Introduction The main part of the title is the name of a Danny Kaye hit from 1953 – that’s before my time, but I remember hearing the song as a
Tag: IHG
California, Here We Come! (2021): Days 16-18: And now, a long weekend in Paris!
Final Accommodation On Friday morning we relocated to central Paris for a three-night stay at the perfectly decent Holiday Inn Paris Montmartre. With just 54 rooms, it is one of
California, Here We Come! (2021): Day 9: Arrival in San Francisco
Emeryville – San Francisco Today’s objective was delightfully simple: to relocate across the bay to San Francisco and get settled in for the longest and most luxurious hotel stay of
California, Here We Come! (2021): Day 5: Day Trip to Carlsbad
Downtown San Diego Bruce was working Boston-time half-days until Thanksgiving, which meant 0530-0900 Pacific – clearly an alarm was essential! At the end of his stint we had a Starbucks
California, Here We Come! (2021): Days 3&4: Our Outbound Flying-Fest
London-Helsinki on Finnair Once again, we followed the recently established pattern of no pre-departure breakfast, due to our proximity to the airport. Catching the Piccadilly Line to the airport, we
September 2021: Birmingham
Introduction After my ‘flying visit’ to Bristol, Bruce and I continued to England’s second city on a horribly busy CrossCountry train. At 1hr 20mins, the main leg of the journey
August 2021: Belfast
Introduction Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, one of two entities created in the 1921 partition of Ireland. Formed from six out of the nine traditional
August 2021: Manchester
Introduction This is the first of five posts relating to a ten-day trip that started in mid-August, 2021. In line with normal practice, the trip also involved my Bristol-based friend
June 2021: London in Summer (Part 1)
Exactly two weeks after arriving home from a 3-week trip to England, I was off again for a follow-up visit to London. And why not?! It was still only my
England Grand Tour (2021): Day 3: From Durham back to Newcastle
Farewell walk in Durham Sunday started with another ‘Nero’ breakfast, following which we returned to the hotel for showers and packing. When ready, we headed out for a final Durham
England Grand Tour (2021): Day 1: First Border Crossing and Hotel Stay of the Year!
Edinburgh – Newcastle – Durham I left my flat shortly before 1130, bound initially for Edinburgh’s West End tram stop. I had my rollaboard in tow, unbelievably out for its
December 2020: Christmas Cheer(s) in London
Arrival The last trip of 2020, and for an as yet indeterminate period thereafter, was once again to London. Outbound travel was on Sunday 13 December. The first two nights
October 2020: Athens (Part 1): Settling In
Saturday With our original plans for 2020 in tatters and multiple replacements having suffered a similar fate, Bruce and I tried one more time by arranging to spend a week
September 2020: London
Our base Our London base for this visit was relatively unusual: the Holiday Inn Express, Limehouse. It certainly didn’t represent IHG at its finest: the neighbourhood was slightly dodgy, it
August 2020: Lancaster
The relatively small, but venerable city of Lancaster (population 52,000) is situated in northwest England. The name is derived from ‘Castle on the (River) Lune’, an explanation that imparts a
August 2020: North Yorkshire (Alphabetical) Neighbours
By the beginning of August, I realised that it had been over four months since I last spent a night away from home. Day trips are all very well, but
March 2020: Three Cities: 1. Amsterdam
Towards the end of 2019, KLM pointed out to me that my small, but usable, stash of Flying Blue miles would soon be expiring, and that I needed to fly
Leap-Year London (2020)
Barely a few days after my previous visit to London, I found myself flying south once more, this time on the Saturday itself – the last day of a leap-year