Day 3, Hotel 2
Third day, second hotel, well this is a guest house really. It's looking pretty definite we've got until the end of next week, maybe the week after to prove the business case. So while at work it means lots of focusing on the obvious immediate improvements, e.g. automating things so they take less time to do, hotel wise it means I can probably get away with booking somewhere for the whole week and hopefully won't have to jump around as much.
I've decided to go from receipted expenses, to an allowance. The allowance is £75 a day and it's looking like I can tend to do accommodation, breakfast and dinner for a less than that with a bit of effort and creativity. I was never going to be allowed to stay on receipted expenses for any length of time, and this way I'll get to make a little more money out of the deal. The way it works is we get £4.10 every day we are away tax free for lunch, and £75 for every night away tax free to cover breakfast/dinner/accommodation. In addition we get £26.50 a day either as taxable income/tax free pension contribution for each night away (as a thank you for doing so), and based on the distance a taxable/pensionable £10.50 each day I travel either to or from Bath (more if I do both ways as the distance is further - again as a thank you). So as long as I can keep my daily costs below £79.10 I can make some extra money. Doing hotels through last minute booking sites makes it seem doable, but they do all seem to be about 30-45mins away from the place of work. On the plus most places tend to give free wifi, on the minus side I'm not getting the energy (or all that much free time in the evening once traveling and finding somewhere to eat has happened) to do the few personal projects (some cosplay, some tabletop rpg planning) that I'd been hoping to do.
Oddly enough though because the travelodge/premiere inn places in Basingstoke tend to be quite expensive it seems like I'm going to be staying in some relatively nice places. It's not been too bad because of that, but it's going to get very wearing after a while. Next week I'll bring a camera to document this, but for now just go with the text.
Hotel number one was basically a converted manor house, and so my room was pretty much servants quarters (as was the on suite bathroom). The bed was nice and comfortable, the pillows were decent (though I still brought my own one for my neck), and the bathroom had an actual shower bath (rather than those shallow things you often get in hotels). The odd thing about the room though was that it had a visible slope to the floor, maybe about a 1-2 inch drop across the five foot width of the room. Tea wise the hotel came with a nice selection of twinning fruit teas, and other teas so I grabbed the bulk of those each night to take with me (might as well make the most of being in a hotel) had no biscuits though. The hotel had a bar which served decent pub quality food, and a restaurant and breakfast was a charged extra. The three of us in the hotel ate at the bar each night because the food seemed more interesting and was about half the price (I had a burger, and then a steak). Breakfast I skipped because I didn't fancy paying £7.50 for it.
This guest house (Beech Barns) is effectively a converted large house. So the bedroom feels much more homey than a hotel room. Breakfast is free so I'll be making the most of it for the morning. They don't do evening meals though, so we traveled to The Sun pub (about 15 minutes drive away). Seems a very nice country pub, but the food was more expensive than the costs at the first hotel. While they only offered normal tea and coffee, they did provide a kitkat in place of the usual biscuits which earned a plus from me. Depending on how it goes, I might trying to see if I can organise a good rate for next week, otherwise it'll be another new hotel.
Also got to see![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
almosthonest at lunch today. Seems like I'll get to seem him a couple of times a week which is something at least.
I've decided to go from receipted expenses, to an allowance. The allowance is £75 a day and it's looking like I can tend to do accommodation, breakfast and dinner for a less than that with a bit of effort and creativity. I was never going to be allowed to stay on receipted expenses for any length of time, and this way I'll get to make a little more money out of the deal. The way it works is we get £4.10 every day we are away tax free for lunch, and £75 for every night away tax free to cover breakfast/dinner/accommodation. In addition we get £26.50 a day either as taxable income/tax free pension contribution for each night away (as a thank you for doing so), and based on the distance a taxable/pensionable £10.50 each day I travel either to or from Bath (more if I do both ways as the distance is further - again as a thank you). So as long as I can keep my daily costs below £79.10 I can make some extra money. Doing hotels through last minute booking sites makes it seem doable, but they do all seem to be about 30-45mins away from the place of work. On the plus most places tend to give free wifi, on the minus side I'm not getting the energy (or all that much free time in the evening once traveling and finding somewhere to eat has happened) to do the few personal projects (some cosplay, some tabletop rpg planning) that I'd been hoping to do.
Oddly enough though because the travelodge/premiere inn places in Basingstoke tend to be quite expensive it seems like I'm going to be staying in some relatively nice places. It's not been too bad because of that, but it's going to get very wearing after a while. Next week I'll bring a camera to document this, but for now just go with the text.
Hotel number one was basically a converted manor house, and so my room was pretty much servants quarters (as was the on suite bathroom). The bed was nice and comfortable, the pillows were decent (though I still brought my own one for my neck), and the bathroom had an actual shower bath (rather than those shallow things you often get in hotels). The odd thing about the room though was that it had a visible slope to the floor, maybe about a 1-2 inch drop across the five foot width of the room. Tea wise the hotel came with a nice selection of twinning fruit teas, and other teas so I grabbed the bulk of those each night to take with me (might as well make the most of being in a hotel) had no biscuits though. The hotel had a bar which served decent pub quality food, and a restaurant and breakfast was a charged extra. The three of us in the hotel ate at the bar each night because the food seemed more interesting and was about half the price (I had a burger, and then a steak). Breakfast I skipped because I didn't fancy paying £7.50 for it.
This guest house (Beech Barns) is effectively a converted large house. So the bedroom feels much more homey than a hotel room. Breakfast is free so I'll be making the most of it for the morning. They don't do evening meals though, so we traveled to The Sun pub (about 15 minutes drive away). Seems a very nice country pub, but the food was more expensive than the costs at the first hotel. While they only offered normal tea and coffee, they did provide a kitkat in place of the usual biscuits which earned a plus from me. Depending on how it goes, I might trying to see if I can organise a good rate for next week, otherwise it'll be another new hotel.
Also got to see
almosthonest at lunch today. Seems like I'll get to seem him a couple of times a week which is something at least.