Andrew hates having his birthday in January, but I don't know why - it's the perfect excuse to indulge in some more celebrations a few weeks after all the excitement of Christmas has fizzled out.
We wanted to try some where new this time, so after staying at both The Mondrian and The Sanderson a few times last year (two of our favourite places) we thought we'd try out the third of the Morgans hotels in London - The St Martins Lane Hotel.
After a lovely breakfast at Bills just down the road, we popped over to the hotel at around 12 to see when we could check in. Officially its meant to be 3pm but it's always worth checking earlier just in case. It just so happened that our room had just been cleaned so we were able to go up near enough straight away - although I would have been happy to hang around in the lobby for a bit longer, it was pretty cool in a really strange, chilled kind of way. You know, giant golden teeth as seats and chess pieces scattered around.
It actually has the same Alice in Wonderland vibe that The Sanderson has going on and was something we really love about it! After arriving at the 6th floor we found our room! It was perfectly clean with everything in its place, minimal and very white. There was a big TV, an arm chair in the corner, a desk and seat on the
other side and a big mirror - perfect for getting ready in front of!
and of course, a huge bed. After playing around with every single light switch, as you do, I discovered two very exciting things! Firstly, there were USB plugs everywhere which is something I love in a hotel room - so helpful! I also found a colour changing mood light around the bed which was so much fun! We left it on blue while we got ready for the evening, pink when we were watching TV in bed afterwards and yellow in the morning!
Little did Andrew know, I'd emailed beforehand to let them know it was his birthday and the lovely Guest Experience Manager, Belle, made sure we got a room with a view. It really was incredible, from bed we were able to see the London Eye which really was amazing when it got dark.
I also wanted to give a mention to the rest of the staff at the hotel. I think out of all the hotels we have stayed at in London, they were the quickest to get things done for us as well as being super friendly the whole way through. All the way from Christian who checked us in at reception to the room service who sent up a tea set within 5 minutes of asking for it and the technician who was up as soon as he found out we couldn't get the TV working. And when we did, we were very pleased to see it had a catch up facility and spend the next couple of hours catching up on First Dates.
Once we were settled, there was a knock at the door - Another surprise for Andrew that I had arranged with Belle earlier that week..
Massive thanks to Belle for all of this. We had agreed on a plate of strawberries and a glass of fizz each so I was just as surprised as Andrew when a whole bottle arrived! She really does her job well, my emails always got a fast, friendly reply and the things she helped me arrange added so much to our stay!
Soon enough it was time to start getting ready and boy, was I glad for the use of that huge mirror - I brought four outfits with me and spend forever deciding which to wear. In the end, I went for this maroon, eyelash bodycon with some simple strappy heels.
We hopped in a a cab to STK and spend the evening there - I've got a whole other post of that. We decided it was best to walk back to the hotel afterwards since it was a lovely evening and we both needed to let the food go down. After picking up some snacks on the way we were straight back to the room to catch Take Me Out on +1.
We had the best sleep surrounded by big fluffy pillows and woke up in the morning to the sound of church bells outside somewhere, I spent ages just sitting up in bed looking out of the window, it was so lovely. Soon enough there was another knock on the door and a table full of food was wheeled in! I do love a hotel breakfast and if the other two hotels were anything to go by, this was going to be good.
Obviously, I ordered the eggs florentine, it's my favourite breakfast dish ever and obviously it was delicious. I also had a fresh fruit salad and a bowl of yogurt with granola too. I ate it all together, there was just too much to try to bother eating one course at a time!
Sadly, after one more episode of First Dates, it was time to leave the hotel and get back to Essex for one last birthday meal! We were both really impressed with the hotel and loved every part of our stay! I'm sure we will be back in the future!