Holiday Weeks

[dotinthesky]

My boyfriend and I are looking to escape London. Sometime next week, hopefully off this island. We've looked at trains, buses and airplanes. We've looked at Last Minute deals, suggestions by friends on Trip Advisor and on Livejournal, work colleagues tips - anything... it's been hard!

Our latest plan is to take a train to Portsmouth, a ferry across to France and spend a few days over there. But we can't find an available hotel room...

In the meantime, I've been blessed with sunshine in London during this first week off work. I've been to ice cream festivals (with fj), walks around Regent's Park followed by beers and burgers (with suzi, clay, sarah and rattler), sunbathing in Victoria Park with my boyfriend, gym sessions, yoga classes, pizza at the Lauriston, pints outside the BFI while watching the crowds go by, some fiction writing, some movie watching, some video game playing and a LOT of resting.

I'm hoping to go swimming in Hampstead Heath tomorrow - my first time there. It's part of my plan of using this time off to do fun things around London I've never done before, while taking advantage of the good weather.

An old friend from uni arrives tomorrow night and spends the weekend with us. I foresee walks down Regent's Canal to Broadway Market, lunch at London Fields, some dancing in the evening, breakfast at the Pavillion Cafe in Victoria Park... all the money I could have spent in some Greek restaurant I'm going to spend right here, in London's EastEnd.

Comments

[millionreasons.livejournal.com]

What about Portsmouth to Bilbao? Or a day trip to Boulogne? Even Cherbourg is quite nice... Isle of Wight?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Bilbao we did last year. Did think of Wight, but B&Bs seem quite expensive.

K says we are now booked - it's a deal where you get the ferry plus two nights in a hotel. The provider is now looking for an available hotel for us!

[millionreasons.livejournal.com]

Cool - I look forward to reading your reportage.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It's now all set! I'm looking forward to it. Apparently we have a four-person cabin in the ferry with television and everything. Fingers crossed there's a jacuzzi.

[leicesterstreet.livejournal.com]

Will you be strutting around in speedos like those two at Hampton Ponds ? :P

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I shall be wearing big black baggy swimming trunks!

[leicesterstreet.livejournal.com]

Are you worried about shrinkage? :P

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Worried about burning my pale inner thighs.

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

I think there's a lot to be said for a staycation - it's only then that I realise how much there is to do on my own doorstep.

Saying that, I've been thinking about Chris and I renting a cottage somewhere we can take the dogs to, just so we can go for long walks and read books and not be distracted by housework or whatever.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

We were thinking of renting a cottage but the ones we saw were beyond our budget. I'd like one day, for example, to stay in a cottage at the Lake District - alternate our time between walks and reading books. Need to figure out first when's the low season and the cottage prices drop!

[rockingthemike.livejournal.com]

sometimes a good staycation is better than nothing at all! whatever you do with your time off, just remember to enjoy it! :)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

So true! I keep telling my boyfriend that even if we stayed here these two weeks, we should have fun each day and make the most of it (and on the plus side save some money.) As it is, things worked out and we are travelling next week for a couple of days - so we get the best of both worlds, a bit of London and a bit of France.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I'm curious to see them now! I went skinny dipping once with a friend in Montreal and our biggest worry was that the pond had contaminated stuff from the city. I think tomorrow we just want the combined experience of being at the Heath during a sunny day (when most are at work), drinking coffee and eating there, dipping a few times in the water, taking it easy. I expect it will be chilly as hell in the water.

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

If the hurricane blows you New England way, I'll be holed up in Provincetown (Cape Cod) next week. Come visit!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-)