Our Frank Adventures: April 2012

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Frinton-on-Sea

Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England, 2012

We have been spending nearly two-weeks moving from hotel to hotel, trying to budget what is left of funds. It's hard to explain without too much detail, but we are not able to return to the United States yet, at least not with James (more is written about that in various entries on our "big blog"). We're going to use some of this time to try to catch up some travel entries about places we're seen and restaurants we ate in, back when funds were a little more flush. As well as some writing about the interesting little villages we have found ourselves in.

These are pictures from a month ago (March 22), when we went to Frinton-on-Sea, in England (the county of Essex).

Frinton-on-Sea is a town situated on the North Sea, in South-East England, the county of Essex. The roots of the town grew in the early to mid-1800's when it had been fairly unpopulated consisting of very little aside from a church, some cottages and dotted with farms. It got big in the early 1900's and became a place for high society types to go to play tennis, golf and stay in upscale hotels. It's a sleepy town now, full of elderly residents and a large golf course adjacent to the coast, which has been partially blocked with a coastal defense concrete wall and giant rocks to limit erosion - some parts of England have a huge problem with erosion of the coasts...more on that later.

That day in March was a warm-ish and sunny day for March in England. In the distance, situated far off in the waters of the North Sea, the turbines of a wind farm turned lazily, generating electricity, but even on the clear day that it was you could barely make them out from the shore.

People rode bikes, flew kites, fished along the shore; couples walked hand-in-hand enjoying the rare March day. Frinton-on-Sea is not a place for high excitement, but a relaxing place along the sea not dotted by gaudy hotel chains; rather apartments overlooking the sea, uninterrupted vistas of the area surrounding it, a beach, and a long walking path along the sea shore.

More: Frinton-on-Sea Tourist Information

Some of the photos we took while in Frinton-on-Sea

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Hotel Hopping

We stayed in a GREAT hotel on Tuesday night, but we can't write about it yet because we're staying there again tonight.

Last night, however, we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express outside of Colchester, England. James had to go back in the town today and the other hotel didn't have a room available.

We've been using a website to book "late rooms", which means last minute discount rooms because we're on a severe dwindling budget until James picks up some new contract work...the hotel we are returning to tonight is a steal of a deal...the Holiday Inn...not so much.

The room at the Holiday Inn was about £50 (75% more than the hotel that had character), or if you wanted a room with free internet £57.

First off...we didn't get the room with free internet because a) we assumed our mobile service would work in the area so we could tether our laptop and b) internet for 24 hours there costs £7.99...so how is adding £7 to the price of a room "free internet"...yeah, we're not a moron. Nice "scam", Holiday Inn Express.

Turns out our mobile service didn't work inside the hotel...but if we stood outside in the humid chilly air, or went to the Shell station across the parking lot then sure, it worked great. We were not willing to spend £8 for internet (equal to just over $12 USD) because that's insane, plus we had a dinner of yogurt, peanut butter and celery to save money in the first place. It just wasn't logical to spend money for internet.

The sounds traveled from the parking lot to the second floor of the hotel, as well as the noise down the hall. And as any Holiday Inn...there were kids.

The lighting and electricity doesn't work unless you inserted the room key in a slot near the door, and they only give you one, which means if someone leaves the room, they leave the key. We probably could have asked for a second but we expect them to provide two when two people are checking into a room, particularly one where you need the key to watch tv, plug in a laptop, turn on the lights in the washroom, etc.

The room included free breakfast (as did the previous nights hotel) but this breakfast was mostly dreadful in comparison to the previous mornings. Sausages (clearly cheap "American-type"), instant eggs, super thin toast, a low-brand yogurt, the typical continental fare, plus. We didn't even bother finishing the coffee (that is a testament onto itself). Most everything about it seemed "American", which is to expect since it's an American chain, but we haven't experienced American things in a few months, since having been living there, so it seemed...deflating.

However, it was very clean and the customer service seems to be on top of things, we wrote a tweet about it sucking (#HolidayInn) and IHG (International Hotels Group @IHGCare, the company who manages Holiday Inn) picked it up and tweeted @ us.

All in all we resolved not to stay at a Holiday Inn again, unless absolutely necessary.

Tonight we return to the charming hotel from Tuesday night...and beyond that we have nothing booked.

James got a lead on a contract, we might be going to mainland Europe very soon...

Until then. Happy reading.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Three Months in Colchester, Essex

Well, now that we are relocating we can write about the town we've been living in for nearly three months now.

We were lucky to have landed in the beautiful town of Colchester, located in North Essex county of England. Lucky because it is the oldest recorded town in England, dating back to before 49 AD, when it was a Roman city. Following it's Roman occupation there is about a 400 year gap in what life was like in Colchester before it was occupied by the Saxons in 400AD.

The castle we have walked past countless times, and wrote about in both of our main blog, and photographed in previous entries here, is an English castle built atop the ruins of the Temple of Claudius. With an interesting history (which we'll try to write more about in a following entry).

There are many historical sites in Colchester; a project is underway where they are unearthing an old Roman Colosseum that the town of Colchester was built on top of. Also located in the town are the ruins of the earliest known Christian church in England, thought to date back to the 4th century.

With old Roman walls surrounding the castle grounds, the lush green grass in Castle Park that surrounds the cast, with lush bright green grass that rivals that of a golf courses, and beautiful River Colne running along the edge, full of ducks, swans (read about the swans: http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/all-queens-swans.html), and assorted waterfowl, Colchester really was a beautiful place to spend the last three months. (Read more about the area, and how we feel about James moving away for us: http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/sacrifice-of-love-journal-entry.html)

Also see:

There will be another series of photos of Colchester in the following entry, because we don't want to go get the camera to plug it in to get the photos off of it...it's... *points in distance, which is really four feet away* ...over there; as well as some more writing about our experience there.

In the meantime, check out all the photos we've taken and posted so far. The town really is breathtaking.