Flying My First Inaugural - London to Ljubljana
Jun 12, 2020, 11:09 am
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canterbury
Programs: BA Blue, IC Diamond Ambassador, Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 368
Our Last Day in Ljubljana
Truth be told we were exhausted from the previous day of sightseeing and face stuffing so enjoying a good nights sleep was an easy enough affair. After getting washed and dressed it was time for breakfast. We popped into the wonderful looking lifts and walked past reception, the barbers shop a handful of conference rooms and into the sister uHotel (as it is now called) for our breakfast buffet.
After an initial warm welcome the reality of what was about to unfold dawned on us almost immediately, despite the size of the breakfast room this place was a total zoo, in fact it was feeding time at the zoo. Actually zoo is probably not the right word, a zoo at least assumes a degree of order. Pure chaos was the only way I could accurately describe the room, it felt continuously like we were one step away from a major accident or spill. If you missed the backwards walking child you were equally likely to run into their exasperated parent or the buffet equivalent of gate lice hanging around the waffle station. Between the messy tables stacked with half eaten plates of food and the crowds it was not my idea of a nice relaxing start to the day!
Despite my complaints about the chaotic atmosphere there was a more than decent buffet spread in terms of both quantity and quality. From hot food of eggs, bacon, fried bread and even bean stew to fresh fruit, loads of cold meat and cheese, pastries, bread, cereal, a bean to cup coffee machine and fresh juice and so on. It was not bad at all and we managed a couple of buffet runs each. That said I would strongly recommend making for an early start or sneaking in just before the room closes in the hope you can find a space and not feel the occupants of both hotels closing in on you, the buffet and anything else they can get their hands on!
In lieu of a proper plan thanks to our misplaced guidebook we followed a walking route from a leaflet Mrs Spymon picked up at the tourist office. It actually ended up being a really great way to see the city and during our near two days in Ljubljana we managed to see around 80-90% of the sights on the map.
After crossing the Triple Bridge, our first stops were the Town Hall and the Fountain of the Three Carniolan Rivers.
We continued deeper into the medieval part of the city.
Ljubljana is certainly a beautiful city. From cute little side streets pedestrian paths alongside the river, to interesting buildings of varying architectural styles and the numerous pavement cafes for watching tourists from across the globe go by. What more could you want?
We continued past the magnificent building of the National and University Library.
We stopped off at Kongresni trg square where you have a great photo op of both the Slovenian Philharmonic building and the castle.
After having checked off the majority of sights from the walk we were left with one last thing before lunch, the old Roman ruins. Due to fatigue and building work we circled around a rather deserted student area, (and in all honesty it's the youthful enthusiasm of the students that give such areas their charming buzz) baked in the sun waiting to cross the road and began to catch a little as we crossed back over the same road. Eventually we found the ruins which were basically a small park that may have once been a Roman toilet complex...
The one part of our plan that day that I'd actually planned ahead of time for this trip was lunch at the outdoor food market Odprta Kuhna which had a great write up in our guidebook and online. Unfortunately we were either really unlucky or the write up was done by someone not familiar with the finer food markets of the world and yes, having had a job that allowed me to crisscross London for two years I have no doubt been spoiled in this department. We thought that the mornings breakfast buffet was mad but in the heat of the midday sun the food market was carnage. No shade, very crowded, a lack of free seats and the searing heat from the stalls and crowds just compounded the matter.
We patrolled the stalls on edge with hunger and probably heat stroke. I settled on an Egyptian chicken wrap and Mrs Spymon picked out a fish burger.
The food was at least tasty and decent value for money. Anne-So's burger was however rather too messy for the environment in which it was served and in the end we were just glad to find a shaded step to sit on and enjoy our lunch. I was really hoping to enjoy some beer or wine but it was just too hot to drink anything other than water.
After lunch we finally managed to visit Ljubljana Cathedral which had been closed both of the other times we had passed by. Our cathedral visit was definitely worth the wait as there were some beautiful frescoes, a magnificent organ, wonderful metal doors, interestingly posed sculptures but best of all a calm atmosphere and wonderfully cool temperatures that made the cathedral a welcome sanctuary from the heat of the blazing sun outside.
