We've come a long way from where we began - Florida Sept/Oct 2015. Day 1 - Travel Day

[vics18]

Index is here

Monday 21st September – Travel Day

Despite the very comfortable beds at the Radisson Blu, I did not sleep at all well – the combination of excitement and a very sore, dry throat making it impossible. We packed up all our stuff back into cases and checked out at 8am.
The walk over to terminal 2 is only a matter of minutes over the link bridge and is so easy. I know there are other hotels around the airport that are cheaper, but the convenience of staying here means I will always plump for this hotel as long as I can get it at a reasonable price (think we paid about £95 with £6 cashback by booking through Barclay’s Expedia).

There was hardly any queue when we arrived at bag drop, bags waved off we then had to go over to gate 73 to drop off Martin’s golf clubs. This was also where a lot of the Virgin cabin crew were dropping off their bags – all looking very glamorous. Unlike me, who was sat on a seat nearby popping throat lozenges like there was no tomorrow. I only realised later you’re only supposed to take 8 in a 24 hour period. Think I ate the whole box in that time. I was so determined I could not be ill for this holiday that I’d been planning for so long.

Let's go!

Golf bag waved off, we went through security. Again very little queue here and I passed through with no problems. Apparently Martin beeped and he was taken to have his hands swabbed! Thankfully they were happy he wasn’t a drug smuggler and he caught up with me as I was packing all the electrical stuff back into the bags.

We headed into Duty Free as I decided I wanted some new ‘holiday’ perfume. I love getting a new perfume when you go on holiday, the smell then always reminds me of that place. I got Viktor & Rolf Bon Bon.

We had a look round and were all done and dusted by 9 o’clock.
As we hadn’t booked with Virgin Holidays like last time, we were unfortunately unable to use the V Room. So we went to partake in our airport ritual of a burger king! We have this whatever time of day we travel. Martin always has a pint too, and usually pops a few Kalms as he is not a very good flier. I have noticed he is much better on long haul flights though, think the great in flight entertainment does a good job of distracting him.

In Burger King we were sat at a table behind a family, the older lady at the table was shouting down a mobile phone – not in an angry way, just talking VERY loudly telling the person on the other end of the phone where to find them. Martin commented that there was no need for the phone, everyone in departures could hear her anyway! Unsurprisingly the bloke she was talking to turned up seconds later. (Weirdly we saw this family at Magic Kingdom the following day in Fantasyland – what are the chances of that!)

After our disgustingly early burger king, we went to boots for bottles of water, then went into Spinning Jenny’s for said pint for Martin. I had a hot chocolate. This was a great spot to people watch.

Our gate appeared on the board – 208 which was the next one down from where we were sitting. We headed down and saw our plane was Barbarella. I was a bit relieved it wasn’t Ruby Tuesday which I had read on here was the plane involved with the drama on last week’s VS75 flight. It was absolutely pouring with rain and I struggled to get a pic!

We grabbed a couple of seats and got the passports and boarding cards out. Bizarrely I glanced over at the older couple sat next to us as they were sorting their cards out and spotted that they were also sitting next to us on the plane! What a coincidence. We were 32 D & E, they were F & G, in the middle row of 4. We had a little chat, they had been to Florida many times and had some family there.

We were boarded pretty much last as we were in economy near the front. As we set foot on the plane we were stopped due to a woman a couple of rows in taking her time sorting out all her things while stood in the aisle meaning nobody else could get past.
No amount of tutting seemed to make her go any faster but eventually she did sit down and we could proceed to our seats. There seemed to be the odd empty seat around. Didn’t feel quite as crammed in as when everywhere is full to bursting!

The lady in the aisle seat on row 31 obviously knew some of the cabin crew as one of them brought her and her travelling companions some of that awful fizzy wine that Virgin serve. I overheard the woman telling her that she had booked tickets for Mickey’s not so scary Halloween party but then realised she booked for California not Orlando! So I’m pretty sure she wasn’t a Dibber, or at least she wasn’t one at that time! She must have drunk about 14 of those little bottles of wine during the flight, just before we started to descend into Orlando her cabin crew mate brought her a few in a little bag and as we were landing she was necking them straight out of the bottle! Now I’m not judgmental, you’re on your hols you can do what you want – but they would have had to carry me off the plane if I’d drunk all that!

