Some fresh air, you'll be fine Day 1 - travel day

[clarithy]

INDEX
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY3


Saturday the 11th of October - Travel Day


The morning finally arrived, it was Florida day.

The alarm was set for 7am, but i awoke at 5.30 and I was gutted it wasn't 7am. I knew I wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon so ten minutes later i got up, made a coffee and excitedly wrote my first notes of the trip.

I decided that I might be able to get another hour in bed at 5.55am, so climbed back in and accidentally woke Jamie up cause I was so cold. We ended up chatting about all things Florida (what else would we talk about? )

My second attempt off getting up was a wee bit later at 6.45 and I got to work. I stripped the bed (as my lovely mum said she would wash them and put them back on if I brought them round to her, wee star that she is)

Jamie had jumped in the shower at this point and i had more rubbishy tasks to do, such as emptying the fridge and taking out the rubbish! Jamie seemed to be taking forever in the shower but it was my turn at 7.25. The last bits and pieces went into the cases and we were ready to leave at 8.05am

We were taking both cars round to my mums house as they have a huge drive and we wouldn't have to leave the cars on the street at my flat. We put our cases in the cars and left for the three minute drive round to my mums.

First selfie of the trip, on the way out the door

The temperature in the car read 8C, so a bit chilly. We weighed both cases and they came in at 12.5kg and 15kg, amazing as we were allowed 23kg each, plenty off space for shopping on our return.

Jamie and my Mum, just before the off

So into the second car off the day, and on the way to the airport at 8.30am.

It took about 25mins to get to the airport as the roads were quite quiet as it was a Saturday morning, we were diverted on the approach to the Forth Road Bridge but this didn't add much time to the journey.

As we approached the airport my dad pointed out that it was 8.58, perfect timing as we had planned the arrive at 9am. My dad parked up and we got the suitcases out off the car, my mum kindly gave us some dollars and we said our goodbyes. They left and paid the £1 it costs to park for 10 mins or less.

We went into the airport to find the United desks, and joined the queue at 9.10am. The quite had a few people in front but it wasn't to bad. We were asked security questions when we joined the queue by a woman holding an i-pad ( the usual did you pack your own bag, blah blah blah) Once we got to the front off the queue it took about 3 minutes and we were on our way to security at 9.30.

We went up the escalators and found the doors to the security hall closed and a security man standing outside, we weren't sure what to make of this - was the hall that busy? - we joined the small queue forming and in a few minutes the doors opened and we walked into a pretty dead security line. perfect.

I beeped when i went through as i had a chunky necklace which i forgot to take off. The woman searching me was very friendly and asked where i was going. When i told her Florida she said she had just returned from America after being there for 4 weeks, including a week in Florida. I asked about the weather and she said she didn't see any rain. That was a relief as i think the weather hadn't been that great recently there?

Got in to departures at 9.47 ( am being very precise with my times, this won't last) and we headed for breakfast at The Sir Walter Scott or Spoons to you and me. We sat at table 78 ( yes, you don't really need to know this but i have written it down so it's going in the report! )

Having a good browse

The surprised look

I went up to the bar to order and came back to the table with the drinks. I had a coffee and my first drink off the holiday, a strawberry and lime kopperberg. Jamie had a good old pint off tennents.

Me with the above stated drinks

Now to get onto the food as we were pretty hungry by this point.

Jamie - a bacon and egg roll
Clare - Traditional Breakfast

It was nice, standard breakfast fair but filled a hole and for £21.58 can't complain.

The Traditional Breakfast


Bacon and egg roll

I did get the smallest knife and fork imaginable with this meal! A bit strange.

Don't know if you can really tell the scale in this picture?

Standard FB check in was done before we left spoons then he headed to have a browse in the shops.

Please ignore Jamie's "patter"

I went to Mac and bought a blusher £15.10, I wanted a brow pen but they didn't seem to sell them at the airport. I bought a Estee Lauder double wear foundation for £24.99 and finally a new pandora charm as I only had 2 so far, that was £37 and I was then all spent out, Jamie didn't buy anything apart from a newspaper.

The charm on the bracelet

\

We headed along to the gate via Dixons where Jamie was desperate for a new pair of beats (He already has a pair) and obviously I told him no and thank goodness he listened to me, phew.

We checked in via the United app the night before so we already knew the gate number. Got a seat and waited, i wrote some notes up and then got a coffee from Costa. A gingerbread latte and i got Jamie a water, £ 4.60

They had oversold the flight and where offering $700 in United voucher and a night in Edinburgh dinner, bed and breakfast and a seat on the same flight the next day. A great deal if your not desperate to be there but obvs Florida was waiting on us. Boarding began at 11.15 and we where pretty much first in the queue and in our seats by 11.25 - pretty impressive - Unfortunately we sat in the wrong seats (just a row behind) oops

The flight took off precisely the time it was meant too, 12.05pm and we changed our watches to Florida time then and there. I did some arrow words then watched an episode of girls and Jamie read his Kindle - Roy Keanes book - before we got offered our first drink.

Clare - vodka and diet coke
Jamie - Barcadi and diet coke.

They came to $15 something and you can only pay with card so i used my caxton card for the first time.

Here's the standard legroom, it was fine same as any plane really

We both started to watch friends (with Japanese subtitles)but it wasn't long into that, that lunch was served.

Clare - ravioli
Jamie - Thai green chicken curry

They just said a chicken dish and didn't describe it as any more than that so i ordered the ravioli as i suspect it to be chicken with gravy or the likes but clever Jamie asked and was told it was thai curry. He defiantly made the better choice not his occasion.

