[Hotel Review] Greece - Crete - The GDM Island Hotel (Adults Only Hotel)

The GDM Hotel, known as the Island hotel is located between Herakilion and Hersonissos.

Reception &Welcoming Area, The Island Hotel, Crete

The entrance of The Island Hotel, Crete

10 key points of this hotel

*Adult Only Hotel

*Quiet location

*Excellent Customer Service

*Easy access to Heraklion & Malia and other towns

*Several Tavernas for pop in and out for drinks at night time

*Half Board Dining Buffet

*Sea view from the Dining hall

*Supermarket is around the corner

*Not far from the Airport

*A bottle of free water

Absolutely delighted to share our experience with this hotel.

Q1. How long did we stay here for?

A: We stayed at the Island hotel for two weeks. From 2 May till 16 May. The day we arrived was the grand opening day. So not many guests were there yet which was just perfect.

 
Q2. How was the weather?

A: Really good and we think we were lucky. I have read many weather related threads before heading to Crete. Many people mentioned that May can be quite wet so we were ready to face some rainy days. But thankfully the rain clouds came after we left. We had only ONE cloudy day during our two weeks stay.
It was approximately 23 to 25 degrees during the day which is just perfect to go out and do things. At night, however, it can be chillier than you expect. I regretted so much not to take a mid season cardigan or sorts of. One day I ended up wearing my wooly jacket and It helped.

Q3. How is the location and what surrounding area is like?

The location is called Kato Gouves and it is between Herakilon and Hersonissos. I found the location itself is really handy as it was not far from the capital and Hersonissos and Malia even. A local bus runs every 30 mins or so and you can go to Herakilon and Hersonissos in about 15 to 20 mins. The only issue that you will soon find out is that the bus time table doesn't mean anything. If it is your lucky day then a bus will come ‘on time’. Most of time it didn't happen. The nearest bus stop is about 20~25 mins away on foot.

Q4. Anything else around the hotel?

Personally I don’t like busy resort locations like Malia. For that reason this hotel was just perfect. There are few Tavernas and bars nearby you can visit at night for few drinks. We tried four different places and they were all fine. Also there is massive supermarket called ‘Hallas’ which sells everything. I don’t think the price isn’t too much overly charged but yeah it is bit more than a standard price. You can get free samples of all different flavoured local Rakis there too.

The George Taverna is just in front of the hotel

Also I have to mention that it was still quiet time of the year(early May) so not all the places were open. Most of time it was quiet but there are neighbour hotels behind the Island hotel and they seem to play party music a lot and LOUD :)

Q5. How was the room you stayed in?

Obviously we didn’t worry too much about our room. We booked with Thomson and every holiday we booked with this company never let us down. But this time, the room was a bit disappointing. I mean the room itself was still really good and had everything we needed. We don’t normally fuss about the view stuff but this time we had to even consider to pay extra for an upgrade. The room we were given was overlooking white roofing only. Plus all balconies are so close to each other and you can hear next door’s conversation without any efforts. I didn’t want to stay in a room overlooking the ugly white roofs for 14 days. So went to see the reception to find out more information about the room upgrade etc. It wasn’t cheap as you can guess but thanks to the thoughtful receptionist, we managed to escape from this room and were given another room which was far much better and spacious. That was really impressive customer service.
Our new room was around the relaxing pool which was really handy. Although we have no problem with our new room, I had a thought that it would be great to have a mosquito net installed with the balcony door so that we can open the door for cool breeze at night rather than using an air conditioner. The room we stayed was facing west and it gets cool breeze at night. It was far much better than airconditioner.

Q6. What facilities/programmes are available?

The main pool

I believe that every room has a small refrigerator and safe. The refrigerator isn’t big but does a job.

There are Tennis court / Table tennis / Basketball court/ Gym / Spa / Game room with some pool tables / some programmes such as  darts, Yoga, pilates, basketball, Wine testing etc etc. Every day three times a day there are some programmes to attend. There is a piece of paper with all daily programmes written in your room. So have a look.

Every night there is a live music show at Tholos bar. Very romantic when you are there but soon you will realise mosquitoes are there too.

