Simply Sofie

It was April 25, 2007 when Atinna, Thess and I left Bath and went to London. I don’t know anymore what time did we arrive in London. The train was delayed so I also can’t remember what time did the train leave Bath. We finally arrived at the Paddington Station after more than 2 hours of travel from Bath. Then we took another train from Paddington Station to Victoria Station.

I was not impressed with the London train stations, they are not friendly to commuting tourists who have big or even small suitcases. Nevertheless, we still made it to the Victoria Station, which is located along Buckingham Palace Road.

When we were walking along Buckingham Palace Road, despite that it was drizzling, I thought that the area was polluted. I can tell because my nose is quite sensitive to smoke and dust. When I started sneezing, I knew it was not a good sign.

Instead of taking a cab from Victoria Station to the hotel, we just walked along Buckingham Palace Road to St. George’s Drive. The hotel is located along St. George’s Drive.

When we arrived at the hotel, it really looked good from the outside, and mind you, the location was just great. But my my, really, looks can be so deceiving. We checked in at the hotel. The person, actually a lady, at the front office was not accommodating. We were asked to pay right away, unlike at the other hotels where we only paid when we checked out, the normal way of paying hotels as far as I know. It was my first time to be asked to pay immediately.

Once we were inside the room, it was even worse, the curtains were dusty and the toilet was not properly cleaned. Oh no!!! I started sneezing again. Oh no, not again! I actually got sick.

We could have transferred to another hotel but you know that hotels in London are quite expensive considering that we already paid for 4 days and 3 nights accommodation.

I will never, never recommend this hotel! I have been to small hotels too but this one is not at all recommendable. I won’t write further, kindly read Atinna’s entry about the hotel.

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It was April 22, 2007, the plane left Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at around 5:20pm. Travel time from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to London Heathrow Airport was approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Since there was an hour time difference between Amsterdam and London, we arrived in London 15 minutes past the same time we left Amsterdam, around 5:35pm.

After we got our luggage, we took the Heathrow Express to Paddington, London but our destination was not yet London, and since Heathrow Express is not connected with the other regional trains, we were advised to buy a separate ticket at the Paddington Station going to Bath.

I was impressed with the Heathrow Express train, it was fast, clean and comfortable. With the Heathrow Express, travel time from Heathrow Airport to Paddington was just around 15 minutes. With the ordinary trains or cars, travel time would be at least more than 30 minutes.

Anyway, we continued our journey to Bath, England. Travel time from Paddington (London) to Bath was more than 2 hours. I’m not sure anymore what time did we leave Paddington, London. I just remember that along the way, the sunset was great.

Atinna, Thess and I arrived safely at the train station in Bath, then walked, while pulling our luggage, from the station to the Pulteney Hotel, the hotel where we stayed for 4 days and 3 nights.

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I took a vacation last April 14-28, 2007. I normally go the Philippines every April, this time though, I went to Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and England. The first time I met Thess, Beng, Donna, and Sha, but not Atinna. I have not seen Atinna since our college days and that was almost 20 years ago.

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