Fun Sun and 10,000 feet up! - Pre-Trip

[Guest]

OK, well let me set the scene! (Let me warn you, this isnt going to be brief, but hey, grab a coffee and enter my world!)

My name is Matthew, Im 31, living in Fleet, Hampshire. Im single, I work as a manager for a software company, and I have a video production company that I run part time, along side my other job. Hard work, but all good. This summer was pretty tiring, and a pretty hard time for a small business. Combined with a complete lack of sunshine and a love life with less life in it than Dani Minogue's forehead, i needed a holiday. At the same time, during my 30th year, i decided that I should do something crazy and decided I would learn to skydive. After copious research I discovered that Florida was far cheaper than schools in the UK, and thought that would a great place to put my life on the line!

So Florida it is! Having been when I was 7, 11, 16 and 26, I know what a great holiday destination it was for relaxing and playing, and partying! However, with a social scene made up of entirely made up of couples with children, its pretty hard to find holiday companions! After a few false starts with people wanting to go but then drop out, i was getting desperate for some Florida sun, or sun of ANY kind! I decided to post a "Holiday Buddy Request" on Gumtree in the vein hope I would find someone looking for the same kind of holiday. At the same time I spotted someone who was looking for a sunny holiday in November and so sent a brief message. What followed was a string of banter-type emails with a very pretty girl called Samantha who was having similar social scene problems as me! At the same time I was even more determined to go to Florida and with Virgin and BA's flight sales coming to an end I was getting increasingly frustrated. Samantha was really interested in going to Florida but only had 5 work days holiday remaining, which just would not be enough for me to do the theme parks, relaxing and sky dive course I planned. Such a shame, since we got on incredibly well, and had an eerie amount of things in common...the banter was flying! Then, late one evening, whilst chatting with Sam on the phone I came up with the stupidly simple brainwave! Fly to Florida together, have 7 days away, then Sam fly home while I relocate to the "Dropzone" elsewhere in Florida for my 4 day Skydiving course! Genius! We were SO excited about the revelation...had we REALLY come up with a way to both have our perfect holiday? Were we really going to go on holiday with a virtual stranger? Oh hell yeah!

So...we had a plan...now all we needed to do was to actually meet and make sure we got on well in real life. We were both pretty sure we would, but you never know! We set a date and time and that was it! I excitedly looked at hotels, parks, dates and flights... and then realised that flights were going up in price literally by the hour...not helped by travel companies going bust! With such specific dates, were we going to be able to get our flights? And did i want to pay such high prices for my flight? On the Friday it came to a crunch and emailed Sam. Was she happy to take the plunge and do something REALLY crazy?! Book flights together before even meeting? Nuts I know, but we really had connected so well that it seemed like the sensible solution. After checking with our respective offices for the holiday time, we agreed to go for it! Very exciting, very panicky, and very nervy! Since we were doing different flight itinararys, they had to be done as 2 different bookings...would one flight booking make the other go up in price? With that in mind I ran Expedia and Virgin sites side by side, and bought the tickets simultaneously. Mine on Expedia, with a free £50 Virgin on board voucher, and then to Sams... but the price shot up midway, by £50... and then anouther £30...ARGH! I went back and the price seemed to literally be going up in front of my eyes. I rushed the order through, eventually paying £35 more for Sams flights...and it was DONE! I had booked a holiday with a complete random stranger from the internet...and was very excited!

