I booked this with British Airways Holidays for the bonus Avios, and also the price was great – return flights (Y) and two nights B&B in a four star hotel - £225.00. As it was booked with BA Holidays there was £20 cash back from Quidco, and the price included checked luggage too.
I was sure I would be offered an upgrade at some point, but I hadn’t factored in that Krakow was so popular or that I would have a series of Club Europe breaks booked in the weeks to follow.
So it was a dejected Sealink who headed to Heathrow to meet up with three pals who I had convinced to book the weekend. We do lots of little breaks and are very easy going about it – booking differnet flights and often different hotels, travelling out a day earlier or a day later etc.
The funny thing is, there’s now a new ‘normal’ – anytime any of them books a different hotel from the one I have picked, they invariably end wishing they’d booked my choice! On this trip I picked a four star traditional hotel in the old town – the Pod Rosa, while my pal picked a far more functional four star hotel which he didn’t like. “That’s the last time I defy your choices Sealink” was his answer. And defy my he did the following week, picking the five-star Melia in Bilbao and then immediately regretting it at check-in! Anyway I digress. Economy! To Krakow! How would I cope?
Firstly, even though my flight was at 3.35pm, I was posh now, so I booked the not-so-posh Hilton Garden Inn at Hatton Cross, following a suggestion from a work colleague (I stayed again a week later for my Bilbao trip) and apart from a little niggle at check-in everything was fine.
Because I’m actually not posh, I headed to Crystal Palace South (East Croydon) to catch the last X26 Express to Heathrow. TfL runs this, so for £1.50 you get to ride on London’s longest bus route – 22.1 miles! It took about an hour. I angrily tweeted TfL as the bus stop in Croydon was closed, and I just caught the last bus by a whisker. Not really anything to get worked up about.
I was the only passenger for most of the journey.
Getting to the Hilton Garden Inn was easy – a short walk from Hatton Cross Station and I was there. Reception was unmanned when I got there, but soon someone came out and apologized, offering me a bottle of water for my distress
Hilton allows you to choose your room at check-in, 24 hours before, via their app. The map they provide isn’t up to much, and then you have to queue for your key anyway so I wasn’t sure what the point was. I think eventually your phone will open the door, but the Garden Inn isn’t there yet.
Garden Inn’s also have a bar and restaurant so I had an eye watering Gin and Tonic (eyes watering at the price, not the strength of the gin!) and maybe another one. I can’t remember
This used to be a Jurys Inn but it does look like Hilton did a proper refurb with it.
I took this picture because I was most impressed that the hotel had plugs next to the bed – I have been surprised by how often this is missed.
The next morning, after an average breakfast (I am so fussy in my old age. None of the tables had been cleared properly and I struggled to find somewhere to sit.) But again, this was small fry (unlike my breakfast!) and they had a nice buffet going.
I then made me way to Hatton Cross and a quick tube to Terminal 5 to meet my pals.
Before that I queued for ages at the upgrades desk - a lady who wanted to change her ticket refused to go the change your ticket queue, and also blocked anyone from getting past her. Charming!). All I was asking was if there they were offering any Club Europe upgrades. I had a nice chat with the lady there, but they still weren’t offering upsells, as the flight was almost full. I said GOD DAMMIT in my head.
Check-in (not Fastrack) was really fast and we headed to Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food for lunch.
It was busy so we had to wait about 10 minutes. The food was decent enough.
Yes, a little glass of Prosecco and why not?
Boarding started from the back rows first, and I was in seat 25A so was one of the first to board, with a stag party. They were all very good natured although I hated the slogan on their T-Shirts “How may Zloty to see your Slotty?”. But the main thing was that they were not being overly boisterous in that way that gets people thrown off flights.
Seatwidth and legroom was identical to Club Europe
A nice view from my seat
Take off was uneventful and above the clouds the blue skies cheered me up! The purpose of these breaks being to break the awfulness of January. So that worked.
The inflight service was short and very sweet.
That mocha bun being something else. I liked it a lot. It had a dense coffee flavour, lightened by the icing, and then a melting middle of coffee fondant. Ever so sweet but so more-isa! The chicken and bacon roll was OK too but a little too little! And I need add nothing about the G&T.
The stag party got lots of extra drinks and snacks which annoyed me in that “That’s Not Fair, I Want Some” way. Which is petty. But but…
Landing was also uneventful, at a very nice Krakow Airport. They still have Christmas trees up, because some Saint’s day hadn’t passed or something. Sorry that’s not very cultured is it?
We shared a taxi to the city and dropped us off at our relative hotels.
This was the view from my room
In the heart of the old town, the hotel could have been noisy, and the street outside was noisy… except for the walls. They were thick! You can sense it here:
The hotel was under-statedly grand.
Krakow was stunning.
We did the Salt Mines Tour, which was interesting. Possibly 30 minutes too long but definitely worth it.
All in all, Krakow was great and I would go back. A nice combination of history, cool bars, great food and great value. Another place I would be happy to return to.
I think I shall add it to my "want to visit" list.
