerings. At least if there are please make them original and not the same dance, different outfit... please. Having said all that you have to admire the man's ambition and success and plenty of people love his stuff - I was one of them.
After the show, we went to Frankie and Bennys ~one of Jans parents favourites~ and had a lovely meal... then it was back to the hotel and a very early night!!
The next day was less hectic so no need for a blow by blow timetable.
We had a leisurely breakfast, checked out of the hotel and drove in our lovely hire car to Stirling Castle. The ticket prices might seem a bit steep at first inspection but the castle is well worth a visit. The audio tour is worth investing in too as you can then mooch about the castle at your own pace rather than be route marched around like a bunch of squaddies!
It has an interesting and prominent place in Scotlands history being the monarchs seat for quite sometime. The castles strategic location has made it the site of many battles, principally between those pesky english and stubborn highlanders, so the historic significance of the castle is almost tangible! Photos below:-
At the entrance to Stirling Castle
(Barbara & Con - Jans parents & Jan himself!) The second entrance with portcullis etc...
After Stirling Castle we drove to Loch Lomond, one of the prettiest lochs in Scotland. There we made our way around the southern end to the Duck Bay Hotel & Restaurant. It was a lovely meal and the views of the loch were very special. It was then time to take our lovely car back and jump on a plane back home... well that was the plan!We dropped the car off in time and made our way to the departures check in for bmi - on the way to the desk Jan checked the departures board which said that our plane was due in at 12.05, being naive or something we assumed that meant it was due to land at Glasgow in 12 minutes time.... because we couldn't imagine what would have delayed the flight for next to 3 hrs... Well we made our way to the bmi desk only to be told that our plane had been delayed by 3 hrs!!
Apparently the board wasn't kidding.. we were told by a very nice young lady that we could wait at the airport but they could not guarantee the flight would happen... she suggested that we find a hotel and that they would put us on the first flight in the morning - that was all well and good... however we would have to pay for the hotel as being a budget airline they didn't do compensation!
Brilliant! Jans' mum & dad were not particularly impressed and who could blame them. We decided that as Jans' dad is a diabetic, it would not be sensible to wait for the flight, so we trundled through the car park looking for a hotel that would not stretch our pockets too far and found the Express by Holiday Inn - the room rate was £99.00 which even though it included breakfast was a little steep - we could have all shared one room and that would have made it financially ok but I don't know, sleeping in the same room as Jans' parents for a night although expedient did not appeal to me... not sure why... Anyway, I went and spoke to the nice lady on the desk and pleaded our case, especially mentioning the fact that Travel Inn across the road were prepared to offer us a room only for £50. The nice lady said she could offer us £56.00 per room including breakfast - deal! Hurrah... we didn't have to walk any further and we could get breakfast AND we didn't all have to share! I couldn't pay quickly enough! Well the next morning we made our way back over to the airport and checked in smoothly and boarded a rather sweet 'brummie baby' and flew home.
Brilliant! Jans' mum & dad were not particularly impressed and who could blame them. We decided that as Jans' dad is a diabetic, it would not be sensible to wait for the flight, so we trundled through the car park looking for a hotel that would not stretch our pockets too far and found the Express by Holiday Inn - the room rate was £99.00 which even though it included breakfast was a little steep - we could have all shared one room and that would have made it financially ok but I don't know, sleeping in the same room as Jans' parents for a night although expedient did not appeal to me... not sure why... Anyway, I went and spoke to the nice lady on the desk and pleaded our case, especially mentioning the fact that Travel Inn across the road were prepared to offer us a room only for £50. The nice lady said she could offer us £56.00 per room including breakfast - deal! Hurrah... we didn't have to walk any further and we could get breakfast AND we didn't all have to share! I couldn't pay quickly enough! Well the next morning we made our way back over to the airport and checked in smoothly and boarded a rather sweet 'brummie baby' and flew home.
What a weekend!
posted by Delphis @ 20:58
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