Travel Blog @ Day 4: Amblerside Pier, Glenburn Hotel, Bowness-on-Windermere

Continue day 4 after my last post. Rise and shine to a new day in Liverpool. As always, time to head down to the cafe for a hot breakfast on a cold morning. Breakfast was not included so we need to order our breakfast from the counter.

For any breakfast order from the counter, we can help ourselves with their continental selection; such as hot drinks, muffins and cereals. 

Have the choice of sitting in-door or out-door. We stayed in-door since it was really cold in the morning. Mum have the Vegetarian English breakfast while dad & I have the Full English breakfast. 

As always, not wanting to waste time, we checked out the hotel early and head off to Lake District. Our journey to Windermere took us 1 and the half hour from Dolby Hotel (Liverpool).

We arrived at Windermere after 12pm. The hotel room will only be ready after 2pm so we drove around to pass the time. We ended up at Ambleside Pier for a short break and have a light snacks at 'The Pier Cafe Bar'. 

Love the scenery here. It's so calm and peaceful. 

You can take a cruise when you're here but we took the cruise at another lake since we were waiting to check-in the hotel. 

Time passed quickly when we are enjoying ourselves. We drove back to the hotel and check-in at The Glenburn Hotel.

The gentlemen at the reception greeted us and in no time we have the key to the room for one night. 

Yup....we need to lugged our big luggage up the staircase....again. Thankfully there's one staff to help us to carry one of the bigger bag to the room. 

We managed to climb the staircase all the way up to our room with the rest of the big bags. We booked a Superior Family Room for 3 which was on the highest floor. Despite the huff and puff to our room, we were quite happy with the room since it was so much roomier than the one we stayed on the previous night. We paid £119 per night for this hotel which includes breakfast.

After putting our luggage and freshen up, we head off to another lake at Bowness. This place is much crowded than the one we went at Amberside Pier. Then again, this place is way bigger!

The rain started pouring down on us as soon as we arrived. Fortunately there were a store nearby and we went in for shelter. Outside the store there are swans resting on the grass. They're not afraid of us and gladly accept any food given to them. 

Once the rain stopped, we bought the ticket for the cruise. 

Depending which cruise you take, each route are different but the scenery is quite beautiful. We took a round trip and alternatively guest can disembark at Ambleside and return on a later boat but we didn't since we have already visited the place earlier. 

 Drove up to the town nearby after the cruise for some window shopping. 

Thought it's a cake shop with all these colourful cake shape at the window display, which by the way it's actually a soap cake. 

Mum was missing some comfort home and we ended up dining at You and Me, a Chinese restaurant.

We ordered their set meals and the dishes were huge! Defiantly more than enough for a family of 3....and we couldn't even finish everything (the portion is really big).

After dinner it was time to head back to the hotel for a good night rest. 

Yup, that wraps up our day 4 here. 

To be continued with day 5 soon.

Travel Blog @ Day 3: Liverpool Football Stadium, The Dolby Hotel and Albert Dock (LIVERPOOL)

Woke up early in the morning with our tummy growling. 

Unfortunately The Bell Hotel we stayed do not include breakfast.

Hence, we need to pay additional to have our breakfast in the hotel. 

Can't remember how much we paid but it was a buffet breakfast. 

We took a morning walk to digest our meal after a heavy breakfast. 

At the opposite of our hotel there was a morning market. 

Loads of fresh fruit and pastry. We bought a lot of fruits here since it was fresh and cheap. 

My plan was to check out some of the stores (it was closed the night before) after breakfast. Unfortunately the stores were still closed when we passed them around 10am 

Since the stores were closed, we decided to check-out the hotel early and head off to Liverpool. On the way, we stopped over at a rest area.

We have something to eat while we were here.

Pie and Fish & Chips. Yummy!

Next stop to the Liverpool Football Stadium at Anfield. My dad is a big fan of Liverpool so this is one stop which is a must for him to visit. The entrance to the stadium tour was too expensive so we ended up shopping in the store instead. 

Loads of merchandise and t-shirts.

We check-in at Dolby hotel after 15 minutes drive from the Stadium. We paid £55 for a double room with Bunk Bed (1 night), the cheapest that we can find that looks presentable with good review online. Another reason I choose this hotel as it's walking distance to the city's tourist, leisure and shopping attractions. However, if you have a large suitcase, I'll not advice to stay here as there is no lift  in this hotel. Our room was on the 2nd floor and we have to lugged the big suitcase all the way up to the room without any help. *Free public parking on site & Free Wi-Fi*

Our room for the night on day 3. 

