Believe it or not, this may or may not be the very last post in my Adventures With Victor series! At this point, we’re back in New Jersey and we’re down to three days before he has to fly back. We took it easy and did just a few things, like going over to Katie’s for a game night and then following it up with a trip to Sally Lunn’s, an English tea room and restaurant.

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Our Lodging

Before I go ahead and talk about our fun game night event, let’s talk once more about our lodgings. After the New York hotel, we stayed at three different places for the remainder of his stay. We made a last minute reservation for a few nights at an Airbnb that was half an hour away from my house. Luckily, we had the entire apartment to ourselves! We got our own private entrance, bathroom, kitchen, living room and even a “game room” adjacent to the apartment. We were actually supposed to go back to Red Roof Inn, that 2-star hotel, but we went for it and made the switch.

This was my very first Airbnb experience, and I’m so glad I got to experience it in a full apartment all to ourselves. We initially looked at Airbnb options before he even arrived but all we managed to find were private bedrooms only. I’m super thankful we managed to find this place free within two days before our check-in!

After the Airbnb, we spent a few nights at a 3-star hotel my aunt and uncle once again found for us, thanks to his hotel benefits.

BUT THEN … that last hotel we stayed at. I thought the first 2-star hotel was bad … I thought this was worse. The bathroom creeped me out and smelled very strong of cleaning products. At least it didn’t smell like crap BUT it smelled like one of those public bathrooms that just got cleaned. That smell was there during our stay. There were some things on the walls and discoloration here and there. The sheets weren’t very clean which freaked me out even more. Thank God we only stayed here for three nights but we both agreed we’d never do this again. NO 2-star HOTELS! Don’t do it!

Game Night

Moving on to the game night, Katie invited us over to their place for a game night. We made some home made taco pizzas, which ended up being really yummy! I never made pizza before, let alone taco pizzas. I was pretty proud of what I made. We each had our own tray and crescent roll dough to work with.

This was ALL mine to eat

After dinner, we went downstairs to play some PS4 games like Detroit: Becoming Human, Rocket League and Gang Beasts. I’m happy to say I was fairly helpful in all games and didn’t end up being the loser all the time!

Sally Lunn’s

Katie and I have been eyeing to go to Sally Lunn’s for a while, so we decided to plan it and make it a double date. Sally Lunn’s is a English Tea Room and Restaurant located in Chester, NJ and apparently has existed since 1680! Katie’s parents both are English and still have relatives in England so she’s eaten all of that good stuff since she was little. I’ve never tried English food before but Katie’s stories of the different food and recipes have been killing me because they sound so delicious!

Sally Lunn’s is a cute little place that has indoor and outdoor seating and features their menu right outside next to the entrance so customers can read and plan their order ahead of time. We got there around 11 but since Katie and Sal weren’t there yet, we didn’t officially get seated until close to noon.

The place looked so cute, filled with old English teacups and other antiques. The tables were draped over with lace and there were dollies everywhere.

Extensive Menu

We had a separate two-page (so that means four sided) tea menu to choose from. It was so difficult to decide, as I’ve never seen or heard of those teas before. I seriously wish they had this extensive menu everywhere I went instead of alcoholic options!

I ended up choosing a Peach Mango tea, which came as loose tea leaves in a cue little tea pot. It came with a separate strainer to put over my cup as I poured it, which was interesting as I’ve never used such a thing before. Another thing I’ve never ever done before was to put milk and sugar in my tea. I usually just drink everything without any additions, but WOW the tea tasted really good with milk and sugar!

My teacup was ADORABLE and I wished I could take it home! Victor went with an iced Lavender Blueberry Fruit Punch.

As for the actual food, I chose Shepherd’s Pie, which came with a side of potato salad. It did not disappoint. It looked a bit small for a meal but it was definitely very filling. The beef was so tender and the mashed potatoes were divine! If I ever went back, I’d probably go for some more Shepherd’s Pie.

We were so full from our lunch that we skipped on dessert. Darn it.

Black River Candy Shoppe

After eating at Sally Lunn’s we walked over to the Black River Candy Shoppe. The name gives it away, as this place is another candy heaven. Black River Candy Shoppe contains a lot of old candies you may have eaten often when you were younger, like those candy dots and baby bottle pops. Some were priced per item, while others were priced per pound.

They also have a variety of taffy and English candies like Aero, Cadbury chocolates, Maltesers, and more! I bought a couple of Aero chocolates for myself and some Cadbury chocolate bars for my mom and cousins.

That’s pretty much the rest of the noteworthy stuff we did before Victor left for home! The rest of the time was spent watching Netflix and/or One Piece, and just cherishing the little time we had left with each other. Before he left, I did get to ask him a few questions of his impressions of his first visit to the United States, but that will be for another post!

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Thanks for reading! Until then ♡

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