The ravioli was nice but needed more sauce

Thai green curry

Dessert was an appley cinnamon thing which was nice, i kept Jamies for later but it ended up on the floor and got stood on. Opps. We had another round of drinks, just the same as before and same price but they didn't give me a whole can of diet coke as they were low. jamie got a sprite and we shared that too.

I tried to have a wee snooze but nothing came off it especially when the man in front reclined his seat ALL the way back, I wasn't very impressed. Afternoon tea came around at 1pm which was a crostini thing which had turkey and pesto in it, salty crisps and a Lily O'brain chocolate.

At 2pm local time we began to decent into Newark. It landed at 2.30pm and we were off and through security by 2.50pm! We couldn't believe it, there was no queue whatsoever. Also he was a happy man who even cracked a joke.

We arrived at Baggage claim at 2.55pm and waited half an hour for our bags to appear. This was when we got a bit fed up and we had words. This passed once our bags made an appearance. We dropped the bags off at the drop off point and nipped out for a cigarette, perfect opportunity to spot a NYC taxi

Headed to security at 3.30pm and we got through that in about 10 minutes and we headed off to find some food. We both went to different food outlets i went to Famiglia which was like a deli sort of place and Jamie went to Asian Chao Oriental Eatery.

Clare - Chicken caesar wrap and a pepsi $11.53
Jamie - combo meal including orange chicken, teriyaki chicken, rice and noodles and a pepsi $10.68

Jamies was defiantly much nicer, mine was quite dry but i ate most of it as I was unsure if we'd get to SSR before the Artist Palette closed. Jamie won this round.

Chicken caesar wrap

Combo meal

We still had a bit of time until boarding so went to a bar for a drink. The place was called Le Grand Comptoir and we had a miller lite each which came to $16.90 and we just left a 20. It had a great view of the runway and there was a plane right out the window.

Beer time

After the beers we headed across to the gate and boarding began at 4.45 and we were sitting in our seats by 4.55pm. Everything just ran so smoothly today.

Boarding was done by lanes, lane 1 and 2 where for first class and people who had paid for priority boarding then lane 3, 4 then 5. This was difficult for some passengers to understand and caused a bit of a confuffle but eventually people got into the right lane.

I started to watch TV on the entertainment system but it stopped working before take off and didn't come back on again. It wasn't the end of the world as the captain announced that it would take 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to Orlando. The flight took off at 5.40pm .

I managed a quick snooze for the first half an hour then wrote notes and did some puzzles and I think Jamie read his kindle the whole way. I took some photos when the sun went down, it was just beautiful.

The rest of the flight went pretty quickly. We had a quick drink from the trolley, Just soft drinks this time. We touched down at 7.50pm and were off the plane by 8.00pm.

A quick jump on the monorail. I was very excited about this and woke up a bit! We were finally in FLORIDA, after what felt like a very long day.

Attempting and failing at taking an arty shot of the mirrors above the monorail

A happy Jamie on the monorail

Didn't have to wait too long for the cases and went to check in for the magical express. The cast member checking us in looked incredibly young, like Manny from Modern Family which was a bit strange.

There wasn't to many people waiting for the ME. We waited about 15 mins before we were sat on the bus waiting to leave.

The bus went via POFQ, POR then to SSR. It didn't add much on to the journey as they are so close to one another and the two of us and one other family were left. We got of the bus and tipped the driver a few dollars.

We were offered a room in the Paddock with a DTD disney view but on the ground floor. I had requested grandstand with a high floor, I was quite surprised that we never got what we requested as most people on here get what they ask for. Anyway the CM was great and tried to get us another room. It was again in the paddock but on the 3rd floor (2nd U.K) which was closer to the paddock pool and the main pool. I really didn't know what to do. I ended up taking the new room, which as it turns out was a great decision as we loved the location. I bet some fibbers will be shocked about giving up the DTD room, but i think it was the right choice.

Some how we were pretty peckish by this point and headed to the Artist Palette to use the first credits of the DDP. It must have been after 10pm by this point but before 11 cause thats when Artist Palette closes. we also picked up our mugs.

Jamie - Ham and cheese sandwich, Mickey ice cream sandwich, orange juice
Clare - cheese burger flatbread, Mickey ice cream sandwich and diet coke

A bit blurry sorry but it was full of ham, melted cheese and mustard

I really enjoyed this, wish i had asked for no gherkins but i didn't realise they were on it . It was a nice size as i thought it was going to be bigger but glad it wasn't

Standard Mickey ice cream sandwich shame we couldn't finish them

We had a map of the resort but finding the room was pretty tricky, luckily for us a CM was driving past in a golf buggy and she picked us up and took us to our room, which was luckily not too far away. we tipped her $2.

We unpacked quickly and went for a quick wander around the resort, the bus stop was just outside the villas we were in and smoking area just out the front, perfect. We went to bed at 12am a full 23.5 hours since we got up. Our heads hit the pillow and that was that. Travel day done!

[dolphinlou]

Ooh it's a great read so far

[oohoohmonkey]

Looking forward to more when you've had some sleep!

[*Lauren-J*]

Great start! I can't wait for some mac goodies too! Love a bit of duty free shopping!

[wakeuplaura]

LOVE IT Xxx

[Guest]

Thanks for sharing! Nice rail bridge pictures

[collybird]

We fly from Edinburgh with United next week, you've got me all excited now!

[clarithy]

Originally Posted by collybird

We fly from Edinburgh with United next week, you've got me all excited now!

See more...

Cant complain about united at all. Exciting 5 days on your countdown. Enjoy

[Milner]

Great start.

[clarithy]

Day 1 complete