From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

peb

I think to be fair we in the UK have so rarely needed air-conditioning it hasn't been a priority. I certainly have never looked to check if it's available with a May booking

I am however looking to stay in a travelodge (stayed there before a couple of weeks ago and it was perfectly acceptable) and as Im looking for August I may just check. There was a holiday inn express or similar when I looked at the area before so air-conditioning may nudge the decision.

With just one I usually just take a flask of small milk but the frozen bottle should work and im pleased to see did work well.

I had a 5/six hour drive . Took the cooked meal frozen in a freezer bag next to chilled but not frozen soup, drove 2/3 hours, stopped overnight leaving the food in the car and carried on the drive the next day. The meal was still frozen and the soup still chilled. I don't know if its because it was a solid mass of food or if the boot is cooler.

edinburgher

I believe that PI A/C is set to 19 degrees minimum at all properties.

Greying_Pilgrim

peb - I agree with the frozen blocks of food concept. Had we not parked up for nearly 4 hrs in what was, in effect, the "midday" sun, converting the car into an oven on wheels, i think (only because of the blanket insulation), that the solid block of milk did well. It had started to de-frost by the evening of the first night, but only just, there was sufficient frozen 'core' to know it would be OK overnight. We'd parked in shade by 3pm, so the car was in warm 'air' but not direct searing, sunshine. When we travelled at Easter, the weather was OK, but not 29 degrees with no cloud - and the pizza that I'd packed frozen for our first night's tea (in a PI), hadn't fully de-frosted 🙄 Well, the mushroom hadn't - LG's black olive pizza had. But that experience tailored what I took this time, and the asparagus, and the mozzarella, and the black olive pizza slices were all still cold, but could be eaten once I'd set the food out. See I do learn! 😁I used one of the thermos mugs to hold cold milk on our last trip, so that works, I just wasn't sure about stretching it for too long - I think the manufacturers stipulate 18hrs. LG was delighted to have cereal for breakfast - and it was a holiday - so If I can continue to take milk frozen/in a flask, then I will. We have had good success with cool bags in the boot, and leaving them overnight etc, but Saturday's weather wasn't forecast to be as sunny (as in totally cloudless skies, sunny), nor anywhere near as hot as it got. I have to say, I thought we would have lost all the food - I was incredibly lucky it neither spoilt nor got unsafe to eat.

I accept your point about A/C in the UK - it's just that it's been complained about on PI sites for several years now and whilst even I don't think I can recall a May being so hot, for so long, there is nothing you can do in a hotel room to ameliorate the heat - you can't open the window beyond a set point (and I realise some of the reasoning behind that ☹️), you can't leave your door ajar, there is no solution.

ed - our experience of 19 degrees was positive, but I wonder (parallel lines time), what difference it could have made in the first hotel room. Speaking personally 18/19 degrees is about right for me, but only if (on really hot days), the system is able to work to get the room down to something approaching that temp.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Right, so I popped out to hB, mostly to get non-food items (inc grass seed), but picked up a couple of store cupboard food items whilst I was there. I will divide out the totals and update my siggie figgie - I think the h3ndersens relish, garlic and gherkins came to about £3.50ish. In total I spent £19.55

I am going to make a version of white fish and bean puttanesca for tea. Someone on the… GC or Frugaldom thread mentioned they were making it. I shall substitute qu0rn for the fish, and won't use anchovies, but will certainly base my version on the beebeecee recipe. I will make mine in the SC and I will probably serve it with pasta. I haven't any tinned cherry tommies (nor fresh), so will use ordinary chopped toms. I just had a look in hB to see if they had capers (they do sometimes), but they didn't, so I got a jar of gherkins instead, as I can use them for other things too.

The back garden looks like it might be dry enough to walk on (without turning your books into size 26's), so I may have a scratch around to see if I can break down the tilth anymore, and move the soil around a bit. There are 2 areas that are still bugging us - despite it being 100% improvement on what was there! 😆

Greying X

greenbee

When I used to stay in PI/TL for work, I carried a security allen key with me so I could undo the security restrictor on the window… Now I try not to pick ones that say 'no AC' - usually the same ones as say 'no lift' :)

Greying_Pilgrim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82020163#Comment_82020163

OOOh, greenbee - I've seen you in a whole new light! 🤣Lock-picker extraordinaire! 😁👍I am trying to remember if there was a lift in the first hotel, we always use the stairs, so I don't always notice, but I know that we were up on the first floor - I don't think there were further floors 🤔 Darn it - I just checked and the PI that was nearby that was cheaper - but had poor reviews does have A/C, as did the one nearest our event, but which I rejected because it was £175 for the night…….. 🫤 Must be more careful in future about the existence (or not) of A/C if booking in potentially warm weather. To be fair, we've never had an issue before, it was just this weekend - which, to be fair, wasn't the hottest the UK got in May, although waaaayyyy to hot for moi!

