I went to Jersey, Channel Islands a couple of weeks ago and thought would share the experience

17th March 2012

I arrived at LGW at 0244 in the morning, originally i had planned to stay at the Yotel but a mixup in dates and their refusal to budge on the issue meant that a few hours sitting in Gatwick was about my only option unless i wanted to take a coach (incidently if i was to do this again i'd likely take that option)

I'd meant to catch up on some work but was so tired by the time i reached LGW that i spent the three hours before i could check in for my flight dozing in Costa's sitting area

I'd chosen to fly BA to Jersey, they came out cheapest once i'd thought about everything else, plus had been tempted with the extension of the weekend by coming back in Club Europe, although i flew out in Euro Traveller.

I'd checked in online but needed to pick up my boarding pass, simple enough i just used my BAEC card as it was the first thing to come to hand
Security was quick enough, although they had to take my photo as i'd used a non photo ID to print my boarding pass off with.
I fly with a rather well loved Minnie Mouse Toy and they joked about where her ticket was and concluded that she must be under 2 (gratified mouse, she's been flying for 23 years )

Found a favourite perfume in Duty free that hadn't been able to buy for the last few years. For anyone who liked Marc Jacob's 'Rain' when it was part of the Autumn collection, they've brought it back only this time it's part of the Tropical collection. The last time i purchased it in an airport (4 years ago) it cost �31, this time it was �26, i wish more products would go down rather than up in price!

The gate was slightly delayed being announced, but thankfully didn't take long, although even after getting to the gate there was still a fair wait before boarding started

BA2770 LGW-JER departing 0835 arriving 0930

I'd chosen my seat when i checked in online and at that point the two seats next to me were empty but despite the flight having a fairly light load overall i had two teenagers sitting next to me whose parent's were in front, incidently their seats were CE style but part of the ET cabin, which meant i didn't have floor space to put a bag in front of me, but it worked out ok.

Smooth takeoff, quickly followed by the breakfast offering, i'd picked up from the BA board that i could expect a roll and orange juice for breakfast on a Band 1 flight, the actual offering was better than i had expected


Orange juice was also included but not in the photo, the yoghurt had fruit and oats in, i didn't think this was to bad an offering for ET, i'd certainly had less for breakfast on TATL flights

We were ontime into Jersey where it was raining getting off was speedy and as i didn't have bags it didn't take long to reach the arrivals hall
I decided to get the bus but had a half hour wait, as it was raining i waited in the arrivals terminal.

I slept through the bus journey from the airport to St Helier where i based my visit, so missed the scenery but thanks to the rain what i saw looked dismal :/
Fortunately when we finally reached St Helier it had stopped raining!!

I had around 4 hours to make use of my time before I could think about going to find the hotel, my first thought was that a second breakfast sounded fairly tempted and as I found myself outside the Pomme D'Or cafe bar with free internet access non the less i decided it was as good as any

Very glad i decided to stop, the orange juice was superb (although i was glad i ordered it before i found out the price) and had french toast with maple syrup for breakfast


Possibly the best orange juice i have ever had, it was freshly squeezed and was well worth the price


My french toast

I glanced up at the price board while eating breakfast and couldn't quite believe that i'd chosen to pay �3.50 for the orange juice so i stayed a while and took advantage of the internet connection to make myself feel a bit better with the french toast the bill came to �8.35, which i thought was actually pretty good!

I spent a couple of hours wondering around the centre of St Helier, luckily the rain had stopped before i heard someone behind me talking about Pizza Express, clearly travelling had made me hungry it took a little while to find but my favourite dish Malanzane Parmigiana made it worth it, i've had it in Pizza Express all over England but Jersey may be doing it best!

