The Thrillin',Chillin' and My Feet Are Killin' Trip August 2015. Pre Travel Day

[WileyCoyote]

I am soooooooooooo struggling with a title to reflect the hols .

I have toyed with Crash Bang Wallop. Thrills and Spills. Sleepy,Dopey, Grumpy and Happy on Tour and The Wild and Mild.

So I may have to change titles as it evolves.

Andy said I should start with with " its got no title yet" and add one later . thats just plain wrong !

Here we go. Buckle Up. Enjoy the ride. And keep all your body parts inside the ve-hick-cull PURLEASE. * they really say this at Busch Gardens - why dont they just say head, arms and legs? What other body parts are you going to be putting outside the vehicle ? No. Do Not Answer That.

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LHR-PHA-ATL-MCO

It looked so simple written down.

It was cheap.

It would be a doddle.

It was booked after consuming a few glasses of chilled beverages.

So I may have woken up and wondered what I had committed us to the next day.

But the deed was done, nay the extra leg room and exit row seats were confirmed and paid for.

The die was cast and the cast might well kill me, or each other, if it goes Pete Tong .

And so we begin the completely unexpected and unplanned return of Reservoir Dogs plus their Mum - the very short pre –trippy is HERE

This year has been quite a challenge for us as a family so this return to our happy place was indeed an unexpected treat.

Day 0- the interminable wait to actually get going. Tuesday 18 August

Pre travel day was quiet.

It had the unimaginable excitement of a trip to the Garden Centre and Tesco.

We know how to live it up.

I even squeezed in a visit to the bank to pick up the boys' holiday money .

Andy’s mum – minder of dogs , keeper of order and waterer of hanging baskets , had arrived on Monday and settled in.

The dogs pretend to sulk when she arrives to make us feel bad but we know they do secret laps of the garden whooping in delight at the unlimited dog spoiling that always accompanies a visit by Nanny.

Beastly hounds !

No, it definitely wasn’t us on the furniture when you weren’t looking …





Ok let’s cut to the excitement.

Yes I did indeed have a pulled pork panini at the Restaurant in the Garden Centre to get me in the American Food Mood – and because I knew that as we always manage to get completely out of routine on pre travel day, this was going to be my best chance of any grub.

The kids had opted for a McDonalds – the day before travelling to burger heaven, they have a McDonalds.

Priceless.

Well £1.99 actually, I had got me some vouchers.

We were travelling light – ish – so had been all packed by the morning. Just three cases at 18, 18 and 15kg and one of those was full of beach towels and flip flops etc that could be left behind in case of any purchases being made.

Yeah, in case, who are we kidding right !?

We have a whole suitcase allowance worth of purchases to make and still extra room in the other 3. That’s like a whole trainer city ….

Enough foolery.

Cases were ready. Travellers were fed (sort of). Cases were checked and re checked but lets face it as long as you have a passport and means of payment, you can deal with anything. The joy of booking with only a few days to go is that is focuses the mind and you just don’t have time for all the additional faffing that accompanies a long wait.

Of course we all know that Day 0 has double the normal hours of any other day and the wait for the taxi to pick us up just seemed to go on , and on. And on.

But it was finally time .

Cases and travellers squished in – headphones on and the joy of almost immediately hitting traffic due to a car fire on the A5. And then more traffic on the M1. Very slow.

And reminds us why we travel the night before even though we are not really that far from Heathrow – you just cant predict those pesky motorways.

It was just getting dark as we arrived at Bath Road to the Central Travelodge – we had stayed here on our first trip in 2010. We recalled it had really small lifts that were also really slow – not ideal for one that accommodates lots of travellers in a rush then.

But we made it no problem and as we made our way in I took a quick snap of an inbound flight



It really is quite scary when you see them all lining up to come in to land !

We got the lift up to reception and sorted the wifi codes and made our way to our family room.

This had been £72 . Which was pretty good . I had wanted the Premier Inn but Connor is now classed as an adult and they wanted us to pay for 2 rooms.

In hindsight , this might have been the better option. Its definitely the way to go in future.

I had taken some cold snacks , crips, a fruit platter and some sweets to have as nibbles in the room and the boys quickly settled in to watch the rest of the Champions League Footy and generally spread themselves about the room making as much mess as possible



I laid out our travel clothes so there would be minimum case hassle in the morning



And the family indulged in its favourite pastime of all being in the same room but not actually speaking



We had some issues connecting Jamie’s ipad to the internet which included a trip downstairs and me airily wafting the ipad around like a magic wand – like that’s going to do any good. He was most peeved his wouldn’t work but we sorted it eventually.

I mean, imagine being disconnected for a whole evening. The horror. He would need therapy.

Andy and I went to the bar for a couple of drinks , it was pretty quiet in there and conscious of the need to be up at 6 , we went back around 9 and it was lights off all round at 10.

Andy fell asleep straight away.

And snored.

Loudly.

Persistently.

There was some tutting .

Some sighing.

Some cussing.

Some poking.

It was bad. The boys started to squabble with each other and I wondered if it would be ok to lay in the hallway.

This was not the dream start – we would not be all perky and refreshed for our 24 hour travel day.

At 1am I did wonder if I should call reception to see if they had a spare room .

But in a mid snore break we somehow managed to drift off and get about 3 or 4 hours kip.

So – next time – 2 rooms . One for me and the kids and one for super snorer - but dont tell him that...

Up next travel day is here

4 airports - 3 flights - 2 teens - 1 delay ...

[P&S]

Fab start
Looking forward to this

[JudyC]

I'm glad your doing a trip report, I always enjoy reading them

[Guest]

looking forward to more

[DISNEYLIZ]

What is it with men and snoring?

[Cutiepie]

Great start! Can sympathise with the snoring at times I long for 2 rooms on holiday, as you say one for me &a the kids & the other for super snorer

[ely3857]

Snorers and kids. Who'd have 'em!

[caj]

This could be good!

[SammyScotland]

Looking forward to reading more.

[Dissie]

Yay, you've started another report. A brilliant start. Can't wait for the rest.