THE PLANNING STAGE
We are shortly off on another road tip around Scotland. The itinerary and planning document is below…. It is all for 2 double rooms, because we are lucky enough to be joined by my father .. so if its just one or two of you its half the price…. most of the bookings are with Booking.com although one apartment is with Airbnb. With most hotels you have the option of adding breakfast at the booking stage…. we normally don’t because Dad likes a double bed but doesn’t want 2 breakfasts!! so we pay at the hotel for the breakfasts as and when we want them.
The airb&b is a ground floor apartment in Inverness. We usually stay at The Royal Highlander, which is next to the station. But when planning this trip they were fully booked and even if I’d changed our dates around I wasn’t keen to pay their hugely increased prices.
In Carlisle we are staying in an apartment because I really cant face once again staying in the Carlisle Station Hotel, Sure Hotel Collection by BW…. The last time was just a step too far for me. It has always been quirky but last time was more surreal than usual……We’ve had over the years:- crashing down or stuck open sash windows, toilets which fill up and flood, toilets which don’t flush, a step in the middle of a bathroom floor etc….but last time the shower wouldn’t turn off, so I left it running got dressed and waited until John came back from fetching bacon butties for breakfast. John gave it a tug and the knob came off in his hand as it covered us both and the bathroom in spurting out water in all directions. John managed to reconnect the knob which sent the water thundering back into the bath-tub direction but we still couldn’t get it to stop…….we were of course fully dressed and looking like drowned rats…. The manager did apologies profusely for it and assured us ‘the next time we visit our room will be half price’….ummmmm no thank you…eventually we came to an agreement that he would discount our room so we ended only paying for one night instead of two……which was acceptable to us….but the thought of going through the usual drama in the only decent hotel within walking distance to the station was too much for me on this trip so it is a lovely sounding apartment instead.
| DAY | PLACE | COST |
| 1 | Leonardo Hotel Scotswood Road, Newcastle NE1 4AD 2 nights x 2 Superior King double room Booking.com | £286.74 |
| 3 | Premier Lodge Westmains Road Grangemouth Falkirk FK3 8YE 4 nights x 2 Double Rooms Booking.com | £540 |
| 7 | 4 nights Airbnb 2 Crown Circus Braevellie Apartment No 1 Highland Council, Inverness IV2 3NQ… contact Claire for check in details. | £920 |
| 11 | Muthu Queens Hotel Corran Esplanade Oban PA34 5AG 2 nights x 2 Standard Double rooms Booking.com | £357 |
| 13 | Western House Hotel at Ayre Racecourse 66 Craigie Road Ayr KA8 0HA 1 night x 2 Double in Courtyard Buildings. Booking.com | £187.12 |
| 14 | Carlisle City Centre The Foreman’s Residence 9 Earl Street The Foreman’s Residence Carlisle CA1 1DP 2 night x 2 double ensuite bedroomed apartment. Booking.com | £232.20 |
| 16 | Steeton Hall Hotel & Restaurant Station Road, Steeton BD20 6RY 2 nights x 2 Deluxe King Double breakfast included. Booking.com | £277.20 |
| 18 | Home | |
| TOTAL COST | £2800.26 | |
2 J's World of Adventure 