We agreed to make at least one ice cream stop on this trip and Gelataria Romantika was top of the Lonley Planet list. The gelato (not ice cream as this FT Thread kindly points out) was served from covered metal tubs, there was gelato making equipment on the premises and a host of way out wacky flavours that meant that it was not just romantika but also authentika (insert face palm emoji here). I picked chocolate, pistachio and watermelon, whilst Anne-So chose chocolate, cinnamon and lavender. All the flavours were fantastic, whilst the latter tasted like I'd been thrown head first into a luscious lavender field in Provence. That gelato sure took our minds off the blazing heat.
For out final act of of sightseeing in Ljubljana we visited the Modern Art Museum. It was interesting in places though I regularly found reading the history behind the art more captivating then the works themselves. I did like some of the portraits and the black and white sketches. The former Yugoslavia certainly did not suffer a dull 20th century! In contrast to outside, the museum was blasting an arctic chill from the air con, so much so that one poor lady working there had wrapped herself up in an enormous puffer jacket!
We walked back to the hotel to pick up our bags and to change for the flight. It was a short walk to the bus station where we caught the bus prior to the one we intended to catch as it was about 10 minutes late as had become the norm on our trip... For once the bus was empty and made good time taking the scenic route through the suburbs to the airport. The air conditioning was working and we arrived nice and early at the airport, perhaps a little too early.
In the final part of this TR I cover off the flight home with BA and an absolutely appalling hotel stay.
After an initial warm welcome the reality of what was about to unfold dawned on us almost immediately, despite the size of the breakfast room this place was a total zoo, in fact it was feeding time at the zoo. Actually zoo is probably not the right word, a zoo at least assumes a degree of order. Pure chaos was the only way I could accurately describe the room, it felt continuously like we were one step away from a major accident or spill. If you missed the backwards walking child you were equally likely to run into their exasperated parent or the buffet equivalent of gate lice hanging around the waffle station. Between the messy tables stacked with half eaten plates of food and the crowds it was not my idea of a nice relaxing start to the day!
Despite my complaints about the chaotic atmosphere there was a more than decent buffet spread in terms of both quantity and quality. From hot food of eggs, bacon, fried bread and even bean stew to fresh fruit, loads of cold meat and cheese, pastries, bread, cereal, a bean to cup coffee machine and fresh juice and so on. It was not bad at all and we managed a couple of buffet runs each. That said I would strongly recommend making for an early start or sneaking in just before the room closes in the hope you can find a space and not feel the occupants of both hotels closing in on you, the buffet and anything else they can get their hands on!
In lieu of a proper plan thanks to our misplaced guidebook we followed a walking route from a leaflet Mrs Spymon picked up at the tourist office. It actually ended up being a really great way to see the city and during our near two days in Ljubljana we managed to see around 80-90% of the sights on the map.
After crossing the Triple Bridge, our first stops were the Town Hall and the Fountain of the Three Carniolan Rivers.
We continued deeper into the medieval part of the city.
Ljubljana is certainly a beautiful city. From cute little side streets pedestrian paths alongside the river, to interesting buildings of varying architectural styles and the numerous pavement cafes for watching tourists from across the globe go by. What more could you want?
We continued past the magnificent building of the National and University Library.
We stopped off at Kongresni trg square where you have a great photo op of both the Slovenian Philharmonic building and the castle.
After having checked off the majority of sights from the walk we were left with one last thing before lunch, the old Roman ruins. Due to fatigue and building work we circled around a rather deserted student area, (and in all honesty it's the youthful enthusiasm of the students that give such areas their charming buzz) baked in the sun waiting to cross the road and began to catch a little as we crossed back over the same road. Eventually we found the ruins which were basically a small park that may have once been a Roman toilet complex...
The one part of our plan that day that I'd actually planned ahead of time for this trip was lunch at the outdoor food market Odprta Kuhna which had a great write up in our guidebook and online. Unfortunately we were either really unlucky or the write up was done by someone not familiar with the finer food markets of the world and yes, having had a job that allowed me to crisscross London for two years I have no doubt been spoiled in this department. We thought that the mornings breakfast buffet was mad but in the heat of the midday sun the food market was carnage. No shade, very crowded, a lack of free seats and the searing heat from the stalls and crowds just compounded the matter.
We patrolled the stalls on edge with hunger and probably heat stroke. I settled on an Egyptian chicken wrap and Mrs Spymon picked out a fish burger.
The food was at least tasty and decent value for money. Anne-So's burger was however rather too messy for the environment in which it was served and in the end we were just glad to find a shaded step to sit on and enjoy our lunch. I was really hoping to enjoy some beer or wine but it was just too hot to drink anything other than water.