As i was just about literally falling asleep i decided that as it was after 2pm it was likely a good time to go and find the hotel and check in, fortunately for Pizza Express i woke up enough to pay the bill! Before wondering outside to find it had started raining again, the walk back to Liberation Square to find a taxi was fortunately quick and getting a cab was easy enough

Took around 10 minutes to reach the hotel, T8191 on the BA board had been most helpful in providing recommendations for staying in Jersey on my budget I'd chosen The Hampshire Hotel from these and booked through booking.com

Checking in was fairly simple, i'd booked and paid for a standard room but somehow got upgraded to a Premier Room (a double upgrade as it turned out as they have Superior inbetween)

The room was suprising large (this was before I realised i'd got an upgrade!) More than big enough for me (and Minnie)


taken from the window


looking into the room

The fresh air had woken me up a bit so i went out and found some picnic type food to save going out for dinner and enjoyed reading my new book

By 4 however i decided to set my alarm and grab a few hours sleep, if i'd remembered to check my alarm clock was set to loud i might have woken up and done something with the evening as it was i was so tired from the lack of sleep the night before that, that was the end of my Saturday

Thanks for the report. My first real foreign trip was Jersey 22 years ago. I had previously been to the Canary Islands but going by car from Sweden to Jersey was something else. Bergerac inspired my parents to do this. Jersey is still on my list to go back to. Would be very interested to compare what the young boy of 1990 saw with what the slightly cynical man of 2012 would see.

That price is outrageous but I'm not surprised some places charge that much.

Sunday 18th March

Woke up suddenly to find that it was 0702 in the morning, was rather horrified to find that i'd wasted my Saturday evening by sleeping, but showed how comfortable the bed was!

Breakfast was included in the cost of the price of the room and as i was awake so early I was able to take the time to enjoy it, there didn't appear to be many guests (at least not for breakfast) but the one's i met were friendly as were the staff


breakfast

I'd chosen to come to Jersey and booked my flights before I'd realised that most of the museums do not open till late April/early May, however The Jersey War Tunnels (Former German Underground Hospital) was open and as this was where i most wanted to visit i lucked out here

One thing about The Hampshire Hotel, that i didn't know until i checked out is that they don't accept American Express, as i'd booked through booking.com who do and didn't know The Hampshire didn't i was a little surprised when at checkout i was asked for payment, i'm just glad the price remained the same! Another not so good thing is that wireless internet is not available in all areas, i ended up having to OCLI via my phone

I took a taxi to the War Tunnels as was advised that it wasn't within walking distance, I walked first down to Liberation Square and then got a taxi from there, after the rain of the previous day Sunday was almost completely opposite, being a lovely sunny day with warmth in the sun

Got to the War Tunnels about 11, as a student i paid �8.20 (�11.20 for adults) spent 2 and a half hours going through the tunnels, was a really interesting experience and i'm really glad i was able to visit


Just into the entrance of the Tunnels


There were a number of artefacts to look at as you walk down into the tunnels, they had a recording of Lili Marlene playing which interested me as while i'm familiar with the English version, i hadn't heard it in its original German before. At the end there was a sentry box with a member of staff collecting proof of entry so don't lose your reciept!


Not the Sentry


Jersey continued to be a popular destination for holidays until the German Occupation in 1940


although in the end it was too late to be used as a hospital, it was set up appropriately


the original condition of the tunnels, the unfinished tunnels were blocked off and were later uncovered to reveal the working conditions that the slave labourers who built the underground tunnels had to endure


Another unblocked tunnel

When i paid entrance I was given a identity card with a person's name and after i'd seen everything in the tunnels i was able to go back to the main building and upstairs to the cafe to find out what had happened to the person named on the I.D card. Sadly it turned out that the 19 year old mentioned on the I.D card that i recieved had been killed after the boat that he and 3 friends were attempting to escape in in late 1944 was shot at, his friends were luckier and merely recieved prison sentances which they served until liberation on May 9th 1945 This information was interesting but sad, i was also able to find out what happened to other Islanders and those who were deported for various reasons. Definitely recommend visiting!

Nice report.

My family originally being from Guernsey (but having emmigrated to Canada in the seventies) perhaps you could share with us why people visit the Channel Islands in March ? ?

I visited but was told by my late grandfather to "only visit in the summer" because the weather there is poor.

Well i visited to get as far away from university as possible!! i was looking for somewhere that wasn't too far, wasn't too expensive and that i was sort of familiar with, although i last visited Jersey when i was 18 so not very recently!

The climate of the Channel Islands is generally milder than mainland UK, the Sunday was very pleasant, beautiful sunshine and so on, once i've finished writing my uni assignment i'll finish this off!

I haven't forgotten about the rest!! Having been away twice since and now in the middle of a family crisis will post the rest of it when have a minute and a proper internet connection