Georgemac and Crew – Last Minute Tour 07 – Day 14 - Home

[georgemac]

Georgemac and Crew – July 2007

20th July – 3rd August - Last Minute Tour – BIL came too!

Day 14 – Friday 3rd August – Going Home

Weather – Does it matter? It was fine.

Today I am up very early, around 06.00 hrs, and have typed yesterday’s trippie and am starting this one. Both the First Choice flights from Manchester and Glasgow look like they have departed on time, and we have to be at the airport no later than 1 PM with BIL for his Glasgow flight, so we are planning to leave the villa at 11 AM and head straight to the airport. I phoned the Royal Plams lounge at Sanford and they do have availability but the lady says she expects it to be very busy, so I book our 3 places at a cost of $70, but did not have to leave cc details as I never got the $5 per head advance booking discount – should have booked it earlier. DS loves the internet/games and we will be at the airport a long time as BIL’s flight is 2 hours earlier than our one.

Emailed the villa owner and management co just before leaving the villa to thank them and let them know we had a great time, the SUV is fully loaded, and we are off just after 11 AM. I decide to go up the I4 instead of the 417, but immediately after the 417 turnoff we hit congestion again, and also hit some congestion at downtown Orlando, but we are at Sanford in 1 hour 10 minutes after leaving the villa. Everyone said they had really enjoyed the holiday in the car, but DW said she thought this would be our last holiday in Florida, I hope not! I drop off the gang and the luggage at Terminal A, and head off round to Alamo and drop off the SUV – all went well, and walked back up to the terminal. The FC check in area was not busy at all, we were checked in within 5 minutes, and I am sure the cases were not weighed – no excess baggage charges anyway. Through security in around 15 minutes and headed for the Royal Palm Lounge and checked in, BIL was free as he was Star Class Premier, although FC never told him this, and I only knew because a friend had told me about it. The boys head for the internet and we head for the Duty Free, purchasing drink, cigarettes and perfume only this time, then settle down in the lounge. We are sat next to some TCD Manchester passengers, who have been delayed by 24 hours, put up overnight in a nice hotel, and took a taxi back to the airport to make sure they get good seats in the lounge before the TCD buses arrive. Sure enough at about 4 PM the lounge is packed with more TCD passengers arriving. Their flight had again been delayed until 11 PM and I do hope they got in OK with no more delays. I had a minor panic on when the Glasgow FC flight started boarding, as I could not find the boys, but found them at the food court and got BIL to departures just as the final boarding call went out. I enjoyed my 4 beers in the lounge (DW does not drink) and we left the lounge to board our flight at 4.45 PM. The flight was absolutely fine, upgraded the entertainment again for £5 each, well worth it just to be able to pause and rewind the films, and start/stop them when you want. You get the choice of 3 extra films as well. The meal was surprisingly good, chicken korma or beef casserole, the breakfast croissant was very bad. I guess I slept for about an hour and a half, had serial recliners in front of us, DW maybe got 3 hours and DS was engrossed with the entertainment package so no sleep at all.

[georgemac]

We landed in Manchester around 6.15 AM, baggage collection and customs no problem, and we made our way over to T3 for our 12.50 flight back to Aberdeen, the 9.30 flight was full when we booked – one of the downsides of booking late. I checked at the ticket desk again and the agent confirmed there were no seats available on the 9.30 am flight. We checked in, having first put the 2 litres of spirits and perfume from duty free in a case (liquid restrictions and a pain but for a good reason). The cases weighed 17.5 kg, 24 kg, and 23.9 kg, so we were over our allowance, but were not charged. The back pack was also full, DW had a pretty full beach bag and we had a small hand baggage case which was also bursting! We went to Garfunkels in T2 for breakfast, and headed back to T3 at 8.40, where I went to the ticket desk to see if there were any no shows for the 9.30 seat to Aberdeen, at that time too early, and I could have paid £30 each to go on the standby list, but this was non refundable so decided against it. Also texted BIL and they were at Aberdeen on the way home, so his flight also went well. Went through departures and checked at the desk in the departure lounge at 09.00 and there were definitely no seats available on the 9.30 flight so we settled down for our long wait, DW and I dozed very little, but once the morning rush had cleared DS spread himself over 4 seats and got a few hours kip. We woke him just after 12 PM as our flight was called, and we got into Aberdeen at 1.40 PM, I headed staright up to the airport hotel to collect the car, and when I got back to the airport DW and DS were waiting with all the luggage. Loaded up and hit the road, listening to the start of the new football season on the radio, and we arrived at the house just before 3 o clock. Did all the unpacking, DD arrived home with a take away for us, and we managed to stay up until around 10 PM, before crashing out. DD and her BF were out in the evening, they are off to Florida on August 30th so we were giving them some tips.

Another very enjoyable holiday in Florida, will also post my final thoughts.

Back Of SUV

Congestion on the I4 ahead

[Guest]

Thanks for a brillant trip report George I have really enjoyed reading them.

[Jools]

What a long day! I doubt you could have got any more in the SUV.

[Strommie]

What a long day. I have loved your reports

[highlander447]

A long tiring day

[Guest]

Shame there was no availability on the earlier flight to Aberdeen.

[orlandosgr8]

A long day for you all, it was nice of your DD to bring you a take away

[Guest]

A great trip report, i've really enjoyed reading them. Thanks for taking the time to write them

[Iloveflorida]

WHat a long day, pleased you had a good journey back though