I had the oddest experience on my way home from York. I had booked at an inn I’ve stayed at a couple of times before: The Boat Country Inn in Boat of Garten (yes, the name of the town is Boat of Garten – I don’t know why a town in the middle of the mountains would be called Boat of anything).
I arrived late afternoon, tired and maybe even a tad frazzled; it had been a long drive from the York Bus Station to the Cairngorms. And I knew Scout needed a pee break before we checked in. So I walked into the hotel, intending to ask if I could leave my little wheelie case in the lobby and come back in 5 minutes.
As I grappled dog and bag in the front door, before I could say a word, the host popped up from her desk, hurried over to me, and first words out of her mouth weren’t “can I help you with that” or “welcome to The Boat Inn” or anything like that. No, her first words were, “Would you like your cocktail with your dinner, or right away?”
Well, needless to say I was startled, but fortunately I knew the answer to that question: “Right away, please. Well, after seeing to the dog.” When we returned to the lobby, perplexed but more pulled together, a waitress came up and asked what type of cocktails I preferred, so she could make one especially for me. “Um, gin, I guess, nothing sweet.” “Got it, coming right up.” I checked-in and took the dog and my little bag up to my room. Two minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and the waitress was there with my gin mojito. Okaaay . . . . (BTW, it was lovely. I would never have thought to order a gin mojito, but it was exactly what I needed after a long, warm day.)
Dinner was, as always in their restaurant, very good. They asked me what time I wanted my breakfast (I didn’t remember having booked breakfast, but I thought, what the heck, instead of stopping for coffee and a roll en route, why not enjoy a leisurely breakfast – I paid for that the next afternoon when there were roadworks on the way to the ferry and time was getting tight).
I hadn’t really looked around my room all that much, but just before bed I noticed that the iced bucket with a bottle of champagne was ‘sweating’ puddles all over the desk. Why did I have an iced bucket of champagne in my room? With two flutes? I’m sure that hadn’t happened last time I stayed here. Didn’t give it another thought until checkout when the host asked if I had taken my champagne (I hadn’t, so of course I went back and found a place for it in my bag).
This was all very strange. Why were they boozing me up? Why was breakfast free? I got home to discover I had booked one of their packages, the Lazy Sunday, and I had actually paid for two people(!). I had found the price a tad high, but put that down to tourist season (and to be honest, it was still cheaper than several of the places LL & I had stayed at in May). So I had forked over the £140 without any thought – it wasn’t so much that I had paid for two people as I paid the same as if two people had been there. I really must learn to read the fine print. Altho, to this day, I truly don’t remember clicking on a package deal – I’m sure I would have noticed that. But, hey, what evs, I had a lovely visit in a pretty town, dined well, slept well, and still made my ferry with minutes to spare.