Day 1 - Monday August 10th
As we were staying the night at Gatwick airport, we woke up at about 8am ( a nice lie in!), and spoke to mum before everyone else headed off to the airport. We spent the morning running errands and doing final checks of all the packing. We had taken the cats to the cattery on Sunday, so we gave the flat a thorough clean, too. We heard from mum a couple of times at the airport, saying there was a problem with Virgin's computer systems and massive queues. Due to mum's disability and the fact she was already down to receive special assistance, they were taken out of the main queue and dealt with separately. After about an hour's delay they were off.
We had a leisurely lunch and headed off to the airport at abuot 2.30. After we'd been driving for fifteen minutes we realised we had forgotten our "airport money" that we'd saved for our evening meal and breakfast, so we went back to get it. We were then on the road properly at 3pm!
After arriving at the car park we got the coach to the North Terminal and checked in at the Sofitel, before heading across to the South Terminal for Twilight check in. While at the South Terminal we ate dinner at Frankie and Benny's, having eaten there before our last Florida trip in 2006. I think this will be a tradition now. We also decided we would eat at Frankie and Benny's for breakfast as they had a restaurant the other side of security as well.
AFter this we went back to the Sofitel and opened the small bottle of champagne that one of Carl's colleagues had bought for us. We slept at about 10pm but I didn't sleep well as I kept waking to check if I'd had a text message from my mum or brother, and I hadn't.
Here are a couple of photos from the Sofitel:
The Lobby
Our room
The bathroom
The view from the window
