Although I should be blogging about the two interesting conferences I am attending, this nomadic life makes me want to write about my experience with British hotels instead.
I have already experienced a wide range of hotels on this trip (so far, lasting exactly a week) some better than others. In Nottingham I stayed at the Horrible Express, which was reminiscent to future visions from the 60s; fake wood surfaces all over, clean and carpeted, sterile and sleek, and a breakfast consisting of dry toast, canned fruit and machine cappuccino. We paid 70 pounds for this per night, but got to borrow a converter plug on top of this (I had actually brought two, however, they turned out to be Australian instead of British). As we continued our venture into the nature of North West England (yes, I have no idea how my friends got me convinced to go, even my advisor laughed in disturbed surprise when they said they were bringing me to the country side), we thought we would have to make do with an idyllic 30 pound bed'n breakfast in the middle of nowhere. However, these were hard to come by and we ended up at the 'Inn at the Lake', which was a 'tiny rooms but big bar with lots of different types of whiskey' hotel. It had three stars which came to show through a full English breakfast (they actually give you a set of 6 pieces of toast... each!) and flowery tapestries, flowery interior, flowery furniture and flowery carpets. The view was pretty nice too.
Optimistic as we were, we drow all the way up to Glasgow for some Saturday night clubbing in a real city, despite not having hotel reservations. After walking around asking we ended up having to take a 89 pound/night room at a shiny new white-washed and scarringly clean hotel. The rooms were big and my friend and I had a whole double bed each. Unfortunately we were too hungover the next morning to enjoy the fitness and swimming pool facilities. The main feature here was the bathroom which had room for literally all of our toiletries on the counter, a feature we had not experienced before. The downside was the terrible service at breakfast, getting us coffee/tea not before we were done with our breakfast. The fact that the receptionist girl could not split the bill in two, did not impress me either.
Finally, last night I landed in the most honest hotel I have seen so far. Located in the middle of everything in Glasgow, on the pedestrian street, one block from the movie theater, three blocks from the conference center and a short 30 meters from the shopping gallery (it would actually be degrading to call it a mall, this is Britain after all). The hotel itself owns three stars and it must be the location and its originality that have supplied those. The rooms are small but fits the necessary things such as a bed, a desk and a closet. There is not enough light and no pictures on the wall, making it much more authentic as a cozy place where electricity was installed a couple of decades after it was built, the carpet was not bought with the lamps in mind and the bathroom being rustiquely supplied with whatever sink and tub were in style in the 30s. This will be my home for five nights and I like it already. It reminds me very much of a small hotel I stayed at in San Francisco last year, with the same old city traits. In the end it is the location that matters as long as you have a bed to sleep in and room to unfold your suitcase. But I have to admit that I look forward to seeing my Copenhagen apartment again on Friday.
Posted by Louise at September 13, 2004 04:38 PM