Christmas in Wales: Part 1, The EasyHotel

We were very well organised for our trip to Wales, in the summer we found and booked our flights. We carefully chose a flight which would give us the maximum amount of time to get from the island to the airport. We decided, since the return flights would put us in a bit of a rush to get the ferry home, that it would be sensible to go for a later flight and sprang for a £29 room in a Premier Inn when we came back.

We were organised and it was all good.

But then on the 19th of December the weather started looking a little bad for the Friday we were due to travel. At work my colleagues helpfully pointed out that it wasn't looking so hot, plus there was the threat of a baggage strike to deal with.

By the next morning they were forecasting 50 mile per hour gusts of wind at Wemyss Bay by 9am on the 23rd. Right about the time we were planning to catch the ferry. Later in the day it had gone up to 70-80 mile per hour gusts. I immediately had a panicked conversation with Mr Click about stopping over on the mainland the night before.

Some frantic Googling later and I'd discovered that most hotel rooms that night were going to be more expensive than our flights were. Luckily I found an EasyHotel for £30 for the night. It looked pretty basic, but I figured it was the best we could do without spending a small fortune just three nights before Christmas.

Well, the of the 22nd dawned grey and windy as expected. Our original plan had been to leave about lunchtime but given the weather we dropped Tara off at the kennels and headed for the ferry as quickly as we could. It was a rocky crossing but we survived.

Following a spot of lunch and a mooch around Glasgow, we checked into our hotel room.

And when they said it was basic, they really weren't kidding! It was like a large cupboard with a bed and en suite!

This is pretty much the room.

I took this photo sitting on the bed, with my back up against the wall. It was as wide as the bed was long and we were lucky enough to have a window in our room which looked onto the space out the back of the EasyHotel and Travel Lodge next door.

The white door was the bathroom. To the right was the loo, to the left was the shower and you could probably have sat on the loo and showered. It was compact.

But what we needed was a room for the night and it more than served its purpose. We decided against paying the £5 fee for a remote and did without TV in our room. We took showers, we sat around and chatted, we played online, we read.

It wasn't the most restful night, mainly because I fell fast asleep at 7pm and woke up at 9pm wide awake and ready to go. I did a lot of reading.

For the price, you don't get much, but it's plenty if all you're needing is a bed for the night. I could see us stopping there if we were planning a trip to the theatre, a concert, the movies, and needed somewhere cheap to stay. I imagine it's the sort of place which we'll consider again if we're ever stranded on the mainland when the boats aren't running.

The following morning we got up usual time and checked out around 8am to begin the real journey to Wales.