Valentine's Hilton Stay

Hi Folks! Welcome to my Valentine's post.

This valentines day, my girlfriend and I decided to go away for the night. We found the Doubletree by Hilton in Dundee as it had really good reviews, was close to the city centre and had a pool!

 

When we arrived in Dundee we hailed a taxi to the hotel from the entrance of the train station which took less than 10mins and at a cost of just over £8.

 

On arrival at the hotel we discovered this upscale hotel set in a circa-1870 stone mansion on landscaped gardens.

 

 

 

Entering the hotel, we were greeted by the very welcoming receptionist on duty. The reception area was modern, cosy and spacious. After a quick and easy check in, we were given a signature Chocolate and Hazelnut cookie, which was still warm and gooey on the inside!

 

We were then handed our room key cards and given directions to our room. The main rooms are split over 2 floors of the hotels and are in a newer built wing that is joint onto the main building. The only down side is, we didn't see any lifts, so if you have difficulty with stairs I would mention it when booking your stay.  

 

We arrived at our room which was located on the Hilton HHonors floor. We had booked a King Deluxe room as we had saved up points through the Hotels.com rewards scheme so decided to splurge a little. The room was very spacious, the décor was lovely and fancy while still feeling homely! Click here to find out more about the Hotels.com Rewards Scheme.

 

 

The room was also equipped with an armchair, a working desk and a TV. The TV was a little difficult to use and there was no way of seeing a menu telling you what was on each channel so we just had to skip through the channels until we found something good.

An additional feature of the deluxe rooms is a little sitting area which is quite a nice touch and came in very useful when I was waiting for my girlfriend to get ready for dinner!

Beside the entrance to the room there was a little area that contained a mini fridge, kettle, tea & coffee, cups and little biscuits. Also an area to hang up your jacket.

The bathroom was very lovely and the bath was really deep! I loved the décor in the bathroom with the grey and white tiles contrasting in texture.

There was also a heated towel rack and plenty of space beside the sink for all your toiletries as well as some lovely complimentary toiletries.

There was a separate shower in the bathroom which I find really handy as it is easier to step out of than an in bath shower.

 

 

 

Also as part of getting a deluxe room, we received a pair of slippers and a bathrobe each.

 

 

 

Overall, the room was clean and tidy and I couldn't fault it. We never heard the other guests unless a door was banged in the hallway and although we had a room facing the main entrance and car park there was no noise from cars or traffic. 

Once we had settled in to our room we took a little stroll through the grounds and explored the grounds. It was a beautiful day and was verging on being warm, which is a first for Scotland this year!

The main building of the hotel is stunning and reminds me of a stately home. To the left you can see the gym area in the glass building.

The grounds were well kept and the miniature maze is really sweet. The greenhouse attached to the building is the Maze Restaurant which is where we had dinner that night and breakfast in the morning. It was lovely being able to look out onto the grounds.
After a stroll it was time for a chill in the pool (which I didn't get photos of) and then back to the room for movies before dinner!

We decided to have dinner in the Maze Restaurant which we had booked around a week before our stay. The staff were really friendly and made sure we got a window table that we had asked for. There was petals on the table and our napkins were shaped like a rose. Shortly after we ordered our drinks the waitress brought my girlfriend a rose which was a really nice touch. There was definitely attention to detail and it made the night that little bit more special.

We decided to skip starters and went straight to main! We both choose the fish and chips which was absolutely wonderful! The fish was crispy and still moist on the inside and the chips were perfect!

For dessert I had sticky toffee pudding which was served with lots of toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream which was lovely. My girlfriend chose the doughnuts which came with a chocolate and hazelnut dip and a white chocolate and cream dip...one word...amazing!!

When we received our bill for the meal we each received a packet of heart shaped shortbread - another fantastic touch!

My girlfriend managed to snap a picture of the grounds at night as they had lit up the maze and placed fairly lights all over the place.

The next morning we had breakfast in the Maze Restaurant which was a buffet. There was a really good selection of cereals, fruit, hot food, bread & pastries. The only downside for us was that they took away the waffle machine 5 minutes after we had sat down, which is a little annoying as we were both looking forward to them!

Our checkout was extremely easy and again the staff at reception were very friendly and wished us a safe journey home.

We had a really lovely stay at the Doubletree by Hilton and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to stay in Dundee. It's easy to get to and we really were made to feel special!

After we checked out of the hotel we had a few hours to kill before our train home so we decided to have a wander round Dundee city centre and have a look at the shops. We visited the DSS Discovery and saw lots of different statues while on our wander round Dundee.

 

I hope you've enjoyed reading about our night away.

Thanks for stopping by,

Scott

Feature Friday - London

Welcome to another Feature Friday! This week is the turn of London, England!

I've visited London on many occasions throughout the years with family and more recently with my other half. My girlfriend and I spent New Year 2015/16 in London with my family, after spending Christmas in North Yorkshire with her mum.

When we were booking the trip we came across quite a reasonably priced hotel in Greenwich, reasonable considering it was London at New Year! We chose the Ibis London Greenwich for our stay, the hotels website can be found here. Although it isn't in the centre of London, it's only about a 30min DLR and London Underground journey to the centre of London.

London is filled with lots of fun things to do, and you don't need to pay for all of them! Obviously there's the typical tourist hot spots such as Houses of Parliament and London Eye, but there is also lots of free museums you can visit such as the British Museum, Natural History Museum and the Science Museum.

