The One With No Pretrip And A Better Chance Of Finishing - Travel Day 2 Arriving In Tampa And Cheese

[clubhouse]

The Bloc Hotel was very comfortable but I didn't sleep well. There was some weird lighting round the window and because of where I was lying it caught my eye and I kept thinking (or hoping) it was time to get up... that went on from 2am.

So at 6am I got up, Scott and the kids not far behind me. We were all ready and out of the room by 7am. We headed through security and again it was an easy process. We were all a bit peckish and debated Nando's for breakfast but in the end we decided on Jamie's Diner.

The grownups has the Full Monty and toast, the kids had waffle and bacon with maple syrup. Drinks were coffee, tea and apple juice.

Food was nice but the service was a bit slow. Eventually we got the bill £45 and the information board showed our flight to Tampa was boarding.

When we boarded we got a nice surprise to see we'd been upgraded to World Traveller Plus. Scott thought this had happened when he saw our seats had been changed but I wasn't counting on it.

Before takeoff we had a glass of champagne - love when it's in a real glass.

We were slightly delayed taking off but were in the air before 10am. Shortly after the seatbelt sign went off the drinks service began - I debated a soft drink but Scott was taking advantage of not having to drive for the first time ever and was having a beer, so I went for a wine.

We read the menu and all decided on the fillet steak. It was served around 11.30am (with more wine... oops) and it was very nice.

Abbie's seat back TV wasn't working despite the crew rebooting it a few times. We gave up and swapped seats so she could watch a film. The kids sat together and Scott and I sat together which was quite a novelty. We took turns going to the galley to get each other a drink ☺️.

After a while mini magnums were served, we all enjoyed these.

The flight seemed to zip by, the wine might have helped with that. Next thing I knew they were serving afternoon tea, chicken caesar sandwiches and shortbread. I had my last cup of tea for nearly 3 weeks - see it's not all wine - even when I used to take tea bags to Florida the tea didn't taste right so now I don't bother.

At 1.36pm US time we landed. We managed to get through immigration and collect our bags in about an hour. Next we hopped on the monorail to the terminal.

We found the hotel shuttle pick up point and called the hotel, they advised a coach would be with us in about 10 minutes and they were right.

We arrived at the Renaissance Hotel quickly, you can see the airport from the car park and got checked in.

The room was a good size and the beds seemed comfy. We decided to chill out for a wee while. I unpacked a few bits and pieces but not everything as we only have 2 nights here. Scott and the kids watched a bit of the World Cup and I “rested” my eyes for half an hour - I felt shattered, might be the wine or could be the aftermath of the nasty virus I was suffering with earlier in the week. Here are some photos of the room before we made it all untidy.

We had a quick freshen up and headed out about 5pm in search of something to eat. The hotel is right next to the International Plaza shopping centre. We had a walk round, I couldn't resist a purchase in Sephora, where I picked up my birthday gift. Top tip - join the loyalty scheme if you buy things in Sephora regularly- for years I have spent a fortune and didn't join as assumed it was only for US residents - wrong! - oh and “hopefully” your birthday is in the month you travel so you can pick up your gift too!

We settled on the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It seemed very busy but we were seated in about 10 minutes. I ordered a chicken and avocado salad thinking it would be light and Scott ordered a chicken and avocado sandwich, the kids had pepperoni pizza to share and we had apple juice, Diet Coke and beer to drink.

My hand is there to show the size of this - it was huge - I didn't even manage half.

We didn't feel like dessert so committed a cardinal sin (in my opinion) we left without even getting takeout cheesecake! I promised Abbie we could go for dessert tomorrow. We got the bill $60.57 and added a good tip as the waiter had been great.

After dinner we wanted to pick up a couple of bottles of water so hoped there was a CVS, Walgreens or gas station nearby. A Gas Station was showing on google maps, but after a pretty hairy walk (no sidewalks) we discovered it was a gas station for airplanes.

We got back to the hotel, spent too much money on the vending machine and headed back to the room.

We all got ready for bed and set up the tv to play Guardians of the Galaxy 2 from our Netflix account. I'm not sure we will get to the end of the film!

Tomorrow we plan to pick up the car at the airport then head to Busch Gardens. Thanks for reading along!

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New Photo Added by clubhouse - 2 Jul 18 2:04 AM.

[sheluk]

You all did so well on travel day to stay up that late. We are always flailing wrecks by 8pm.

Yay to a free upgrade!

Food looks really good & that salad - wowzers!

[mick]

A good travel day

Joan

[closeder]

Another free upgrade, woot woot! Sounds like a really smooth travel day xx

[margyloveswdw]

Great upgrade!

[Jake71]

Lucky getting the upgrade! And as wine or 2 always helps with the flight. Room looks nice.

[Floridafour]

Sounds like a hassle free travel day & a meal at Cheesecake Factory is always a bonus 👍
I look forward to reading more & thanks for posting 🙂

[Cinderella]

Food looks great👍

[scottishnellie]

Fab upgrade! You’re right about the tea not tasting the same even when you’ve brought the bags!