T R A V E L | A Weekend in Brighton with Travelodge

Last weekend, James and myself were treated to a weekend away to Brighton courtesy of the guys and gals at Travelodge as part of their #BloggerLodge campaign. We stayed in the Brighton Seafront hotel, which is conveniently situated 'pon the seafront if you hadn't guessed that from the name. This was my first time visiting Brighton since I was a teen. The last time I went I was a 16 year old fangirl travelling half way across the country to meet McFly at Brighton hmv, would you believe it? All those years ago I didn't see much of the seaside town other than inside the shopping centre waiting for hours clutching a McFly poster and album in my eager hands. So, as you can imagine this time I was pretty excited to explore!

The hotel itself is only a five minute walk from the Brighton Pier and is within walking distance to everything in the town centre. Ultimately, location wise it is pretty perfect. However, if you're expecting a seaview unfortunately you're out of luck as the hotel is tucked just around the corner from the front itself and has no windows in the rooms that face out to the sea.

The Travelodge line is know for being cheap and cheerful with a set standard rooms equipped with your basic commodities. If you're after luxury, you're not going to find it at a Travelodge.

But, if you're after a spacious, clean room with the most comfortable bed ever for the night for a fraction of the price then this Travelodge is definitely fits the bill. The only problem we encountered whilst staying there was how hot and humid the room got, which made our first night a little uncomfortable as there is no air conditioning in the rooms. Luckily, the next day we were supplied with a fan from the ever so lovely lady at reception, which made the second night a lot more comfortable.

It did also get a little loud in the evenings as the hotel is right beside a strip of clubs and on the weekend, Brighton is a popular destination for stag & hen do's. This wasn't too bad though as when the windows are closed it blocks all the screaming, drunkards out completely.

Now, let's talk about the bed. This Travelodge bed had to be one of the most comfortable beds I think I've ever stayed in. It made it pretty difficult to find the motivation to get up in the morning, I tell you. You can even buy the beds, which we are pretty tempted by. They are that good!

It's often easy to forget the charm of the British seaside when you've spent a good deal of your life in the city. Although a little outdated and a bit of a novelty, taking a stroll along a coastal town's pier, wasting all your money on those flashing yet enticing arcade games and eating fish & chips (well battered sausage for me, as I HATE fish) by the sea is something I think we could all certainly do with from time to time.

Brighton has something more than the usual seaside towns however. It's fun, vibrant and it's alive. I was actually taken aback by just how busy every single street, nook and cranny was.

Shopping in Brighton

Unfortunately, James and me were on quite a tight budget during our stay, but that didn't keep us away from exploring what shopping Brighton has to offer. A little up the road from our hotel is the Churchill Square shopping centre, which has pretty much every high street store you could ask for inside and in the surrounding streets.

Personally, I'm more interested in what vintage shopping it had to offer and boy, did it have a lot! Whilst there I knew I had to hunt down the Beyond Retro store, which was breathtakingly huge. The surrounding area was also full of little hidden vintage & antique dealers. We even stumbled upon a little late night flea market whilst on the hunt for the perfect Brighton burger (more about the burger hunt later). Although there were a never-ending line of vintage digs, the prices in most were not so kind and were comparable to London prices. The only two that stuck out as more reasonably priced were Beyond Retro and Dirty Harry Vintage. Annoyingly, I had to leave the most dreamy suede skirt behind because it wouldn't fit over my hips without a struggle *sob*.

Next time we visit Brighton, we'll certainly put some money aside to splurge in all of the shops and maybe bring a extra empty suitcase too!

Eating in Brighton
Hidden in the narrow, winding depths of the Brighton Lanes is the most creatively named shop I've ever came across: Choccywoccydoodah!  It's not hard to miss as crowds of tourists (including us) were flocked around it outside in absolute awe of the magnificent, sky-high, intricate cakes displayed in the window. The detail on every single cake is so intricate and so delicate, it's hard to believe each one is actually edible!

Upstairs is a little cafe in where you can taste the chocolately goodness for yourself! I opted for the six-layer slice of chocolate cake with different layers to each section whilst James chose the dipping platter with a pot of heavenly melted chocolate in the centre. Even just writing this is making my saliva glands rev into overdrive! Although both were bloody delicious, neither of us could finish our plates and this is coming from a girl who can literally inhale a humungous Galaxy chocolate bar in under five minutes!

For two of us to each have a dessert and a bottle of lemonade, it came to around £18 which is incredibly pricey and is gutting that we couldn't finish it either. However, the staff did offer us a 'doggy bag' to take the rest home, but I had made such a mess of mine we had to decline. Oops! If you do plan on visiting Choccywoccydoodah, make sure you go with a empty stomach and a chocolate state of mind.

We also ate a lot of burgers, but burgers deserve their own blog post, right? RIGHT.

Have you been to Brighton before?

BLOGLOVIN' | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM