Friday 9 September 2016

72 hours in Manchester | Bank Holiday Adventure


 
Hello guys! So I briefly mentioned in my last post how I was busy with family over the bank holiday weekend, and what a fun couple of days it was. Catching a flight over to Manchester for the holiday was definitely more exciting than staying at home. Yes the sun wasn't shining the whole time, and yes the roads were absolutely bunged. BUT. I got to spend the weekend catching up with family I hadn't seen in years. AND. I got to explore parts of Manchester and the cute little town of Wimslow that I'd never seen before. So this will probably be quite a lengthy post, but stay with me. We squeezed so much into 3 days, even a wedding! So read below to find out what we got up to:
 
 
   

So I woke up on the Friday morning with the sun splitting the trees, my bag already packed and the smell of eggs coming from the kitchen. At that point I knew it was going to be a good weekend. After arriving at the airport we took a short coffee break before boarding our flight which surprisingly was only up in the air for 35/40 minutes before making it's decent - a lot shorter than travelling to New York! Once in Manchester we got a taxi from the city airport to our hotel which, again, was fairly close. We stayed at a Premier Inn hotel which was located on the outskirts of Wimslow, just 15 minutes away from the airport. Being the UK's top rated hotel chain I was actually looking forward to staying here. And it did not disappoint. I had such a relaxing stay, the staff were so friendly and the food was absolutely delicious, especially breakfast! 
 
So we dropped our bags, got freshened up and caught a taxi to the Trafford Centre. Now. I hadn't heard much about the Trafford Centre before, my sister just said it was a big shopping centre. If I'm honest, I wasn't expecting much. Boy, was I wrong. I could not believe the sheer size of the place, it was absolutely massive! It had every shopping and restaurant chain you could ever think of, a huge arcade which included bowling allies, spectacular architecture and palm trees everywhere you looked. I also found out it has Europe's largest food court and the UK's busiest cinema! It was amazing! After hours of shopping and exploring the gigantic centre and a quick drink and bite to eat in Mardi Gras, it was time to go home or back to the hotel at least. As we were heading towards the entrance we walked past the most beautiful and grandest staircase I had ever seen - I could not resist taking a photograph of it. I just wish we had shopping centres like that back in Northern Ireland.  
 
The next morning, I started my day with the most delicious Eggs Royale before starting to get ready for a family wedding. I was actually quite nervous because I hadn't seen my English family in so long. But on the other hand I was extremely excited to see everyone and watch my cousin walk down the aisle. The location of the wedding was absolutely stunning. Situated in the grounds of Styal Golf Club, it must've been one of the most beautiful wedding settings I had ever seen. The whole day was amazing and the weather actually held up which was great. It was so lovely being able to spend the entire day with my family, catching up with my cousins and aunties and uncles. With me being the youngest in the family everyone kept commenting on my height as I was a lot smaller the last time they saw me - okay, I was a very small teenager. The band which came on during the evening was great, the drinks being served were even better and don't even get me started on how delicious the wedding cake was - I may have went up for a second slice. But it was probably once of the best weddings I had been to in a very long time.
 
I woke up the next morning feeling rather tender, shall we put it like that. Thank god for the hotel breakfast! But we got ready for the day ahead and met up with some of my English family again for some lunch. We went to the Coach & Four pub which looked so old fashioned and beautiful as the original stonework was still intact. We all sat in the conservatory part of the pub where there was a huge buffet and an array of wine just for ourselves. I don't think I've ever eaten so much food before in my life but it was delicious! Afterwards I had to say goodbye to my English family which was sad but I know we'll keep in contact and hopefully I'll be seeing them again very soon. Later on, my family and I decided to explore the town of Wimslow and discovered two of the cutest parks I'd ever seen. One even had a huge lake in the middle of it - great photo opportunity. We then watched the sunset and headed back to the hotel for a couple of drinks at the bar before sitting down to watch a film in our hotel room.
 
On the Bank Holiday Monday we woke up, had our last breakfast - I couldn't resist a full English fry - and headed back to Manchester airport. The flight home was so relaxing and it was so lovely to be welcomed back with some sunshine. I honestly enjoyed every minute of that weekend and would love to go on some more short breaks in the future as well! Have you went on any short breaks recently or can recommend any? I'd love to hear from you! Drop a comment below and don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin', Twitter and Instagram. So until next time folks.
 
Robert      
 

No comments:

Post a Comment