There are also loads of free Markets dotted round London to explore, the best markets for food would be Greenwich Market or Spitalfields Market.

Also in Greenwich, there is a lot of thing to see and do, including stepping aboard the Cutty Sark, taking a walk through the Old Royal Naval College and looking round the Royal Observatory.

A definite must do, if you fancy a challenge, is to climb the O2 Arena in North Greenwhich. Aptly called Up at the O2, you can choose what time of day you want to climb. Whether it be a normal daytime climb, evening sunset or twilight climb, the views from the top are amazing, even on a cloudy day! Each tour takes approximately 90mins.

 

You can also get a glimpse around Lizzy's big house Buckingham Palace, through organised guided tours. I haven't done this yet personally, but have heard it is worth doing!

Now to shopping! When it comes to London, there is certainly no shortage of places to shop! You've got the main shopping streets such as Regent Street and Oxford Circus which are home to some of the top designer names as well as high street stores. For the chocolate lovers, and children, there's M&M World located in Leicester Square. This shop is costly but worth a visit! The smell of chocolate hits you as you walk through the door and all of a sudden you're surrounded by M&Ms everywhere!

By Royal Appointment, another famous shopping location is Fortnum & Mason, which is one of the outlets that is used by Buckingham Palace! Along with the wonder of London which is Harrods of Knightsbridge.

While roaming the streets of London, usually in Covent Garden, you might catch a glimpse of the amazing singer and performer Sammie Jay. Click here to visit her website and to listen to her songs online.

I could go on all day telling you about all the fabulous things to do in London but these were only a few of them.

I hope you have enjoyed my slight highlight into London!

Thanks for stopping by,

Scott

A weekend at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Hi folks!
Welcome to my post about my girlfriend and I's weekend at the Edinburgh Festival.

Each year, the city of Edinburgh hosts a month long Art's festival called the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which attracts millions of tourists from all over the world, and locals alike. For last years festival, my girlfriend and I decided to dedicate a weekend go out and explore the festival.

Firstly we headed to St Andrews Square, just off Princes Street, where there was a few comedy tents and food trucks. We then then took a walk up to the Royal Mile to watch all the street performers.

We love watching snippets of shows that are being advertised on the stages, dancers, singers and comedians draw in the crowds.

We also love watching street acts that make a living from the Festival. Like Clowns, Magicians and Escape Artists that attract hundreds of viewers around them.

The Festival brings such an awesome atmosphere to Edinburgh. To anyone that has not been yet, it is definitely worth a visit!

We then decided to take a wander down to the Princes Street area to see what other acts, performers and stalls were there....when a Portuguese clown, Pedro Tochas, caught our attention.

 

His act was superb and told a romantic, yet comedic story using 3 members of the large audience that had gathered to watch.

 

 

After a great performance by Pedro, we chose to go on a Ghost Tours run by Auld Reekie Tours. These tours begin from outside the Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile. This ghost tour was called the Ghost & Torture Tour.

 

The tour started off with the tour guide telling us tales of Edinburgh's past and the torture that happened in years gone by, also the many apparent ghost sightings there has been throughout the years, while walking through the old narrow closes of the Royal Mile. 

 

 

After hearing the ghost stories we were then taken into one of the many 1700’s underground network of vaults, still in their original condition and where each stone, if it could speak, would echo with some of old Edinburgh’s bloodiest and cruel history.

 

In addition to visiting the vaults we also visited the museum of torture, exhibiting some of the torture instruments from Nuremburg and Bamburg Castles in Germany used in the late 1500's - early 1600's

 

The tour guide was fabulous at telling us all the stories of old Edinburgh and made us all jump quite a few times!

 

It was a spooky few hours but we really enjoyed the tour and would highly recommend you take a tour the next time you're in Edinburgh. These tours, as well as others run by Auld Reekie Tours, run all year long.

That was it for our first day exploring the festival, but the following day we were back in the city centre to take in more of the sights. We came out slightly later as we had booked dinner. We once again walked up and down the Royal Mile, watched many street performers before going for dinner. 

 

For dinner we chose, Bella Italia, a great Italian chain, located on the Royal Mile. The food tastes authentic and the staff are always very friendly and helpful.

 

 

For starter we had pizza dough sticks, oozing with mozzarella and came with a tomato dip

 

For main, we both had a calzone, which was amazing! Such a lovely flavour and a great portion size too.

 

For desert, we shared the cookie dough with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with toffee sauce. Another fantastic dish!

We loved our meal, although it's always really good, we've never had a bad meal and there is always so much to choose from and the staff are always so friendly and helpful.

Once we were finished our meal, it was time to go and watch the Royal Military Tattoo fireworks from the North Bridge. The Tattoo is a famous tradition in Edinburgh. The first official Edinburgh Military Tattoo began in 1950 with just eight items in the programme.

The Tattoo is an annual series of Military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and International Military Bands, and display team, such as dancers, musicians and actors, on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. To top it off, each performance is concluded with a fireworks display from the Castle itself.

Below are some of the pictures we took of the fireworks (not too bad for a rainy night, taken while hiding in a bus shelter!)

I hope you have enjoyed my post about our fringe festival weekend.

Have you ever been to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?

Thanks for stopping by,

Scott