{"id":34607,"date":"2019-11-30T12:30:19","date_gmt":"2019-11-30T12:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=34607"},"modified":"2019-11-30T12:30:19","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T12:30:19","slug":"staycation-vs-vacation-the-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/staycation-vs-vacation-the-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Staycation vs Vacation: The Final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>So I\u2019ve been to Spain, I ate good food, drank good drink and relaxed.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Then I came back to rainy England and did the same holiday back here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Editor\u2019s Picks:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/london-bridge-shut-down-after-gunfire\/\">London Bridge shut down &#8220;after gunfire&#8221;\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/the-brothers-of-grime\/\">The Brothers of Grime<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/greta-thunberg-whats-the-big-deal\/\">Greta Thunberg \u2013 the 16-year-old activist, now author of the year<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/how-historically-accurate-is-the-crown\/\">How historically accurate is The Crown?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">First up, tapas:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I went to well-known chain Las Iguanas (2-4-1 cocktails all day every day may have played a part in that decision).\u00a0 The first time I went, I reserved a table and made it a date night (cute, right?). Sadly the service didn\u2019t match up to my plans and I ended up leaving.\u00a0 A brief summary: I waited 10 minutes to be seated and 20 more to order before not being seen by anybody and having to leave otherwise my car was going to be locked in the car park.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The second time, however, was much better. With five tapas for \u00a325, the price was a bit steeper than I got in Spain, but tasted just as delicious, if slightly different.\u00a0 The cocktails, however, at 2-4-1, were cheaper than their Spanish equivalent, although sadly Sangria (red wine, orange juice, and fruit) wasn\u2019t an option anywhere that we went.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The spa was one of the cheapest available in London, with an online voucher taking spa entry and a 25-minute body scrub down to just \u00a326.\u00a0 The spa itself didn\u2019t match up to the spa in Alicante, which was empty every time I used it, and had a much larger pool and 2 fancy showers as opposed to one.\u00a0 However, that doesn\u2019t mean that the London spa was lacking: the steam room had eucalyptus extract in the steam, which was perfect for me as I was cold-ridden. I\u2019ve also discovered that if a shower has a \u2018tropical storm\u2019 setting, it\u2019s definitely the one for me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another element that didn\u2019t blow me away, however, was the banning of phones within the spa. Not only did this mean that I couldn\u2019t take any pictures, but I also couldn\u2019t satiate my social media addiction &#8211; it was tough, to say the least. The massage was everything I could have hoped for and more, and the softness which I felt as a result of the body scrub lasted for days.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My final decision? I can see the merits of a \u2018stay don\u2019t stray\u2019 holiday, especially if you have a fear of flying or on a money-saving initiative.\u00a0 However, for me, the London experience just didn\u2019t match up to the Spanish version, and if I had to pick, I know which one I would go on again.\u00a0 The London experience was great, but it simply wasn\u2019t the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-34607 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/staycation-vs-vacation-the-final\/74680693_2570068089946732_4815801899628363776_n\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/74680693_2570068089946732_4815801899628363776_n-1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-34609\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-34609'>\n\t\t\t\tAll the tapas\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/staycation-vs-vacation-the-final\/78126062_1387544708074527_4206048532236337152_n\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/78126062_1387544708074527_4206048532236337152_n-1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-34610\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-34610'>\n\t\t\t\t2-4-1 cocktails\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/staycation-vs-vacation-the-final\/78153645_1464052947095712_535686179631136768_n\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/78153645_1464052947095712_535686179631136768_n-1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-34611\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-34611'>\n\t\t\t\tEmpanadas and prawns\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Words and gallery by Eleanor Smith<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So I\u2019ve been to Spain, I ate good food, drank good drink and relaxed. Then I came back to rainy England and did the same holiday back here.\u00a0\u00a0 Editor\u2019s Picks: London Bridge shut down &#8220;after&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":34613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,130,134],"tags":[744,2119,2404,2439,3171,3394,3681,3769,5430,5781,6082,6538,6597,6753,6756,6758,6983],"class_list":["post-34607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-travel","category-uknews","tag-beauty","tag-england","tag-fitness","tag-food","tag-instagram","tag-journalism","tag-lifestyle","tag-london","tag-sangria","tag-spa","tag-tapas","tag-uk","tag-university","tag-voice-of-london","tag-voiceoflondon","tag-vol","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}