The tears! The consternation! The chasing the bags down the stairs! The attempt to get in a hand bag and come too... ‘Twas one of the most difficult departures we’ve ever had with one of our foster-furballs - and that was just for us. Poor little Smokey was aware something was going on (that much luggage is never a good sign) and we felt utterly criminal by the time we were on the road to Belgrade, Serbia.

Driving vs. Flying was a fairly lucky decision as it turned out. The five hour drive (or 4.5 hours with our excellent driver) was by far the best choice economically vs. a flight - and also weather-wise as flights were disrupted later in the day in Sofia because of weather (strong winds and snow) and we may not have departed at all. As it happened we were ensconced in our Belgrade hotel by 1.30 pm - very spoiled indeed with an upgrade to a suite (it is 6 nights after all and we need to spread out a bit) and complimentary access to the Club Lounge (so that’s breakfast, dinner, all day snacks and evening drinkies taken care of). Another great feature of this hotel - the ‘Instant Service button on the phone (more toiletries? feather pillows? blanket instead of duvet? couple of razors? could do with this button on all phones).

It’s actually an old hotel - built in 1979 and branded the Intercontinental, there’s even a wall of fame in the lobby with the famous visitors over the years - from Pavarotti to Elton John to Hosni Mubarak - quite a collection. Apparently it went downhill after a while but was completely renovated in 2012 and is now owned by one of the richest men in Serbia and operated as a 4 star Crowne Plaza. Happily, the five star bones are still there including the glorious indoor pool/sauna/steam complex. The service is five star also - and unfortunately that’s where Crowne Plazas can be quite hit and miss. We rarely stay in hotels as such - if not housesitting then we’ll be in a hugely economical AirBnB (which is where we’ll be going upon checkout from here... sigh... no instant service on that phone). We had a phenomenal experience at the Crowne Plaza Deira Dubai back in 2016 en route from Malaysia to Ireland, then an utterly dire stay in Helsinki in early 2017 - but after this experience and all the spoiling us rotten, all is forgiven.

So, having said all that, what have we actually been doing? Utilising the posh club lounge at all opportunities - eggs to order in the mornings - fresh juice to order, followed by reading all the news on our iPads. Then back to the room, into the swimsuits and down to the pool for a couple of hours of swimming and reading then swimming again. Possibly a snooze after all that exercise, then hitting the lounge again (access to a printer - woo hoo! the holy grail of long term travel is the ability to finally print everything in the ‘Printing’ folder). Then at 5 pm the bar opens and we’re working our way through the nightly offerings of Serbian wine and beer and plum brandy. Then dinner off the buffet, before eventually returning to the suite and watching a spot of Netflix. Obviously we’ve not mentioned going outside much. We arrived on Wednesday 21st, Thursday it snowed all afternoon and overnight - so no urge at all to depart this oasis of calm. Friday it stopped snowing but there was still 5-6 inches of fresh stuff underfoot. Saturday we finally ventured outdoors to the massive USCE Shopping Mall just 15 minutes away. It’s a big deal in Belgrade, but a mall’s a mall - just an excuse for a leg stretch really. On Sunday we trundled down the road in the other direction and visited a local market - more so for locals than anything - clothes/shoes/hardware. Then back to the hobbit hole. The sun has disappeared again so Monday has been enjoyed with ongoing laps in the lovely pool complex and chilling out in the comfortable arm chairs in the Club Lounge (really like hanging out in a posh airport lounge - another one of our favourite activities). We are however sad to say we have to farewell the Crowne Plaza tomorrow at 2 pm - but the adventure continues and we move to the Old Belgrade side of town to a snazzy AirBNB - we planning, researching and getting quite excited about getting out and about and exploring Belgrade - especially since the snow is finished for the season! (apparently...)