I’m glad to hear it 😊

Brilliant - great so far. I have friend and family like that - was there even an invite?

No invite at all as I remember. They clearly knew that we were keen on Florida. We had never even discussed a joint vacation and it was ‘out of the blue’.

Looking forward to reading along :spin: love a trippie


Joan :wave:

Wish I could make decisions as quickly as you. I dither far too much and talk myself out of doing a lot of things.

I am always guided by flight prices. They can move by the hour and when ‘that deal’ is there, then you must grab it. Once I have flights, I then decide what I will be doing.
As an example, Ann Gary and George booked within 20 hours of us, yet their 3 tickets cost more than our four.

We’ve done the Panhandle area couple of times. Once via Orlando and Cedar Key and Appalachicola and once via New Orleans. Loved Pensacola Beach, Hampton Inn right on the beach and the Naval museum was great. Destin, Seaside good with Rosemary Beach being our favourite around that area. River Inn at Appalachicola was an experience as it sits over the water, someone fell in coming back from the bar in the evening. Not us thankfully and they were fished out. Island off the coast here had great beaches. Looking forward to reading about your trip

yes please

PART 2 OF THE PLANNING.. DETAIL.

Well, the formal planning meeting took place around a fortnight later at my home and in the traditional way (we got blind drunk on Gin). Ann had made it clear that any plan would be a good one, that I was a very experienced Florida traveller and that unless there were any glaring issues, they would be happy with any plan we made... no pressure then!

I did a great deal of extra research prior to the big meeting, acutely anxious to please and under pressure to come up with the goods. This is the plan that I presented (as opposed to the reality of the vacation itself when we got there).. I honestly believe that my glasses are so rose tinted that I could work in a travel agents.. or even put together the brochures!

Day 1.
After a night at the Premier Inn Heathrow, a flight into Pensacola with an ample stopover of 3 hours at Atlanta. I gave detail of procedure for immigration, customs etc, the layout of the airport and its subway etc etc. An absolute breeze with glorious sunshine throughout, pick up hire cars and then drive the easy 8 miles to Margaritaville on Pensacola Beach.

The idyllic arrival at Pensacola as I imagined it.

Day 2. A drive to Mobile and some time on USS Alabama. Gary, being a nautical man would clearly like this bit before an afternoon return to Margaritaville and some sun bathing. Mandie could only be impressed that I was thinking of others beside myself!
The immaculate USS Alabama, a treat for us all.. including Mandie.

How I imagined the late afternoon of day 2

Day 3. A trip by Gary, Myself and the boys to Pensacola NAS, home of the Blue Angels aerobatic team and one of the top dozen aviation museums in the World, a must for an Naval Aviator like Gary .. Oh! and Mandie’s birthday as well!
The Blue Angels that we would doubtless see as they roared through the gin clear sky in order to impress Mandie on her birthday.

Day 3, 4,5 A drive along the Sandbank from Pensacola to Destin where we could spend 3 nights, one day sunbathing at Henderson State Park, the other on a hire boat at Crab Island.

Crab Island, a floating water park of fun

A typical Crab Island hire boat, complete with Gin Fridge. Gary being a Nautical type could be skipper for the day!

An F22 Raptor, based at Eglin, just behind Destin and that I would undoubtably see. (by coincidence) whilst there… I was still working on this bit, so there was little point in mentioning it just yet!

Day 6. A leisurely, interesting and rewarding drive from Destin to Tampa that might take a fair bit of the day, before visiting the Hardrock Casino for a meal in the Cafe

A Casino (as envisaged). I had never been in one.

Day 7 a day to be spent relaxing in Busch Gardens with a Giraffe Feed before moving on to our villa in Davenport (a big one!).

Days 8-15 to be spent around the Orlando area with most certainly a day in Discovery Cove and some Airboating.


A typical Orlando Alligator scene (as described after several gins that night).

Discovery Cove as described.

Day16 , a leisurely drive to Daytona Beach and a watch of the cars that would doubtless be racing up and down the beach in front of us.

A typical, daily Daytona Beach scene, (as I envisaged it).

I painted a pretty picture, clearly impressing both Ann and Gary. As promised, they suggested no revisions whatever and by the time the Bottle(s) were emptied, we knew what we were going to do. I was given clearance to look for and suggest accommodation etc in the coming months. Crucially, it was agreed that we would all be more than welcome to dip in and out of each others company as at various times, we may have different priorities.

Take careful note of the images above.. the realities will follow!

OOO, I‘m in! You clearly all survived. Hope there was some fun along the way! :=) Thanks for bringing us along.:spin: