Scottishnellies Sack The Kitchen Trip LIVE - Travel Day. Dreamliner Manchester To Sanford, Walmart &

[scottishnellie]

Didn't sleep great. Bed was really comfy but I am just still too excited I think. But the main thing that disturbed me (well, all of us really) was Hannah's sleep talking. Oh My God. If she does that every night it really is no wonder she is exhausted in the morning and cant get out of bed. Every 15 minutes she was off again, and always at the top of her voice. One minute it was gobbledygook, then she was banging on about adidas superstars, the she was pulling the pillow away from Kieran shouting at him for stealing it, then she was on about somebody patching her. Honestly she is bonkers. There was poor Kieran hanging on to his one and only pillow! Anyway, we had set all the phone alarms but I knew we wouldn't really need them as Kieran and I always wake early even when we are not dealing with Hannah's sleep talking.

Kieran woke first at 6:50 and went for his shower. Hannah had said she would need to shower at 7 to be ready for breakfast at 8 so we woke her up to make sure she went next. We had done the same as we always do and worn clothes past their best yesterday so we could just dump them and not have to carry them with us today when we changed into our travel outfits.

Off to breakfast at 8. Breakfast was great. Continental buffet plus a cooked breakfast to order. You basically just tell the waitress how many of everything you want. Lots of photos coming up for those due to stay at Heald Green soon so scroll on if that"s not your bag.

We left the hotel at 9am to walk round for the 9:10 train. I say walk round. It is about a 90 second walk! Cannot believe how close the hotel is to the station. Here is a photo taken from standing on the platform. The roof you can see behind the trees is the premier inn. That is how close it is.

We have decided we would definitely stay here again. Liked the hotel, meal deal and food were great, and it actually feels more convenient for us than PI north or south given the frequent train links. Unless he eventually lets me go for the Radisson blu of course.

Train arrived at Manchester Airport at 9:14 and we went up the escalator and along the corridors again to T2. We arrived at security at 9:20 and would have been through in 5 minutes if Hannah had not forgot to take her wee clear plastic back with her liquids out of her bag. Due to this they set it aside for extra checks and we had to wait til it was her turn. Even with this we were out by 9:32, so 12 mins for security even with that extra check.

Bought a couple of magazines and I treated myself to some new perfume, then we headed for a seat to wait it out.

Our flight was due to leave at 11:30. They started to board premium at 11:00 so Knew we would not be exactly on time. We were boarded by 11:35 then queued to take. Off for ages. In fact we queued so long hannah fell asleep before we even took off.

We took off at 12:07 which was not bad. We plugged our phones into the USB chargers and mine charged from 30% to 100% in 40 minutes, so that was good.

The running order thereafter was roughly (uk times) 12:37 they brought the customs forms and complimentary earphones round.

13:18 they served complimentary drinks. I had a red wine and the others had diet cokes which are full size cans instead of the dinky ones. 14:07 the kids meals came out. Kieran had this which was sausages, carrots and mash with gravy and he declared it to be yummy. He also had crackers and a wee laughing cow cheese, a sticky toffee pudding and a wee pack of jelly beans with a Forrest fruits juice drink.

At 14:35 the adult meals came out which was roast chicken with carrots broccoli potatoes and gravy. It was really moist which was a nice surprise as I expected it to be dry. We had a roll, cheese and crackers and a Chocolate orange ganache pudding. They also served another drink with this. Another wee red for me.

At 17:00 they served another round of complimentary drinks. Red for me again. Well I am on my holidays after all. And Kevin is driving at the other end, not me!

By this time Kieran was starting to ask how long we had to go, and what the plans were when we got there. K: Are we stopping at the shops? Me: Just to collect out Walmart order, why? K: Can we go somewhere for me to buy a limited edition fidget spinner? Me: (silence and a mum look) Err, No – Not today Kieran.

At 19:30 they brought the afternoon tea around wth a kids one for Kieran

And adult ones for us

During the flight I watched Why Him, then Collateral Beauty, then How To Be Single. I feel asleep in the last half of collateral beauty so had to rewind that to watch it again. My darling daughter repaid me for the sleeping photo earlier.

It was a comfortable flight. I am usually always freezing on planes and end up wrapped in my fleece, Kevins fleece and begging for a blanket. But this time I was fine and did not even have my fleece on. Plenty of legroom too. In fact when we sat down Hannah asked had I paid for extra legroom as it seemed so spacious.

