theDIBB - Last Trip before Lockdown. Mar 2020. Travel Day - Goodbye Ruby Tuesday & Arriving in Palm Coast

Tuesday March 2nd Travel Day

Yesterday is HERE

Ah, pre travel night sleep :zzz:

There is no in between is there:nonono:

Its either a comatose like exhaustion from running around with all the last minute things that snuck up on you because no matter how good your military precision planning had been, there was still a ton of last minute jobs

or

its complete pants as you stare into the darkness like a meerkat listening to the sonorous rumbles of your nearest and dearest next to you - alternating between extreme envy at their deep sleep or contemplating whether the pillow or a taser will be the most effective way to jolt them put of their repose - after all , if you are awake everyone else should be right?

Not even the classy cocktail in a can last night managed to knock me out :confused2

And so it was - that despite declaring myself suitably knackered and therefore surely bound to sleep well, I found myself awake at midnight, 3 am, 4.45 and finally caving at 5.30. :(

I wasn’t even wondering where the passports were this time:pgig: - no excuses …

We had a coffee and watched tv for a bit before getting ourselves sorted and ordering a taxi for 6.30

Speedy trip to the terminal and we had arrived by 7.07.

I had pre booked the premium security which was reasonably busy for so early but no unwanted items in the luggage and no intimate searches required (always a relief, phew) - we were out the other side by 7.16. :thumbs-up

Plenty of time for breakfast - although the queue at Wetherspoons was already sizeable so we nipped up to Sonoma instead.

This also got busy and had a queue by the time we left.

I had the fruit topped pancakes

Andy had the Country breakfast

And a couple of cappuccinos.

I had a 15% off voucher from My Gatwick so that basically paid for one of the coffees.

Bill was £26 after the voucher.

Nice place ... food came out quickly and was all good.

I wrote in the food trippy when we got back that it was a new place that we would go back to.:erm:

Ummmm, maybe not then .. will we fly from Gatwick again I wonder?

Bellies full we headed off to get a seat and had a nose in the shops

I bought two books which I then realised I couldn’t fit in my hand luggage :omg: and had a fractious five minutes huffing and puffing trying to stuff everything in.

Around 8.15 I finally sat down and channelled the inner karma of the chap next to me who was reading Classic Tractor magazine. :D

It felt like two seconds after I sat down the gate came up but it was really 0905 and we schlepped off to the other side of Crawley almost finding ourselves in Three Bridges via the travelators (walk? stand still? Oh, the stress of pre-flight choices).

Well readers, some of you may find the following content emotionally distressing in these Corona Times - look away now if the inflight Amarula bottles may induce a mini meltdown.

Hello Ruby Tuesday:spin: - we do love you

but we thought the Falcon looked even more splendid.

We were boarding at 0920 and didn’t have any faff with overhead lockers - Andy was very pleased with his extra leg room seat in Dibbers Row

and joy of joy there was an empty seat next to me.

Lets hope the bloke in front of me doesnt recline on the flight :pgig:

I am glad the seat next to me was empty and that I have short legs as with the entertainment box thing taking up leg room, this wasn't the most brilliant seat if you wanted to stretch your legs

There was a very nice lady in the window seat who didn’t mind the middle being used as snack and beverage central.

We had been due to take off at 1010 but this was delayed due to needing fuel.

How does that delay happen then, someone forgets to nip the jet round to the Tesco’s pay at pump last night? :confused2

Finally, we were on our way … that bit hurling down the runway, it’s the perfect moment isn’t it - as the wheels go up and you are on your way. Yay USA here we come. :grin:

This was a very good flight. Felt like a constant supply of food and drink and a total contrast to our Hi fly/ Norwegian experience last time out. Which was interesting as this flight was only around £40 each more...:thumbs-up

1115 drinks came out and straight into the Amarula - none of that noon somewhere business, we are on our way so who cares:D.

While perusing the menu

1150 lunch arrived

I went for the chicken

It was all fine. The little GU pot was very yummy. :tongue:

Regular readers will know I always watch a Tom Cruise movie on the flight - its my holiday tradition. Imagine the horror then that one wasn’t available so I settled for Maleficent Mistress of Evil which I did enjoy and Terminator Dark Fate - which was ok but I wasn’t wowed by it.

