Welcome to Brighton

Day 1

About a year ago. Myself and the wife were on holiday in Folkestone. And this year we are getting away again. We would go abroad but the hassle that would be. With everything going on at the moment. We preferred to have a seaside holiday again. So, we chose Brighton. Well, I chose Brighton. Mainly because I have never been and the wife just needed a place to go. So we went.

20th July 2021

We arose about seven in the morning and started getting ready leave. We had already started packing the day before. Plus it was satisfying to have the wife not asking several times a day, like a kid in the back seat, “Can we pack today?” She had been asking for at least two weeks now.

So, at 11.11 am, the father in law arrived to takes us to Brighton. We loaded up our things and we were on our way.

At 12.35 pm we arrived at the hotel. From the outside it looked very grand but well used. When I got out of the van the sun for some reason didn’t like the idea of me seeing things. It was that bright I couldn’t raise my head enough to see properly. And I have reaction lenses on my glasses that are suppose to help with that.

We were early and wasn’t due to sign in until at least 2.30 pm. So, it was agreed, before hand, that we would go and get something to eat. It was also to say thank you to the father in law for helping us, get down to Brighton. We got back in to the van and took a drive along Brighton seafront in search of something to eat.

We parked up and after a little walk around we found this little place with outside seating. I don’t know if the place owned the seating. It might just be a community thing. Where you clean as you go. Which I am perfectly fine with. I believe in the concept of leaving a place as you found it or better.

The food we had there was really good. Some of the best chips I have had in a while. I had a bacon and egg roll with it. The sauces come in little pots. We had garlic mayo, which was really good. Most of the time, including the shop versions of it, is dulled of the flavour of garlic, but this was good. We also had ketchup. It’s not Heinz. But still good. If you get a chance give them a go. There address: Madeira Café, 15-16 Madeira Drive, Brighton BN2 1PS.

It was time to go to the hotel and get ourselves booked in. But on the way to the van with popped into a tourist shop to pick up a couple of things.

We went to get our room key at the Beach Hotel. First problem with the place is the entrance. It’s a single door, cut in half. Made in to two doors. Which makes it awkward to enter the building. Especially when carry luggage.

We were given an attic room and it’s small. But after a while you do eventually get use to it and it’s quite cosy. It had a semi decent sized bathroom as well.

This section is for my own security incase they want to charge extra for broken things. I am not sure they actually will but you can never tell. I would advise this for everyone when using a hotel. Document your room.

A Look at the Room Itself.

To give you a sense of how small the room was. Here is a picture of the top of my head and the distance to the ceiling.

The weather for the day was mental and once settled. I had to use my spare set of clothing. I bring, just in case. To go out again later.

The view from our room.

The biggest let down which we didn’t find out until we got there. Was that there was no Wi-Fi in the rooms. But in the downstairs area. Which wasn’t advertised. They just said they have Wi-Fi. Which normally would include the room itself. So I had to resort to using mine and the missus’s data, for my laptop, when required.

There is a folder with basic knowledge of things we may need to know. Here are some of those pages:

It was a few hours later before we made our way back out and we made our way to the beach.

The atmosphere on the beach was different to everything outside of the beach. As you approach the beach, everything was considered normal everyday life. The beach was a different world. Evening life attracted the “hippies”, various cultures mingling together. I normally would be in there mixing and enjoying the life with them. But for some reason I felt like an outsider looking in. I didn’t belong. Maybe my introvertness has taken more from me than I realise. Or the atmosphere was a bit too different than I am use to, although close to it.

The wife noticed the difference as well. She couldn’t understand why it was different. She suffers from anxiety. I tried to explain the difference in lifestyle to how it is at home. Where in Brighton, even though it is busy. They aren’t in a rush, it’s more relaxed. The flow is slower. Where as at home everyone wants everything now. Everyone is in a rush. They’re the most important thing there at the time.

Usually she would be in flight mode. But even here, with the large amounts of people, the wife felt relaxed and able to be herself.

I appreciated the various cultures mixing together. Making me think the world could learn a thing or two from what was happening here. The peacefulness all was near perfect. People just getting along. Except for the drift of the smell of weed, filling my nostrils. Wasn’t wanted, but expected.

All ages mixing together some relaxing, some partying, some cooking. People selling their wears. It was tranquil.

The evening flowed on as we wondered around taking everything in. We eventually walked back to the hotel and tried to get some rest for the next stage of our holiday.