Secret Weekend Away: Part 1 - dating like we're sixteen again

The title of this blog is called ‘Have Love, Will Travel’ – I write about all the love I have around me fairly often (I do have a lot of it!), but I’m yet to write about Travel. Though to be fair the theme of the blog is not about love or travel, in fact I’m not too sure exactly what the ‘theme’ is – the blog and I are still at our ‘finding feet’ stage.

I digress…so back to Traveling (& love too), I was recently whisked away for a surprise weekend. It was my birthday present from Kyle, but it was a complete surprise – all I was told prior to the trip is the following:

• Take the Friday off work
• Pack light
• Take shoes comfortable enough to walk in
• Take something ‘pretty’ to wear
•  Liquids over 100ml are acceptable

Upon hearing that I immediately thought we were going to Scotland; did a little Scottish Jig and started picturing us walking up the hill to Edinburgh Castle.  However when Friday came around, we got onto the M4, then south on the M25; my next immediate thoughts were ‘we must be going to France, we’re heading to Dover’. But no…we started driving to the North of Kent and ended up in the beautiful seaside town on Whitstable on the hottest day of the year so far.  

The colourful beach huts at Whitstable

I was pretty happy with  Whitstable, the beach was beautiful, the seaside smelt fresh, the town was quaint and picturesque, also ‘stay-cations’ are so in right now. So we parked up, walked along the harbour front, got an ice cream, mooched around a bit, enjoying the scenery and beautiful town, then I was put back into the car. I assumed we’d head to a nice little B&B, but as we were driving through some of Kent’s finest Country Roads I slowly worked out that we kept heading towards Ashford.

Now I've never really been to Ashford before, nor is it famous for anything particularly touristy; however it does play host to an ‘international train station’ – the last stop on the Eurostar before France. Excitingly I thought we’d be heading straight for the station….but no, Kyle had other plans and we pulled in at the Ashford International Hotel. We checked in, went to our rooms, and then straight out again; this time to the local bowling alley (I kid you not). I know ‘dates’ get less adventurous the longer you've been together – but bowling? Really? Are we 15 again?.

I knew (hoped) things would get better for the rest of the weekend, so I went along with it and really enjoyed it. It was only two of us, so our turns came around really quickly. Usually I hate bowling, because you’re in large groups, and by the time your turn comes around you’ve lost interest (especially if your losing). However it was just the two of us, so every second go was mine – and I spent most of the time winning (even with the sides down). I felt like I was 16 again, hanging out with a boy – but this time I wasn’t worried about how cool I was or if my make-up still looked fresh, I was having a loads of fun with my boy. We played another game (which Kyle won, but only by one point), and then followed it up with a game of air hockey (which Kyle won, I had to let him win that one, his ego was bruised from losing to me so badly from the first game of bowling).

By this point, our bellies were rumbling, so where is the best place to take someone after bowling (remember Kyle was in 16 year old mind set today) – Nandos!

Nothings says 'I Love You' like Peri-Peri

Belly full of chicken, tired from a day at the beach and bowling, we headed to the hotel bar to enjoy the sunset over a few glasses of pimms, and then it was strict instructions to head to bed early for Part 2....coming soon.