After lunch we finally managed to visit Ljubljana Cathedral which had been closed both of the other times we had passed by. Our cathedral visit was definitely worth the wait as there were some beautiful frescoes, a magnificent organ, wonderful metal doors, interestingly posed sculptures but best of all a calm atmosphere and wonderfully cool temperatures that made the cathedral a welcome sanctuary from the heat of the blazing sun outside.
We agreed to make at least one ice cream stop on this trip and Gelataria Romantika was top of the Lonley Planet list. The gelato (not ice cream as this FT Thread kindly points out) was served from covered metal tubs, there was gelato making equipment on the premises and a host of way out wacky flavours that meant that it was not just romantika but also authentika (insert face palm emoji here). I picked chocolate, pistachio and watermelon, whilst Anne-So chose chocolate, cinnamon and lavender. All the flavours were fantastic, whilst the latter tasted like I'd been thrown head first into a luscious lavender field in Provence. That gelato sure took our minds off the blazing heat.
For out final act of of sightseeing in Ljubljana we visited the Modern Art Museum. It was interesting in places though I regularly found reading the history behind the art more captivating then the works themselves. I did like some of the portraits and the black and white sketches. The former Yugoslavia certainly did not suffer a dull 20th century! In contrast to outside, the museum was blasting an arctic chill from the air con, so much so that one poor lady working there had wrapped herself up in an enormous puffer jacket!
We walked back to the hotel to pick up our bags and to change for the flight. It was a short walk to the bus station where we caught the bus prior to the one we intended to catch as it was about 10 minutes late as had become the norm on our trip... For once the bus was empty and made good time taking the scenic route through the suburbs to the airport. The air conditioning was working and we arrived nice and early at the airport, perhaps a little too early.
In the final part of this TR I cover off the flight home with BA and an absolutely appalling hotel stay.
Jun 15, 2020, 12:17 pm
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canterbury
Programs: BA Blue, IC Diamond Ambassador, Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 368
Homeward Bound And A Terrible Hotel Stay
It was nice to see that priority check in was available at LJU though initially it wasn't well set up. An economy queue had already formed with no agents at the Club Desk, though thankfully realising this another agent soon set up shop and made the effort to call out to the line for business class passengers. We did get a bit of a nasty look from a few people who thought we were pushing in but I was wearing my silver tag on my bag as well just to make sure nobody got the wrong idea. LJU also had priority security though there was next to no queue at the time we arrived as there were only a handful of flights left to depart for the day. Maybe this would have been a more useful perk during peak hours.
Business Lounge
To reach the imaginatively named Business Lounge we just headed through the rather underwhelming and particularly pricey duty free shop. The only thing of note was an abundance of truffle based products, so if that's your thing you'll be over the moon, for anyone else it was rather grim.
We were welcomed into the Business Lounge and first impressions were pretty good. There was lots of seating, some TVs but a lack of substantial food and drink. It reminded me a little of a Eurostar lounge. Thankfully we kept walking till we arrived at the second section of the lounge and found the entertainment!
There was beer on tap, red and white wine, spirits, soft drinks, bean to cup coffee to drink and sandwiches, biscuits and snacks to eat.
Overall the lounge was small and comfortable but looking a little tatty around the edges. The staff regularly cleaned up dirty cups and plates as well as replenished the food. There were also toilets in lounge which was convenient. Whilst I thought it was a great place to spend 40 minutes or so prior to flying, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if the place had been full. Unfortunately we were very early and had to endure it for a couple of hours... So yet again I dropped some eaves to kill time but they were not massively exciting. Hearing two grown men do a lounge comparison between this and T5 Galleries Club was hardly riveting. I strongly remember these two commenting that our outbound flight was the inaugural and I hope they had as fun a time in Slovenia as we did.
Bored we decided to explore the airport. With LJU being small and efficient this did not take long. In addition to Duty Free there were also a couple of restaurants. We hung around waiting for the gate and looking out for our aircraft which was hiding at a different gate to the one on the departures board.