I met Sam on the Sunday, and relief of reliefs, we got on even better than we hoped. Gorgeous, funny, crazy, smart, fun and just as silly as me...we were going to get on just fine. We also decided the parks we wanted to go to - Universal, OIA, Seaworld and Aquatica. The other days would be by the pool, or at the beach. I had done all but Aquatica on my last trip only a few years ago, but I wanted to revisit, and it was all new to Samantha, having only been to Disney when she was 7. I then found out about MVMCP which looked quite good fun, and was a nice way to do "a bit of Disney"...so that was one of our afternoons taken up. I then discovered that there was to be a shuttle launch during our stay... something we both ALWAYS wanted to see, but were never likely too, until now! Very exciting! ...until the date was put forward to after Sam returns home, and when Im at a different location in Florida, and not very practical for me to get to! Pretty disappointing, but that was a bonus so no big loss. However, what Sam doesn't know is that the shuttle launch is back on track, and SHOULD be launching on her final night in Florida. I havent told her, and intend to keep this as a nice surprise for her final day after being on the beach.

I have taken the task of trip organiser, which i relish. Sam and I are both Leos, and are usually the leaders, but she has loved what I have planned so far, and so has given me complete control! MWAHAHAHA! I can get quite a n a l and this board has helped me get even worse! Cars, transfers, restaurants, timing, rooms, fireworks, no stone has been left unturned! One change to our original plan is ANOUTHER park day, to Epcot. I was last there when I was 11 I think, and even then it felt a little dated so wasn't that keen. However, with Test Track, Soarin' and other new attractions, we thought it would be a good day, ending with Illuminations. And now we are getting hopper tickets, so that we can we see a bit of Hollywood Studios in the morning (I went on my last trip so have cherry picked the best bits, including the stunt show which is a new one for me.)

The Orlando hotel was a tough choice...SO many options, and so many considerations. We wanted somewhere reasonably nice to lay our heads, but it wasn't a priority, and we needed to keep any eye on the budget. Using all the online resources, reviews, shopping sites and forums possible we eventually decided on the International Plaza Resort & Spa, with mixed reviews, but relying on the recent refurbishment! It looks like we have made the right choose too, from the latest reviews. I have already had a friendly chat with the manager who has promised her favorite room in the hotel, and will be greeting us when we arrive! And all for the bargain price of £275 for 8 days!

My Skydiving course is all booked at a drop zone about an hour away from central Orlando. The school is owned and run by a British couple...even the hotel im staying at is run by Brits! It will be a real gear change from the frolics of the first 8 days, and a completely different holiday to the one I'm sharing with Sam, but a very exciting few days! Trying not to think of the craziness of jumping out of a plane 10,000 feet in the air on my own and free-falling for much of it, to then rely on a big piece of fabric to get me down smoothly! Hoping to get the course completed, and do a few qualifying "reconciliation jumps" whilst there.

Sam and I have made a fantastic bond, and have been enjoying our new friendship on several occasions already.I'm so pleased that I've found such a lovely person to share the holiday with and I'm sure we are going to become really great friends. It will be lovely to share such amazing holiday memories with her.

All I have to do now is book park tickets, transfers and car hire, and make sure I keep myself in one piece until our out-bound flight. Oh, and try and contain my excitement of course...which is pretty tough. Keep your eyes peeled for the itinerary, and trip reports!

[jo&steve]

Wow!

Great pre-trip report, you are very brave, on more than one level!

Sounds like you have picked out all the best bits to do and I am sure it will be a great holiday.

Good luck with the sky dive too, I will keep a look out for the itinerary and reports when you return.

Jo

[juless77]

|Wow sounds great looking forward to reading all about it

[Deano]

Wow what an amazing start, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this works out for you guys...

[Reetser]

Wow. What a great pre trippie. A very different angle to most!

Really looking forward to this one developing

[Strommie]

Sounds great, certainly a different sort of pre-trippie! I'm sure you will both have a fantastic trip

[Ste]

Amazing how you met! Hope you both have a fabulous time.

[Guest]

Wow! How brave are you? I hpe you have a fantastic time and my mam and dad have been to that hotel and they loved it, and have booked to stay there again in December.

[Guest]

Wow! What a start to your trip report!
I shall eagerly await to see how it pans out for you. She looks and sounds a lovely girl.

[coombsyl]

Fantastic pre-trippie - I am sure you will both have a terrific time.