Can I persuade my family to wear matching tshirts? August 2018 day 1 - travel day

[i love jack]

Friday 17th August 2018 Pre- travel day

Today I was not happy. Well actually I was. We were going to Florida the next day, how could I not be? But I had to go to work. Andy had the day off and the boys were obviously off but I was the only one going to work. Actually I’ve just realised I’m lying, Josh now has a job a Costa and he was at work 9.00 til 2.00!

Andy had tried to console me with the fact he had a huge list of jobs. Wash bedding, clean bathrooms, take Josh to work, take Dan to hairdressers, take Hershey to kennels, clean kitchen floor...hmm maybe I got the better deal!

Anyway work was fine, I left around 2.30pm and finished packing once at home. Andy had done a fantastic job and the house was sparkling.

We left at 5pm and our eta at Heathrow was 6.30.
We actually arrived at 7pm. The journey had been fine, we had stopped in traffic for a little while on the M1, one of those strange stoppages that once you get going you realise there was no obvious reason.

Thanks to recommendations on the dibb I had booked to stay at the Premier Inn, Bath Road for the night. First impressions were very good, a lovely big lobby area with a 24 hour Costa & I noticed some sofas on the floors above with a view of planes landing.

I had already checked in online so went to the desk to gets our room key. We also booked a meal at the restaurant - Thyme.

Our room was typical Premier Inn which is perfect for an airport stay. We had a double bed and two singles/sofa beds. Dan decided he would have the larger of the two beds (Josh is taller than me now and wouldn’t have fitted on the smaller bed). I suggested he could sleep in the double with Andy and I’d have the little bed...

We went for our meal and debated the meal deal. For £26 each we could have 2 courses, a drink and breakfast (breakfast we were told was £10). Its a good deal but we didn’t want two courses so decided against it.

I had a skewer platter, Andy, chicken makhani curry, Josh, chicken pepperoni and bacon pizza and Dan, chicken melt.

I had a pink gin and tonic. Very nice.

It was all good and cost £59.96.

The boys went back to the room and Andy and I went to get a Costa. Two flat whites. We took then up to the first floor and sat on the sofa to watch the planes. It was dark though so we couldn’t see much but it was a very comfy sofa. Sometimes I think little moments capture emotions, this, I think my excitement was at its highest, we had arrived and the next day we were going to Florida.

We went back to the room at 9.30 and the boys went out! They came back with Costas.

After playing musical beds with the end result of Dan in the small bed we all settled down around 10.30. The alarm was set for 5am.

Saturday 18th August - travel day

Well, I don’t think I slept a wink. Partly unwinding, too excited, maybe that flat white didn’t help!
The room was great though, it was really dark and quiet. I gave up trying at 3.30 and messed about on my phone.

Everyone else woke or was woken around 5 and we had showers (amazing shower by the way!).
Breakfast is served from 6am, we were there at 6.15 and all opted for continental. The man on the front desk was really helpful and said if we paid for one cooked breakfast Dan’s would be free. I think cooked was £10ish and continental £8.95.
We all had a selection of bagels, fruit, toast, pastries.
I tried to take some photos but I’m not very brave at buffet photos!
The hot breakfast was buffet style also here, in other Premier Inns we’ve been to recently it’s been cooked to order. It was all very good.

We had booked parking on the airport site but it was a bus transfer rather than the multi story. We were parked up by 7.30 and waited a few minutes for the bus.

Bus selfie... 2 years ago it was the dab, this year it was this eye thing

Arrived at Terminal 3 and were quickly checked in, bag dropped and through security by 8.25.

We found some seats to camp out on and took turns to wander round the shops. They were very posh! Tiffany, Burberry, Gucci, an oyster bar. No Fat Face, Next or Starbucks! I got a latte from Pret and that’s all we bought.

While waiting I got a message via the virgin app to say our seats had been changed. I wasn’t impressed with this as I’d booked and paid for those seats months before and had specifically chosen the back row. Once at the gate I’d asked why we’d been changed and were told the crew wanted them but we had been given extra legroom seats.

Once on the plane it transpired we’d been given economy delight seats and I have to say they were amazing. You can see the difference in Josh’s (5ft11) leg room to the man across the way in normal seat.

We took off at 11.55, slightly late. Lovely G&T to start.

The food came round after a couple of hours. The boys all chose the curry and I had the pasta. It was all pretty good, I had a red wine with mine hoping it might help me get a bit of sleep.

I watched Pitch Perfect 3 then Jumanji. I did nod off during this but got woken by being poked by Dan to tell me he had sent me a seat message. Cheers Dan! I rewound Jumanji to watch what I’d missed, it was alright, would rush to watch it again.

We had another drinks service and I just had a lemonade this time. I then watched Coco... oh my word, I had to stop myself crying my eyes out! It’s a really lovely film.

Afternoon tea was served with about two hours to go. At this point I realised there’d been no Fab lolly. The cabin crew handed us our box with honey butter crisps, chocolate nougat bar and a strange fisherman’s friend black currant menthol pastille. I was sure we were due a sandwich too so asked the nearest cabin crew. Turns out her colleague had forgotten to pass them out to anyone! She had to head back down the cabin passing them out!

