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This has to be one of best wins I have ever won, it was
really fantastic.
Friday 22nd April first class train to London,
we were given a £20 allowance for a taxi to get to the 5 star Langham Hotel in
Regent Street. It made a nice change going first class and we made the
most of it!! We arrived at London at about 5pm and got taxi to Hotel, it only
cost £5 in taxi ! We got changed in our executive room
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Saturday morning we were being picked up by a driver to
take us to Eurostar at 11am – we weren’t hungry but as breakfast was included at
£27 per person we decided we should go down, although all we managed was a cup
of coffee and piece of toast !
Driver picked us up on time from London and took us to
Eurostar, we had first class tickets, which was great it was Ian’s Birthday so
it made it extra special drinking complimentary champagne and meal on train.
We arrived in
Paris at 2.30pm and another driver was waiting for us to take us to the
----------- Hotel for a 2 night stay, a very nice hotel – the sun was shining so
got changed and walked the streets of Paris armed with our £300 spending money
on the look out for some treats to take back
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For the evening meal we decided to try snails ! I tried
one but couldn’t manage to actually swallow it ! Ian ate 5 but said he didn’t
really like them !!
We had an allowance of £50 per person per evening meal, so
we made the most of it although did drink more than we ate!
Next morning we got up early it was overcast but we had a
busy day ahead of us !
Breakfast was included so again did go down although we
didn’t eat much! We then walked to Eiffel tower – it was very busy and had to
queue for 2 hours – this was not nice for me as I don’t like heights and was
getting a bit stressed the closer we got ! Finally we got in first lift and
went straight to second floor, we didn’t stop to look around just got lift up to
top floor and wow what a view it was not as scary as I thought ! Ian loved it,
I cant say I enjoyed it but glad I did it ! The queue to get down was very busy
so said to Ian lets walk he said are you sure – yeah no problem I said ! Gulp I
was trying so hard to not look down and just concentrate of the steps but I did
look down and that was it – my legs went to jelly it was not good only half way
down first level so either had to walk back to top or carry on the 2nd
level, I did manage it but was shaking so much when I reached the bottom… I
NEEDED a drink !!!
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After we got back down to terra firma we opted for a liquid
lunch over looking the seine before we went on complimentary cruise which I
enjoyed very much, less stressful and very interesting !
We then had another nice meal with plenty of drink !! We
then found a nice little bar and went for a drink, it was very expensive for
drink but very nice too – apart from I got locked inside the toilet and couldn’t
get out ! I had a bit of a panic as I couldn’t open door however hard I tried,
I started knocking and I heard a few people talking to me in French but didn’t
understand what they were saying but I just kept saying ‘HELP I AM STUCK’ for
what seemed like hours, but it was only minutes ! Eventually a man let me out
and I could see him trying not to laugh when he saw me ! |
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After breakfast Monday morning we were due to leave Paris
and go to Cannes – a driver picked us up and took us to train station – we had
first class seats again for a 5 hour journey through France onto Cannes, it was
nice seeing the views and the time went really quick (esp with a few post cards
to write to make the time go a bit quicker !!) |
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We were met by another driver in Cannes who took us the
Hotel Carlton in Cannes… It is one the worlds finest hotels, WOW it certainly
is, the Hotel in London and Paris were nice but this was amazing !!! The
pictures do not do it justice it was massive !! The tariff for our room was
€950 per night and €32 per person for breakfast !!
I didn’t want to leave room could have stopped there all
night but we did out for meal, then stopped in hotel bar for remainder of night,
again very expensive ie €10 euros per beer !! but it was worth it !
Even the fresh rose in the bathroom was replaced daily !
The view out of balcony was lovely to wake up too .
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Next day after breakfast the sun was shining so we went to
the private beach there were sun beds out ready so we made ourselves at home, I
assumed as the room had been paid for we could use the sun lounges ! LOL no a
waiter came across and gave us towels and moved the beds towards the sun he did
look after us well ! However for this service were we charged €64 euros for the
day ! I said to Ian imagine stopping here two weeks it would cost £700 just to
sunbathe !! We both agreed though it was amazing, at lunch time we had another
liquid lunch on beach waiter service 2 beers in a bucket of ice ! Again 10€ per
beer! |
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Included in the prize was 500€ to spend on health spa
treats, we had 3 totally enjoyable nights here we really didn’t want to come
home! Last night we ate in a fantastic restaurant the view was lovely –
although I didn’t understand the menu and ended up just eating 3 small bread
rolls and bottle of wine ! I think they did ok out of us that night as there
was 160€ prepaid for us I don’t think we spent 100 !! |
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Thursday afternoon we were picked up by driver and driven
to Nice, we flew back to London business class with nice leather seats and meal
and wine included. At heathrow we were picked up by driver and taken back to
Langham Hotel for a final night stay before returning home on Friday morning
first class on the train.
In summary this really was a once in a lifetime experience
which I doubt we will ever get the chance to do again, but we it all went like
clock work and we were looked after very well…
After adding everything up I don’t think there would have
been much change from about £10,000 ..
My objective is to go back to Cannes, if I cant win one I
will enough money to go back before my 40th Birthday, it is the only
place I have ever been that I was disappointed to leave, normally I am ready to
go home last day and excited about coming home, but in Cannes I felt very sad
but I KNOW if I try hard enough I will go back !!
We came home Friday, I could hardly walk through the door
with all the post but unfortunately no wins just junk !!!
Jackie
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