The Travelodge Porthmadog
Escape From The Village
A trip to The Village to escape from the world.
In this journey
- I want time off. I will not be stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered!
- Escaping Birmingham, Transport for Wales Birmingham New Street to Porthmadog
- Travelodge Porthmadog
- Exploring Porthmadog
- Welcome to your Village – Portmeirion
- Free to go… home? Back to Birmingham with Transport for Wales
- Aftermath: Free to Go, or Free to Stay?
After getting off the train at Porthmadog, the priority was to get to the hotel to dump my trash, so I could go exploring.
And like a good person, I followed Google Maps, which took me past a big Tesco (always welcome), down the road from the station and then right, and into an industrial estate, where there was a Lidl and Sports Direct.
I continued my walk around a few bends and after a few more minutes, I was at my base for the next day – the Travelodge Porthmadog.
Ah. Hotels in industrial estates. What more could you want?
That looks a tiny bit better, doesn’t it?
Although I did notice a pedestrian path that wasn’t signposted on Google that looked like it might lead somewhere interesting.
That would have to be investigated later.
Travelodge Porthmadog
Advance Rate, £93+£3 for Wi-Fi.
I have no qualms about staying at Travelodges – providing they offer reasonable value. With guest rooms and B&B’s being in the £100 price range for a night, the Travelodge was in the ball-park price I was expecting of £93 – which was good to see, if a little painful on the wallet
Reception
Vending Machine. Reception
After a few minutes wait, I was welcomed at check-in. The stay details were confirmed and that I was staying for the night.
With that formality completed, I was issued with a keycard for the room – which also would be used to access areas beyond reception.
I headed up to my room on the 2nd floor, to see what wonders awaited me.
Going up.
The long road. I mean corridor. Note, it’s also got motion sensors.
The room itself is basic – with a double bed, TV, a small desk and a shower/bathroom.
Sadly, this place hasn’t kept up with the times, with no USB outlets, and no power outlets near the bed – making charging a phone more challenging thing than it needs to be, with cabling dangling everywhere.
The bed itself was a medium mattress – not too firm, but not soft enough you fall into it and can’t come out. Put it like this: I got a “decent enough” sleep on it. One that actually handled my disturbed sleeping patterns.
Although on the plus side – I had no office phone to wake me up, only my personal phone which had all my usual wake up alarms… that I forgot to reset.
Tea, Coffee and outlets.
Add one Surface Go to make the world a better place.
As for the bathroom, the basic theme continues. It has a shower, toilet and a sink.
The room also was not air-conditioned. Thankfully the room had a desk fan in it, that helped move air in the room in what was a quite stuffy night.
Covered fan.
Moving onto connectivity, Travelodge offered internet connectivity at the property, with the first 30 minutes free of charge, then £3 for 24 hours. Speed came in around 5MB – nothing amazing, but better than spending the day hot-spotting off the phone and wrecking the phone battery any further.
Breakfast options were limited on-site – with a snack box only being available for £5. A little steep for a box of processed sugar I thought.
Check-out was a rather easy affair – just drop the keycard and go.
Morning always comes.
Going down.
I do return hotel keycards. Sometimes. Normally. Maybe. Although a keycard isn’t something I’ve seen for a good… 8 months…
With that, I headed on out and off to The Village.
Overall
A rather typical Travelodge experience. Whilst the room was a little small, it was perfect for a night where I needed a place to rest my head.
And in those cases – a Travelodge is fine. I just wish the price was a little lower. The joy of staycations.
Next: Exploring Porthmadog
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