3rd time's a charm in London
What do you do when you’ve been to one of the big destinations of the world a few times before, have done all the sites, and are by yourself (and you’re a travel agent?)… You eat! Check out hotels, and you try to find something different.
Hotel #1 – The Mayfair, I’d heard about it and I wasn’t disappointed. Due to a bit of confusion with my booking I did have to wait a couple of hours before I could check in as my room wasn’t ready, but that gave me time to try out their onsite restaurant. Given the area and the quality of the hotel the restaurant didn’t surprise me, it’s not cheap, but the food is really good, and the service impeccable. It’s a steak and seafood restaurant, so after my big meal, with more time to wait, I went for a walk to check out the neighbourhood. It’s probably a 15-minute walk to Oxford Street, if you do it tourist speed, but it’s a lovely walk with lots of designer shops and old buildings to look at on the way. The hotel itself is on the bigger side for the area without being one of the big branded properties, but it’s not a purpose built building, like many in the area, so you wouldn’t overly notice the size except if, like me, you had to walk up several corridors to get between the room and the lifts. The service was always lovely, and it’s obviously a popular hotel for tour groups, so be warned if you are in a rush to check out. Otherwise, this property would be near the top of my list for London hotels.
Restaurant #1 – Fifteen - For me finding restaurants I wanted to visit to book in advance was easy, but with 4 nights in London, I didn’t want to overbook myself, especially when a good friend was due to have a baby any day and I wanted to make sure I had time to see them. So I enjoyed dinner at Fifteen, Jamie Oliver’s restaurant. And Lunch at the Savoy Grill by Gordon Ramsey. Dinner at Fifteen was lovely, I was joined by a friend, grateful they accepted my last minute addition, and we enjoyed a 5 course Chef’s menu with wine pairing. I’m not here to talk about food, but at a cost of £85 I’d say it was worth it, the first two courses weren’t big winners with us, but by the Agnolotti I was sold. And really for the amount of wine you are served you do almost feel like you are going to roll out of there. I’ve included a bad phone photo of the menu (sorry!).
Hotel #2 – Indigo Earls Court – a fantastic little hotel, the rooms are quite small, so be prepared, but again it’s not a purpose built building so you may end up with a bigger room. They have fantastic quirks in this hotel, like their colour themes or their 007 room! I am a bit of a breakfast snob, so wasn’t overly impressed with breakfast here to compare with Melbourne, but for a hotel restaurant it was really not bad, and the feel of the restaurant did make me think I was in Melbourne at a local café. The location is what gets this place, you feel like you are a part of things, and you are close to a big tube station. If you can get it reasonably priced I’d stay here.
On my walk back I saw the location of another popular hotel, Number 16, I kind of wish I’d gone inside to check it out, but I’ve had many clients stay here and recommend it so I just wanted to know about the location, and again, it was fabulous. What I really liked was it was not super easy for me to figure out which building was the hotel, it could have been an apartment building. It’s not far from the Indigo, so you really do have that central London yet suburbia feel around you.
Hotels #3, 4 & 5 – I’m not counting Number 16 as I didn’t go inside. These three properties, all Radisson Blu and all really close to Oxford street are some of my most booked hotels. For the fashion industry, because of its location, but also for leisure clients. It’s super easy to get from here to anywhere in the city, you have two big tube stations within a short distance, soon there will be a direct train from Heathrow, and there’s Oxford street shopping. Also, just back from Oxford Street are some fantastic little alleyways and boutique stores which I enjoyed meandering through. Back to the hotels… I do like booking bigger branded hotels sometimes as you know what you are getting, and although these three are different they have a familiarity to them. The Sussex has the smallest rooms of the three, but then the rates for those smaller rooms are cheaper, so my recommendation is to pay that little more for the extra space. Set back a block from Oxford street, it has a great restaurant on site that I tried on a previous trip.
The Berkshire, the only hotel with an Oxford Street address, but it can be hard to miss as you enter from a side street. This place is truly in the thick of it, but luckily you don’t hear much of the noise from outside. The building is oddly shaped, so even though the rooms are a bit bigger than the Sussex you never quite know what you are going to get. The Bloomsbury was new to me, and a real delight, it’s at one end of Oxford street, which some may like, some may hate. But it’s back a block as well so you don’t get the noise, and the rooms seemed that little bigger that it’s two brothers nearby (well there’s a few more nearby, but I only saw these three). This is definitely going to take a place on my list of hotels to consider in London. All three hotels are making changes to their restaurants to offer Al a Carte and Buffet breakfast, and they each have nice restaurants on site for dinners (which I have learnt to appreciate after getting a late flight in and just wanting to eat and go to bed). They all offer complimentary wifi which is a big plus given the rates some hotels can charge. Unfortunately all of these visits came at great expense as I burned a hole in my pocket getting between them on Oxford Street. But let’s be honest, that was going to happen whether I visited the hotels or not…
Sightseeing #1 – When looking for what I could do different in London I came across Alternative London Tours http://www.alternativeldn.co.uk/ and I’d really recommend them. I did the East End Pub tour and LOVED it. I met some lovely people on the tour, tried a range of beers, and learnt a lot about the history of London and especially this area. There are so many photos and stories I’d love to put here, but I can’t, so here’s a couple, and for the stories you’ll just have to do the tour yourself!
Restaurant #2 – Savoy Grill, there’s not much I can say here that will do it justice… For the Savoy it was as expected, service, food, surroundings. Superb quality and so worth the visit. Given I was by myself, and I’m always worried how I will be treated I am especially grateful for the friendly staff here who happily chatted to me despite being busy.
Hotel #6 – Mandeville - Unfortunately for me I spent more time in my room than I would have liked having to deal with some work issues. But it was a nice room to do it in. A little on the smaller side than some of the others I’d seen certainly not bad for the location! I know I keep talking about location, but that’s the thing with hotels, the area is just as, if not more important than the hotel itself. The staff here were really helpful, and I enjoyed a meal at their restaurant, and was surprised by the range on the menu. I also like the proximity to Oxford Street (about 2 blocks back) and the cafes and bars I passed on the walk back from my extra bits of shopping.
Sightseeing # 2 – So there was lots of walking in London for me, as there’s few sights I haven’t seen before. I love taking in the historical buildings and just walking around, there’s something cool around every corner. But I finally decided to do a typical touristy thing and take a cruise down the Thames, on my first visit to London I had a ticket for this but we ran out of time (and the weather wasn’t great) so it’s been something I’d wanted to do, just for a different view. I bought my ticket at Tower of London stop and chose the direct option, no stops just a round trip. There’s no official guide, the crew of one (plus the driver) give you information on the way. The jokes are a bit on the side of being dad jokes, but I’d rather that than a pre-recorded audio especially somewhere like London where you’ve seen/heard a lot of it before. I enjoyed this trip more than I expected, so I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t done it before… And for me I hadn’t seen the Tower Bridge open before so that was pretty exciting!
And so with a suitcase filled with new clothes, a few new hotels for my clients to experience, and over indulged tastebuds it was time to say goodbye to London. But not before meeting Miss Maya born just in time for me to have a quick visit!