Marc and I left Dublin last July 1 for Belfast in Northern Ireland. We bought two tickets online at the equivalent price of US $40. Thanks to the Irish employee we spoke to at Heuston Train Station, we got our tickets half off just by buying them not in the station in person but on the net.

From our hotel, we just walked to Conolly Station. We walked down O'Connell Street and then turned left on Talbott Street. It was a straight and leisurely walk for us. We literally planned on having a lot of time so we wouldn't be huffing and puffing by the time we caught our train. As far as I recall, the train ride took approximately two and a half hours.

Upon arrival in Belfast the walk to our hotel, the Premier Inn on Alfred Street, took around 15 minutes. It was a straight walk from the Belfast Train Station and it was perfectly safe.

Overall, we had a pleasant stay at this hotel. Would we return and stay here again if given the chance? We would. It was modern, clean, and very centrally located. Just two blocks away from the Belfast's City Hall.

I wrote a review about this hotel on Tripadvisor and titled it: Still Puzzled Why Our Room Wasn't Cleaned? It's true that on our second day here, we discovered that housekeepping had either missed or skipped our room entirely and left it the way it was when we left early that morning to go sightseeing. Not wanting to make a fuss and given the time of day, we both decided we would just request for new towels. The old ones we used and which had not been replaced were still on the bathroom floor.

Marc went downstairs to the front desk to ask for some. He likewise informed the bearded male employee at the front desk about what had happened. To our surprise, the employee responded by blaming us for leaving the DO NOT DISTURB SIGN on our door. We did no such thing and Marc was offended by the response.

Would we have informed hotel staff about the matter had we placed such sign on our hotel room door so that housekeeping would not enter to clean and tidy up? It would not make any sense.

Oh well, someone forgot" we first thought. We got over it quickly. What we did not appreciate was the flippant response by the male employee. It was uncalled for and totally inappropriate.

The hotel's operations manager had gotten back to us personally by email and apologized after the review came out on Tripadvisor. We do appreciate the gesture.