Celebration Time

I was born on December 31. Growing up, I didn’t get to celebrate my birthday in class. Most kids went away for the holiday break. Now as adult, there are pros and cons to my birthday being so close to Christmas. For one, I get a lot of 2-4-1 presents, unfortunately that isn't extended to my bar tab... There is always something going on, which can be a good thing with the right planning. If it is left to the last minute the restaurants are booked and clubs are completely full which could lead to an empty stomach and wandering the streets for somewhere to hang out.

For this year, my 29th birthday, which I am excited about (don’t ask me why because I don't know why), we have made some plans. I've always wanted to go to a ball for one of my birthdays. We had started to make some plans to go to one but thought it wouldn't be so much fun if we were the only people there that we knew. Hopefully next year.

For our alternate plan we booked a hotel at:

Andaz London Hotel
40 Liverpool Street,London, England (United Kingdom)EC2M 7QN

TEL: +44 20 7961 1234

FAX: +44 20 7961 1235

EMAIL: info.londonliv@andaz.comMap & Directions Download Andaz Brochure (PDF)

My husband did the research and it is right across from a tube station, which will mean less walking! Some of the features that lured us here are the photos. I want to stay in a hotel that feels like it is a 5-STAR hotel. I want a nice bed, decent bathroom, and some amenities such as wi-fi. This hotel has towel warmers and iPod docking stations. Don’t have an iPod? Not to worry, because they have them at the concierge available for checkout. Another thing that was really attractive about this hotel is the 5 restaurants and 4 bars. If we didn’t want to go anywhere we could totally just stay in the hotel and still have a great night.

We hope to do an early check-in, unpack, (if we get there early enough sushi for lunch) and find a nice place to eat for dinner. I hear that there that have a celebration of fireworks over the River Thames.

We also made reservations to eat at the Simpson's-in-the-Strand. I was refered to this from a co-worker. This is the first restaurant that I've seen that they have black pudding on the menu. I was also told that they have a strict dress code that has a NO DENIM policy. Which is great with me, I want somewhere to dress up on my birthday. Please see their menu.

Information:
http://www.london.gov.uk/newyearseve/nyelondon.jsp
http://www.visitlondon.com/

*****I will publish a follow up to this to confirm if this hotel has met my expectations.