After a morning’s work for Mr FFF and nails and facial appointments for me (I needed to relax after 2 days of packing!), we set off from the midlands to drive down to Southampton at about 1pm.

The journey was largely uneventful, although I did feel some strong gusts of wind pulling at the car and we drove through a few downpours. We made pretty good time though and arrived in Southampton to sunny weather at about 3:45pm.

We’re staying for one night at the Premier Inn West Quay as unfortunately my first choice of hotel, the Holiday Inn, was fully booked. The hotel seems pretty comfortable although it doesn’t have its own car park which is a slight headache due to all the luggage we have (you’d think we were going on a grand tour with the amount we’ve got. And I was thinking we’d packed light this time!). However, there is a reasonably priced public car park at the back of the hotel so I’m sure we’ll be fine.

The location of the hotel is good – right next to the docks and the West Quay shopping centre. After a quick coffee, we went for a wander around the shopping centre so that MIL could buy a necklace for one of her formal night outfits and Mr FFF could buy a pair of black trousers for black and white night as someone forgot to pack his (who is to blame for this is still in dispute).

Next we wandered down to the Dancing Man Brewery for food. Mr FFF and I found this place before our last cruise but the restaurant was closed due to a wedding. They serve their own and other craft beers and ciders as well as some commercial stuff. Mr FFF had an IPA and a couple of San Miguels whilst I tried their saison and lager. MIL stuck to diet cokes. All of their food is home cooked and they have a wide variety of options for meat eaters and vegans. MIL & I both had pies – her chicken, bacon and cheddar, me beef & stilton (I was going to go for the healthier fish option but I was far too hungry for that), whilst MR FFF had the smoky short rib and brisket. Everything was delicious and the service was good.

We had intended to stroll back to the hotel via Mayflower Park but the wind whipped up and the rain started pouring so we went via the sheltered back streets instead but got to see parts of the old city walls and other historic buildings. We’re going to spend the rest of the night relaxing in front of the TV in the hotel room and trying not to be too excited to sleep!

Thanks for reading,

FFF