This weekend I went to Jersey... It has been on my radar to go there for a number of years, but I have not ever got around to it. Last week I was in London for my boss' leaving drinks and as the route back to IoM was looking choppy with flights and boats cancelled I took the opportunity to spend the weekend in Jersey and visit my friends.

What can I say - it's a small place but has way more than I anticipated. On arrival from LGW the airport was much larger than IoM and actually looked very well run. It was like a real airport (not that IoM isn't real but it's erm... well... I should just stop here before I get banned from using the airport where I live!).

I left the airport and walked the 50m to the bus stop and found myself on a 12A bus - which was going in the wrong direction according to Google maps but this didn't matter as the bus signage was telling me it was going to St. Helier. The bus route takes you up to the top left village and then down the coast road to St. Helier - which is about 25 minutes to get to and you get to see nice scenery.

I had booked a hotel just prior to getting on the plane from LGW so knew vaguely where I was going. The bus dropped me off at the bus station and Google maps helped me navigate the short walk to the hotel, going past the Police Station on route.

The hotel and room was decent - not over priced (well OK compared to London... but probably more than I would pay for say Paris, or Portugal). The amenities were something to be desired. This hotel had pool and Sauna and I did go and use but the pool was not that clean and the changing rooms were horrid - so much so I didn't want to go use the Sauna!

I ventured out into the town to find that it had way more shops, pubs, restaurants than that of IoM. Literally it's littered with independent coffee shops and different high street shops. Pretty much anything you need was probably available on the high street... including a Mc Donalds.

There were a few quirks - like the Yamaha music shop also had a Pizza place attached to it... and some of the main coffee shops don't open Sundays? Apparently nothing to do with Sunday trading, just they don't want to open Sundays?

I had arranged to meet the Channel Islands director for retail at Santander on the Thursday so I got up and headed down. The weather was a bit miserable but no where near as bad as IoM. A short walk and I was in the Work Cafe with a coffee and plugged in. The meeting with Santander went well and we cleared the air (there is another story there about Santander being homophobic towards me...) and agreed a way forward that meant I could now lift my own personal ban on Santander Work Cafe IoM.

I was meeting my friend Jess that evening so had a nice walk around the city then headed to the hotel to get changed.

Jess sent me her address but it was a fair distance away so I grabbed a cab - massively expensive at £29 for 7km! But she lived a fair distance away so no easy way to get there.

OK - so clearly Jess has done better for herself than I have... as we turned into the gates of her house into the drive way with 4 cars and two double garages.... was awesome to see her and she was waiting for me with hugs at the ready! We breezed by the pool and into the library where I dropped my shoes and coat and met the kids!

Her kids are awesome - was really pleased to see that she has done so well for herself and raised a lovely family as well. Sebby (the youngest) was in charge of showing uncle Dale around the house - so I had a tour of the 7 bedroom detached property and his assortment of Spiderman toys. Anabelle was being quiet and reserved until Jess asked her about her dance stuff at which point I got the full performance - she is actually very good, especially for her age! I have forgotten the middle ones name... I think it's something begging with F... very bad of me as I was with them most of the weekend... but she was more reserved and quiet, loves reading her kindle. Definitely a book worm!

We had Indian and spent the night chatting before I jumped in a taxi to the hotel - another £32 cost, but was worth it to see Jess and meet everyone properly, plus catch up on the old times.

Friday I walked into town and had a walk around, popped back for a catch up with my shrink that afternoon via video call then walked to the leisure centre to catch the bus to where we had arranged to have dinner that night (St Auben I think!). Jess knows a lovely restaurant there which was nice but the kids were playing up a bit so we didn't have a late one.

Saturday I met Jess in town and we had a bit to eat in a lovely brunch place. Craig was going to watch Rugby so we went to Jess' house where we did more catching up then Jess wanted to show me the island so we headed out and saw the huge beach behind the airport and watched the sunset there - it was awesome, such a lovely place and a lovely warm day. That night Craig cooked Jersey beef which was also awesome, I don't think I have had beef as nice!

In the taxi ride back to hotel got chatting to the taxi driver who has developed his own app that links WhatsApp to Claud AI so he can take bookings - what an ingenuous idea and something I will probably think about for work!

Sunday was mothers day, so had not arranged to do anything with Jess - instead I checked out of the hotel and into the Spa hotel where I indulged in the spa while the weather outside was miserable... was a nice fitting end to a lovely weekend... with views over Jersey from the top floor as I did a bit of work and relaxed watching TV.

Monday I was heading home but needed to grab a few things first so headed into town and did a bit of shopping (knowing I could not get what I needed where I lived!) and then got a taxi to the airport.

Now this is where Jersey definitely excels... they had a airport lounge, brand spanking new one... so I checked in and chilled watching planes, eating nice food and having coffee... at LGW I checked into the lounge again and this time had a few G&T's while I relaxed till my flight to IoM.

So what's the view on Jersey?

Well, it is a bit like comparing Labour and Conservative. Labour is the IoM, where everything is public, there is not really any private entities and a huge proportion of the population work for the government in some form. The busses in IoM are currently on strike as the bus drivers want time and half when they work past certain hours and at weekends... causing chaos on the island. Whereas Jersey is like Conservative - where by if you don't have money you simply can't live there. They have this "license" system where by if you are not earning enough money to support your family and its not benefitting the island you lose the license and have to sell your house and move off island. Everything on Jersey is privatised, from busses to power.

Now whilst Jersey has a lot more services, things happening, and more opportunities I have to say I prefer IoM. It has more space, and is more relaxed with less people living on top of each other. OK it has huge downsides like you can't get things and trying to get things done is like pulling teeth, but its still home and on days like today where its lovely and sunny and so quiet, it reminds me why I live here.