Right, I've just spent half an hour in the garden. I've made a bit more of an improvement. But we've searing sunshine again, so no point in trying to labour on and get burnt to a crisp. I had to wait until lunchtime for the soil to dry out sufficiently. The rain we had, had done quite a good job of penetrating the surface - perfect if you'd planted seed 😭 We're forecast thundery showers later, but if per chance they miss us, I might have another go at moving soil around again later, when it's cooled down.

Right, I need to go and set the SC going.

Greying X

greenbee

I think a lot of people who travel for business do the same thing GP. Particularly if you work in an role that means you're carrying a toolkit anyway (not that mine was more than a few tiny screwdrivers/allen keys and anti-static kit). Anything to make the travel bearable.

peb

Your experience has meant I've checked the holiday inn express for Aigust. £55 if just me, £63 for a twin. The travelodge is £52 but apparently holiday inn express gives free brekky

Watty1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82020246#Comment_82020246

I have never thought of this greenbee - but - it is brilliant (used to stay in that sort of hotel often)

Greying_Pilgrim

OOoh, Bravo peb! Just a quick question, as I've never used HIex (nor HI for that matter), and I had a recent poor experience trying to book a TL, but is the 'free' breakfast reasonable? Well cooked, or continental perhaps? It's just that PI breakfasts are (to my mind) quite expensive, and whilst children eat free I can't make the numbers work for us - and then with the changing landscape of catering/adjacent pubs etc at PI, and the seemingly opposing reviews of 'best thing since….' and 'congealed, overcooked mess' - I've not yet plucked up the courage to indulge. Although to be fair, we've stopped in several PI's in recent years that a) had queues in to breakfast, b) had lots of people eating breakfast and c) were all 'in-house' rather than troop to the pub across the car park. Perhaps 'in-house' is the key?

I never got to the bottom of what was wrong with my TL booking, which is a shame, as it's putting me off trying to book with them again. I mean, I've got no complaints, my money was never taken from my bank account (as you all assured me it wouldn't be), but I still don't know why it happened, and what (if anything), I should have done differently. I mean, we tried CC and DC, we tried booking on a lap-top and on a phone - what else should I have done? Was it TL's way of saying 'we're full' for that booking date - without saying 'we're full' - or were they understaffed and could only have a third capacity of guests or something. I mean, I'm grateful I didn't lose money, but TL are no longer in the frame for consideration for accommodation - which is probably a loss to me, when 'cheap and cheerful' will suffice for 12 hours or whatever.

I think I had forgotten to mention that I was a teensy bit disappointed that LG had requested to take cereal on holiday - simply because the porridge pots do better mirror the breakfast they normally have (although DH makes porridge from scratch, not using the pots), and I'm thinking about satiety when out and about. BUT I was cheered that a) they saw this little trip away as a 'holiday' and b) despite my fears about melting coolbag contents, the milk was available for Sunday breakfast and I was able to buy more in MrT on Monday. We had to get to our event before the supermarkets were open on the Sunday - hence me taking milk with us. And I will freely admit, that I am pleased that they chose cereal when we were on holiday at Easter - and saw that the cereal was 'a treat' - hence why there were boxes left for this trip, and there are still 2 boxes left to have for a treat another time. I'm also delighted that they haven't given up on porridge all together.

I was able to do a couple more hours on the garden last night, as the temperature began to fall, and the garden went into shade. I still sweated cobs tho! But we're inching closer to 'better'. It'll not be crown green perfect, but there are a few too many (baby fist) size clumps of soil/clay still on the surface, and a few too many stones - not from a perfection pov, but from a 'grass seed can't grow on a stone'. I don't know when else I will be able to get back to the garden, as rain showers are forecast and the soil quickly turns to mud. I don't want to undo what I've worked this hard to achieve. Mind, shifting soil hither and yon has done wonders for my sleep - being a 'woman of a certain vintage who doesn't sleep' (did you hear the lass on Owain's Air-Drum anthems this morning - hey sister!).

Tea last night was good. It worked in the SC and I cooked up some spinach farfalle and then incorporated that into the pasta sauce. Clean plates all round, and a keeper of a recipe.

I will double check the forecast, but if we are due rain, I will go and do the food shop today. I don't think I have quite enough cheese to last, and have no alternative sandwich fillings that are 'school compliant'. We'll see.

Ta for popping by. Greying X