We had a fantastic room which was on split floors, the lower smaller floor had a chaise longue and small eating area within the bay with large windows allowing us to overlook Kensington Palace and the green grass of Hyde Park. There was great view of the park from both the upper and lower floors, but unfortunately it was raining rather hard so we didn’t make the morning run around the park trails.

We were immediately amazed by the service from the moment we walked in. From being called your name at all times with such friendly staff and a hand written welcome letter from the hotel’s manager Andrew Pike, it is this sort of attention to detail that allowed the Milestone to be voted for the best service in the world and No.1 British hotel by Conde Nast.

The hotel is grade 2 listed and was originally built as two townhouses, the first known, Kensington House was built around 1689. It is amazing to think how big these houses would have been, to be able to be converted into a hotel which houses 45 bedrooms, 12 suites and 6 two bedroom apartments! AND this doesn’t include the spa, swimming pool, gym, kitchens, bars and entrance halls etc.

We didn’t get to try the internal Cheneston’s restaurant as we were hungry for a nice prime fillet steak. The concierge recommended Brasserie Chez Gerard which was a perfect choice as a) The steak was absolutely fantastic and b) It was only a 2 minute walk along Kensington High Street.

From the hotel all the main museums were only a short walk away so we decided to go and visit the National History Museum. Even after about 10 trips there I am still amazed by the dinosaur skeletons which are still in amazing condition after millions of years. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit the new Darwin Exhibition as it’s not opening until Friday this week. Due to the time it took to go around we were a bit too tired to see the Wildlife photographer of the year exhibition so we need to plan a return visit shortly. Maybe we can coincide this with Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland Outdoor Ice Skating

If you are into surfing, not the web kind, there are some reasonably good waves which had a few people riding on, I haven’t seen anyone windsurfing there yet but looks pretty good conditions for it, how I am now thinking back to being in Lancelin and wishing i had learned to windsurf… long story cut short, one of the best places in the world to windsurf, but it was too windy for me to learn. There were a few people testing their kites for kiteboarding/kitesurfing which judging by the waves would have been awesome.

I never set foot unto the peir, it didn’t look particularly that interesting, apart from you can bungy jump off the top. A pretty small bungy jump too compared to my AJ Hacket bungy, but it would have been fun i’m sure. I tried to get Dorota to do a tandem one with me, but she wasn’t feeling the excitement.

If i had gone here a couple of hundred years ago, in fact in 1654, i would have probably been killed. As the Battle of Scheveningen was fought here between the English and the Dutch. The amusing thing is that in Britain anyone not in the actual battle would have ran off, but in the Netherlands the dutch stood on the beach to watch! I was curious as to which side won, and to my estonishment from reading the wiki both sides did

“Oddly both sides claimed a victory: the English because of their tactical superiority, the Dutch because the strategic goal of their attack, the lifting of the blockade, had been achieved”

Whilst on the wiki i noticed this interesting piece of trivia:

“There is anecdotal evidence of the name Scheveningen being used shibboleth during WWII to identify German spies: they would pronounce the initial “Sch” differently from Dutch native speakers”

There is an amazing hotel in Scheveningen called the Kurhaus Scheveningen, it was built by ze germans in 1884, and has recently been completely renovated and now is a high class hotel and casino.

So to sum it up, if you’re ever near Amsterdam it is most definitely worth a drive to the beach here, it’s about a 45 minute drive away and so worth it for a nice chilled relaxing day, and dare I say it… almost as nice as Brighton

I’ve now made two trips back to Moshi airport, after being told my bag would be on the next flight. I’ve now spent 4 hours in a taxi and still haven’t got my bag, however I’ve got a new friend who is loving charging me for my regular trips to the airport. It really is starting to seem like I’m in a new film crossed between Ground Hog Day and the Terminal.

Note to self: Alex next time you’re bags are thrown out of a plane onto a runway, make sure you pick them up. Physically ensuring they both get on the other plane.

Finally my bag arrived 1900 hours last night. Unfortunately the airline can’t deliver it until 1100 tomorrow morning, we start the climb at 0900. Which means another trip back to the airport, my new found friend the taxi driver isn’t working this evening so is unable to take me.

After lots of negotiation with various taxi drivers after our splendid Indian-Italian dinner. Doug kindly offered to keep me company for the next 2 hours. Doug and I jumped into the back of a taxi which seemed to be under the control of underage driver(s), yes the driver had a co pilot. We were expecting to go to the airport directly, there was only literally two roads to get there once out of Moshi, by now I could have practically drove myself there blindfolded. After the driver made a few unnecessary random stops and started pretending to try and speak broken English, (really his English was probably better than mine) was explaining that he didn’t know where to go. He then started making more stops talking to people from the window, I was getting rather angry at this point where I thought I had connected with him and he realised he couldn’t try it on anymore and we seemed to make good progress down a long road. I had no idea where we were now, then he got out and spoke to some people who were randomly loitering down a road in the middle of nowhere, they started laughing and joking. This is where Doug and I thought it would be a good idea to make a run for it, before we ended up being mugged by 20 Africans.

It’s late at night, pitch black and we’re lost and with no water. After following our gut feeling and walking for some time we heard English voices… actually a screem! Following by laughter with hoped these people would be able to help us. As we got closer we realised it was the rest of the guys. They were walking back from an outside disco and Will had just fallen down a 1 meter deep gutter in the side of the road. I don’t think either of us had felt this good. It’s still amazing we can drive around for about 35 minutes and only be around 3 miles from where we started. On looking back I still feel we were getting set up to be mugged.

