Our Manchester day out

It's not often that Sam has an entire day off from her job but on Tuesday she did, so we headed to Manchester with Kaz in tow for a little day out. After nearly missing the bus to Liverpool, we did manage to get there on time, armed with Boots meal deals for the train, and we had an absolute ball - laughing non stop and getting caught in the snow (in April!!!!) as well as doing three-too-many escape rooms.

We started the day off with The Dream at Lucardo, our favourite Manchester-based escape room company, followed straight away with Espionage. I preferred The Dream (so trippy) to the war-themed room that was Espionage, but both were really fun rooms and we managed to escape both of them, leaving our success rate intact.

After that it was Five Guys time, and after I'd had my fill of raspberry coke we did a bit of exploring and headed back to Lucardo (we miiiiight have a problem) to do their Virginia House room which is like a crime scene. We broke out of that one as well, just about, and when we came out it was snowing so much outside. The staff at Lucardo are soooo lovely and their rooms are boss, so if you're in the area and you love escape rooms as much as I do (or if you've never tried one before) get yourself there!

Once the snow had subsided, we did a bit of shopping - I got a new book, The Moon Pool by Sophie Littlefield, and we got some supplies for our latest venture. Kaz wanted a cactus and a lettuce (don't ask) and then we sat down to have a little drink... and decided we should do another escape room, this time at Breakout Manchester.

We decided on Facility X, which is similar but not the same as the Facility in Liverpool, and we broke out with over 26 minutes to spare - we're practically experts now, and we'll be back at Breakout in the next couple of weeks to try their new room.

The day ended with Krispy Kreme donuts on the train home, and we'd had a lush day. And we came home to a safe house, with a messy room - but everything was where we left it, and this is fabulous especially because house break-ins have been on the up in our area (scarily). We have home insurance, and you can compare prices here: https://www.chill.ie but if you're out and about, be careful not to let the world know there's nobody at home!

What are your Manchester-based recommendations for the next time we're there?

This post was written in collaboration with Chill.