Eventually some very long announcements were made in Slovenian and English to tell us all about how priority boarding worked on BA. However on arrival at the gate it was completely ignored and the gate agents operated on a first come first served basis. I'm not sure why they wasted their breath...Flight: BA691 Ljubljana to London
I have to say this flight did not get off to the best of starts and it really should have been an early warning as to how our night was going to unfold. Initially we were delayed due to air traffic control restrictions. Then we were further delayed due to paperwork issues which then meant that delay caused more delays. We finally departed around 22:10 almost an hour late with multiple profuse apologies from Captain. Whilst we appreciated being kept up to date regarding the delay it was still frustrating especially with our departure being quite late in the evening. Thankfully the Captain was interrupted during his third or perhaps fourth apology to tell us we had a slot and we'd taking off right away.
We enjoyed a nice night time climb out over the city as we flew back towards London.
Service started with hot towels followed by a drinks run with a bag of nuts. We were both addressed by name throughout the flight and I have to say service from our crew was absolutely fantastic throughout the flight. It was truly BA at its best.
The food was tasty, especially the chocolate dessert, I think that BA had really improved the catering since the last round of pre-coronavirus changes. Though unlike Genius1, I really wish BA would change their fake table cloths to something a little nicer looking than a jay cloth!
I had switched to wine to accompany my meal.
I went with a tasty deconstructed Caesar Salad
And Mrs Spymon went with the tabbouleh and feta salad.
We finished our meal with a coffee. Since BA switched to Union the coffee onboard has gone from sewer water to pond water. It's a start and maybe one day they'll put some kind of Nespresso machine in the galley for Club customers.
I thought our outbound flight was pretty good but from a service point of view this one was significantly better and for me is how Club Europe should be done. With the current limitations of BA's hard product there's not much else they can do. I've done at least one Club Europe return a year for the last seven years and this crew were up there with the best of them. It definitely felt like a proper premium service.
We taxied into T5 B about 30 minutes late. I wanted to do the tunnels as we'd just missed a transit train but Mrs Spymon had now had enough and made the sensible decision to make me wait. It was then time for baggage claim and passport control which were as speedy as always at T5.
It had started to rain outside and after collecting our bags it was time to get the bus to hotel. I think waiting for the bus only added to our irritability as did the fact that our bus route did not match up with what Google Maps was showing. We were exhausted and looking forward to a comfortable night at the Renaissance LHR.
When we got off the bus it was approaching midnight and it was not a perfect world. We were tired and thanks to the light rain we felt like we were turning from damp to soggy as we trudged across the road to our digs for the night, The Renaissance LHR. Just over a year ago we had a wonderful stay here on the first night of our honeymoon trip to Japan and despite the late hour we were very much looking forward to our stay.Renaissance London Heathrow
As I said it was approaching midnight and for some reason both the regular line and the elite line had long queues with just two staff on hand to check people in. It felt like we were in the slowest queue in the world and all we could think about was sleep. There was a man at the front of the elite queue and we could hear every excruciating word coming out of his mouth. He wasn't quite doing the Diamond Guest routine but to us it felt like he was doing Diamond Guest the musical! I believe he was looking for a suite with a connecting room and had questions about every single thing in the hotel. I sincerely hope he was staying for the week as honestly playing 20 questions at midnight at a hotel check in desk is not going to win you any friends and whilst it may influence people, you probably don't want to be influencing them into a furious rage.Whilst I was boiling up something more than a cup of tea inside, some additional check in staff appeared and worked at a furious rate to clear down the queues. The tour group to our right soon shuffled off key cards in hand and everyone else other than our friend at the front was happily headed up to bed. He was truly determined to enjoy every last moment of checking in. Finally it was our turn and we were warmly welcomed and checked in as quickly as humanly possibly without being rude. Thank you kind check in lady for understanding that the only thing on our minds were dropping our bags and hitting the hay.
We took the lift up and followed the signs to our room. It was right at the end of the corridor and according to the floor plan the largest on that level. Our first impressions were that this room was just like the one we had last time but without the runway view. The next impression was that the room reeked of damp/mould. We hoped that by turning up the air conditioning it would clear the smell. The air conditioning didn't really make any impact on the odour but by now we'd unpacked, changed for bed and had foolishly decide to brave it out. I struggled to sleep and I struggled even more so to fit in a pun about breathing to this section of the trip report.
I was more worried about Mrs Spymon than my pun due to her asthma, thankfully we made it through the night unscathed but unhappy. I realise in hindsight we should have asked to move rooms but it was 00:30 by the time we got into bed and we knew we'd be up well before 09:00 in order to make it down to breakfast before meeting our friends later in the day.
