A few weeks ago Ryanair were having a ‘flash sale’ and I was woken up with the news that Jono was taking me to Blackpool – it was only later on in the day he also told me he’d booked the flights with my debit card! Anyway for the sum of €12 each return we were flying from Dublin.

As this was an unexpected break everything was done on the cheap! When I say cheap, I mean cheap. We booked a hovel hotel through booking for £12.50 each per night including breakfast. We flew into Manchester and got the train to Blackpool. When we arrived at the hovel hotel we were greeted by the friendly owner, who explained he’d only taken over the place three weeks ago. We had read the reviews and we weren’t expecting much but were delighted when we were told we’d been upgraded! So this was our room:

Notice the heater under the sink, possibly to warm up the water?? You might also notice the window that didn’t close. Also the telly that didn’t work.

A power shower! Which didn’t produce any warm water.

My bed for the night. Jono got the double bed which was also in the room. To be fair we both slept quite well. The place was quiet, it would have been nicer if the window had closed but at least the room was well ventilated! As this was the upgraded room I’m left wondering about the room we had booked!

The dining room doubled as a bar which stayed open until the last guest left. There was also a karaoke machine, dart board and pool table. As we were there mid-week there was no karaoke. I’m not sure if I’m happy or not about that!

Full marks for the breakfast though, which was included in the price! A choice of cereals, a coffee machine which made all kinds of coffee, a full fried breakfast, toast or a bacon butty.

Also top marks to the owner who went out of his way to get up early on the day we left so that we wouldn’t miss out on our breakfast. To be honest I’d stay there again, fantastic value for money and we did have some laughs along the way. I’ll do another blog about some of the things we did in Blackpool.