Travel: Bristol

Hey-hey! Hello from Bristol! (I could say sunny Bristol, but it's not at 11.43pm, so..)

V little to report so far. Cute, fluffy chihuahua on the Tube to Paddington. Ahh..

Didn't reserve a seat on the 7.30 train out of Paddington. :-) You may know what that means.. I'll know my mistake in future, never fear. I have never seen a train so packed - you'd think London was subject to an epidemic, so many people were so anxious to leave. I didn't get a seat until Bath. It was 1.5hrs until I got enough space to sit on my suitcase, Bath was about half an hour after that. Urgh. Oh, and the train was delayed by 50mins owing to another that had broken down. Just to add to the fun.

Never fear, I have a reserved seat coming back.. oh, the luxury.. boy are my legs tired now.

I'm kinda glad I'm not staying in Bath this weekend, not that it occurred to me. As someone remarked to me when we arrived in Bath - "This train is going to Bristol, isn't it?.. So why is everyone getting off in Bath?!" I suspect it will be busy this weekend. Plan to visit on Monday, for a day trip.

Oh, I love my hotel though. Well, I should, it's the Hilton Garden Inn. :-) Consulted the guidebook, they recommended a v posh one, but I'm not into v posh. Then they said the youth hostel has a great location, so I checked it out but it was booked up. So here I am. So far, so lovely. For no extra charge, I got a "dine & wine" deal (dinner with wine every night). Too late tonight - thank you, First Great Western - but they gave me a breakfast voucher in lieu. Not quite the value, but it'll do thank you, seeing as I don't have breakfast booked. If it's good, you never know, I might splurge on breakfast for the rest of my stay. Dinners are included. With wine. For free. Not so shabby..

And they have a 24-hr pantry, you pay at reception. They have wine, they have chocolate, they have crisps, they have microwaveable meals. And a microwave. Now, that's a good idea.  And they have a weekend special on wine.

And it's the Hilton, so everything is comfy and plush. Ahhhhh... And so much cheaper than London. Sadly, the one thing I lack is a bath - I only have a shower, and I could do with a soak for my aching legs.

Free wifi. :-) Not even a password to be bothered with.

Lastly, as I was leaving the station, I noticed that it was interestingly floodlit in lilac. So thought to take a picture, only to find that the battery was gone in my camera. They had batteries in the "pantry" at reception. Yay! And then I got back to my room, took out my camera and went, "Oh, it doesn't take batteries! Hell.. it needs a charger." And, although I brought my phone charger, my camera charger is sitting snugly in London.

I calmed down when I remembered that my phone takes photos, albeit not quite as good. The cheap wine may also have helped.

Buenas noches. I intend to enjoy my break. I also got some chocolate at the pantry. Well, would you expect otherwise?

Hasta luego.
C