The Gulf Coast, Busch and Universal 2010 Day 1 27 June

[Ariel's Mum]

The Cast

Me – Lynn 40+ (Obsessed by holidays, loves Florida, Bossy and a Holiday Planner)
DH – Philip 40+ (Thankfully Loves Florida and happy to go with the flow)
DS – Luke 11 (will turn 12 on July 3rd – Loves Florida and organising things)
DD – Rachel 10 (almost 11 - swings from being a tweenage drama queen to horizontally laid back!)

The night before...
We set off from home at 4pm on Saturday. A taxi took the four of us and our 5 bags to the airport. Can't believe we have 5 bags – but then again 3 are only half full – leaves us loads of room for any goodies we want to buy

Although we only like 40 minutes from Glasgow Airport, we decided we'd stay overnight in a hotel. We choose the Holiday Inn Express based on Trip Adviser reviews and feedback from people on here. We weren't disappointed. The rooms are small for a family of four but adequate. Liked the choice of hard or soft pillows

We went to the bar for a drink each and then returned to the room to watch Doctor Who – great last episode...



After our TV break, we wandered down for dinner. Amazingly although the menu is small there was something for all four of us! Rachel had a cheese pizza, Luke had Half Chicken and Chips, Philip had Macaroni Cheese and Chips and I had Chicken Tikka Masala. Philip and I shared a bottle of red wine and the kids both had soft drinks. In total the bill was £58. Not cheap but not too bad considering we had wine as well as a main meal each.

Philip and I felt totally relaxed and are really looking forward to the next 24 days...

We went to bed at 10 pm. Set the alarm for 4.30 am as our BA Gatwick flight was at 6.45am.

Kids kept singing their “we're going to Florida” song - making us giggle – BUT eventually all four of us drifted off. We didn't have the best nights sleep – who does with all the excitement

Travel Day...

Woke for the final time just before 4.30. We all had showers, repacked and left the room around 5.10am. It's only a short walk from the hotel to the airport and with the sun shining, we all felt really excited. I had checked us in yesterday so we went straight to bag drop – right up to the desk, collected our boarding passes and waved goodbye to our cases. We won't see them again now till we reach Tampa.

It was breeze going through security, short queue. We arrived at the gate about 5.40am – 30 minutes after leaving the airport. Can't believe how painless it all was – normally there is some hiccup which delays us. Hope this bodes well for the rest of the trip (famous last words wait to see what happens at Gatwick and Tampa)

Anyway, the plane took off on time – the BA crew were fab. Very efficient whilst being nice and friendly.

Luke Rachel and I sat together, Philip sat in an aisle seat behind us. He didn't utter one word to us – used to travelling on business he's quite happy to sit in his own world. Rachel felt a bit sick on the plane – totally unlike her – it's normally Luke who feels sick. He was great with her. Told her to distract herself by listening to her ipod. Seemed to work

We arrived at Gatwick 5 minutes ahead of schedule and buses took us to the terminal building. Had to go through security again and there was quite a long queue. Eventually got to the departure lounge and decided to have breakfast in Garfunkels.

Luke had traditional English Breakfast, Rachel had two Croissants, Philip had the vegetarian breakfast and I had a cheese and tomato toastie. Philip had a pot of tea and the kids and I had soft drinks. The bill came to £32. We always find service in the Garfunkels here to be slow and it was the same again this year. Our waiter only said about two words the whole time he served us. Don't expect the service will be like that in Florida.

After breakfast we wandered round the duty free shops – I bought some books and magazines; Philip bought some aftershave; and the kids bought an IPOD touch each. We then made our way to the Serviceair lounge.

We had decided to book this only a couple of weeks ago as we had such a long wait between flights. It cost us £49. We used the V Room last year and really liked it – and we really didn't expect the Serviceair lounge to be anywhere near as good. However – we were wrong. This lounge is soooo much quieter than the V Room and it just felt like a great place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the main departure lounge.

There's a separate lounge for people with kids. Our two both played on the PCs and then relaxed on the gaming chairs playing the PS3s.




There are free drinks and snacks. Snacks included cheese and crackers, cereals, cereal bars, crisps, biscuits and muffins. Drinks included the usual range of soft and hot drinks as well as spirits wine and beer.

So while the V-Room would win hands down as they provide a hot sandwich we still felt that overall the Serviceair lounge was a good choice. If flying from the North terminal again with a long wait between flights, we'd book in here again.

We left the lounge feeling quite relaxed and made our way to the Departure Gate. It was around 10 minutes walk. When we reached the gate, we were stopped by a man at a podium who asked to see our passports, he then asked Philip to step aside for a security check. The kids and I were allowed to walk to the next desk where we again handed our 3 passports, we were quietly joking with each other that it was good that Philip had been chosen as I was carrying three bags and all three would have had to be checked. I was soon laughing on the other side of my face when this man announced I had to be checked too! Philip was given the all clear and after a search of all three of my bags and a body search I was too. We then had to go through another desk and a another man (there were lots of them about) had to type details into a computer to say we had been cleared. We've never had anything like this in the years we've been travelling. We were told it was a new random procedure (unusual to have two in the same family, apparently) that was introduced around six months ago.

Anyway, finally we were settled on the plane. Great seats, we had bulkhead seats - kids and I were in 15 D E and F, Philip in 15 J. Really impressed with the BA crew on this flight (as our earlier one). Only slight problem was no kids meal for Rachel, but I had been late in ordering. The food was good, best plane food I've had when travelling economy. Luke had the salmon, Philip and I had the chicken. Rachel ate the snacks we had taken on board.





We landed at Tampa around 5pm. Being at the front of the plane meant we were quickly down at customs. Only 5 people on the desks and one long queue, thankfully we were quite near the front. When we got to the security officer, he started looking at Philip really oddly and asking him weird questions – he then asked his colleague to come round. They had a conversation which included the words “send them back” - you should have seen the kids faces. To cut a long story short, as Philip is a BA frequent flyer they had stored details of his previous passport, one which had been lost. Tampa Customs were unhappy with his new passport cos he had previously entered the country on another passport number. Philip had to speak to a supervisor – he sorted it all out and we were let on our way – the “send back” refereed to Philip being sent back to a supervisor not us being sent back to the UK – whew.

We had no hassle collecting our hire car. It's a huge Ford Explorer and a dream to drive. We also managed to find the villa easily as the owner had sent us great directions. Tiny bit of a problem when we had to drive through the type of rain that means hazzards on on the freeway, but we're old hands at that after last year .

We stopped at Publix en route and stocked up on essentials, pizza, crisps, beer, wine and soft drinks. After quickly checking out the villa, kids and I were straight on the pool. We ate our pizza by the pool and had a couple of bud lite limes - adults not kids Managed to stay awake till 10pm before we all went to bed.

Philip summed it up well when he said - “it's good to be here at last... ”


Day 2 Here

[Guest]

You all look very tired, Lets see the pool pics?

[shirley]

good start, lots of piccies of the villa please

[k l is excited]

Hope you all have a fab holiday and I look forward to reading more.

Karen

[macdonald88]

Nice relaxing start to the trip everything seemed to go to plan for you. OMG that would of being a nightmare if you got sent back have a wonderful trip!

[summersun]

cant wait to read more

[Guest]

Thank goodness you weren't sent back to the UK! A good start, looking forward to reading more.

[voddygirl]

A long day Lynn but so worth it in the end ..have a lovely holiday

[Flightman]

Good start, look forwards to reading more.

[Guest]

Great start!