The Perfect New Years Get Away*

As a single mother, New Year celebration has become non and void these days. My parents are at the age where they have a better social life than me and I don’t really have any other babysitting options. I’m blessed to have had one really good one though before I hit motherhood that I still think fondly of every Decemeber 31st. But instead of looking to the past, today I’m exploring future new years. Hopefully it won’t always be this way (sat on my own in the lounge sloshed on a bottle of wine and M&S take away) and that one day I’ll be able to celebrate in style once again. Which is what I’m sharing today, my perfect new years getaway. I’m not talking about watching the ball drop in Times Square, or even seeing in the New Year in Disney.. I’m talking about a feesible New Years getaway in this country, to the capital, London.

Travel
I live a fair few hours from London so my options are plane, train or car. As I don’t drive that would mean putting that on someone else. As I live well over an hour from any airports, my best option would be train. Since it’s a set day (new years is always on the 31st Decemeber after all) I would be able to book far enough in advance to get cheap 1st class tickets. I have travelled first class on East Coast before and I know they often offer you complimentary alcoholic drinks, imagine how great it would be to kick off a perfect new years get away with a few free glasses of wine?

Accomodation
Definitely splash out on this one, especially if you’re going for more than one night and you’re not planning to be out dancing until the wee hours of the morning. The older I’m getting the more fussy I’m getting about nice accomodation for longer stays. Budget hotels are great for the odd night but if you’re celebrating an occassion, such as the new year, you want to do it in style. If I was going with a group, I’d definitely look into a short stay appartment rather than hotel rooms. In London they’re usually in much better locations and split between a group they’re well worth the money. Imagine you and your friends sat drinking champagne as the clock strikes 12 in a beautiful city apartment, not giving your messy house back home a second thought! That’s my idea of perfection!

Where to Eat
Along with a really fancy place to stay, my ultimate new years get away would also include a slap up meal. Especially if I was travelling without Little Miss. Just now a slap up meal for me is lunch in an Asda cafe. I would love to try a celebrity chef restaurant in the centre of London. I imagine they book up incredibly fast for new year though but some of the set menus offered are out of this world. London has loads of upmarket places to eat so even if I didn’t get booked up for a celebrity chef restaurant I’m sure I could find somewhere that caught my eye.

Seeing in the New Year
A lot of clubs in London hold special new years eve parties that are ticketed and even stay open until dawn. As I inch closer to my 30s this no longer appeals but there are loads of other places you could go to see in the New Year in London. You could head down to the Thames to see the Fireworks, or you could go to a bar that has some live music on. My favourite option would be to head back to the apartment or hotel after dinner, crack open some sparkly and celebrate with good friends. If I was extra lucky maybe I could see the fireworks from the hotel window.

Being in the capital for the New Year is another experience entirely. Even just the atmosphere makes you feel like you’re part of something special which is why for the time being, it would be a perfect new years get away for me. I love the idea that the next day I could simply hop on a train and head back to my loved ones after enjoying a truly special night.