We landed at 15.55 so 9 hours later, the flight was fine, a little bumpy but it seemed really long.

Pretty much as soon as we landed and were taxiing people were up, out of their seats getting luggage out of overhead lockers! Unbelievable - the Captain had to deliver a stern message!

There was quite a queue in the immigration hall but any non US citizens were being directed straight to a desk rather than the machines. Once through immigration our cases were already on the carousel. I knew we then had to get the Mia mover to collect the car. I haven’t been to Miami for years so was a bit worried about finding our way around but it was really well signposted. Very easy.

We went on our first monorail of the holiday and were lucky enough to share this with a man who had a trolley loaded with about 6 cases, he decided to ignore the please stand clear of the doors message and proceeded to push his trolley on regardless. The wheel got stuck and half his cases fell off with the doors closing on his trolley. There’s always one!

We went straight to the Alamo garage having skipped the counter and chose a white Dodge Caravan.

We left the garage at 5.15 and used the Here App for directions, it didn’t want to work straight away so Andy had to use his judgement to select a lane. Luckily it was the right one (although Andy claims no luck was involved - he’s just an amazing driver / navigator) and the App then started giving us directions. We had decided we would, as long as the flight was on time, drive straight to the villa. We’d opted to go on the 27 as the villa was just off the 27 and this seemed the easiest thing to do. It should take about 4 1/2 hours.

The road was really long and really straight and the scenery didn’t change from this for hours!

3 hours later

We stopped at 7pm in Clewiston for a drive through Wendy’s. We all just had a plain cheeseburger and a drink. It came to $26. The server was very excited and asked if we were English. “I thought you were, I’ve never heard an English accent before”!

I did very well in managing to stay awake for the journey! Normally I fall asleep in the car, we had the air con on full blast. The last hour was really hard for Andy we hit traffic lights and it was constant stop start. He did really well driving straight up. He was glad we did it as it meant the holiday would start straight away rather than having to drive up on our first day.

We stopped at Publix, Berry Town centre at 9.30, this is really close to the villa so we made pretty good time with a quick stop. We just got the essentials, milk, coffee, cookies. We arrived at the villa at 10pm. I unpacked, Dan went in the pool! It was so good to be back at the villa, it really feels like home, we absolutely love it. So excited to be here.

We went to bed at 11pm hoping that after that long journey we would be able to sleep well surely...

[Inky]

Dele Alli challenge on the bus selfie,cool!

[mick]

A great start to your holiday Emma. Pity about the idiots who ignore the announcements and stand up before you get to the gate.

For new readers I should explain that Hershey is your chocolate Labrador - Andy doesn't take a bar of chocolate to the kennels when you go on holiday.

Mick

[Bella Vita]

Originally Posted by mick

A great start to your holiday Emma. Pity about the idiots who ignore the announcements and stand up before you get to the gate.

For new readers I should explain that Hershey is your chocolate Labrador - Andy doesn't take a bar of chocolate to the kennels when you go on holiday.

Mick

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Lol...fab name for a Disney lovers pet!

[DisneyPCLI]

Will be reading along 👍🏻

[JoJo88]

Great start Emma! Are you still over there? Or was it a short trip? Or should i go and find your pre-trippy? 😉


Whereabouts is your villa? We were just of the 27 at Westridge.

The Dele eye thing was part of our holiday too - and once we’d mastered it, he starts a new one! (I’m the only one who can do the new one in our house ) x

[florida girl]

A great travel day very similar to ours in 5 weeks time 😊😊

[Pumba75]

Great start. We have lots of similar photos on that sofa at the Premier Inn! I now fancy a pink gin and tonic! Villa looks lovely. Looking forward to reading along.

M x

[i love jack]

Originally Posted by Inky

Dele Alli challenge on the bus selfie,cool!

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Originally Posted by mick

A great start to your holiday Emma. Pity about the idiots who ignore the announcements and stand up before you get to the gate.

For new readers I should explain that Hershey is your chocolate Labrador - Andy doesn't take a bar of chocolate to the kennels when you go on holiday.

Mick

See more...

Thank you

Originally Posted by Bella Vita

Lol...fab name for a Disney lovers pet!

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Thank you

Originally Posted by DisneyPCLI

Will be reading along 👍🏻

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Thanks for reading

[i love jack]

Originally Posted by JoJo88

Great start Emma! Are you still over there? Or was it a short trip? Or should i go and find your pre-trippy? 😉


Whereabouts is your villa? We were just of the 27 at Westridge.

The Dele eye thing was part of our holiday too - and once we’d mastered it, he starts a new one! (I’m the only one who can do the new one in our house ) x

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We are still here! Finished Eleanor oliphant so thought I’d start this!
We are on legacy park, which I think is just a bit north from westridge
That’s impressive, don’t think the boys have managed the new one yet

Originally Posted by florida girl

A great travel day very similar to ours in 5 weeks time 😊😊

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Exciting, it’ll soon come round

Originally Posted by Pumba75

Great start. We have lots of similar photos on that sofa at the Premier Inn! I now fancy a pink gin and tonic! Villa looks lovely. Looking forward to reading along.

M x

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That was a great sofa thank you