Tuesday 7th Jul

Up early and off to the airport – we got to LBIA at about 8am – bang on target – and were checked in straight away (online check in having been completed in advance hence it was just a baggage drop for us). Bumped into a guy from work who was going to Dublin (Hi Ian!) and the flight was nicely on time. A few small bumps in the air as we landed in a bit of a thunderstorm. After getting our bags we headed off to the water bus terminal and after a minimum amount of confusion over which of the 3 email confirmation codes I'd been sent as confirmation for the bus tickets was the one the attendant should be typing into his system, we had ourselves some return tickets to Venice!

The water bus arrived and we all piled on. It's a fab ride across the lagoon with all the islands whizzing past, and you get a real sense of where Venice actually lies, in the middle of a huge body of water. We stopped at Murano (the glass place) then at Lido (the beach place) and then across the lagoon towards the grand canal. Venice looked stunning in the afternoon sun. We got off the bus at Piazza San Marco and I managed to navigate to the hotel without even digging out the map. I was quite impressed! Just as we were crossing a bridge and I was thinking I wasn't quite sure – Dan said 'do you know where we are?' and I was just about to say no, when we looked to the right and there was the canalside entrance of the hotel. Well cool!

We had booked the hotel through TripAdvisor and mainly because of the comments about the staff. I have to say, they didn't let us down. Charming, friendly and welcoming, we got water on arrival (much needed) and after an efficient check-in, we were in our room in about 10 minutes.

So far, nothing has been too much trouble for them – arranging the champagne, flowers and breakfast in bed for me, and even just getting extra pillows, and sorting out internet access.