England UK Travel Vlog 2021 - Day 1
Although not much went on during our first day back in England, I wanted to share the trip details since we flew in Virgin Atlantic's Premium Economy for the first time, and this is also the first international trip since Fall 2019, so I wanted to give insight into the process of rapid testing (although testing requirements have since changed). We took our trip from Nov 17 - 28, 2021 (departing the 16th from LAX and arriving in England at LHR on the 17th), the first 8 days were on the Southern coast of England visiting Scott's family and our friends (Worthing, Little Hampton, Shoreham-by-Sea, Horsham & Brighton), the last 4 days were spent in London.
FLIGHT
For our first international flight in 2 years, we decided to treat ourselves to Virgin Atlantic’s premium economy seats (we did look at first class, but waited too long and the price shot up by the time we were ready to book). I know that VA also has a "Economy Delight" which offers more legroom and seat pitch compared to "Economy Classic" and "Economy Light". I've never flown Virgin Atlantic for the LAX-LHR route, and it had been awhile since I'd been on a long haul flight in general so it's a little more difficult to recall differences between riding in a premium seat (because unless I'm able to lay flat I'm going to be uncomfortable - amirite?!) and an economy seat. But I would say I did notice how it felt I had more ample space in the leather chair as well as more legroom. The meal service is considerably different than a standard/economy service with the glassware, cutlery and plated courses, and I loved my pre-flight glass of bubbly! For about the +$700 more roundtrip that we paid, I think it was worth it as it was more comfortable to fly in the premium economy seat. I most likely had 1-2 less back aches than if I were to fly economy (there were also less rows so it feels more spread out and not compacted with so many seats). VA was also very diligent with sending us updates on testing requirements - we would receive notification via email and text, so this helped tremendously with travel prep, and easing my anxiety. To see all of the VA Seat Comparisons, click here.
Testing
Testing for arrival in the UK is based on your vaccination status, and does change dependent on the UK's status. We got lucky with being able to do rapid testing for our "Day 2" test, but with the response to the Omicron variant, the country now requires a PCR "Day 2" test for incoming vaccinated travelers. Scott and I made sure to keep checking the UK government website to ensure I was up to date on any forms that needed to be completed, or tests booked. We also needed to check our government website to ensure we had what we needed to re-enter the country. For my experience in particular this was the breakdown, but it has since changed:
BEFORE TRAVELING (for fully vaccinated - final shot completed at least 14 days before arrival)
Book a rapid test or self test kit (we booked from the list of test providers on the UK site)
Complete a Passenger Locator Form in 48 hours before arrival (we have to include our test reservation #/details)
ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND
Pick up our rapid test kit and tested the same evening (we had until end of day 2 after arrival, the first day is considered day 0). QR scanned and submitted our negative test result and waited to receive the certificate. Required to quarantine until we received the test results, for our kit we received results/certifications within 30 minutes.
The entire self testing process was super easy because we just followed the instructions, and downloaded an app that received and verified our test results. But from there, we weren’t sure if there was anything else we needed to do. As long as our test was negative we seemed to be good and could continue on our trip. But if the test was positive, we would have had to follow the self quarantine/isolation and retesting rules laid out on the UK site (but I don’t know if there would be any communication with the UK gov, or any tracking on our whereabouts - they did have all of our info from our passenger locator form)
ACCOMMODATIONS: The Old Tollgate Hotel Steyning/Bramber
LOCATION We chose to stay at the Old Tollgate Hotel in Steyning/Bramber because we were not staying with Scott’s grandmother during this trip. We typically stay in a guest room at his nan’s nursing home which requires coordinating and booking the room through her, but since we were actually surprising her we had to book our stay elsewhere. We thought of this hotel because a few years back we were actually thinking about hosting our engagement party at this hotel’s restaurant, but were unable to. Since we wanted to experience the small village feel and check out Bramber castle which is within walking distance from the hotel, we thought this a fitting place to stay. It was also little under 20 minutes to get to Scott’s grandma’s home and about a 24 minute drive to Brighton, so perfect!
ROOM The hotel was easy to find off of the main road, there was ample parking and the room had most of the amenities that we needed. We were able to check in a couple hours earlier since the room was ready. Staff was nice and accommodating, but I expected that even though this was a hotel, most staff would probably not be masked because we were in a small village compared to a big city. I believe there are only two floors in the “Westgate“ building across from the main building, which is the building we were staying in - and it had no lift. Good thing we were only going to the second floor, because it was a bit of a struggle to get our large luggage up the stairs but we managed. The room was spacious and the bathroom seemed updated. The water pressure for the shower was terrible though, even though it had a nice rain style shower head, water would dribble out, but I was grateful that we had warm/hot water at least. There wasn’t an A/C unit in the room, and it did feel stuffy and too warm, so I usually like to have the A/C running intermittently while I sleep (I would leave the window cracked opened but I was concerned with any critters getting in since there was no mesh covering on the window). There didn’t seem to be any sound problems, but because it is a pet-friendly hotel, we heard some barks here and there - but not an issue as it wasn’t for long periods of time, and occurred during non-sleeping hours.
RESTAURANT Scott knew he wanted to try the carvery at the hotel restaurant, and we got lucky with seating since we were staying at the hotel. Usually you will want to have a reservation, and the evening we were there was pretty packed with dinner, bar and event guests (there was some sort of show that evening). I was semi uncomfortable, as the spaces in the restaurant were tight and a majority of guests and staff were not masked (our servers were masked though). There was confusion with how the courses worked for the carvery when explained to us by our waiter (I think she was new), so we ended up paying about £10-15 what we thought we would be paying for the entire meal (they charged for the salad and dessert bar separately, which we were unaware of). It’s fine though, Scott enjoyed his meal thoroughly, but I didn’t eat that much so it was not worth the money for me.
