Have A Lovely Time - Travel Blog

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My grandad was a proud British Rail guard. God knows what he’d make of this week’s chaos

This week I travelled from Wolverhampton to Nottingham by train. It was another example of how unreliable and uncomfortable rail travel can be.  Not that I needed reminding. There was a second morning of disruptions yesterday as the network recovered from a 90‑second power outage. ...

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Butlin’s Bognor Regis entertainment revisited

Bognor’s got The X Factor When Butlins unveiled its £20 million Ocean Hotel in Bognor Regis, chatter was all about booming bookings and a shiny new spa signalling a shift away from the old hi‑de‑hi image. What struck me most wasn’t the hotel, snazzy as it was, but the entertainment, and how chaotic it could be. I’ve always had a soft spot for holiday‑camp mishaps. Years earlier, at a Welsh caravan park, I watched a man called Uncle Paul attempt to escape from a sack and fail spectacularly. My dad and I laughed until we cried. I never thought anything could match it. Then came Chic...

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A summer I’ll never forget: Corfu at 18 as told in Chat magazine

If you’re gonna do it, do it right… Do it with me. Me, Kaye, Jackie and Donna were going full pelt on the dance floor, having the time of our lives. The DJ owned about 10 records, but we didn’t care, especially when Wham!’s I’m Your Man came on. Even now, I can’t hear George Mi...

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Catfished in Scarborough: How a £436 hotel stay put my romance with the British seaside on the rocks

An expensive weekend away has left me feeling catfished, shaking my once-unbreakable faith in UK tourism. Grotty scenes at a Scarborough hotel have broken my heart. I’ve been love-bombed by gushing web copy and seduced by pristine online images. I know I’m not alone. Blindsided by negl...

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Precious cruise memories that surfaced when I wasn’t looking

I found this piece buried in the drafts folder of this travel site. It’s a long‑removed review of a Disney cruise we were invited on in 2008. Reading it felt like prising open a time capsule. Our girls were not yet teenagers. Neil had turned 40 and was full of mischief. None of us imag...

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