Views and Reviews Part 1 – Hotels

We decided to branch out a bit and finally visit England and France. A lot of my family history comes from those countries, and I wanted to see a bit of the history of the countries. I’m going to do a series of articles on this trip, and I’m going to start with the hotels that we stayed at. Being that my husband makes so much noise when he sleeps, we (I) decided to book two solo rooms at each hotel so we could both get a good night’s sleep.

Tips: (Remember that UK and European plugs often have an on/off switch next to the outlet.) You will need to bring an adapter to whichever country you are visiting, and don’t bring your own hairdryer or curling iron unless it is dual voltage. You can plug in your phone into a USB plug though. They are usually dual voltage. If you have a tablet or laptop, check them to be sure they are dual voltage.

Royal Cambridge Hotel, Paddington Station area in London

I looked for information on this hotel on YouTube before we left the US, and couldn’t find anything. It did have halfway decent reviews on Expedia, but not much else. Since we were going for a budget friendly hotel, I decided to give this one a try. They do have single rooms, along with double twin beds, and also bigger rooms with more beds and bunks.

All of the hotel rooms in this area are very small, this room was especially small since it was a single room. But it had everything that I needed, and the bathroom was tiny but modern. It had a shower door, which was a big help since this was a cruise sized shower, although my husband didn’t like the rainfall type shower head. They had tiny (of course) bottles of shower gel and shampoo, plus a bottle of hand soap on the sink. No hairdryer. There is a towel warmer behind the toilet. Towels are included, but no washcloths. We ended up bringing our own because we had heard that they do not use washcloths in Europe. There is a tiny elevator, but it broke down the second day and never started working again.

The bed was comfortable, but the room was freezing. We were there in April and it was still pretty chilly outside, the low was around 45 degrees. I finally figured out the second night that the radiator had a knob at the bottom right side to change the heat temperature. That did help. See the picture.

The clerk was friendly and helpful. They do have a breakfast but it does cost extra, we didn’t try that. Wifi is free. This hotel is located at 124 Sussex Gardens in the Paddington area. We had a hard time finding it at first because we went out the wrong exit from Paddington Station. Go out the main large exit near the Burger King Restaurant. When we were there, there was a lot of construction going on near the street. Cross the street and go down the first street on your left. Go two blocks and turn left on the left side of Sussex Gardens. The hotel is on the left side over halfway to the next street. You can see more at this website. Hyde Park is in walking distance.

Maison du Pre, Gare du Nord area of Paris

We took the Eurostar train into Paris from London, which goes between St. Pancras and Gare du Nord Station in the 10th Arrondissement (District) in Paris. We wanted a hotel that we could walk to since we only had twenty-four hours in Paris. I checked online, and the Maison du Pre had decent reviews and wasn’t overly expensive. It was about a 10 minute walk from the rail station, and the area felt safe. Around the station, however, there were a lot of homeless people, and also a lady who pretended to have a baby, and was begging. You need to be careful in Paris, there are a lot of scams and begging going on. Do your research and don’t fall for anything. Just say no, they won’t hurt you.

As the other budget hotels we had, this one was small, but not as small as the one in London. The bed was also bigger than the small twin bed at the London hotels. It was comfortable, and there was wifi. I didn’t watch television, although there was one, since I don’t speak French and there were no English speaking channels. The clerk did speak English, which was a help. There is a tiny elevator at this hotel which worked. There is a continental breakfast but costs 8 Euros.

The strange thing about this hotel is that there are two tiny closets in this room. One side had a toilet, the other side had the sink/shower in it. The shower used the entire little closet and drained into the floor. Towels were supplied, but no washcloths. bring your own. I used Face Wipes. No hairdryer. You will need a France outlet adapter, you will have to use a dual voltage appliance in England and France. I got a dual voltage flat iron on Amazon, and it wasn’t too expensive.

You can leave your luggage before or after your stay. They have a dedicated room for it near the clerk. That allowed us to get some breakfast and then go to Sacre Coeur church before we had to catch our train back to London.

Here is the website for the Maison du Pre. This was probably my favorite hotel on the trip. It was pretty quiet, and comfortable.

Dolphin Hotel, Paddington Station area of London

This was probably my least favorite of the hotels we stayed at on our trip and I don’t really recommend it. It’s in the same direction as the Royal Cambridge hotel, but a block closer to the station on the left side of the park. The park has some cute dog sculptures but it rained a lot so we didn’t get to explore it. It is a safe area and the Big Bus has a drop off/pick up point right down the street.

The room was the smallest I had and was down narrow steps to the basement. There is no lift at this hotel either, so it was not easy to get my luggage to and from the basement. Plus, the Tube was running right underneath the hotel, so you got the sound every few minutes until around midnight. Very noisy. There was an extra pillow and blanket in one of the huge closets above the bed. I had to move the nightstand so I could get to the UK outlets. They did have a couple of USB ports in the outlet and had free wifi. They also had a hairdryer. The bed was comfortable.

The hotel seemed pretty run down compared to the other hotels we stayed at. Especially with the toilet being pull chain like the old fashioned ones, and having to use pull chains for the lighting fixtures in the bathroom. There was a ceiling fan in the bedroom but it looked dirty or like it had mold on it.

They have breakfast but it costs extra, like the other hotels we stayed at. They will hold your luggage for you before or after your stay, there is a dedicated room for it, and it is kept closed. The clerk will get your luggage for you. We left it while we went down the street to get breakfast at the F&B by the train station. Check out the Dolphin Hotel website here.

More reviews coming

I’ll be reviewing different parts of our trip soon, so keep an eye out. It was a fast trip and some of it is still a blur, we did so much in so little time. But it was a great trip and I’m glad we took a break from cruising to do something different.