We broke out the Globetrotting Percy Pig's

Martin watched the new Terminator film he put it on even before we took off. I think it’s great that you can do this – works especially well for nervous fliers. I looked at his screen and he also watched Pitch Perfect 2! I watched Fast and Furious 7, Inside Out, which I loved but it made me cry! I also watched an episode of Alex Polizzi’s The Fixer, and read an MKingdon trippie on my Kindle. The song at the end of F&F 7 was the inspiration for the trip report title. It's the Wiz Khalifa/Charlie Puth song. This was the first time of several thousand we would hear it on this trip! Was definitely one of our holiday songs.

I listened to this too

The flight passed really quickly. Food was OK, I had butter chicken Martin had the beef. I thought they came round plenty with the drinks trolley, and we had our little Fab lollies.


I had told Martin to show no mercy when we landed and get through to Immigration as quickly as we could! Even though we were among the first economy passengers to get there we still waited an age in the line. Turns out this was because they had ONE man at immigration. Yes, one. To process a whole jumbo jet’s worth of people. Unbelievable.
Shortly after us, 2 more flights landed so the queue was out of the hall. Amazingly they then decided to get some extra staff on. Even so, I fear some of those people may still be in that line, it was so long. We got directed to the original guy who was a right barrel of laughs. (He wasn't). Thankfully I managed to hold in my tutting and we were admitted to the USA! YAY! Unsurprisingly, having taken what felt like 6 months to get through immigration, our bags were trundling round the carousel. Picked them up and headed over to the monorail. Stepping into that big atrium type place with the fountain I felt like we’d finally arrived!

The Alamo guy half heartedly tried to upsell us some more insurance. As we already had the ‘platinum’ package so we could both drive, I politely told him to get lost and we headed to the garage. We picked a Nissan Versa, programmed the sat nav and headed for I Drive. Martin did really well for his first time driving in America, know he had been a bit nervous about it so I was proud of him. All the tolls were manned so we were able to pay with notes and get change. We arrived at our hotel, Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando and were allocated a room in block D on I Drive side, as requested.

I'd forgotten how loud the air con units are in this hotel! We unpacked most of our stuff and got freshened up.

We walked out and decided to head to Olive Garden for some food. Got the salad and breadsticks which were delicious. Martin got some sausage pasta thing, and I had fettucine alfredo. We had a bottle of wine between us. Neither of us had room for dessert so we got the bill which was $72 including tip.

Tired!

We went to Walgreens for essentials – water, diet coke, chips ahoy, Lays, Dramamine (for Martin – the simulator rides make him queasy). Spent $42 in here.
Finally dragged ourselves back to the room , tiredness kicking in big style at this point! We found Blades of Glory on TV but I couldn’t keep my eyes open – at 8:30 I admitted defeat and went to sleep.


Magic Kingdom tomorrow!

[Guest]

Great travel day! We go on Friday and reading that has made me even more excited

[vics18]

Originally Posted by Tessanna

Great travel day! We go on Friday and reading that has made me even more excited

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Wow bet you're giddy! I'm so jealous! Have a great time.
Thanks for reading

[pretty71]

Really enjoyed reading, look forward to more x

[vics18]

Originally Posted by pretty71

Really enjoyed reading, look forward to more x

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Thanks so much!

[Guest]

Love reading people's travel day. Good start to the trip.

[sheluk]

'politely told him to get lost'

Haha this made me laugh out loud! Great travel day - love it when the holiday is alllll ahead of you x

[NewtoOrlando]

Love reading the travel day reports! Looking forward to reading some more 😄

[Iheartdisney]

Great start to the trip! Love the globetrotting Percy pigs 😛 they are one of my holiday rituals!

[vics18]

Originally Posted by Iheartdisney

Great start to the trip! Love the globetrotting Percy pigs 😛 they are one of my holiday rituals!

See more...

They're ace aren't they! I'd never seen them before, couldn't resist when I saw them
Thanks for reading!