It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of airport hotels especially before an early morning flight. I’ve stayed at (and written about) a few over my travels because they really do make the start of a journey so much easier.

My first ever airport hotel experience was at Bloc Hotel at Gatwick Airport a few years ago, and because of the convenience, the friendly staff and the seriously amazing rooms, this is a hotel I go back to time and time again. So when I planned mine and Evie’s trip to Germany and Bloc offered us a stay the night before our flight, it seemed like the perfect way to start off our girly getaway and to make travelling with a toddler a whole lot less stressful. And as I was travelling alone with a toddler I needed it to be as stress-free as possible!

We were treated to one of their amazing VIP rooms which was brilliant for Evie as she had literally just started walking a few hours before we were due to leave for the airport. The VIP rooms have a huge amount of space which gave her plenty of room to practice more waddling around (and falling back down) in! The main draw of these rooms though are the huge panoramic corner windows – very soundproof windows I might add – that look out straight onto the planes sat below with the runway over to one side.

When you love travelling and flying as much as I do and are about to jet off on holiday yourself, being able to watch the planes taking off and landing is a huge thrill.

Both of us were fascinated and couldn’t stop looking out the window all evening and again the next morning. It was lovely to see that Evie got just as excited as I did about the planes!

If you can manage to tear your eyes away from the view, the room is also rather special. The huge king bed (beds like this make me happy to have a co-sleeping baby!) was so soft and comfy that I could quite easily have missed our flight. If you really aren’t interested in the views (although I have no idea why you wouldn’t be) a large TV with a Sky package sits at the end of the bed, there’s a desk space, a vanity corner and a Nespresso coffee machine.

The plush bathroom with a heavenly monsoon shower, pampering bath products, and a view of the runway from the toilet seat, had me taking more showers than I actually needed. And the room is so sophisticated that everything is controlled via a touch screen tablet. There is no way that you couldn’t feel completely relaxed here before a morning flight.

There are several restaurants, cafes and shops close by inside the airport so we had dinner before an early night back in our room where Evie chilled out watching Paw Patrol, or some other very exciting form of Baby TV, while I finished up the last bit of packing.

When the packing was done and Evie was asleep, I could finally relax so I put on some gentle mood lighting which, by the way, is neon purple so I obviously loved it, helped myself to a tea from the vast selection and just watched the runway and the planes light up at night. I definitely felt in my happy place here.

The next morning we had an early breakfast in the restaurant next door, headed back to our room to pick up our cases where we couldn’t resist having another look at the view, and then practically strolled a few meters to start the next part of our journey. Bloc is right inside Gatwick’s south terminal, immediately next to departures, and only a lift ride away from the quick shuttle to the north terminal, so it couldn’t have been any easier. I didn’t have far to walk with all the bags by myself, we both felt energised after a good night’s sleep and, most importantly, it was kind of like starting the holiday a day earlier!

I was so nervous about our trip. Not because I thought Evie would be difficult on the plane – she’s been a pro at flying so far – but purely because I was by myself with her. I had a lot of things to carry, I had to fold the stroller down before the flight whilst holding onto a newly walking baby, and if she wasn’t happy for any reason I had to deal with it alone. But it couldn’t have gone any smoother and staying at Bloc made such a huge difference. The thought of getting up in the middle of the night and tiredly driving to the airport, most likely having a last minute rush and panic (because you know this always happens especially with kids in tow), and having a tired one year old to contend with through security. No thank you! I’ll take the relaxing evening, comfy bed and stress free check in any day!

Have you ever stayed at an airport hotel? Have they made your journey stress-free too? Let me know in the comments below or at:

Twitter  ♥  Instagram  ♥  Facebook

Thank you to Bloc Hotels who hosted our stay at Gatwick Airport. You always make the start of a holiday a breeze!