The room is really small and space is limited since there were 3 adults.  

The toilet is very clean but extremely small. 

Reminds me of the lavatory in the airplane. 

We have difficulty taking a shower in this small bathroom.

Despite the small space, the view outside made up for it. 

We took a slow stroll to Albert Dock which is 10 to 12 minutes walk from Dolby Hotel. 

Once we arrived at Albert Dock, we checked out the fab4store. The store have a range of clothing, gifts, books, posted and musics of the Beatles.

Next we headed for The Beatles Story. 

However the admissions fees were a bit pricey so we ended up taking pictures instead.

Funky Candy shop. 

There're souvenir shops wherever you go while you're here.

I bought a small magnet from one of the gift shop to remind me of being here. 

It was a hot sunny day and the weather had been wonderful since our arrival.  We were afraid that the rain will come and may have ruined the day for us since we only have less than a day here. 

There're so much more to see in Liverpool but mum was tired so we head back to the hotel.

For those who is on a budget, there is a fast food restaurant nearby.

However, my parent decided to have the dinner back in the hotel instead.

There's a small cafe in the hotel and their menu have variety of choices to choose from.

We ordered Gammon Steak, Chicken Tikka Masala, and Pasta All'Amartriciana.

The dinner in total cost £22.50.

And that wraps up our day in Liverpool.

Continued with day 4 at Lake District here.

Travel Blog @ Day 2: Europcar, Bicester Village, The Bell Hotel (BICESTER & WINSLOW)

On day 2, we woke up early to have our breakfast since we slept early the night before. We were the first to arrived at the restaurant for our hearty breakfast. Fortunately breakfast was included in our stay in the hotel. If not, it would have cost £17 per pax. 

 We checked out the hotel at 11am and took a cab to Europcar to collect our car. Took a while in Europcar as the place was crowded with customers wanting to collect their car as well. 

Once we have collected the car, we headed to Bicester Village, an hour journey from London. We had heard so much of this place and was told that it's a big outlet shopping area in Oxfordshire with tons of designer shops.

It was around noon when we arrived so our first stop is to look for a cafe to have our lunch.

Can't help but took a photo of the telephone red booth. ^^

We have our lunch at Grand Cafe Villandry.  

The restaurant is spacious and friendly with a sunny conservatory, and outdoor seating.

The service here was excellent and the food was good.  

After lunch, it was time for shopping!

Honestly,  expensive designers are still expensive despite their discounts, and the high-street brands tend not to have particularly great discounts. Of course, it all comes down to luck on the day you visit. 

Stopped over for sweet crepes as the smell was too good to be missed.

Ordered one Bananachoc (£4.25) to share.

It was awesome and delicious!

After spending 3 hours here, we decided to take off to our next destination.

I didn't buy anything since most of the item here is quite pricey after discount.

However, my parent bought quite a few items when they were here.

Our next  destination is The Bell Hotel, which is 35 minutes away from Biscester Village.

We stayed a night in Winslow, a small town situated in the midst of the Buckinghamshire countryside.

An onsite parking next to the hotel. 

Back entrance to the hotel.

Got our key at the reception. 

Took a while since there was only one staff at the counter.

However, the staff was friendly and she guided us to our room in the next building. 

As there was no lift, we have to huff and puff to carry our heavy luggage to the room on the second floor.  

Finally a bed on my own instead of sofa bed. Stayed in a Family room (£79).

As you can see that the room is really spacious, much better than the room we stayed the night before. :)

Bathroom is huge and spacious as well.

After freshen up, we took a slow walk around the Winslow town.

Most of the shops were closed, except for the mini mart and eatery.

Absolutely love the charm of this small town. 

On our way back to the hotel, we ordered Chinese Food to take away. 

There were 2 Chinese Food restaurant but they are take away only.

Didn't take a picture of the food since the food was all in a plastic container.

The food was good and pricing was reasonable.

We decided to called it a night and slept early. 

And that wraps up my day 2 in Bicester and Winslow.

Continues reading here on Day 3 when we head off to Liverpool. ^^