Go go go your boat, gently down the stream….
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily, life is such a dream!!!!!
AHOY THERE!!!!!
I’m going to kick this blog off by asking a very serious question…
What do you get when you take six Essex girls and give them complete control of a canal boat???
I know. I’ll let you take that in for a minute.
The answer.. total and utter hysterical chaos (I blame the captain), a lot of singing and screaming (soz London) , even more belly laughing (might have maybe wet myself a little bit) and the bestest most fabulous day out EVER.
And this was all thanks to the amazing company Go Boat!!!!!
I’m the first to admit that I totally take London for granted. I’ve been working in this concrete jungle for over ten years where my every day life revolves around getting the tube, moaning about the delays, spending the day at work, then back on the tube to experience more delays. Eat sleep work repeat. Day in day out. And I totally forget to take in all of the wonderful sights around me. But we are all guilty of this aren’t we?!
So this is why when Go Boat invited me to spend the afternoon on one of their canal boats I was absolutely over the moon and accepted their invitation in all of 0.1 seconds. It was time to start appreciating London again and what better way to see the wonderful sights. I was buzzing!
And I can confirm that my day spent on that boat of dreams completely made me fall head over heels in love all over again with our darling city.
Not to mention that the day we were booked in for our Go Boat experience just so happened to fall over that GLORIOUS hot Saturday over Easter, meaning that we all got very over excited, pulled out our dusty summer outfits from the bottom of the wardrobe and pretended we were in the Caribbean.
But back to that in a moment, I’m sailing right ahead.
Now let me tell you what this fantastic company entails.
The concept– GoBoat London is the only self-drive, powered boating experience in central London, where you and your group of up to eight, or shall we say crew, are trusted to drive the boat uninstructed. It’s so ridiculously fun! The boat has been designed so that it is extremely social with a picnic table in the middle.
The location– The meeting point is a few minutes walk from Paddington Station by Merchant Square on the canal. It was my first time in this area and I was so surprised at how modern and buzzy it was.
Duration– It’s totally up to you. You can rent out your boat for anything up to one-three hours. We spent two hours on our boat and I was absolutely not ready to leave when our time was up.
Who to boat with?- Everyone and anyone. It caters to all ages. I took my girl gang and it was the best day out, but I would have had an equally amazing time with my family or my work colleagues. It would even be a cute date day but I personally think it’s the perfect opportunity for a big group day out and it would absolutely appeal to all ages.
So, that’s the important facts out the way and now it’s time to tell you about our adventure on the shores.
Are you ready? Come on aboard. Oh buoy your in for a treat!!!!
We went Go Boating over Easter weekend, which was my first weekend back in London since Bristol and I hadn’t seen my girls in nearly two months so was buzzing to catch-up.
And what better place to reunite than on a dreamy boat living our best life’s?
Our first stop was the M and S opposite the entrance point. We had a picnic to make. But there was just one problem. Our trains had been delayed (standard) and we had all of three minutes to stock up on treats. Cue a mass panic of six hysterical Essex girls running around the shop as if we were on Supermarket Sweep.
They could hear us coming from a mile off.
Once we had stocked up on Percy Pigs it was time to meet the Go Boat staff and receive a quick health and safety tutorial. As well as the best part of all….. getting dressed up in out sailor hats! I mean it would have been rude not too.
We were officially ready to get our Go Boat on!!
My lovely friend Nicola kindly nominated herself to be the captain. So whilst we piled in the boat, laid out the picnic and posed she was busy learning the ropes. And despite a very near head on collision with the opposite wall just two seconds after take off oops (we absolutely did not cause a scene at all and absolutely did not need to be rescued, nope. Not us.) she very quickly got the hang of it and settled in to her new role of Captain of the Canal.
The next two hours were an absolute dream and I genuinely felt like we were on holiday.
Whilst our captain Nic took us through the most beautiful of settings, the sun shone down on us and we spent two hours gossiping, drinking strawberry mojitos.. (you can take the girls out of Essex) stuffing our face with sausage rolls and genuinely living our best life’s.
We mighttttttt have spent the majority of the time pretending we were in our own music video. But you would have done the same right? RIGHT?
During our two hour tour we passed so many beautiful sights in London including Little Venice, Maida Vale, and Regents Park. Had we have had more time we would have rode past London Zoo and Camden Lock. The gorgeous setting made me really appreciate just how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful city.
I absolutely loved every single second of our time on the Go Boat, it was the dreamiest and most special way to spend a Saturday afternoon with my babes.
What I loved the most about this experience was the way we just totally lived in the moment. We didn’t want to be on our phones, there were no computers, TVs or any other distractions. Apart from the odd duck, or waving boat. We had each others company and that was all we needed. It was like being in a total bubble of bliss for two hours, which is very rare for most of us. And I really did cherish every moment.
Go Boat I can’t thank you enough for this fabulous day out, I will remember it forever.
You really did push the boat out.
Okay okay I’ll stop now.
Sea you soon darlings, have a fab weekend!!! (Sorry just couldn’t help myself)
Sammy
xxxxxxx
To book yourself a Go Boat click here.
P.S Go Boat have just announced they are opening up a second location in Kingston, how exciting!
Disclaimer- I was kindly invited to review this experience. We received complimentary tickets, however all views and opinions are my own.
If you enjoyed this check out some more fun I have been having in London recently:
Mary Poppins Afternoon Tea at The Shard
The London Bake Off Experience
The Chocolate Cocktail Company
