August 2/3 - Southend-on-Sea, UK

Our vacation started off with a boom…thunder and lightning caused a bit of a delay getting out of Calgary. We made up for it and arrived into London pretty much on schedule. From the time my parents dropped us off at the airport to the time we had a drink in our hand waiting for boarding was about 20 min…might have been even less…it was incredible!

After a champagne, glass of wine, a meal to fill my belly and half way into a movie and I was pretty much out. Not exactly a good, sound sleep, but as far as shut-eye at 40,000 feet it was top-notch! I’m thrilled when I wake up to the cabin lights being turned on about 90 minutes outside of London.

Southend-on-Sea in the south east of England is where we are spending the first 3 days of our vacation – we arrive at the Roslin Beach Hotel about 90 minutes after leaving the airport.

The Roslin hotel is lovely. There are only about 60 rooms, a bar, a restaurant, spa and gym. I’m sure we’ll visit the bar and restaurant, but not so sure about the spa or gym. It is also right on the Thames estuary which is nice as our room has a balcony overlooking the water.

lift-off toast

Once we’ve had a chance to unpack and rest a bit we stroll along the sea side and eventually the very touristy sea side boardwalk. The boardwalk is a bit of a run-down amusement park type area complete with rides and carnival food. We settle on a pub for a pint and fish and chips (no mushy peas – salad instead.)

first of many pub meals

Our last stop is at a very small convenience store for a couple of hotel beers and to start my potato chip/crisps research project. The findings weren’t too great and all I found were ‘jerk-chicken’ – tasty, but not too ‘unusual’.