Manchester for a Minute: The Midland
February 6, 2023
Seems like we were just IN Manchester…because we were. The plan at the time was to go see Florence and the Machine at the AO. But Florence broke her foot in London the day before the show. So our main reason for coming to the UK was obviated. Dang.
We decided to return to see the Florence show if and when it was rescheduled. The show happened February 3rd, and it was magical. 21,000 fans singing along in an emotional outpouring of live music. Florence and the Machine shows are not to be missed!
Last time it was the Lowry. This time we targeted the Midland Manchester, one of those grande dame hotels of yore that has been updated to modern in a British kind of way. The best thing about the Midland is its prime location and a pretty decent bar.
We were assigned 541, a junior suite category room. The coloring is tasteful and yet has all of the life sucked out of it.
We spent most of our very limited time in the bedroom half.
Meanwhile the bathroom had lots of room for, well, we’re not sure. But the shower was quite nice indeed.
The under utilized sitting room. Turns out most of the sitting was in the downstairs lobby bar.
We arrived Thursday morning. Our room was available and ready, which was a very pleasant surprise! Wish more hotels would listen when you tell them you are arriving early from a transcontinental flight. Well done Midland!
It was off for lunch at the Ivy.
Followed by packing to depart (!!), some cocktails in the bar (during which an invasion of penguins occurred), and a fancy pants dinner at the French. Dinner at the French was very good indeed, but still seemed overpriced. The table space deserves some rethinking.
We slept in and headed to Bills for breakfast the morning of the show. Or more accurately, early afternoon. Bill’s is a great place to relax over a long breakfast with some Bloody Marys.
We spent a bit of time wandering Manchester, but before we knew it, we were off to the concert. We made a detour through Five Guys on the way over for a Maryland burger.
The concert was fantastic.
Late night drinks at the Midland bar were fun even when the ABBA clad Germans invaded. Each time we inhabited the bar, we found excellent bartenders willing to learn and a bit frustrated by lack of certain ingredients. We deleted the Fernet.
The whole trip, though a whirlwind, was well worth all of the flying.
Four showerheads for the Midland Manchester.
Raining In Manchester: The Lowry
November 23, 2022
The Lowry is a business hotel of reasonable quality in Manchester, England. It rains every day. Manchester is a cool town.
Room 223 at the Lowry is a nicely spacious hamster cage that is just fine, thank you.
Though the shower could use some water pressure and the HVAC system is a disaster.
The view is nice, but short.
Florence will break her foot kind of putting a major damper on the whole thing.
On a rainy evening, head on over to Home and see a movie. If you’re lucky it will be as great as the Banshees of Inisherin.
Do some retail in the center.
Have breakfast at Côte.
Have dinner at 20 Stories (which sports not only a great view, but an excellent bar). Get Lisa to come up.
Visit Chinatown (open all night).
But maybe skip the Cloud 23 at the Hilton. No skill. Just view. (We went so you don’t have to.). An attempt at a CR#2 was just, well, just.
This cocktail should be renamed the “Lavender Yeah No.”
And by all means don’t go to the Lowry bar unless you must. (And just for the record, sometimes you just must.)
WTF?
We did make them try an industry sour.
Finally, sort out your ride to the train station the night before. Manchester traffic is a thing when it rains. And it rains!
We’ll be back when Florence heals. Can’t wait to do some dancing in Manchester.
Three showerheads for the Lowry.
SpringHill Suburban Disaster in Manchester, NH
August 19, 2016
Yes it rained. And then rained. Deluge. Downpour. So we moved the music inside and played all night anyway.
Music at Oopstock
But then we were due in Wisconsin the next morning before noon! That meant leaving the party at 2am for a late night visit to the nearest airport’s suburban hotel chain. Ears ringing from electric music, off we went into the deluge.
Here is the disaster that is Manchester, NH Springhill Suites. Just. Do. Not. Go.
My travel buddy with endless platinum Marriott points procured our reservation and checked us in, so we got to participate in ultra elite status. Like check out this outstanding amenity!
Amenity? Or cheap bag of chips.
And we got the best available room in the place, which was this desert of a design disaster.
Just super generic and gross.
Plastic shower! In a sealed room. Obesity rod.
Yeah. No.
So anyway, we were there for less than three hours. The plan is to never have to do that again!
One showerhead for Springhill Suites writ large. No.
Manchester Airport Shower Secrets
September 2, 2013
I flew United through Manchester on my way to Munich. Why? Because an upgrade could be guaranteed at time of ticket purchase. Those lie flat seats are too good to pass up when you travel too much. And the way United treats its frequent fliers these days, it’s best not to bet on an upgrade ever. Honest.
The flight over here was just fine on a reconfigured 757-200 with a decent BusinessFirst section. The only problem was we arrived early leaving even less time for sleep.
That transformed an already problematic four hour layover into an even longer 5 hour layover. I decided to seek a shower.
The good news is there is a Radisson Blu hotel situated between Terminal 2 (where United flies in) and Terminal 1 (where Lufthansa flies out). Popping the security perimeter for a shower is easy enough, especially if you are the second guy off the plane. Customs was a breeze.
The Manchester Airport skywalk.
The showers in the Radisson Blu are located on floor 0 in the gym/pool facility. I was the only person there.
Changing room.
The shower itself was great. Plenty of hot water and tons of room. In fact, the shower facility itself is better than the Senator Lounge shower in Frankfurt. Of course, United has no Arrivals Lounge here, but what do you expect?! It’s United!
Non-plastic shower.
The only problem was getting back into the security perimeter through the awful security line at Terminal 1. The line was very long. No TSApre here! Shoes off, belt off, laptop out, plastic bag of liquids separated. You know the drill (and it sucks).
Security nonsense aside, a shower on arrival in Europe is just what the doctor ordered. And the Serviceair shared lounge in Terminal 1 (the Lufthansa lounge) is just fine for waiting out the rest of the layover, especially since I am clean.
Lufthansa seems to have put me in a middle seat on the way to Munich (I switched to a window since no aisle seats are available). Wow, the star alliance is just awesome. Business class half way.
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