poliphilo | I Love Travel Lodge

I Love Travel Lodge

When we go away we stay in Travel Lodges. They're clean, unfussed, comfortable, cheap. And they have some really good offers. For instance, we got our room in North Wales for £15 a night.

Our North Wales Travel Lodge is at Halkyn. We reckon it's the best Travel Lodge we've been in. We told the desk clerk this and I like to think it made his day.

There's a new Travel Lodge opening or just opened in Glastonbury. Yay! We saw it advertised at Halkyn. And now we're booked into it for my birthday next year. (Thank you, Ailz)

Glastonbury is a place I return to periodically. According to some website I was messing with last year my surname originates in just that part of the world. So maybe the attraction is ancestral. Wells (next door to Glastonbury) is my favourite English small town and home to my favourite English cathedral. They've got swans living on the moat round the Bishop's Palace and they've been trained to ring a bell when they want their dinner.

I used to be a great one for the Glastonbury mystique. Leylines and zodiacs and the holy grail. Not so much now. I've looked into it and I'm afraid it's mostly bogus. Those pathways round the Tor? Nothing but the remains of a medieval field system. I've got a 19th century guidebook to Glastonbury (somewhere) and it's very light on the mythos. Why? Because most of it hadn't been invented yet.

When I was 18 or 19 I walked all the way to Glastonbury from our home in Kent. It was the late 60s and this is the sort of thing one did. I bought an Australian bush hat so I'd look the part. When I got there I met a lot of hippies and spent the night with them up on the Tor. I was hoping for enlightenment. Did I find it? No.

Each time I go I find the woo-woo has become more respectable and more commercial. The two things go together don't they? Long haired weidoes tramping about in clouds of illegal smoke, searching for the Dream, making the place look untidy - ooh dodgy. Long-haired weirdoes making good money selling dreamcatchers in high street shops- not so bad after all. They're contributing to The Economy. I wonder if there's still a notice in the churchyard telling the hippies to get lost.

Last time I was there I had a wander round the back streets. It's actually a rather grotty little town. There's a factory there that makes shoes.

And now there's a Travel Lodge.

I go to the website to gloat. The Glastonbury Travel Lodge is all shiny, new, red brick and I'm getting to stay there in three months time! It says it's one of 323. So where are the others? They're here. So many to choose from. And- well, I never- they're starting to open them in Spain as well. There's one in Barcelona, two in Madrid. Only 30 Euros a night. Oh my...oh my......

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we're staying in this one tomorrow night.

Excellent!

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What a great story.

I'd heard of people pitching camp in big posh hotels- and the other day I heard a radio feature about a woman who lives on a cruise ship- but setting up home in a Travel Lodge is something else.

But, why not?

we like Travelodges too.... :)

re Galstonbury... the first time I went there with my friends, I felt such a freak.. when i said it felt empty to me.. even when I taken on the tour... and up the Tor...I felt nothingness... if that makes sense.. I was soooo dissapointed and they I am sure thought I was odd.. or having an odd day...

So we went again... a year or so later and I have to say it felt the same, I enjoyed the shops... and I enjoyed looking round and the nice cafe we found... but as for ancient spirituality... if it was there, well it was hiding...from me anyway

*sigh* I was dissapointed in some way...

On the same holiday we also went to Stonehenge.. I had never been... and wow!! to me that place felt charged... years and years of it...

I last went to Stonehenge 16 years ago. It was raining, there was a fence around the stones and the place was crawling with tourists. It did nothing for me, but I guess I was hardly seeing it under favourable conditions.

I preferred Avebury- where I could wander among the stones and the sun was shining.

we did manage to get quite near.. thiugh there were lots of school kids.... for me the ground seemed to rumble and vibrate if that makes any kind of sense... left me feeling very charged.

I preferred Avebury- where I could wander among the stones and the sun was shining.

that's the next one I want to visit...I have never been but if 'feels' familar... we will stop of on our way down to Cornwall most likeley some time in the new year...

St Ives and that area in Cornwall is the place which makes me feel like I am coming home... only ever been twice... (in this lifetime..lol) but even when I see it on images etc.. it makes my heart lurch and I feel an ache....

I have places in Derbyshire, out in the Peak District which give me similar feelings ... and energise me... but nothing like St Ives.

Though i know it's nothing to do with my family name- as well they all come from Barnsley and that area...all the back to the Doomsday book!

My favourite stone circle is Long Meg and her Daughters in Cumbria. It's enormous, little known and one of those places which people swear is sometimes there and sometimes not.

