Advantages: It's a unique venue with beautiful rooms Disadvantages: It needs to try a bit harder to justify the ridiculous prices
When we were first married, my husband used to attempt to surprise me on birthdays and anniversaries by booking weekends away for us. He's long since given up because weekends are now the only time we get together and so being at home beats most places we could be instead. On my birthday about 7 years ago he really surpassed himself by finding (goodness only knows how) and booking a weekend at Butley Priory near Woodbridge in Suffolk. He's not one to skimp on these things and paid about £300 for the weekend which was kind and generous but probably a bit over the top.
It might sound like a strange place to choose, particularly bearing in mind that at the time we did actually LIVE in Suffolk and not too many people would go for a weekend break in the county they lived in. However, I've always travelled a lot for work and he knew that ...
Advantages: Very friendly & helpful staff, easy to get to, Nice hotel Disadvantages: Take your own baby monitor
Back at the beginning of April my husband and I decided that we'd take our 10 month old son up to Preston, Lancashire to show him where his Mama originated from before defecting to the South :o) As it was my Mum's birthday at the same time, we thought it was as good enough excuse to head off 300+ miles in a Northernly direction.
~~~Finding The Details~~~
I found the details through the internet, even though we'd stayed at the Preston Marriott previously, we'd failed to keep hold of the phone number.
The details on the website were easy enough to follow. After putting in Preston on the hotel search engine, it quickly took me to a list of all the Preston hotels that they have, I found Preston United Kingdom at the bottom of the list and clicked on to it. After this I was taken to a page that contained a map and a list of other ...
Advantages: Good story set in an interesting period of time. Disadvantages: Slightly unbelievable at times.
and Marcia Preston effectively draws the reader into the drudgery of Trudy's daily routines. Soon Trudy learns through an old friend, Wolfgang Kruger, that, as the wife of a defector, she is in danger of being brought in for questioning by the Stasi. Faced with possible imprisonment, torture or worse Trudy reluctantly takes up an offer of help to escape to the west. Tragically she is unable to take Stefan with her - a heart-wrenching decision for any woman.
Having survived the terrifying ordeal of her escape, Trudy learns the fate of her husband and sets about trying to find a way of being reunited with both Stefan and her mother in law.
The reader is then presented with a sequence of events which somewhat tests the bounds of credibility but nevertheless still provides an enjoyable read. President J F Kennedy visits to deliver his now ...
