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Virgin Balloon Flights
by Lathyrus
An extract of my feedback to Virgin Balloons...
Just a short message to congratulate everyone regarding our morning flight experience.
My wife and I booked 2 flights as a 60th birthday gift for my friend. Unfortunately our first
attempt had to be cancelled (weather: these things happen, so one has to be ... flexible and show
some understanding), but today's flight from the Cornwallis Hotel at Brome was absolutely superb!
I've been impressed from the start by the booking process, communications, but of course
particularly this morning by the pilot (Robert) and his efficient crew / recovery team. Everyone
was friendly, knowledgeable, informative and also good humoured. Being encouraged to join in
with the set up and recovery was also great fun. Would certainly like to have another flight when
funds permit.
My friend and I had a great experience and would be happy to recommend it to anyone looking for an
exciting and thoroughly enjoyable 'something different'.
Thank you all.
(still almost on cloud 9!).
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Bamboo Hair and Beauty (Brighton)
by Brooke3
My sister is getting married next year and I am one of her bridesmaids. We had a small misunderstanding about what dress I would be wearing and I was under the mistaken impression that I would be wearing a backless dress. As far as I'm concerned she can put me in a bikini and I would endure the embarrassment if it made her big day ... perfect for her so I didn't mention all of my anxieties about my back. Not only would I have to make sure that it was toned, I also needed to make sure that the skin was clear and beautiful. So, I found Bamboo, a hair and beauty salon in Brighton that offers a back polish for the reasonable (compared to other places in Brighton) price of £45 plus 15% student discount.
Booking an appointment at Bamboo proved to be difficult. I kept calling and getting the answer machine. Eventually I left a message (which I try to avoid doing) and then another message and finally I got fed up of no one getting back to me and stopped in on my way home from work. The woman recognised my name and told me that she had responded to my messages but I'm not sure if this is true or not. She said that she left a message for me and unless she got the wrong number I can't understand how this could be true. I managed to get an appointment for the following week but only because I could be so flexible. Bamboo is a small salon and I think they tend to be very busy so booking ahead is essential.
When I arrived for my appointment I was greeted by a pleasant, friendly woman who offered me a seat while I waited and got me a glass of water. I was immediately made to feel welcome and at ease, which I think is always really important at beauty salons. I think that other than perhaps your doctor, the most intimate professional relationship you're likely to have is with your beautician, after all when you have massages you take your clothes off, Hollywood and Brazilian waxes they're touching in places you wouldn't usually expect a stranger to. Therefore it's really important for me to feel comfortable with the beautician.
The room that I had the massage in was very nice. It was small, which I like. I can't stand feeling too exposed in these rooms and it had a really personal feel to it. The temperature in the room was perfect and the whole thing seemed to have comfort in mind. The beautician even made sure to check with me that the room was at the right temperature before the treatment began, which I thought was nice and considerate.
I wasn't quite sure what a back polish included but before she started the beautician explained to me that it would be a back scrub and then a massage. The treatment involved her putting the back scrub on me, massaging it in for a couple of minutes and then washing it off. Following this there was a back, neck and shoulder massage. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with the back polish. If I had known it was just a back scrub I would have asked a friend to do it for me. Following the treatment my back felt slightly smoother and I think that with continued use of this treatment it would have certainly looked a lot clearer but not any more so than when I use one of those back scrubber things in the shower. It's certainly not worth paying for. I had assumed that the back massage would be part of the polish, perhaps using some kind of body lotion to give my back a polished look. It wasn't. She just used the usual massage oils. The massage was very good. She really worked out the knots. I can't stand massages that are too gentle, it feels good at the time but is ultimately useless and she wasn't too gentle but she also wasn't really rough. I felt that she managed to work out the knots while still making me feel relaxed. It was an enjoyable experience and I left feeling very relaxed but I was disappointed with the back polish.
I'm going to give Bamboo 3 stars. The staff were very friendly and welcoming and the massage was lovely but I felt that the back polish was a let down. The reason why I decided not to try Bamboo again was just that it was so difficult to make an appointment with them. I was planning on booking myself in for other treatments but I just don't have time to keep calling when there are other salons close by that are easier to book with.
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Butlins (Minehead)
by rocky_jay
Having had holidays at Butlins for the past several years, I do actually quite enjoy it there, although the main drawback is the cost of everything on site - expensive!!
We very rarely stay there for a week, just usually for the long weekends, mainly because it becomes very expensive.
We just recently came back from ... there a few weeks ago and it wasnt as good as last year and I made a point of emailing them when I came back to tell them all the good and bad points we experienced during our holiday.
Firstly, the entertainment has gone down - 2 acts from Britains Got Talent that were on stage about 15 mins each (if that!) and some bloke called Danyl Johnson from X-Factor who was on for nearly an hour but me and my friend were not keen on him at all. Not much applause for him! Theres lots of shows with the Redcoats, in fact, far too many!! Gets a bit tired! Also, there was yet another ABBA singalong and some appalling tribute acts - most notably, The Beatles - truly awful and an insult! Years ago when I worked there, there were great acts there like comedians Dave Lee and Duggie Brown. There was also a great show called West End Showstoppers with comedienne Pauline Daniels with songs from musicals and Pauline was singing and telling jokes inbetween. This was on for a couple of hours and was excellent and most popular. Also remember The Nolans there too and many tv celebrities appearing. The bars in both centre stage and reds are overly priced - more expensive than our clubs prices in our major city centre (Birmingham) and you seem to be waiting ages to get served and on occasion, the bar staff get the prices wrong, not good. Also, lots of children running around near the bar area where people were carrying glasses of drinks. Though, the one night, the redcoat who was DJ'ing, told the children not to sit on the stage because of health and safety reasons, but never says anything about the bar area. An accident waiting to happen! The funfair is not open as much as it should be and they need to invest in a few more rides there as theres nothing new there. There is a lot more entertainment for children there, although me and my friend did Crazy Golf and the laser quest which I had never done before (I won!) and we even hired the bikes out to go round the site, which was most enjoyable.
The accommodation - we always go silver which isnt too bad, nice and clean although we had no hot water and when I informed customer services, they were already aware of it and that they were goin to be putting a new water heater in there but it wouldnt be sorted until some days later - no good for us! Then again, we didnt expect the room to be like a hotel as we never spend much time in there anyway, but some hot water would have been nice! We booked up about 4 days before we were due to go and managed to get it for £102 each with food court dining plan.
The food - we were in the food court for our meals and was surprised that its all self-service now, although there are staff on hand if you need any assistance. On our first night, I had hot dog and chips although the roll was dry and awful and the chips were chewy and werent even warm. I wasnt impressed with the unattended children running around the area when people are carrying hot soup, in fact, I did see a young girl run into an elderly lady carrying a bowl of hot custard and sponge and this smashed on the floor near to the girl. Also seen children coughing into food and one morning, a lad had his hand in the cereal to see if it was frosties or cornflakes and also a girl was helping herself to curry with half of her hair draping into it! No wonder why theres always reports of people getting food poisoning here! The food and hygiene definitely needs to improve.
There are also a lot of arcade machines and them toy grabber machines dotted around the place, so could be quite expensive if you are addicted to these. The shops on site are quite expensive too although you might see a few offers/promotions around.
Though I must say, their customer service is excellent and I cannot fault that at all. In fact, after complaining recently, I had a lovely 2-page letter from them apologising and saying they will sort a lot of things out.
So, come on Butlins, you can do it!!
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