iDate – some random thoughts.

As with my trip to iDate in Vegas, I’ll finish off with a few random thoughts about the whole experience as well as things I forgot to mention earlier:

London is busy.  Very busy.  Scarily busy.  However, everyone seemed to be pretty friendly, including the one woman who started chatting with us about shoes, phobias, cigarettes and even offered to give me the socks off her feet when I said I wasn’t wearing any.

“Christian driving” doesn’t seem to exist there the moment it starts to get busy.  It’s pretty much a matter of push your way in no matter what and screw everyone else.

The hotel we stayed at was the first one I’ve ever been at with a doorman.  I even got to chat with one of them.  It’s not a job I’d like to have, but both doormen seemed to be happy in what they were doing.  I’ll bet their feet must ache like crazy at the end of the day.

I had the sweetest lady from housekeeping enter the room as I was working.  She was extremely apologetic and after she left I had what appeared to be the head of housekeeping come to the room to check everything was OK.  Random housekeeping lady, you did great, no complaints and I made sure to say so when asked.

The staff from the B+B we stayed at before the conference were also great.  The owner told us about how one victim was supposed to have met his scammer at her place, and she only found out after the story was featured in the newspapers.  Luckily the person must have realized something was wrong and never went.  They also were contacted by a scammer trying an over-payment scam on her, but she didn’t fall for it.

We had to drive along the M25 to get to the hotel.  If you’ve not heard “The Road To Hell” by Chris Rea, have a listen to it.  It’s supposed to be about that stretch of road, and I can fully understand why.  I remember driving on it a few years ago during rush hour, and it would have been quicker to walk.

We brought our own beers with us.  For the price of a 330ml bottle each in the bar, we could have bought two slabs of beer in the supermarket.  So we did 😉  Food was much more reasonably priced, same as I experienced in Vegas.

Would I stay at the same hotel again?  Probably not.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a really nice place, but for the price it really ought to be.  The B+B I’d definitely consider staying at again, especially if I’m flying from Gatwick as you can leave your car in their car park when you fly.

I almost fell out of a lift.  It had doors on the front and right hand walls rather than front and back.  I was leaning against what I thought was a wall, but when we stopped, the “wall” started to open.  Scared the life out of me and gave everyone else a good laugh.

I don’t know what they fried their fried bread in, but it was disgusting.  One bite was all I could take of it.  The rest of it was delicious though.

Farm shops and cider farms can always be found if you keep an eye out for them.  They’re always worth visiting.

All in all, the entire trip was a very enjoyable experience for everyone.  Some places more than others.  Brighton I can take or leave (probably leave) but Eastbourne I’d definitely like to visit again.  I’d also jump at the chance to visit the Wetherspoons in Crawley again.  Best.  Breakfast.  EVER!