There are three swimming pools. Please be careful when you walk around the swimming pool. When the floor gets wet it can be slippery. We witnessed that one lady fell over. Thankfully it was a minor accident but the floors are covered with marble kind stone tiles you can hurt yourself badly when you are unlucky.

Hotel has a restaurant but we never used it so I don’t know whether it is good or not. We normally hob out and ended up having lunch at one of Tavernas around the hotel.

Live Music played at the Tholos Bar

Q7. What about the dining experience and the food range?

Every morning you will be given either fresh brewed coffee or tea or both which is fantastic. The hotel only does ‘half board’ : Breakfast and Dinner. It was a buffet style dining service: F For breakfast, plenty of various yoghurts, fresh fruits, all cooked breakfast, breads etc. Dinner is more diverse as the menu changes every night such as Italian meal night/ Indian & Asian meal night/ Cretan meal night/ Greek meal night etc etc. There are many choices of Salad and we found out that Greek Salad is always popular so you need to hurry. :) Dessert are amazing. Plenty of cakes and sweet dessert options for indulging yourself. Don’t miss out ice cream which is at the corner.
The dining area is big but where all the food are located is  designed badly so can be really crowded and packed at a busy time and you would struggle to get to the serving plate you want at some point. Don’t get mad. These things happen everywhere.

Great desserts are served every night :)

Absolutely enjoyed Breakfast in the Sun everyday

Q8. And the staff?

They are just fabulous!! They deserve five stars. Every one of them are so helpful and friendly. They are ready to listen to you when you have any issues and do their best to resolve problems as SOON as possible. During our stay we encountered few issues with the hotel facilities and others matters and they were always there to help. Morning and night we were pleasantly greeted by members of staff. We really appreciate all your hard work and hospitality.

Q9. Any additional information to share? - A free bottle of water / Plane noise / unstable Wifi

First of all I would like to mention about this. A bottle of water is provided everyday. Really handy and great idea. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t opened the bottle of not. They will still give you a new bottle on a daily basis. You know you are in Greece where the weather gets hotter in Summer time and you get easily thirsty. When you think a bottle of water is nothing but nono. It is a different story when you are in Crete.

Some might not be affected too much by airplane noise but here is my experience to share. The hotel is located in an area where Heraklion airport is not far from,which means that southbound planes from the north fly over the hotel often. Plane noise can be heard both at day and night time. As you can guess It gets busier when the peak season starts, more and as often. Normally I don’t bother too much with airplanes but I have to admit that few night flights were quite loud and disturbing.

Wifi works most of time but it is really unstable. I had to reconnect it several times a day. When we stayed there, the hotel wasn’t 100% occupied and it was already unstable. I assume it will get worse when it is fully booked. So bear in mind.

<Ending Comment>

 We absolutely enjoyed our time with the Island hotel and we definitely would go back there when you visit Crete next time. Again thank you so much for your hard and hospitality and I hope my review is helpful for the future guests who will choose this wonderful hotel for your holiday.

[Dunelm] Fiona Hanging Floral Ceiling Pendant Review

Fiona Hanging Floral Ceiling Pendant by Dunelm

I was looking for a shade for my vestibule ceiling light for ages. After a long search, I finally found something that I want to give it a try. 

It is called 'Fiona Hanging Floral Ceiling Pendant Shade' by Dunelm. The reviews on the website gave me some hints of the product and it seemed positive.

I paid £22.99 but at the moment it is reduced to £11.49. There is £3.95 charge for delivery under £49 purchase for your information but this price is only for Click and Collect.

<Delivery>

The dispatch time took longer than I expected. They use Hermes courier which is usually fine. But this time it was bit unusual. The tracking number provided by Dunelm was not recognisable so I wasn't able to track my order. I sent a couple of emails to Dunelm customer service but didn't hear anything back from them at both times. It came a few days later but I was not very pleased as I had no idea where it was about and when it will be around. That was minus points. I sent my feedback to their online questionnaire stating about this.

<Tips to Know>

What a beautiful piece of shade!(see the images below)
The reviews were right! It is very unique and elegant. 