After a shocking attempt at a nights sleep we got ready and headed down to breakfast. Stepping out of our room the cold light of day made it immediately obvious why our room reeked of damp.
Thankfully service in the breakfast room was excellent and much more in line with what we were expecting.
We received a really friendly welcome, were shown to our seats and offered a nice pot of high quality hotel coffee. We explored the buffet and in addition to the usual full English, omelette station and carbolicious goodies were a few sneaky South Asian breakfast delights. Of course I indulged.
Check out was thankfully easier than check in, though disappointingly our complaint about the room was quickly brushed aside with an apology straight from the auto-cue (I should know as I've done a fair few like this over the years when there was little I could do to fix a situation there and then). To be fair to the hotel after I filled in the satisfaction survey for our stay I received a sincere and apologetic e-mail from the GM the very next day offering us a suite on our next stay. Now if I can convince Mrs Spymon to return I'll be taking her up on that offer of that suite!
Our trip had now come to an end, though the story continues on my blog here Flying My First Inaugural – London to Ljubljana Part 6: Another Fun Filled London Weekend if you want to read on about our fun filled London weekend stuffed with excellent food, beautiful buildings and inspiration from the arts.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading about this trip to Slovenia as much as I enjoyed writing it. I do have another TR coming very soon featuring a travel mess due to a transport strike and the fear of being trapped abroad during the early part of the pandemic back in March.
You can find links to my other trip reports here:
Eloping to Japan With A Little HEL On The Side - An updated version of the TR below on my site
Going through HEL whilst eloping to Japan via BA, QR, JAL and some trains! (2018)
A Cheapskate’s Luxury Weekend in Prague - An updated version of the TR below on my site
A Points Powered Weekend In Prague (2017)
Too Many Birthdays: BA (J), Some Trains, Cable Cars and Lots of Good Food (2017)
High Speed Trains and Slow Food - Italy and France by Train and Plane (2016)
What Better Way to Celebrate than a T3 Lounge Crawl (BA J/Y) (2015)
BA to Budapest - A Last Minute Weekend Away (2015)
Three Birthdays Featuring BA vs Easyjet, Lots of Food and Amazing Mountain Landscapes(2015)
Eurostar, TGV, Canoe and a Puppy (2014)
The Adventures of Rebecca Blanton - LHR to CLE on UA (Y) AKA another LHR T2 Trial (2014)
A First Class Indian Adventure - An updated version of the TR below on my site
South India: Featuring BA F, 9W, 6E, SG and the Indian Railways (and lots of food!) (2014)
Coffee in Catalonia: Featuring BA, RENFE, SNCF and some good food (2013)
Planes, Trains, Automobiles and a Boat (2013)
For Family, Football and First Class by Train (2013)
Experiencing BA Club Europe (LHR-LYS-LHR) As Family Matters (2012)
A West Coast Adventure: San Francisco, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with VX and BA (2012)
Three Ways From A to B a Statusless Persons Guide: BA vs. Eurostar vs. Easyjet (2012)
Voyage To India: Delhi, Agra, Orchha, Khajuraho, Varanasi (EK, SG, IT and Indian Railways, 2010) - External Link
Business Lounge
Access: First & Business Class Passengers on selected airlines, Sky Team, Oneworld and Star Alliance Elites, Priority Pass, Lounge Key, No 1 Traveller, Diners Club, Dragon Pass
To reach the imaginatively named Business Lounge we just headed through the rather underwhelming and particularly pricey duty free shop. The only thing of note was an abundance of truffle based products, so if that's your thing you'll be over the moon, for anyone else it was rather grim.
We were welcomed into the Business Lounge and first impressions were pretty good. There was lots of seating, some TVs but a lack of substantial food and drink. It reminded me a little of a Eurostar lounge. Thankfully we kept walking till we arrived at the second section of the lounge and found the entertainment!
There was beer on tap, red and white wine, spirits, soft drinks, bean to cup coffee to drink and sandwiches, biscuits and snacks to eat.
Overall the lounge was small and comfortable but looking a little tatty around the edges. The staff regularly cleaned up dirty cups and plates as well as replenished the food. There were also toilets in lounge which was convenient. Whilst I thought it was a great place to spend 40 minutes or so prior to flying, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if the place had been full. Unfortunately we were very early and had to endure it for a couple of hours... So yet again I dropped some eaves to kill time but they were not massively exciting. Hearing two grown men do a lounge comparison between this and T5 Galleries Club was hardly riveting. I strongly remember these two commenting that our outbound flight was the inaugural and I hope they had as fun a time in Slovenia as we did.
