A 30 second walk from the beach will find you at the Corallium Dunamar hotel, nestled into the side of the cliffs in Gran Canaria. Everything you could need is at your door step, with restaurants such as Hard Rock, and bars, cafes and shops all just outside of the hotel.
I loved how bright and chic the decor was, from the sofas in the lounge to the gorgeous bar area. We chose the all inclusive option, and had the main three meals and drinks included, but also snacks during the day at the pool bar too. Talking of pools, take your pick from the three of them. As the hotel is built into the cliffside, these pools were on different levels, two at the sea front side, and one around the back, of which our rooms opened up to. Saying this however, the pool outside our room was empty each day and I believe it is because the bars were at the front of the hotel, but if this isn't a problem, a pool to yourself just outside of your room does sound like a dream.
Food wise, I was impressed with the amount on offer, changing the hot food offerings daily. The snack bar after lunch was a nice touch, with things such as pizza, chips and various rolls on offer. There are various wellness activities throughout the day include pool sports, and live entertainment in the evenings.
The area was gorgeous too, with a long beach and sand dunes not too far.
For a little bit of winter sun, Gran Canaria, and Corallium Dunamar, should definitely be an option and I look forward to getting to know more of the island in the future.
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Nestled in the heart of West London, room2 Chiswick is a hometel that blends the comforts of home with care for the environment. room2 are the world's first fully net-zero hotel, whilst harbouring the local area of each location with the design and food on offer.
Each room, whether thats a studio, snug, sleepwell, lounge or suite, feature all of the amenities you would need, including a kitchenette so you can chose to dine out, or in during your stay.
Our room was perfect, and I don't often say that. If I could have stolen the duvet and gotten away with it, I would have. The bed was just soft enough, I had a desk for editing the day's photos, and I could have cooked up a meal if I didn't fancy the 30 second walk to the high street. I loved the style of the room too, with a gorgeous bathroom design and simple decor touches.
The hometel is just off of Chiswick High Road, with books and coffee shops, groceries and all of the restaurants that you could need right on the door strep. Their Hometel club also guarantees 10% off stays, and food at the cafe bar downstairs. They offer a free stay on your birthday, which I'm very excited for. They are pet friendly, and you even get the room for 24 hours, checking in at 2pm, and checking out at 2pm too. Amazing.
Once we had checked in and unpacked, we headed down to Winnie's cafe and bar for some live music and a cocktail in the evening. My peach margarita was lovely, as was the atmosphere in the bar that night.
The next morning we headed back down to Winnie's for breakfast. My sister chose the full english, and I had a caramel iced latte and the blueberry waffles. Even if you aren't a guest here, popping into the cafe for breakfast or brunch should definitely be on your list the next time you visit Chiswick.
room2 are now top of my list for hotels, and I look forward to my next visit.
The Abbey Hotel Bath. In one sentence? Stay here.
From the all in one desk and wardrobe combo to the gorgeous views from the toilet seat (you heard me), I loved this hotel wholeheartedly. You may have read my Bath: where we stayed post, where I said that I couldn't find fault with this hotel, and my point still stands. It's a Marriot, and you can tell. Don't get me wrong, it's not the biggest hotel room on the planet. But there is enough space. Theres a TV, the chair for coats and clothes to be thrown onto at the end of a fun day. I mentioned the desk/wardrobe combination and whist they're separate entities, they're connected, and that's good enough for me. There's free bottled water, an iron and ironing board, robes and slippers.
The hotel is all about printing art. The theme is carried throughout the rooms with prints on the wall and a print roller by the side of the bed. I adored the headrest and the old style phone was a hit on my Instagram that evening.
Location wise it's pretty much perfect. Located across the road to the River Avon, the hotel is a couple of minutes walk from the local shopping areas, restaurants and touisty places such as the Roman Baths and the Abbey itself.
When I stupidly messed up the dates of our stay, it was the staff at the hotel who instantly sorted the problem, transferring our stay from the Thursday night to the Tuesday night without a hitch. We had a glorious breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, and it became a "thing" for me to try the avo on toast each day at the different hotels we stayed in. This one was a gooden. We ordered room service throughout the evening which was brought up to our room quickly, and all in all had a fabulous stay.
We only stayed at the Abbey Hotel for one night, but I really do wish we had longer there. If you are looking for a hotel in Bath where you want a little bit of luxury, then I cannot recommend this hotel enough.
AD gifted experiences and affiliate links used.
Weddings. My first "adult" wedding threw me straight in at the deep end, as the Maid of Honour. There was so much more to do for the day than I first realised that I wanted to list everything I used, booked and bought in a handy little guide so that when the time comes, wedding season won't throw you off like it did me!
