St. Helier, Jersey

My God, it has been the busiest of weekends again!

I don't know how people are constantly keeping themselves busy, I'm so exhausted it's unbelievable.

Anyway, I promised posts on Jersey so I've decided to split them up sort of by day/location.

St. Helier was where we stayed, there will be a subsequent post on St. Brelade and then a standalone post for a restaurant review as it deserves a special mention.

For today though, St. Helier.

The flight from Gatwick is only 45-50 minutes. By the time the captain tells you to take your seatbelt off, half the flight is over. It was funny because Adeel got up to pee and as there was a queue he didn't actually get to go because the captain announced not long later that seatbelts were to be refastened!

It was a very windy, rainy day when we set off. Our flight was at around 9 in the morning so we landed near 10 and the airport is so tiny in Jersey and we only had hand luggage that we were literally out straightaway (except for the minor wait for the rental car).

Oh my God, just the drive to the hotel was amazing. Jersey is such a beautiful island!

However, we did have a few hours to kill before we could check in to the hotel so we left the car there and got a pointer towards the town centre.

Wandering through the town at a leisurely pace was great. We eyed up some beautiful properties advertised - dreaming only of course - before grabbing a bite to eat. Burger King was our one and only naughty choice and probably the worst of the food we had (not a single bad meal for the entire trip!)

We meandered back to the hotel by which time we could checkin and found ourselves in what seemed like an upgraded room. We originally booked the budget room (with a warning that you could hear the swimming pool pump). BUT, we were on the second floor, the room was massive and not a single noise could be heard from the pool. It was amazing.

We had a somewhat planned, somewhat improvised nap as we'd been up so early, before heading out for a lovely walk along the beach.

With clouds a-brewing and a roll of thunder in the distance, we quickly scarpered back to the hotel for dinner in the bar. I think Adeel had a burger and chips and I had scampi and chips.

The portions were massive, I definitely could not finish it all. After a half hour or so we decided to test out the pool facilities which was a nice way to end our first day in Jersey.

Climbing between those fresh white sheets after was equally as perfect.

More to come soon...

Anniversary Weekend, Sunborn Yacht, Day 2

So, let's not talk about the catastrophic events of the Election today shall we? I may not be a US citizen but Jesus Christ.

ANYWAY

We were on our way over to the O2 at the end of the last post to get some dinner and chill out, maybe see a movie.

But, little did we know how packed it would be. Should have guessed on a Friday night, but, well, we're silly.

A Mary J Blige concert happened to be on, the restaurants were packed and there weren't any good films on, so we headed back across the Emirates Cable Car and back to the hotel where we ended up ordering room service again and laying in bed watching The Intern!

Adeel ordered the steak and I actually ordered from the children's menu, chicken and chips! We were both a little disappointed in the size of the meats but the chips were so gooood.

The Intern was the perfect downtime movie as well, a feel good option with a great cast.

We crashed not long after that as we'd planned a busy few days ahead of us (and when I say we crashed, I mean he crashed and as per usual when I'm in a hotel I couldn't sleep).

I don't know what it is, I just cannot sleep in a hotel even though the bed was the comfiest bed I've ever been on. Humph.

It was okay, the next day breakfast certainly refuelled me!

I was going to opt for scrambled eggs and smoked salmon but I'm glad I didn't! We just ended up sharing their full english breakfast option which you could choose from the obvious ingredients of a traditional fry up but also cereals, yoghurt, pastries, meats, juice and tea!

I had smoked salmon, the tomato and mushrooms, some pastries and the frosties with the fruit yoghurt. It was amazing. Honestly. That yoghurt as well - to die for.

Fuelled and ready to go we headed into Stratford Westfield.

After a wander around Hugo Boss for Adeel, we watched Inferno as he's a big fan of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons films. It was actually really good, so intense. I enjoyed it more than the other two!

Following that, we went to Wahaca again as we'd enjoyed it so much the first time (this was before they ended up shutting down around 9 branches due to a norovirus outbreak!!)

I actually took pictures this time of the interior and food, go me!

Adeel had his favourite dish again. The smokey chipotle chicken...

As  did I! The sweet potato and feta taquitos. This is amazing.

We  also went for some guacamole and chips.

And some grilled british steak tacos.

I went for the brilliant mohito again and Adeel had a passion fruit and hibiscus cooler.

Beautttttttt.

I was shattered after this though so we headed back to the hotel. I don't think we went out again, we chilled playing angry birds and didn't even get around to watching another film. We crashed late again but the clocks went back so an extra hour in bed!

We woke to this eery view

and ordered breakfast again. The same as before because it was so good.

A rather indulgent weekend but one I would definitely repeat!

The staff were wonderful and kind and very helpful, the room was quiet and clean, checkout was at 12 and their facilities aboard (room service included) was exceptional! Wish we could have tried out the restaurant and spa, but maybe next time...

Unfortunately this is the only photo I have of the outside of the boat as there were so many comic con goers outside! 

✌︎

Anniversary Weekend, Sunborn Yacht, Day 1

Let's talk about last weekend because this one has turned out to be a nightmare.

OhmyGod, last weekend ♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

Me and Adeel celebrated 4 years together last Friday and it was just the most perfect weekend spent with him.

We both took the Friday and following Monday off for a long weekend together and during the week he'd told me (to my dismay initially, I like surprises!) what my gift was.

A two night stay on Sunborn Yacht 😍

Now, I've been dying to get away from this house for a very long time, especially because living in shared accommodation feels like you never have any alone time!

But when I'd heard Adeel booked this, my heart fluttered, I was so excited!

Privacy and alone time with my boy, couldn't ask for anything better.

The yacht is actually only a ten minute walk from my house, as it's right next to the Excel centre (it just so happened that Comic Con was on that weekend so costumed people were everywhere!)

It was still a pretty location though as Adeel managed to get a room with a river view. It was surprisingly quiet.

Anyway, to get onto the boat you have to call a lift and it'll take you up to the third floor where reception is.

The lift doors open up onto a beautiful open space with two staircases in the centre, a chandelier hanging in-between.

The reception and bar are to the right where we checked in and the rooms are to the left where we hastily proceeded to so we could check out our room.

It felt eerily like the Titanic as we made our way through the corridor, spying the staircases leading to other floors. But, no worries, this boat doesn't move!

Adeel used our keycard to get into the room, and voila, we were in heaven. Take a look at the room below.

Look at that bed. Absolute heaven considering my mattress in the house has springs sticking into my back!

TV, room service via tablet, balcony, ensuite, bath robes and slippers, complimentary water - it was amazing.

Check in was at three so we were starving. We ordered room service and got ourselves settled in.

Chicken Caesar salad for me...

Curry for him.

I have to say I polished mine off rather quickly and once we'd both finished we headed over to the O2 via the Emirates Cable Cars.

Be  sure to check out Wednesday's post to see how we got on. 

You don't want to miss the breakfast we ordered!

✌︎