I've never been to Cornwall. It's a big omission.

I was at school on the South Downs- and they- I'm thinking especially of the stretch immediately west of Brighton- are another of my special places. The thought of those great chalk hills brings tears to my eyes.

Travel Lodges are good old American road motels. Their logo used to be a little bear holding a candle. I see the ones in Spain are quite far from the city centres in honor of their road inn image, I suppose, but anybody who can find a room near Madrid or Barcelona for 30 euros a night has found a huge bargain indeed.

I rather like the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey.

I don't remember the little bear but, then, I'm a fairly recent convert.

They're mostly at a distance from the bright lights. I note that the one in Glastonbury is two miles out of town. We wouldn't be using them if we didn't have a car.

Glastonbury abbey is a melancholy place. One of the greatest churches in England and now there's almost nothing left of it. I'm sure I was a monk (or nun) in a previous life. Maybe in several previous lives.

We have Travel Lodges out here. Haven't stayed in one in yonks. I've been staying in Hiltons, Marriotts, and Starwoods instead, as part of my state travel. Tonight, I'll be in a Marriott in Memphis, for a Toastmasters district conference. And next week, I'll be in a Hilton-owned property in NW AR.

I have loyalty cards from three chains, and plan to collect more- they really do come in handy for little amenities, and now that I am traveling more, I can amass points for other things. I might even get a credit card that lets me amass travel points and free nights.

I remember Glastonbury when I visited in '91. It reminded me of a land-locked Santa Cruz, sans the beach, and with Bonus Woo-Woo. Lots of hippies, lots of magical knick-knack shops, vegeterian cafes, and odd people. I really like the Chalice Well, and there was a guy in the Tower on the Tor playing a digiridoo. I didn't get much energy from the place- and I had walked many leys while there. I liked Avebury much better.

My home does not have the ancient Authurian history and mystery that yours does, but there are many interesting unmapped energy points and leys here, and lots of lore in the Ozarks and Ouichitas. The sheer amount of crystal in the ground might have something to do with it. I hope someday to have a place in the hills with some power points to care for. Land is fairly cheap, so it is possible.

The archaeology of Glastonbury is disillusioning. They've dug on and round the Tor and there's nothing to indicate that it was any kind of sacred site before the monks moved in. And of course it was the monks who- fairly flagrantly- invented the Arthurian connection as a way of pulling in the money.

I latched onto the Tor in my teens and I guess it's a case of never getting over one's early loves. I no longer expect it to do anything for me- spiritually, mystically- but every time I visit it feels like coming home.

You know, you're making the idea of what would be my first overseas vacation more and more attractive...30 Euros a night, that's pretty good!

If you're thinking of using Travel Lodge it pays to book ahead. There are often special deals to be had. For example the standard rate for a room in Halkyn is £50 but we got ours for £15 by booking a month in advance.

Cool- thanks!
Even if we have to be more modest this summer and keep it to plans for Canada for us this summer, we will check Travelodge out ahead of time.

We are staying in one near Warwick before Christmas because of your recommendation on Travelodges. Are you pleased the word in spreading? It's because my niece is getting married there - not in that hotel but another, posher one.
By the way, Ian is also very pleased that you are coming for Xmas day - very chuffed indeed.
Jenny

Excellent. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

See you both at Christmas.

Glastonbury was so odd; a rich mix of fraud, superstition, and some real spirituality. We stayed at Chalice Well (we were members of the Trust then) and loved the well and gardens. I don't think for a minute that the cup is actually the Grail, it's probably a modern Italian glass piece, but both wells are remarkable nonetheless. I found the Tor to be not as advertised but had expected as much, and I did feel a very real power there. Nothing Arthurian or anything like that, but power within the land itself.

We loved Wells, too. The cathedral is beautiful, and the grounds were marvelous. We spent a very happy afternoon wandering around there.

If we can ever afford to get back to your side of the pond again, we'll have to look into Travelodges. Although at Glastonbury we'll still probably stay at Chalice Well; nothing better than being able to go out into the gardens at dawn.

I grew up fairly close to Glastonbury. I love the Tor, I love climbing it on a windy day when you can almost get yourself carried by the wind. The town itself has never done much for me; my abiding memory is of the car park behind the George & Pilgrims, which is often full of self-satisfied crusties looking menacing and drinking scrumpy. The incense shop is very nice though.

We stayed at the George and Pilgrims once.

Dion Fortune wrote about the air on top of the Tor being full of sparkles. I know exactly what she meant.

Mmmmmm- incense!

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