Bored we decided to explore the airport. With LJU being small and efficient this did not take long. In addition to Duty Free there were also a couple of restaurants. We hung around waiting for the gate and looking out for our aircraft which was hiding at a different gate to the one on the departures board.
Eventually some very long announcements were made in Slovenian and English to tell us all about how priority boarding worked on BA. However on arrival at the gate it was completely ignored and the gate agents operated on a first come first served basis. I'm not sure why they wasted their breath...
Flight: BA691 Ljubljana to London
Depart: LJU T1 21:20 (delayed till 22:10
Arrive: LHR T5 22:35 (delayed till 23:05)
Seats 1D and 1F Club Europe (Business Class)
Aircraft: A320-200 G-EUYJ Delivered 28/20/2010
I have to say this flight did not get off to the best of starts and it really should have been an early warning as to how our night was going to unfold. Initially we were delayed due to air traffic control restrictions. Then we were further delayed due to paperwork issues which then meant that delay caused more delays. We finally departed around 22:10 almost an hour late with multiple profuse apologies from Captain. Whilst we appreciated being kept up to date regarding the delay it was still frustrating especially with our departure being quite late in the evening. Thankfully the Captain was interrupted during his third or perhaps fourth apology to tell us we had a slot and we'd taking off right away.
We enjoyed a nice night time climb out over the city as we flew back towards London.
Service started with hot towels followed by a drinks run with a bag of nuts. We were both addressed by name throughout the flight and I have to say service from our crew was absolutely fantastic throughout the flight. It was truly BA at its best.
The food was tasty, especially the chocolate dessert, I think that BA had really improved the catering since the last round of pre-coronavirus changes. Though unlike Genius1, I really wish BA would change their fake table cloths to something a little nicer looking than a jay cloth!
I had switched to wine to accompany my meal.
I went with a tasty deconstructed Caesar Salad
And Mrs Spymon went with the tabbouleh and feta salad.
We finished our meal with a coffee. Since BA switched to Union the coffee onboard has gone from sewer water to pond water. It's a start and maybe one day they'll put some kind of Nespresso machine in the galley for Club customers.
I thought our outbound flight was pretty good but from a service point of view this one was significantly better and for me is how Club Europe should be done. With the current limitations of BA's hard product there's not much else they can do. I've done at least one Club Europe return a year for the last seven years and this crew were up there with the best of them. It definitely felt like a proper premium service.
We taxied into T5 B about 30 minutes late. I wanted to do the tunnels as we'd just missed a transit train but Mrs Spymon had now had enough and made the sensible decision to make me wait. It was then time for baggage claim and passport control which were as speedy as always at T5.
It had started to rain outside and after collecting our bags it was time to get the bus to hotel. I think waiting for the bus only added to our irritability as did the fact that our bus route did not match up with what Google Maps was showing. We were exhausted and looking forward to a comfortable night at the Renaissance LHR.
When we got off the bus it was approaching midnight and it was not a perfect world. We were tired and thanks to the light rain we felt like we were turning from damp to soggy as we trudged across the road to our digs for the night, The Renaissance LHR. Just over a year ago we had a wonderful stay here on the first night of our honeymoon trip to Japan and despite the late hour we were very much looking forward to our stay.
Renaissance London Heathrow
Room: Standard Room
Status: Bonvoy Gold
As I said it was approaching midnight and for some reason both the regular line and the elite line had long queues with just two staff on hand to check people in. It felt like we were in the slowest queue in the world and all we could think about was sleep. There was a man at the front of the elite queue and we could hear every excruciating word coming out of his mouth. He wasn't quite doing the Diamond Guest routine but to us it felt like he was doing Diamond Guest the musical! I believe he was looking for a suite with a connecting room and had questions about every single thing in the hotel. I sincerely hope he was staying for the week as honestly playing 20 questions at midnight at a hotel check in desk is not going to win you any friends and whilst it may influence people, you probably don't want to be influencing them into a furious rage.Whilst I was boiling up something more than a cup of tea inside, some additional check in staff appeared and worked at a furious rate to clear down the queues. The tour group to our right soon shuffled off key cards in hand and everyone else other than our friend at the front was happily headed up to bed. He was truly determined to enjoy every last moment of checking in. Finally it was our turn and we were warmly welcomed and checked in as quickly as humanly possibly without being rude. Thank you kind check in lady for understanding that the only thing on our minds were dropping our bags and hitting the hay.We took the lift up and followed the signs to our room. It was right at the end of the corridor and according to the floor plan the largest on that level. Our first impressions were that this room was just like the one we had last time but without the runway view. The next impression was that the room reeked of damp/mould. We hoped that by turning up the air conditioning it would clear the smell. The air conditioning didn't really make any impact on the odour but by now we'd unpacked, changed for bed and had foolishly decide to brave it out. I struggled to sleep and I struggled even more so to fit in a pun about breathing to this section of the trip report.
