Sunday 12 August 2012

We're going on tour!

Well I wish I could say I was going on tour as the drummer of a rock band, or maybe just a roadie. Or better still the wife of the drummer in the rock band (only this drummer would do!)

But sadly it's the annual cricket tour! Number 2 son plays for the county and every year they have a tour. We've been to Worcestershire where we spent a few days squeezed into a travelodge! We booked a £19 a night family room in the travelodge sale but I have a feeling they mistook us for a family of sardines!

The builder and I were in a double bed, number 1 son on a small single with a pull out bed underneath for Little Miss. Number 2 son stayed with his team in a school dorm.
It wasn't a popular choice as when we asked around there was a lot of "oh no, we just rent a small cottage", or "there's a lovely hotel just along the road, swimming pool and everything"!!

Number 1 son can be a very restless sleeper and we were woken on the first night by slightly muffled cries of "HELP!" He had fallen off his bed onto Little Miss, she had woken but he had not. He'd managed to shift himself around and got his head wedged under his own bed but was laying right across her! We managed to pull him free, put him back in his own bed (still asleep!) and then get her back to sleep - it was a tiring stay!

 The scenery however of the Malvern Hills was spectacular and I took hundreds of photographs.

These are just a couple showing the college where all the cricket was played.

The following 2 years we visited Ipswich. I don't want to put down Ipswich Town as
I'm sure it can be a very nice place; however I can drive there in just over an hour so it's not my ideal destination for a short holiday.

Well this years tour was eagerly anticipated; other age groups have travelled to all parts of the world for their County Tours. India, South Africa, Australia etc..... so where would ours be? A little worry about the cost but I'm willing to overload my plastic for a trip abroad!
Anyway it was announced......wait for it.... Bury St Edmonds!! Just outside of Ipswich around 1 hour 15 mins from home!!

This year I'm not booking a travelodge or any kind of hotel, I'll drive there each day. The builder stays with the team as he helps to coach.
We'll pack our usual enormous picnic and travel home each evening, it's hard to say whether the diesel will cost more or less than a hotel.

Of course if the band want me to tour with them, I'd stay over!

12 comments:

  1. Oh no Jay your little trip away sounds like a not so fun one, we stayed in a Travel lodge last month it was disgusting I made a complaint and they told me they couldn't promise me that the next time I stayed it would be any better so I ditched the idea and took up a 4 star hotel on a special offer, I wish I had blogged about our stay as the pictures are shocking. The weather looked great for the cricket! thumbs up for the sunshine. Tracy x

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    1. That sounds awful, we've stayed in a travel lodge a couple of times and it's been clean but SO small and stuffy. Don't think I'll chance it again!

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  2. Your little story did about your son falling on top of your daughter did make me smile. It reminded me so much of a story often told by my mum of a holiday we had when I was about 10. We went away in our caravan and my friend came too. There was the usual argument as to who should sleep on the top bunk. She slept in the top bunk the first night and I got it the second night. Apparently there was a violent storm and I fell out of the top bunk onto my friend - I didn't wake up either and I never got to sleep in the top bunk ever again. I'm surprised the hotel had any customers with its motto of things are unlikely to improve.
    June

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  3. Travelodge are really good for price, but thr rooms can sometimes be a bit on the small side I agree!
    I did have a giggle at the story about your son, glad there were no injuries to either party!
    Lisa x

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  4. My friend's son worked in a Travelodge as a holiday job - I think he lasted 2 weeks as it was so awful. Eventually, he got fed up with having to ask customers to make their own beds with damp sheets! Bury St Edmunds is lovely though....perhaps you could treat yourself to a night or two in a nicer hotel?!

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    1. Bury is lovely, but I'm mainly sitting in a field with a thermos flask!!

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  5. Ha good attitude on your part - can't remember what Penny Lane in Almost Famous did about hotel rooms??

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  6. wow! Congratulations on your second playing for the county! Lol about your son falling on top of the Little Miss!!

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  7. I'm laughing at the story of your son falling out of bed; bless him! And poor Little Miss - she should demand 5 star luxury in future.
    Perhaps the next tour will be somewhere more exotic? Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, or you might even make it as far as Bedfordshire...

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    1. I can but hope - apparently there is talk of next year being Wolverhampton, I've never been there but it's not conjuring up a picture of a white sandy beach and turquoise sea!!

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  8. good luck with the tour! sounds exciting....all those details work themselves out, right? haha!!

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  9. You had me laugh with your post - it could have been worse ;)

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