Spoke to the guys at the hotel, who managed to convince my friend the taxi driver to take me. Finally got to the airport and was told after getting to customs that they were shut. They shut 2 minutes ago. I wanted to scream! They were still fucking in there, I could see them, I’ve spent about £100 on bloody taxis, on the verge of being mugged, and all this to get equipment needed for a charity climb I was starting in 10 hours! Worried about being deported by the oncoming security I agreed that yes I would come back at 5am to get my bag. After speaking to my newly acquired friend he couldn’t take me again until 0630 the next morning to which I was worried would cause another issue with me being 2 hours late. I arrived back to the hotel at 1215 and was so annoyed I couldn’t sleep. Great no sleep.

Arrived at the airport at 0715 and they were shut… fantastic! Customs open at 0500, but the actual airport is only open when flights are in operation. This meant the airport wasn’t due to open until 1000. After picking up a small amount of Swahili, thanks to my now 8 hours of lessons in the taxi, managed to amuse a young lady who worked at the airport and took me around the back of the airport and somehow managed to convince the military police to let me through with her. Several x-ray scans and being padded down a few times we were finally through. After wondering around the side of a hanger which housed the carcass of an airplane crash, I decided for once I wouldn’t tell David Coats on the flight home. The fact that we landed on two wheels and in a plane where the lights kept turning on and off, probably scared him enough already. (David is scared of flying and I didn’t fancy doing having to do his work, if he decided to get a cruise home)

After being left on my own, wondering around the airport anonymously. I managed to find the customs room. Success! After a 45 minute wait I got my bag back. Morri, my now private chauffeur actually looked sad. He would probably never see me again. I arrived back to the hotel where the overgrown stretched Landcruiser’s were being loaded up with everyone’s equipment. I had made it back in time, and with minutes to spare i packed all of my needed equipment into my bag and left the rest with the hotel to look after.

Bring on Kilimanjaro!

Today I got a reply from the Apex City Hotel London. It was a very pleasant letter from Yousif Al-Wagga the general manager of the Apex Hotels group giving hiis sincere apolgies for the problems I experienced with the Apex City of London Hotel.

They have taken appropriate action to ensure that such mistakes are not repeated… what ever that means, and have given me a complimentary stay including breakfast.

I am really pleased with this as it was quite expensive to stay there and was a shame that I had an unlucky series of events. I do honestly belive it was a one off and look forward to my second visit.

Thank you Apex

This weekend I went to London and stayed at the Apex City Hotel near Tower Bridge. The hotel looked fantastic.

But unfortunately from the moment of booking nothing went as expected from a four star hotel. A few of these issues are minor but over the course of the weekend just added up and fuelled my discontent.

The most influential event in writing a complaint letter to the Apex City Hotel in London, was early Sunday morning I was arguably awoken by the hotel fire alarm. This isn’t the reason I am ranting, I am frustrated by the way the incident occurred and the handling of this situation.

On this Sunday morning the fire alarm was set off. However in the room I was sleeping in, 318, this noise seemed to be coming from outside in the distance such as a car alarm. At not one moment did I think it was the fire alarm! It seemed too quiet. So after around thirty five minutes of the alarm ringing I decided to ring reception as I was starting to have second thoughts that maybe something indeed is wrong. Expecting to hear that it’s just a car alarm outside and the police have been informed. I was informed to leave the room immediately there is a risk of a fire.

After leaving the room I realised that the entrance I came through was now blocked off, and were puzzled on how to exit the building. These were the fire doors which had automatically shut, however there was no clear indication that this was indeed the way out, nor any sign saying to push the doors for exit. I always expected in times like this that it would be soo easy to find your way out but I was wrong.

After I realised how to get out of the building and quickly passed down the stairs I was bypassed the fire brigade coming up. I then went across the road and stood with all the other guests opposite the hotel.

At no point was I told what was happening and no head count took place. Seemingly I wasn’t the only guest with the problem of the volume of the alarm, as several other guests came down after I had.

All of us are extremely fortunate that this wasn’t a real fire, I honestly feel if it had have been there would have been a real disaster at hand and our lives would have been in danger.

I would like to know why there is not an automated phone call from the fire alarm system which is secondary to the alarm, with a recorded message to inform you of a potential risk?

Why staff members didn’t ensure that all guests were out of the rooms?
Why a headcount didn’t take place?
Why an explanation of what was happening was given?
And of course how such an alarm could be so quiet in certain rooms?
I am completely mesmerised by how the staff at this hotel could possibly be so unorganised in the event of a fire, it was obvious no one knew what to do.

After all of this I couldn’t have what I wanted for breakfast nor had any hot water, the fire alarm had tripped off the gas.

AND THEN… on checking out I was told by the girl at the reception desk when trying to settle my bill in these exact words, “You will need another method of paying as the credit card machine is not working”.

I felt this to be extremely rude and her entire attitude towards guests this day astonishing.

I explained to her that I had opened my account on my credit card and this being the only form of payment I have. Where she replied “well lets hope that your lucky” before snatching the card off me and trying it in the machine. I tried explaining to her that this is the only form of payment I have, and what am I supposed to do if the machine is out of order? She then starting moaning to me about how all the guests are unhappy this morning… this is not the kind of service I expect in a local bed and breakfast let alone a four star hotel in London.

I feel that no one should be spoken to like this, especially in front of other guests about myself not being able to pay the bill, which was very embarrassing.

I do feel that my experience at this hotel was probably a one off due to the situation, and maybe the extra stress the staff was under. But none the less the staff should be better trained to handle these situations.

Complaint letter on its way…