It’s been quite a while since the last time I’ve posted something on here, since nothing that exciting has been going on, due to the current situation all around the world. I’ll try to mention the reason for that as little as possible, because we all know what it is, but there might be some situations where I won’t be able to avoid it.
You’re probably wondering what’s up with my title for this post, how can a person be a tourist in their home city, when they still live there. Well, with the virus shutting down pretty much the whole world a few months ago, Slovenia decided to help its tourism and “gifted” each citizen a so-called “touristic voucher” (worth 200€ for adults and 50€ for kids), to spend in some tourist accomodations across the country. At first, I was thinking of using the voucher to go somewhere I haven’t been before, but as the time passed by, and with some other life choices (which you will also be able to read about in the near future :)), I decided not to use it and give it to my parents, so they could spend it somewhere. I had no idea where to actually go, which destination to choose, and who to go with, which ultimately lead to my decision. But, this year, almost nothing goes the way I want it to go for me, and the same goes for this.
There were some other plans already in place for our family, but with the situation in our part of the world, mostly Slovenia and Croatia, those plans had to have been cancelled and that meant finding another solution. That solution involved my aunt and her friend coming for a visit from Aurich, Germany (you can read about the city a little here), and it meant that our apartment would be quite crowded, with 7 people in it.
My initial plan to spend those few nights in a hotel, while having guests over, and spending a bigger portion of that voucher at this time, was more of a back-up plan. I wasn’t really serious about it, I had a thought in the back of my head like “What will they think when a person that lives in the city comes to the hotel for a few nights?”, but as everything got more serious, I found a great offer at a 4-star hotel, not too far away from our house, so I went for it.
The hotel I decided to go to was Radisson Blu Plaza hotel, as you can already see on the photograph at the top, and those of you that travel around a bit more know that Radisson hotels could be labeled as a bit more luxurious. Since the government is “paying” for it, why not go for a bit of a higher standard, to see what it’s like. 😀 After coming to the hotel reception at check-in, my thoughts about them thinking it was weird for me to be there went out the window, no one even mentioned that, well, apart from myself at the end. 😀 Both of the receptionists working behind the counter at that time were very nice, helpful and there was a joke or 2 passed among all of us. After getting the keys (rather the keycard) to my room, I headed straight up to floor 3 and tried getting in the room, but was unsuccessful, the system wasn’t allowing me to unlock the door and get in. So, I went back down to ask what all that’s about. Since I know how electronics can malfuction when you least need them to, my reaction was completely calm, unlike some people that could cause problems at the reception desk, demanding some discounts or anything like that from the hotel. We decided to try and reprogram the cards, but the second attempt was unsuccessful again, so after a few minutes, the lady from the reception came upstairs and brought a new set of cards, and told me that they are giving me a new room and even upgraded me, as an apology for all the troubles. Those that know me a bit better can confirm that it’s not in my nature to request something like that, but if they do it of their own accord, I won’t say no to a gift. They did explain it to me that they’ve been having some problems with the system for some time and that they are upgrading it next month, for a better and smoother experience of getting in the rooms, so I might just have to go back and test that out!
After getting in my new room, and being in the first one when the lady allowed me to go in before telling me they are changing my rooms, I didn’t really see much of a difference between the rooms themselves, to be honest. They were practically the same, maybe there were some smaller details that I wasn’t really aware of, but nevertheless, the room was nice and cozy, just the right size for me, and even if there was two of us in the room, it would be spacious enough. I could easily compare the size of the room itself to the one I stayed in in Berlin a few months ago, since I stayed at a 5-star hotel there, the only difference was that the room in Berlin had a much bigger bathroom, but that’s not such a big factor to me, as long as I can take a shower after a long day, that’s it. The guests that come to Radisson Blu Plaza hotel and use those tourist vouchers at the hotel get a welcome drink, a small bottle of champagne with gold flakes, and a lovely, delicious dessert as a surprise. In the first room, I have seen that waiting for me on the table, but when I got to the other room, that wasn’t the case. As well, that wasn’t such a big deal to me, since I was happy that I got an upgraded room. I went home for a bit that evening, but when I came back to the hotel, the same lady, that helped me with my keycards earlier, brought me the “welcome package”, so it was a perfect end of the night.
The voucher doesn’t only include staying at the hotel but you also get breakfast in the morning, and that’s something I always enjoy, not just breakfast, but food in general! 😀 But, let’s stay with the breakfast at this hotel. There was plenty of delicious food offered, every person could find something for themselves, and they also had a selection of both hot and cold drinks available. I actually ate so much the first morning, that I didn’t have to eat anything else for the entire day! 😀
As I’ve said, I actually stayed at the hotel, just to get out of our apartment and leave some more space for others at home, so when I came back to the hotel for the second night, and headed upstairs to my room, I was welcomed with the red light at the door lock yet again, meaning that I couldn’t get in the room, again. It wasn’t such a bother to go back down to the reception desk to get the cards reprogramed again, and afterwards they worked just fine. I had the same issue the next evening as well, which I was thinking to myself, before I got to my floor, that I should just stop at the reception desk anyway and reprogram the cards just in case, but I still went upstairs first.
Despite those few mischances with the keycards, my stay at the Radisson Blu Plaza hotel was great! As I’ve already said, the room was cozy, the bed very comfortable and the breakfast selection delicious and diverse. The whole experience was very pleasant, the staff that I managed to talk to were all very helpful, very nice to talk to and also very professional, as you would have expected at a hotel like this. So, if I ever need to stay at a hotel in Ljubljana again, Radisson Blu Plaza will undoubtedly be among the top choices!
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