Barely got back into the film and the ice lolly arrived at 2pm (UK time)

Swiftly followed by afternoon drinkies at 4pm (UK time)

Can you see a pattern emerging:pgig:

A bit of window gazing and flight watching in that - omg still got hours to go - lull

And then afternoon tea at just after 6 (UK time)

The mozarella roll

And Scone ( jam before cream ALWAYS obvs)

Were very nice.

Overall, great flight. Very impressed :D

We landed at 7.55pm UK time and we were pretty quick off the flight - they let the bubble go after premium downstairs and as we had no cases to retrieve from the little cupboard we were pretty nifty out the door .

Arrived in immigration at 8.15pm (UK time) - expected it to be stacked with the mid-afternoon arrivals but it was quiet and the guy flicked a look at our visas, did the eye camera thing, asked us a few questions and we were on our way:thumbs-up

We got to the baggage reclaim ages before the luggage arrived and most of our time in the airport was spent waiting for the case to arrive - but it did, phew, and we were off again

I think I was busy snapping here and the case fell and scraped Andy’s shin - not a happy chap, ouch

Love the Galaxy’s Edge theming which was new since our last trip

Only in Orlando can a set of mono rails bring so much Squeee factor

Car Hire was empty

… I can’t even remember what we got - Just a standard saloon -it didn’t need to take much luggage.

60 minutes after landing we were pulling away - at least half that time had been waiting for the suitcase!

By now its 9pm UK time and we were in that "really pleased to be here but also a tad tired and niggly" place .. not helped by the infernal roadworks in Orlando and traffic:mad:.

We also encountered serious potholes - a sight I am not sure I have seen on previous trips!

It took 90 minutes to get to Palm coast - the first 30 being spent getting out of the Orlando area.

As we approached the turn off

we spotted black wild pigs on the side of the road but I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo - apparently they had been seen in various places along the I95 but we never saw them again.

Arrived at the resort - easy to find - which is good at 11pm UK time - the nice thing about Palm Coast is that even though it was now 6pm , the roads were not massively busy

The resort was nice - but as per the reviews quite dated - felt stuck in the 80s. It is having a refurb - which it will need to compete with some of the fancy resorts further up at Hammock and Cinnamon Beach

It was clean and more then enough for our stay - I took a few pics - it was a bit dark though so I took some more the next day

The bathroom was massive - I wasn’t sure about the glass blocks though in the shower area

- it’s a ground floor room - lets hope no one decides to walk up too close to them while you are in there.:erm:

Not much unpacking to do - packing cubes - I love you

As we walked across the road to the European village we realised this was the resort we had stumbled on last year where we had got stuck and couldn’t find the way out .. well now we know !

A 5 minute walk (still no street lights) and we were at the European Village.

Which looked all pretty with the lights

First a stop at the Cork and Pint

Where the bar tender remembered us from last year which was lovely.

Cider for Andy and Chalk Hill rose for me

There was karaoke going on which after being up for about 20 hours now was a slightly surreal experience. “I have a dream” from ABBA will never sound the same again :nonono::D

Over to Mezzaluna

Bread to share with dipping oil

We both chose the 10” personal pizza which is $7.99 and then you pay per topping.

I went Hawaiian

Andy had meatballs, mushroom and onion

Pizzas were perfectly cooked and we took home a couple of slices of each

Back home we dropped into bed around 9.30 US time - silly o clock in UK time.

It was all going so well until about two hours later there was an intermittent beeping sound. :nonono:

In my brain fog I just could not work it out. :confused2

I checked phones and the clock radio.

It was completely annoying - I got up and checked the kitchen, then the air conditioning controls - even the laundry units but nope, source of beeping could not be found. :mad:

And then I saw the smoke alarm in the bedroom flashing and beeping - but it was so high I couldn’t reach it

There was no way I could sleep with it - I did think about decamping to the spare room but my paranoia got the better of me - convincing myself it was irresponsible to simply ignore it. :pgig:

I am such a compliant person!

Andy was ecstatic when I wok him up from his deep sleep :erm: to point it out to him - he was less bothered about it than I was and just took the cover off and the battery out - declaring that it probably just needed a new battery;)

He promptly fell fast asleep while I spent ages wondering if I was about to be burnt to a crisp because it wasn’t the battery at all. (Andy did point out the next day of course there were plenty more alarms in the apartment so the crispy critter scenario was very unlikely. Of course such logic evaded me at the time ..)

And then of course I couldn't sleep because in the morning we are off to sort out the house ... and I was just plain too excited :D