Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Firstly, this is my second attempt at a 'trip report' and It is prepared with the aim of assisting others in any decisions they make, rather than simply being a photo album of selfies and eats. Any comments, positive, negative or of indifference are much appreciated and will guide me in any subsequent USA trip reports! Any questions will be replied to.
A single thread with index approach (below) was adopted in order to free up space on this section of the forum. My first, ‘California N to South at Easter’ is currently at 21,000 hits and I feel that this vindicates the ‘storybook’ approach. I warn you that I very rarely picture food.
Plan as evolved.
Flights in to Boston and out of Fort Lauderdale were purchased separately and on day of release at 355 with Norwegian (who were releasing on a daily basis). We were thus tied from then on to arriving in Boston on 18 July 2020 and departing from F L on 10 August 2020. Anything beyond that would be developed in the coming months.
There were a couple of hiccups on this, namely Norwegian cancelling their FL services and then later, wet leasing aircraft as their B787s go through the engine recycling programme. Due to this, our return was bought forward to 09 August and from Miami in order to still fly with Norwegian.
Day 1 The torturous journey from Cornwall to LGW
Day 2 Flight to Boston and settling in. On page 2
Day 3 The Boston freedom trail on page 3
Day 4 Boston Whale watching.. and more. On page 4
Day 5 AMTRAC to New York and settling in. On page 4
Day 6 New York, sights, 1 World & 9/11 + CBGB’s . Bottom of page 4.
Day 7 A walk in the park! On page 5
Day 8 On the move.. to Dayton Ohio.
Day 9. USAF Museum. On page 5
Day 10 USAF museum day 2. On page 5
Day 11 Travelling to Orlando and an Ark! On page 6
Day 12 Royal Pacific club level and the parks. On page 6
Day 13 Volcano bay, Universal, move to Villa. On page 7.
Day 14 Seaworld. How not to run a park. On page 8.
Day 15 Disney, Hooters and Premium outlets.
Day 16 Aquatica. On page 8
Day 17 Busch Gardens washout. On page 8
Day 18 Discovery Cove. On page 8
Day 19 A disaster averted, then Seaworld. On page 8.
Day 20 The rainbow river at Dunellon. Best day yet. On page 8.
Day 21 Horse riding at the Lazy H, Hagrids Coaster and the Hardrock. On Page 9
Day 22. The long drive South, Naples and Delnor Wiggins State Park. On page 9
Day 23 Of Airboats, flights and getting home to sunny Gatwick. Bottom of page 9
Day 24 Home and conclusions.
Day 1. A difficult decision was made, train instead of car. Each journey would be 6 hours plus, but I really dislike the long drive home after an overnight flight. 340 miles after a red eye flight can only be described as dangerous, so train it was. £273 on a 31 day open jawed return as against £120 of petrol and £140 of carparking. Either way it’s an overnight in the Premier Inn before flight (because we always do). As the driver, I think it’s a no brainier.. strangely, the passengers were not so sure.
We left Penryn at 1200 and were at Gatwick for 1900 after a delay on the horrifically crowded Reading to Gatwick leg. It must be added that the journey, although uncomfortable, went without a hitch. We now find ourselves in the Prem Inn N, opposite the terminal as opposed to 100 yds further away as £5 extra bought aircon.
The family waits (notice the hand baggage only ) at Penryn Stn for the start of the ... adventure?
That’s me (as I took photo number 1).
I guess this is around Exeter and the kids haven’t even started fighting. Note the airy sense of space as the very nice (but hard seated) Hitachi 800 (for the trainspotter amongst you) wends its way eastward and away from civilisation. We have tried everything to get Matt to ditch the chavvy hat (bought by a very kind godmother) without success. It may get lost during the vacation 🤨
In contrast, this is the urban chaos of the Reading Gatwick toilet of a train that was horrendously overcrowded with commuters of good humour and seemingly resigned to their lot. It weren’t nice. I am clearly a Pasty chomping country boy and don’t like the commuter belt... or too many people.
And then we were there! Family room at Premier Inn , £52 . Bargain! Fortunately we won the bottle of OK Champers in a raffle last week. It does taste nice (even though we had no flutes).
I won’t bore you with the Premier Inn meal, other than to say that it was standard Premier Inn fare, served a little slower than usual, due to the fact that the hotel was very busy . Nobodies fault, just the way it was.