Hoxton Holidays Part 1: A day full of surprises

At the beginning of last week, this boarding pass popped through my letterbox, and I knew that this wasn’t going to be your ordinary run-of-the-mill press trip.
Hip Hoxton are launching their hip Hoxton Holidays – the perfect blend between a city break and beach bliss. And I do mean bliss… but I’ll get to that shortly.

 
I checked into The Hoxton Hotel in Holborn at around 11am, having been told that I needed to be down in reception at 12pm, to begin my holiday… so exciting.

In fact, my Hoxton Holiday began as soon as I opened the door to my room and was greeted with perfect-shade-of-luxury-calm soft lighting, Daniel Ahearn’s voice gently lilting out of my Robert’s Radio (I shazammed) and the comfiest bed I ever did see…

 

I was back down in reception at 12pm on the dot (I’m nothing if not a great time keeper) and met the other chaps that I’d be heading off on my Hoxton adventures with…
Group press trips are always a bit risky business – you never know who is going to be on them and you can occasionally end up being forced to live in close quarters with folk you’d really rather run away from. However, not this time. Hats off to Team Hox, who managed to gather some of the most excellent people journalism has knocking around in its crazy world. (I am not saying here that I am an excellent person. But I think I can be quite groovy. And occasionally, if caught in the right mood, a bit of a hoot).
We piled into the cab waiting for us outside the hotel and 20 mins later we were at Kerb Food Market in Camden, cashing in foodie vouchers that we’d been given, on smoothies, juices and some of the best street food London has to offer.

 
The food was delicious, the Camden vibe was as buzzy as ever and even though the sun had taken a break for the afternoon, our spirits were not deterred – this was all so much fun.
From there, we walked around the corner to Primrose Hill, where a Pimm’s Picnic was awaiting us, complete with a member from the Hoxton team manning the Pimm’s bar. We hit the rugs and Pimm’s hard, and one of us had a little snooze… (NOT ME).

We lazed around drinking Pimm’s for much of the afternoon before jumping back in a cab to take us back to The Hoxton.
Back in my room, there was a special little gift waiting for me on my bed…

 
We had a couple of hours to shower, get changed, watch as many channels on TV as possible (this may have been just me) before meeting downstairs in the bar for pre-dins cocktails, all wearing our new Ruifier bracelets…

… then, several cocktails later, it was into another cab and straight over to Duck and Waffle, for a stunning London sunset and a very special meal indeed…

 





The whole day had been so much fun. We all felt utterly spoilt with our seemingly never-ending surprise gifts and mystery destinations… but just when we thought that it MUST be time for carriages home, apparently it was not.
No.
It was time for crazy golf.

Off we went, just around the corner, to Swingers London, where we drank more cocktails, laughed A LOT and where I discovered that gin can actually be very useful when learning a new sport.
I suspect it’s many a golf pro’s secret weapon.
We whizzed around the course, surprising ourselves with our golfing prowess. We whipped golf balls around windmills, up hills, through tunnels and around corners, with skill and dexterity. (I should mention  that the light was very dim and there had been rather a lot of gin).
Then it was definitely home time, or we’d have all turned into pumpkins. We hopped in a cab and whooshed back home to The Hoxton, where waiting in our rooms was yet another gorgeous personalised gift…

 
I felt spoilt rotten, and it was a wonderful feeling… so lovely to be properly taken care of, in the most gorgeous and luxurious way, without it being stuffy and hoity toity. I call it ‘cool luxe’.  And The Hoxton do this oh so well.
I fell asleep almost instantly and awoke the next day feeling refreshed and excited… for at 2:30pm we’d be flying to Obonjan in Croatia to continue our Hoxton Holidays in ultimate Hox style…
… which you can read about next time 😉
Toot toot!
Hoxton Holidays
The Hoxton Hotel
199-206 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7BD

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I was a guest of Hoxton Holidays and all thoughts and opinions are my own.