What a year this has been. This time last year we were leaving the Shangri la London to go to the airport for honeymoon- the destination had been kept a secret and I had just found out I was off to Bali. I was excited, giddy, fresh and in the early stages of pregnancy.
For our one year anniversary, there was only one place we wanted to go- back to our favourite place, the Shangri La London.
What I love about this hotel, is that it is a five star London hotel in the same sort of band as the well known nice hotels in London, yet it has avoided what I call the 'ponceyness' (I'm not really about all that posh stuck up your own ass shit) and it's just nice and grounded. I like the fact it's avoided Mayfair and has its own little place. It's different. And I like that. this hotel is faultless. The staff are fantastic and will go out of their way to make you happy. The staff are all local and are trained in Asian customer service they are right on it, but discreet and not overly attentive. The best thing about this hotel is obviously the view you get from everywhere. Bars, pool, gym, (apparently! How would I know) loos, and your room. As you walk in, shutters automatically come up to reveal breathtaking views of London. We always upgrade on our room and I do recommended doing this if you can. Upgrading will take you from a view of the outskirts of London to a city view. There is a bit of a price tag with this hotel, you're talking around £600 a night but if you really make the most of it, I think it is worth every single hard earned penny.
We decided to take Bonnie when going this time. It was the 4th time we have stayed at the hotel. It's our first family break and we were really excited about showing Bon our favourite place. We also decided to drive there. That was a mistake. It started off badly- as soon as we left, she started screaming. It didn't last long, she slept for about an hour and a half, and when she woke up, we went to the next services then back in the car where she went back to sleep for another couple of hours. Perfect. Until we got to London and it look almost 2 hours to travel 4 miles. It ended up in me and Bonnie both crying and poor Elliott having to deal with London traffic and us 2 crying. It was stressful to say the least. We had also decided to put loads of stuff in the back seat of the car so I couldn't sit in the back. Very clever. When we got to the hotel after more than 5 hours of driving, we went for afternoon tea. (An hour after our reservation- our second mistake- just don't bother making reservations and go with the flow). For afternoon tea, next time I would probably chance it anyway. There were plenty of tables there for you to just walk in without a reservation. We just walked in last time to be fair it was a Thursday. I didn't expect that on a Saturday so good to know for next time. Afternoon tea at the shard is just the absolute dream. You can go there if you are not staying at the hotel, and I recommend it as a nice present for a birthday or something. I think for a champagne afternoon tea, it's around £70pp. That is just for one glass though and if you're like me you can't just have one! They have a pianist and it just topped everything off that she was playing loads of Disney music. Bonnie slept the whole time- it did take me taking her upstairs to the room, stripping off and feeding her on the bed then getting back dressed and taking her back down to the restaurant, but she slept.
What I love about this hotel, is that it is a five star London hotel in the same sort of band as the well known nice hotels in London, yet it has avoided what I call the 'ponceyness' (I'm not really about all that posh stuck up your own ass shit) and it's just nice and grounded. I like the fact it's avoided Mayfair and has its own little place. It's different. And I like that. this hotel is faultless. The staff are fantastic and will go out of their way to make you happy. The staff are all local and are trained in Asian customer service they are right on it, but discreet and not overly attentive. The best thing about this hotel is obviously the view you get from everywhere. Bars, pool, gym, (apparently! How would I know) loos, and your room. As you walk in, shutters automatically come up to reveal breathtaking views of London. We always upgrade on our room and I do recommended doing this if you can. Upgrading will take you from a view of the outskirts of London to a city view. There is a bit of a price tag with this hotel, you're talking around £600 a night but if you really make the most of it, I think it is worth every single hard earned penny.
We decided to take Bonnie when going this time. It was the 4th time we have stayed at the hotel. It's our first family break and we were really excited about showing Bon our favourite place. We also decided to drive there. That was a mistake. It started off badly- as soon as we left, she started screaming. It didn't last long, she slept for about an hour and a half, and when she woke up, we went to the next services then back in the car where she went back to sleep for another couple of hours. Perfect. Until we got to London and it look almost 2 hours to travel 4 miles. It ended up in me and Bonnie both crying and poor Elliott having to deal with London traffic and us 2 crying. It was stressful to say the least. We had also decided to put loads of stuff in the back seat of the car so I couldn't sit in the back. Very clever. When we got to the hotel after more than 5 hours of driving, we went for afternoon tea. (An hour after our reservation- our second mistake- just don't bother making reservations and go with the flow). For afternoon tea, next time I would probably chance it anyway. There were plenty of tables there for you to just walk in without a reservation. We just walked in last time to be fair it was a Thursday. I didn't expect that on a Saturday so good to know for next time. Afternoon tea at the shard is just the absolute dream. You can go there if you are not staying at the hotel, and I recommend it as a nice present for a birthday or something. I think for a champagne afternoon tea, it's around £70pp. That is just for one glass though and if you're like me you can't just have one! They have a pianist and it just topped everything off that she was playing loads of Disney music. Bonnie slept the whole time- it did take me taking her upstairs to the room, stripping off and feeding her on the bed then getting back dressed and taking her back down to the restaurant, but she slept.
As we had Bonnie with us we decided to order room service to replace going out for dinner. I mean we have the same view as the restaurant anyway and by doing this we are really making the most of our room. She's normally down by 8:30 at the latest so we thought around 9 we would be sat having some nice food. Well picture us at 10:30 still trying to get her to sleep and eating one handed. I suppose that's the thing about having a baby nothing really goes to plan. Once she was down not long after this, we all slept through until 7 and it was hands down the best sleep I've had since I had Bonnie. I need to invest in black out blinds for home.
The next day we had breakfast in the hotel and went for Bonnies first swim. She loved it. It was lovely watching Bonnie and her daddy in the pool, and was lovely for Elliott to share on of her 'firsts' with her. It did make me think how lucky I am, and that maybe I should focus less on how hard motherhood is and more on how lovely it can be at times.
We then met my sister who lives in London at a chocolate bar near Borough market. It's called Rabot and I would definitely recommend to any chocoholics out there. The hot chocolates are to die for- chilli hot choc, anyone?? And the smell of chocolate hits you as you walk in. It's dec'd out all industrial-like which if you've ever seen our house, it's right down our street.
We then went back to the hotel to pick up the car. Our luggage had all been packed in the car for us, with bottles of Evian in the cup holders which was a lovely touch. The journey back was so so much better than on the way, and Bon was an absolute dream.
Going away with a baby was very different to going without- obviously!! At some points I said to Elliott 'why did we even do this' or 'we were kidding ourselves to think that we could do the same kind of things that we did without a baby' and yes, we can't do some things we used to be able to do before. But I wouldn't change it for the world. You may have to alter things, but I enjoyed it so much more this time round being a three not a 2 :)
What we took-
Sleepyhead
Baby's bath things and toiletries
Toys
Pram
Swim nappies and swimsuit for Bonnie
What we didn't take
Baby bjorn
Rain cover for pram
(Both we wouldn't have used in the end so that's good)
Swimsuit for me! However it was nice for Elliott to take Bon for her first swim on her own.
Stuff we shouldn't have taken
The car
Toiletries for baby as hotel provided
What I would have done differently-
Take the train!
If driving again I would have done it differently! I would have stopped at the last service station before we got into the city so she was changed and fed just before we went into London! It's so much easier to stop when you're on the motorway, but once you're stuck in Knightsbridge it's not so easy!!
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