It came in a flat box but you need to take it out carefully as the dangling bits were all tangled inside the box. Each element attaches with tiny rings which are really thin so they can easily get twisted or lose its shape. My case, a few parts fell out so I had to put them back. Once it's hung, it is just beautiful. The reflection on the ceiling is just gorgeous. 

Although it is a pretty piece, the price that I had to pay may a bit more than its quality. It is now 50%off for click and collect customers. Grab a bargain if  you like this shade.

[Hermes] Hermes Local Delivery Man Does NOT Leave a Calling Card!!!!

Hermes Local Delivery Man Does NOT Leave a Calling Card

I do online shopping a lot.
Most of time the courier service is reliable and fast.

Recently, I have experienced most annoying service from Hermes local delivery man.

As there is no Uniqlo stores(Although it is called Uniqlo UK) in Scotland I shop online quite regularly. I really do like Uniqlo clothes but I have to say I was hesitating to order when I found out that they use Hermes for courier service.

We recently relocated about a month ago and need many things for the new house. Normally Royal mail delivery men are fine. It is the Hermes local delivery man who is an absolute banana.

A few days ago, the next door man came to us unexpectedly and handed in a parcel which left with them. My husband was initially surprised but explained as we didn't know it was there. Then we apologised for the inconvenience and thanked him.

We checked the letter box and porch floor afterwards.  Nope!! Nothing left from this man.
So I sensed intuitively that this man can be a real nightmare.

The first time I saw him , I tried to leave a parcel through the window which was open. I was inside at the time but didn't even bother to ring the bell. Then when I opened the door to received the parcel he asked me if he can use toilet and then didn't even flash after use. He was an id_t.

So before I ordered the items I was guessing how long it would take to be delivered so that I can receive it. It was posted 2 days ago and found out it would be coming earlier than I thought.

I was out most of day and just checked the tracking number just in case.
Yeah, I was right. My item has been delivered without a calling card again. (deep sigh)

So I need to check every house in the street tomorrow and find out who kindly looked after our parcel over night thinking we are impolite and lazy.

I sent an email to Hermes notifying that this local delivery man is not following the company's regulation which is stated on the their site that they should leaves clear instructions (which didn't happen already twice).

I also sent an email to Uniqlo customer service asking to assist in finding my parcel. Tomorrow is going to be another an interesting treasure hunt day. -_-;;;;;;

[Review] Pyramid Silicone Pan Review - Avoid!!!

My first comment on this product is:

"Do NOT buy this dangerous thing."

We received it as a Christmas gift last year.

When I saw the TV advert and read the product description I initially thought that it is an excellent product.

Tonight we decided to give it a go. We put it on the oven tray and put some precooked battered Tempura to heat them up. The box says this mat can heat up to 220°C so we went for 200°C.

Approximately 10 minutes later, we noticed something funny smell going on but didn't realise where it was coming from. We were cooking other things on induction at that time and there was a plastic food container around the cooking hob.

We thought that the container must have been close and been burned. So I was checking the container. And my husband, meanwhile, opened the oven.

Suddenly enormous smoke with really strong chemical smell was fuming out and spreaded in the kitchen. Whatever it is, it must be really bad stuff as my eyes were instantly reacting and so sore to keep them open.

I instantly opened the kitchen doors and windows and put the tray outside. A few minutes later we took it inside still puzzling what had happened and checked the smell to confirm that it was actually coming from it.

Omg! The most disgusting and stingy chemical smell was still lingering there. Also noticed that it was slightly discoloured(became more see through). That was the moment I told my husband to bin the whole thing including the food. I have other silicon baking tray stuff and I have ever had any problems. For that reason, this product is definitely NOT safe to use in the oven.

I then went on Google to find out if this is common to happen and ended up on Amazon website to read other reviews and here we go. We are not the only one going through this unpleasant experience.

Some might think that this is a brilliant stuff and never had any problems with it. But for us it was a total disaster.

I don't know if this might be a fake item. Who knows? There was nothing included in the box. So how do I know if it is genuine or not. I will upload images of the product for your reference.

Please be aware that this is not a safe item. Hope my review can help you not waste your money on this rubbish.

Wrong spelling of 'Foid Away' instead of 'Folding Away'

It became see through,