Dress and shoes
When I say dress, I mean dress number 1. The bride and groom were blending their cultures, so after the white wedding as such, came the Arabic and Ghanaian outfits to end the night. The latter was handmade by the groom's family, and a keepsake I'll always cherish. My church dress was a gift from Chi Chi London. When they offered me a dress from their bridesmaid collection, it was perfect timing as the group were just deciding on the choice of dress for the day. Mine was a dark green floor length gown with a cowl neck and the most gorgeous pleats. We added a pearl belt and nude heels to finish the look.
Nails
I was kindly gifted a voucher by Treatwell towards a beauty treatment of my choice. I chose to go for a mani pedi a couple of days before the wedding. Treatwell have thousands of options for treatments, so I chose a nail salon close to home to pop to before the bridal shower. I asked for white on the toes, and nude gels on the fingers. I loved how I could prepay before I went so that the salon would already know what I've booked. Click here to book your treatment through Treatwell.
Hair and Makeup
Blow LTD also kindly gave me a voucher towards an at-home treatment. I went for a Super Glam makeup look and it was brilliant that I could get the makeup artist to come straight to my hotel room, especially with the weather on that July weekend in particular. I was in and out of the chair within 40 minutes and jumped straight into my hair. I knew that out of the two of them, I'd be able to do my hair myself rather than my makeup. Lee Stafford sent over a bunch of hair care products and the Makin Waves hair styler to try out. The styler gave subtle mermaid style waves, instead of rings, which was perfect as I knew my hair would start to drop out the minute we went outside. My waves lasted all day and I just pinned the sides back and had my side fringe out in full. Click here to book your treatment through Blow LTD and here for the styler!
Hotel
I'll go into a lot more detail about the hotel in another post soon but honestly staying in a hotel the night before the wedding (and the night after) was a blessing. My room, the bride's and a few of the groom's friends and family were next to each other, so being able to pop back and forth the morning of the wedding was fab.
I hope this bus stop tour of my thoughts was helpful. For now my first adult wedding is complete. And honestly, I'm quite ready for the next one.
When we saw how cheap this 4 star Rome hotel was, we snapped it up within seconds. We arrived to the hotel, greated at the desk with sweets, and given the key to our room. We were shown up to our room on the 4th floor, and walked along the marbled corridors to room 404. The fourth floor is accessed by two lifts, one from the foyer to floor 1, then a short walk around the corner to the second lift that goes all the way up. As we all know, I'm not a lift person, so happily walked the various marbled flight of stairs each day.
Our room was small, the cheapest of them all, but perfect for our trip, being out exploring all day. It had a double wardrobe, with mirrors, a tv, mini bar and fridge with drinks if you wanted to buy something. The TV was in Italian, obviously, but the hotel provided an easy channel guide and language guide to get your favourite shows (MTV, Comedy Central etc) back into English. There was a phone, breakfast in bed guide form and the please do/do not clean my room signs for the door also.
Quickly we could see how the hotel was 4*s. Beautifully presented, the bathroom was again, marbled, with a beauty box of everything you may need but may have forgotten, and miniature soaps, shampoo/conditioner, body wash and lotions. These were also replenished on a daily basis so you would never run out. The maid service was between I'd say 10-3pm, as we never saw the cleaner but after a walk around the city, returning for a mid afternoon rest, the room was already turned down. Each night around 8pm we received a knock at the door also with chocolates and the weather forecast for the next day.
Breakfast was between 7 and 10.30am serving paisteres, many variations of spreadables for toast, fruit, and some fry up options. If you really wanted, you could also have a cheeky champagne for breakfast also, although I opted for a breakfast tea as there isn't a kettle in the room itself. The bar was on the ground floor, accessible from the stairs, or foyer with lifts. A small bar in a good sized room. It boasted various sofas and coffee tables in the corners, and up by the bar were stools, and smaller tables for two. Here happy hour lasts for 3, between 5 and 8pm where everything, including cocktails but excluding bottles, were half price. The usual price of a beer is around 6 euros, and cocktails are around 12, so with the half price deal, you can see why we sat in the bar for a few hours each night. We were also served by Frederica, who was wonderfully quick and knew exactly what she was doing so we were more than happy to give her a large tip on our last evening. Also, buying a drink entitles you to the buffet on the bar, of sandwiches, crips, bruschetta, hotdog sausage rolls, and other bits and bobs, all free during happy hour.
The decor was typically Roman. From busts to paintings depicting battle scenes, it was everything I'd hoped for in a hotel. As taxi prices aren't cheap in Rome, we booked a 55 euro cab from the hotel to the airport as it's about an hour away. We knew that risking trying to find a taxi at 7am the morning of our flight wasn't a great idea, and services like Uber are illegal. The city tax was also 6 euros per person as it's a 4* hotel, for your information also.
