Day of decadence
Made it to Manchester, UK. I honestly didn’t even know if I’d been here before. But everything was effortless for a change – no drama like in Greece or the Sonisphere/Heathrow experience. :
Bought a train ticket at the airport, was going to Oxford Road, and didn’t know what to choose “off peak”? “Regular”? What’s the difference? I took the most expensive one for £5 just to be sure not to have any problems, and £5 pounds wasn’t so bad. Turns out I had bought a First Class ticket, so the lady that checked my ticket said I was welcome to go and sit in the First Class section if I wanted to. Nah. Didn’t feel like moving, I had a good seat right where I was.
And Ronnie – if you’re reading this – the trains are STILL clean and they are running on time, so I guess that your “alternate universe Britain” is still alive and kicking, lol!
Had no idea what to expect of Manchester. I don’t have any references that I can think of, no particular memories, people I know that are from there or anything… So when I finally arrived, right in the heart of the city, it was like a mini-New York! :-)
My first impression was that it had a very young and modern vibe, people everywhere, theaters, casinos, restaurants, just a high tempo. Really nice city, I can’t wait to explore it further today. It was raining when I got here, and I was tired so I had no plans to go anywhere yesterday. It was late in the evening anyway.
My plan was to just treat myself like a queen and create my own little luxury den in my hotel room. :) THIS was plan number one:
Red wine (got two cause it was 2 for the price of 1) a few snacks…. Not exactly WeightWatchers-evening, but sometimes you’ve got to just LIVE…! :-)
Plan number two was this:
And plan number 3 was plain and simple:
The hotel is great. My room is the cleanest, most spotless hotel room I’ve ever seen! It’s as if it was built yesterday! I couldn’t find anything dirty in here if I TRIED – even the bath tub and sink were perfectly clean, brand new. Bed was ridiculously comfortable. :-)
Had tea right before bedtime, there’s a kettle in here – even THAT is brand new! You know what they usually look like after a year or so… Yeah. I would recommend this place to anyone, great location, great value for the money, clean, easy check-in…! And no, nobody paid me to say that, lol! Oh, it’s Premier Inn by the way.
It’s still pissing down. Sigh… Well, I knew it might, after all, this is England. So I’m prepared – brought my raincoat. :) I AM going sightseeing! And later this evening… JUDAS PRIEST! :))
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 
Premier inn’s are always good, was in 1 last w/e…. Hope you enjoy JP 2nite, at least it is inside lol… Take care and hope to see you B4 the year is out KRAM x
Hi Lisa,Thanks, I’m sure it will be great! :) And like you said – at least it’s indoors! AS for the Premier Inn, it didn’t start well, because I wrote them earlier this week asking for directions, on how to get to their hotel by public transportation. They never replied. So I wrote again. Still no answer. Then I even FAXED from work. Nothing. In the end I was so mad, I called them, and e-mailed booking.com as well, and FINALLY got a bunch of apologies and whatnot…. So, at first I was even going to change hotel, but I’m glad I didn’t. :) Yes who knows, might see you somewhere out there – sooner or later! :)))
hahaha! Glad you’ve found it to be good whatever I think! :)Premier Inns are advertised by comedian Lenny Henry tagline ‘everything’s premier except the price’. They’re pretty good I agree, provided you don’t mind lots of purple colours! Are you gonna queue up early or wander round – I’m not planning on going to this show tonight but I’d love to say ‘hi’ even if only for a half-hour, while you’re sort-of in my region!
I’ll be wandering around a bit, don’t think I’ll be going to the show until maybe 5… Doors opening at 7. I’ll e-mail you – if you’re checking the mail address that you wrote from recently? :)
Alright Ronnie, I just e-mailed you my contact info. Won’t be online during the day unless I find a free wi-fi spot to connect my HTC (not spending money on roaming, so it’s turned off for regular “phone-surfing”).Hope you’ll be able to drop by Manchester during the day and say hello! :)