What are you wearing to the Airport - DAY 2 The Flight

[Alyson]

Flying to Miami – DAY 2 SUNDAY 5th SEPTEMBER 2010

Both woke up 5 minutes before both alarms went off at 5.25am

Michael sat up in bed poking me in the arm, saying ‘Has he been, has he been’ this is a Christmas Day thing, but it felt like kind of feeling.

I skipped into the shower and got dressed in double quick time, well Ok, 1 hour, but that is really good for me!

Hotel Bill, total charge was £37.00 that was for 2 Cocktails and a snack, the rest was booked on reward points and the free upgrade, not too bad!

Here is where I make a total twit of myself

We have booked Purple Parking, I use them when I’m flying on business and usually someone calls them to let them know what time I will arrive, so it didn’t even occur to me to ring before arrival. At Terminal 3 the Purple Parking guys are dropped off by the mini bus load. Anyway after approaching the Purple Parking guys they look at my paper work and tell me it’s not them it’s another company an ‘Economy Version’

I call up the Economy number and yell at the woman about misrepresenting and that on the paperwork it doesn’t say call anyone, blah blah blah. She stands her ground and says it does and that she will have someone with us within 30 minutes. I hang up ... fuming, because you can’t hang around at T3 we will have to keep on driving round. Anyway I start to read the small print, and guess what, she’s right and I’m a total numpty and I feel about 2 inches tall .

I call her back and apologise profusely, she graciously accepts and within 5 minutes a very out of breath man arrives. I apologise to him and ask him to please once again pass on my sincere apologies for been such a rude mare. Michael tips him handsomely by way of a further apology and we are on our way, I feel such an idiot!

We walk the short distance into T3 we go straight to PE check in before dropping the bags off, just to check if UC is now £1,000,000 each LOL, the nice check in lady check and says £1099 each, we say thanks but no thanks.

She suggests we hang on and calls over the manager who decides he can offer us £650 each, my husband says YES! And before you can say ‘Now I know why I married you drunk in Vegas’ we are upgraded and on our way to the Virgin Lounge!

Luckily before we go through security I remember that we have to pick up our Travelex card, a painfully slow process to go through, when you know there is a glass of champagne with your name on it only 5 minutes walk away! FYI the card was very easy to use, everywhere accepted it, and I had text updates throughout the holiday to tell me the balance on the card, very handy!

Card collected, we are through the dedicated security line in under 5 minutes, this includes 4 minutes of a couple of ladies in front of us taking off 17 belts each and a full ‘Claire’s Accessories’ shop worth of jewellery.

Minutes after that we are arriving in the calm beautiful oasis that is the Virgin Clubhouse, it’s an amazing place beautifully themed and serving great food and wicked cocktails!

We are seated immediately and given coffee and orange juice whilst perusing the menu. I have a Gardeners Breakfast and Michael orders the Full English. It was all delicious and very satisfying.

Virgin Lounge


We had a quick look round, booked a couple of treatments, manicure for me and haircut for Michael before heading out to duty free. We shopped here double quick not wanting to waste a moment of the fantastic lounge. I bought some flower bomb perfume, Michael got some random aftershave at checkout we were offered half price Tattinger Champagne, rude not to so we bought a bottle.

We both enjoyed been thoroughly pampered in the lounge, we played pool, watched TV, Dibbed relaxed on huge sofas and sipped champagne, I was almost upset when the call came to board!

More lounge


We were in seats 16A and 17A great seats / beds! Another glass of champagne whilst I changed into my PJ’s

The flight staff were exceptionally good, and we felt very pampered.

On the Plane


The food was excellent we shared Beef Wellington and a Chicken Fennel Risotto then a Chocolate Orange Torte followed by the cheese board and coffee.

I watched Sex and The City 2 and a few documentaries then snoozed for an hour or two.

Michael joined me for a very yummy afternoon tea of sandwiches and scones with lovely clotted cream.


All too soon the flight was over and we landed on time into Miami

Miami Aiport - ZOO!

We were first off the plane and straight into a busy immigration area, we queued near the USA lines knowing that when they were finished we could move over. This didn’t pan out for us, despite there only been 5 people in front of us lines of 20 were getting through and we weren’t moving. When the USA lines emptied an official moved people over from behind us, they were through before us, it took over 40 minutes! A girl that was sitting in front of us in UC was carted off for having a stolen passport leaving her travel companion distraught.

When we eventually got to baggage claim, our cases had been removed and were in two different areas. Next through immigration to hand in our blue forms, again a huge disorganised throng of people.
We were relieved to get out, we were just getting into a yellow cab when our luggage trolley broke free and crashed into the side of the taxi , I literally couldn’t breathe, I could see a whole incident developing, but on the contrary the cab driver just carried on like nothing had happened. On closer inspection the taxi was like a skip so another little dent hardly made a difference lol!

The cab ride was like something from Whacky Races! And we found it hard to suppress our giggles and sharp intakes of breath, it certainly woke us up!

We arrived at The Z Hotel on Ocean Drive on one piece we were upgraded to a Pool Suite free of charge, again this hotel was booked on Holiday Inn Points.

The suite was fantastic we quickly changed clothes and headed straight out. I find that if I stop I want to go to sleep so getting out is the best way to get into the time difference.

The heat enveloped us both (87 degrees) as we walked down Ocean Drive, this was Labour Day weekend and the place was pumping! The pimped up cars cruising on Ocean Drive looked incredible. The restaurants and bars with the pavement tables and chairs were so vibrant, very colourful characters seated at every table and the music was pumping. Lots of people coming back from the beach, Michael could barely keep his eyes in his head!

We stopped at one of the restaurants and sat outside so we could carry on taking in the sights. We ordered a cocktail each and 4 starters. The food was great but the heat was getting to me, combined with one drink and some food I was feeling tired.
We decided to find a somewhere to get a few supplies, we soon found a Walgreens and bought some water.

The Z Hotel


Back at our hotel we decided to have one Cosmopolitan each before bed, we were the only people there and after sampling the cocktails I knew why they were awful, and the place had a rotting fish aroma. We soon found out that although occupying the same building the restaurant / bar had nothing to do with the hotel and they strongly recommended that we didn’t eat there!

We left the awful cocktail and opted for a beer by the pool. The pool closes at dusk so we were all alone there as our suite opened out onto the pool, it was very nice indeed. I didn’t get more than half way through my beer before deciding it was time for bed, it had been a long day 9.30pm

Some point during the night there was a HUGE storm, I hate thunder and I was pretty scared , I clung onto Michael for over an hour before finally drifting back off to sleep

[Guest]

What a wonderful treat and a great way to travel.

[Lydiakate]

I'm enjoying your trip reports. Thank you for sharing.

[macdonald88]

Awww how sweet of your dh to get the upgrade i bet that made your holiday even more special. Good choice in film! The hotel looks lovely. Looking forward to reading more.

[Guest]

lovely pics

[Guest]

What a way to travel!

[Helen0705]

Wow ! You certainly travelled in style !
Do you get to keep the PJ's provided on the flight ?
Your hotel looks amazing too - am off to google it now !
Looking forward to reading more !

[Helen0705]

Alyson - just googled your hotel - WOW , WOW and an even bigger WOW ! It looks amazing - would love to stay there one day !

[Milner]

WOW what a great way to travel. Enjoying your trip report off to read some more. Love your photos too.

[Guest]

Wow, wish we could do that. But £650 each! yikes, that's nearly half our holiday