New Trip 2011

On my way to the USA from my next trip Failed last time to keep up my blog so going to have another attempt this time. Left via Penarth and collected Paul from Cwmbrian, who is joining me this trip. First Stop was at the Holiday Inn M4 Junc 4, this time the Parents are stopping there too on there way to Shipton, The hotel has good points and bad points, easy to find and close to the airport. We have been upgraded to an executive room, had a Sausage Sandwich for lunch in the lounge which was good, Dinner was the opposite, was a 3 course carvery, the soup was OK, The roast beef was a little chewy and veg cold, cold plates didn't help, pudding how ever was good. As for the waiting staff.... got the drinks wrong, when you ask for no ice, you don't expect to see floating cubes of frozen water in there. They got worse, after 3 of us had finished the main course, the waiters cleared the plates before we had all finished, the 4th felt embarrassed being the only one left eating with the rest of the table cleared... very rude, the manager made the mistake of asking if every thing was OK, was very groveling and apologetic, and apparently going to have a word with the staff immediately, there was obviously a language problem, as the exact same thing happened with the desert plates. Did get a 12% discount and then he said he had taken off the service charges... we didn't get any service which i politely pointed out to him. What was very amusing and needed a double take was the large party of Chinese tourists, obviously there first visit to the UK for example profiteroles with roast beef, cheesecake with salad. They were as good with knifes and folks as I am with chopsticks, using two folks like you would use chopsticks. Then Back to the room to watch some TV and check in online, ready for a long day tomorrow