A couple of weeks ago it was my birthday. I won’t reveal how old I am, after all, a lady never tells her age, but let’s just say I’m definitely the wrong side of thirty! Our plans for a quiet hotel break using our Tesco Clubcard vouchers were scuppered when I allegedly left it too late to book – seems my idea of 14 days and theirs is not the same! Anyhow, as my Mum was looking after the girls for the weekend we decided to make the most of it and have a night away anyway – so off to London we went.

As we were on a budget we gathered all the 2-for-1 vouchers we could find, scoured lastminte.com for hotel rooms and used Dale’s work reward scheme to get a discount.

First up was a trip on the London Eye. I’d been wanting to go on there for ages but Dale isn’t a huge fan of heights. It was a brilliant experience and we especially enjoyed the 4D experience.

Next we headed off to find a cupcake shop for coffee and cake – I couldn’t come all this way without hunting out a cupcake shop now, could I? We found The Hummingbird Bakery and settled down for a coffee. I had a red velvet cupcake and Dale had a slice of cheesecake brownie.

As I savoured my cupcake I watched what other people were buying and discovered that if you bought a single cupcake to take away they put it in this diddy little takeaway carton. How could I resist? I just had to have one! 🙂

We headed back to our hotel, where we’d managed to get an upgrade to an Executive room. The rooms itself probably wasn’t that different to a regular room, except it had a desk, but it did mean we had access to the Executive Lounge with complimentary drinks, snacks and breakfast. We also had an invite to enjoy a glass of sparkling wine in the bar on the top floor, looking out over stunning night-time views of London.

Dale had already booked us a meal at a restaurant called Dans Le Noir? – a dining in the dark experience. When you go in you have to lock away all light sources – watches, mobile phones, lighters etc – in a locker, then you choose your menu option from meat, fish & seafood, vegetarian or surprise. We both chose meat and I won’t spoil it and tell you what the food was, just in case you’re planning on going! The sighted guide leads you to the room entrance where you are met by your waiter or waitress. They are all blind and totally amazing. She guided us to our table, one behind another with our right hand on the shoulder in front. Words cannot describe just how dark it was in there. Pitch black, you couldn’t see anything. Usually when you’re in the dark there is a chink of light or your eyes adjust and you can make out an outline, but this was absolute pitch black. The noise in the room seemed almost overwhelming at times, I guess because your other senses kick in and work overtime. The food was good, but really you are paying for the experience, and it’s definitely something that you should experience at least once in your lifetime.

After our complimentary breakfast in the Executive Lounge I dragged Dale round the shops including the wonderful fabric sections in Liberty and the extensive food hall in Selfridges. In fact, we went to Selfridges twice as I sat on the cake pop I bought and squashed it!

And after buying myself a little treat, we had a bite to eat and headed back home.

What a lovely break and action packed couple of days.