Travel

Well hello, it’s been a while 🙂 . I did consider a review of an undoubtedly extraordinary period defined by coronavirus but determined that on the whole, as we were in the fortunate category, I would leave it to those whose livelihood was directly affected, had no direct access to outside space and who were considerably impacted by lockdown, economically, socially and in terms of the potential impact on their mental / physical health. Far better hearing from those more directly affected, who are far better placed than I to comment.

So, here instead is our first step back into the (new) normal.

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Another two nighter, this time to see friends we first met on our second ever cruise on the Jewel of the Seas in 2007. We stayed at the Great Hallingbury Manor, which proved to be roughly equidistant from our respective abodes. There were two negatives, neither to do with the hotel. The first was the diversion, which added 10 minutes to the journey (and 30 minutes if you end up visiting the M11 in error :-). The second was the flight path. No matter which way you cut it, the hotel is directly (that’s directly) under the Stansted flight path…

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The end of a fairly busy few weeks just finished with a five night break in Liverpool in what proved to be the excellent Pullman Hotel near the Albert Docks. We weren’t blessed with an abundance of good weather but that was about the only item lacking on what was an otherwise excellent break…

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Well, just Essex to be honest. Mrs. No Name organised this Monday overnight stay to support her assertion that she contributes to organising and booking these breaks as proof that she takes responsibility at least once every three years or so :-). Gratifyingly for her in particular, this one proved to be particularly satisfactory…..

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Just back from a five day break in Malta with friends. I’m taking the kudos or this one because the weather, the hotel and Valletta itself were all excellent and the break proved a very fine pick me up for all involved. The flight from Southend was a suitably relaxing start, although the airport has fairly ambitious plans for expansion so it might not remain relaxed for that much longer…

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Back from the Skerryvore gig, one night at home and then down to the Stansted hotel for an overnighter before our flight to Seville. We had visited the city before, but that was a one night stop as part of a wider cruise itinerary; we’d enjoyed the city, its culture and history, so when this deal cropped up, a longer break of five days seemed ideal.

Our base was the Palacio Pinello, a 15thC palace that opened as a hotel in 2014. It proved ideal for us, and it demonstrated early on that tapas in this city is at a different level to any that we had previously experienced. I’ve decided not to bore with a detailed description of each and every experience but below are the main highlights of a particularly enjoyable break…

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10 days in Sunderland catsitting for Scott, who was up in Scotland on holiday for a week. First thing to say is that we were very lucky weather wise – absolutely no rain, and on a few days at least, warm enough to still be classed as summer for the North East….

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