My Brighton Holiday, by Chloe Hall, aged 28

They say that staying in is the new going out, and the staying at home is the new going away.

Whether this is stictly true or not, I don't know - I think it depends highly on where you live - but for Phil and I, the last Bank Holiday of the summer loomed and we were both more or less brassic. So we did what anyone in their right mind would do - we decided to stay in Brighton and be tourists for the weekend.

As it was, we'd both taken the Thurs and Fri off work so we had a clear 5 days to chill and explore our town. We were going to stay at Phil's in his studio in the centre of town and generally pretend we were on holiday, staying in a guesthouse and trying to look at Brighton through the wide-eyes of daytrippers - and we did pretty well. We stocked the fridge like a mini-bar and filled the bathroom with miniature bottles of shampoo etc, packed our bags and met at the station after workon Wednesday - dead on 6pm. Strangely, it really felt like we'd both stepped off the train and didn't live here at all!

After we arrived at the "Guesthouse" we unpacked, and headed out to get some food. We then watched countless hours of Scrubs and ate junk food to our heart's content. I had a relaxing hot shower and used my favourite LUSH facemask, Brazened Honey. We had some wine, and then cuddled up and fell asleep.

I'm notorious for not being a morning person, but on the first day of our holiday I was up and awake and consious at the very respectable hour of 8.30! We had coffee and bagels in bed and then got ready and headed out into the town. Wandered round the less-crowded-than-weekend shops, walked into Hove and did a bit of charity shop shopping - got a wicked skull mug, an antique pill box, a teddybear and a funky space invaders vest all for £7!

After that, we were hungry, so we tried out the Vegetarian Indian Buffet, Bombay Aloo, that I'd been wanting to go to for ages. 20 dishes for £4.95! FABULOUS value and I'd recommend it to anyone. We sat and scoffed for ages, and my brother joined us after his Open Day at Sussex Uni. Later, afternoon tea in the Pavillion Garden Café and lounging around in the Royal Pavillion Gardens, smoking and chattting. It was lovely. Jake headed home and Phil and I headed to the Odeon to see what was on. We opted for the Dark Knight, such a great film. Apart from the very annoying exchange students talking loudly and sitting in the reserved seats, it was a good trip to the movies. Christian Bale and Heath Ledger - blimey ;) yes, yes, I know, he's a psycho agent of chaos with disfiguring facial scars and clown makeup, but hey, what can I say? Even the delectable Cillian Murphy makes a quick re-appearance and I was happy :) Vodka and Scrubs to round off the night.

The highlights of the Brighton part of the holiday were the trip to the Sealife Centre, deckchairs on the pier, chips on the beach, sending comedy postcards, late night drinking sessions and setting the world to rights, good home-cooked meals, wandering along the seafront and generally awesome couple-togetherness. It was a break that both of us really needed and we made the most of our free time together in every way possible ;)

On the Monday we set off on a train to London to meet the ever-lovely Cassie and Sean for a wander round and a nice meal at The Crown. Forbidden Planet beckoned and I managed to find myself a voice-changing Death Eater Mask and wand, reduced to £13.99. AWESOME! We then had a few drinks at The Intrepid Fox and after they left, we met up with Barney from my uni days and stayed and chilled with him until it was almost dark and we had to wend our way
home again.

Possibly the best holiday I have had in a very long time. Brighton rocks :)