I was more worried about Mrs Spymon than my pun due to her asthma, thankfully we made it through the night unscathed but unhappy. I realise in hindsight we should have asked to move rooms but it was 00:30 by the time we got into bed and we knew we'd be up well before 09:00 in order to make it down to breakfast before meeting our friends later in the day.
After a shocking attempt at a nights sleep we got ready and headed down to breakfast. Stepping out of our room the cold light of day made it immediately obvious why our room reeked of damp.
Thankfully service in the breakfast room was excellent and much more in line with what we were expecting.
We received a really friendly welcome, were shown to our seats and offered a nice pot of high quality hotel coffee. We explored the buffet and in addition to the usual full English, omelette station and carbolicious goodies were a few sneaky South Asian breakfast delights. Of course I indulged.
Check out was thankfully easier than check in, though disappointingly our complaint about the room was quickly brushed aside with an apology straight from the auto-cue (I should know as I've done a fair few like this over the years when there was little I could do to fix a situation there and then). To be fair to the hotel after I filled in the satisfaction survey for our stay I received a sincere and apologetic e-mail from the GM the very next day offering us a suite on our next stay. Now if I can convince Mrs Spymon to return I'll be taking her up on that offer of that suite!
Our trip had now come to an end, though the story continues on my blog here Flying My First Inaugural – London to Ljubljana Part 6: Another Fun Filled London Weekend if you want to read on about our fun filled London weekend stuffed with excellent food, beautiful buildings and inspiration from the arts.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading about this trip to Slovenia as much as I enjoyed writing it. I do have another TR coming very soon featuring a travel mess due to a transport strike and the fear of being trapped abroad during the early part of the pandemic back in March.
You can find links to my other trip reports here:
Eloping to Japan With A Little HEL On The Side - An updated version of the TR below on my site
Going through HEL whilst eloping to Japan via BA, QR, JAL and some trains! (2018)
A Cheapskate’s Luxury Weekend in Prague - An updated version of the TR below on my site
A Points Powered Weekend In Prague (2017)
Too Many Birthdays: BA (J), Some Trains, Cable Cars and Lots of Good Food (2017)
High Speed Trains and Slow Food - Italy and France by Train and Plane (2016)
What Better Way to Celebrate than a T3 Lounge Crawl (BA J/Y) (2015)
BA to Budapest - A Last Minute Weekend Away (2015)
Three Birthdays Featuring BA vs Easyjet, Lots of Food and Amazing Mountain Landscapes(2015)
Eurostar, TGV, Canoe and a Puppy (2014)
The Adventures of Rebecca Blanton - LHR to CLE on UA (Y) AKA another LHR T2 Trial (2014)
A First Class Indian Adventure - An updated version of the TR below on my site
South India: Featuring BA F, 9W, 6E, SG and the Indian Railways (and lots of food!) (2014)
Coffee in Catalonia: Featuring BA, RENFE, SNCF and some good food (2013)
Planes, Trains, Automobiles and a Boat (2013)
For Family, Football and First Class by Train (2013)
Experiencing BA Club Europe (LHR-LYS-LHR) As Family Matters (2012)
A West Coast Adventure: San Francisco, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with VX and BA (2012)
Three Ways From A to B a Statusless Persons Guide: BA vs. Eurostar vs. Easyjet (2012)
Voyage To India: Delhi, Agra, Orchha, Khajuraho, Varanasi (EK, SG, IT and Indian Railways, 2010) - External Link
Jun 18, 2020, 9:44 am
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Canterbury
Programs: BA Blue, IC Diamond Ambassador, Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 368