Location wise, it was perfect. About a 15/20 minute walk to the Fountain, and close to tram links if required. However we walked everywhere, and it really wasn't that far at all to get around. It's pretty much one straight road down to the Coliseum too, passing both high street and designer shops, cute little bars and restaurants along the way
Would I recommend the hotel to anyone traveling to Rome? 100%. We are already planning to hop back on that plane for 2 hours soon, and this is the place we will be booking again.
I'm a nervous flyer. I hear every knock and vibration and truly believe that that is it for me. Down I go. For my recent trip to Spain I was looking for ways to help keep stress levels down beforehand, and someone mentioned a stay in a hotel close to the airport. Premier Inn then kindly agreed to gift me and my other half the room for the night and breakfast the next morn, but as our flight was so early, we'd be on the plane before the eggs are flipped and cereal was poured. Very sad.
Anyway on the Sunday night we got a lift down to the hotel, at our own pace. No rushing. No 'what if there's traffic', nothing of the sort. I think this was the bit that really helped me. Being able to just go, when we wanted. We arrived about 4pm, checked in at their Stansted hotel which has it's own restaurant and bar downstairs and a big foyer which was fab when there were a 50 of us waiting for the shuttle bus the next morning.
Our room was rather large, as all Premier Inns seem to be. I've stayed in hotels where the bed is almost attached to the bathroom door and unless you fancied sleeping with your suitcase, there is just simply no room. No here obviously, much room for activities. We had a bath too, perfect for a little relaxation if you're panicked like myself. In the evening we headed downstairs, booked a table at the restaurant, but if you're looking for a quick meal, there is a few fast food places a 5 minute walk away too. After a few drinks we sat down to order at the table. The food came quick enough, and I had CHURROS for dessert. A winner for me let me tell you.
We spent the rest of the night (until a 9pm bedtime) with an alcoholic beverage of our liking whilst watching my favourite island based tv show. Up at 2.30am with an aim to leave at half 3. We checked out and sat in the lobby waiting for our ride. The shuttle bus doesn't start until 3.45am and the queue can get quite long, and its £3 per head in cash, if you needed to hop on. Once away the bus only takes 10 mins max, and at that time of the morning, there were barely any cars on the road as it were.
Escape Lounge
We were then gifted the next morning in the Escape Lounge at Stansted Airport. Downstairs and away from the chaos, it was like walking into a spa. We were shown to our table and let loose on the unlimited teas, juices, breakfasts (fry up, cereal, fruit) as well as unlimited alcoholic drinks at the bar. A prosecco was a welcomed addition at 4am. We knew by this time that our flight was delayed so being able to sit in peace, charge our phones, and watch the planes go by was lovely. I honestly have not stopped going on about the experience since the trip, to anyone flying (and anyone who has ears). I felt VERY important may I add, and now it's an extra I intend to book for every flight. Click here for the website.
Once our gate was shown, we headed down to wait even longer to board, never mind once on the plane, sat for an hour to grab a slot on the runway. Staying at the airport hotel and popping to the lounge before my flight really did ease my nerves though. The thought of rushing to the airport is one of the main causes of stress for a lot of us, so being right there, 5 minutes away really helps. Plus being sat in a quiet place, full of unlimited tea was a welcomed bonus. I can't recommend either enough. Delays however will always happen, I was just far more prepared for them than I'd have ever been before.
Thanks to Premier Inn for the gifted stay and to Escape Lounge for the gifted experience. Very VIP.
We arrived at the hotel with our suitcases and were given our room keys. I shared with Laura from Lauzra, and we instantly started taking photos of the gorgeous gift bag and balloon spread that was on each of our beds on arrival. I didn't want to touch the initial balloons, personalised letters and skincare bits and bobs as they were so prettily laid out. We read the agenda for the evening and soon realised that a salsa dance class was organised. We arrived downstairs again and were told that the class would be held in the main area of the hotel, next to the bar and seating where many a guest were sitting. Myself, Maria and Laura decided to sit it out, eat the hummus and watch the other girls get their groove on. In the words of Chad from HSM, I don't dance, no.
A few hours later, we were led over to the table where we had pizza and chips for dinner. The table was laid out in an Alice in Wonderland type theme, each with personalised name tags and a gift box which revealed a watch and spare strap inside!
Dinner was lovely, and we then headed to the sofa area to play a few games. By games I mean another photo taking opportunity and myself and Maria bought ourselves a very well needed cup of tea. After a few rounds of charades, we headed up to bed and I said goodbye to Maria and Tabby as I wouldn't be seeing them the next day. At 6am on Monday, I headed to my car to drive home and get to work at 8, missing the watch hunt sadly.
Adexe watches are beautiful and honestly I wear my rose gold one every day.
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