At 20:10 they announced we were starting our descent into Sanford.

The pilot came on just before landing to say we were about to fly over Cape Canaveral. We could see the launch pad and the assembly building which I thought was pretty cool. I loved KSC last year but no plans to revisit this year.

We landed at 20:50, so 15:50 US time which I will use from now on. It took us an hour and 15mins to clear immigration and collect the car from Alamo. I will apologise in advance about the car info as I am rubbish with cars. Just not interested so I never retain the info about them, but here goes. We usually get an SUV but this time Kevin had booked a premium car for £353. He was pleased with the price as it only ever went up after we booked. The guy who led us out to the line was really friendly and chatty. He showed us the line which had some big cars and normal looking SUVs in it., Kevin pointed out some others he fancied in another line and the guy kind of looked unsure then said aw come on over lets set you up. We ended up with this, which Kevin seems delighted with. He must have been as he tipped the guy $20.

It appears to be a Grand Cherokee according to the sign on the side. It has done 5000 miles so must be relatively new. All I know is it has a nice big boot, comfy seats and is nice and high up to sit in. That is as much as I care about. Oh and it has a fancy sat nav, although we turned her off in favour of Waze on the way to the villa. The main reason being a chat on the dibb had made it clear that was the best route from Sanford and I could see the whole map on waze so was able to see it was definitely taking us along the 417 instead of the I4. I couldn't work out how to do that on the sat nav. Or at least I probably could (or will at some point) but I was also juggling trying to confirm my Walmart order pick up and having the toll money each time we reached a toll. As well as trying to get the kids to keep quiet as Kevin gets stressed on that first drive if the kids are bickering. Then we all get stressed.

I had done an online Walmart shop while in the UK and chose 5-6pm pickup time. This turned out to have been a wee bitty optimistic given we didn't arrive at Walmart until 6:25. When I ordered it had said they would send me an email when it was ready to collect then I should login to the Walmart app to confirm when I was 10mins away from collecting it. But I couldn't download the app as it said it was only for USA. I had assumed it would let me download it once we were in USA, but no. So not only were we half an hour late, but I had not confirmed collection either, so I was a bit worried this was going to fall to bits. We arrived at the pickup side of the store and there was nobody to be seen so I went into the store to ask, leaving Kevin and the kids parked at the pickup side. Lady in the store took my order number and phoned someone who asked her to confirm I was Helen, and to tell me she had found my husband and was loading up now. By the time I went back round the side the shopping was in and we were good to go.

I would definitely do this again. I hate that first Walmart shop when everyone is tired and you cannot decide what to buy. I had done it at my leisure then went in a few more times in the week to add bits I had forgot and update the order – dead simple. I will show the delivery receipt as it will let you see prices as I know there's been a lot of chat about supermarket prices being up this year.

5 minutes down the road and found the villa no problem. We got unpacked and put the food away. There was actually quite a welcome pack waiting food wise, which had I realised I might've skipped the Walmart shop til morning. As well as the photo below there was waiting in the fridge, milk, water, orange juice, sprite, jam and butter. The the boys jumped in the pool and Kevin cracked open some well deserved beers.

Villa lovely so far. I will post more about it another day as I am a bit shattered now. But here's a couple of quick photos for now.

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New Photo Added by scottishnellie - 23 Jun 17 3:22 AM.

[Melbatb]

What a good travel day! Impressed to got to sit next to the window on the plane!

[Megandllsmum]

Yay you are there!
Great travel day report, we always stay at runger lane south but I think if ever we travel by train we might stay at heald green I'd heard it was convenient for airport but can really see that now. Glad you liked the Dreamliner we flew on that the first time we went and really liked it, it was half empty so had loads of moving about room.
Car looks a bit of a beast lol and the Walmart shop pick up a great idea. Have a great first full day and look forward to reading all about it
Sam x

[panspeep]

Great travel day Helen, looking forward to reading along, we go next Saturday so will say hello if we spot you. Have a great 1st day.

[Gryff]

A great day the Walmart app is a little iffy at times believe me you are not the only one to roll up late
Looking forward to the rest

[JoJo88]

Great travel day Helen, and great idea with the Walmart shop.

But you seem to have left Pouty McP at home

[i love jack]

Great travel day, all looked nice and smooth. The flight looked good we've thought about doing Thomson next year. Limited edition fidget spinner !

[boltyboy]

Brilliant first day, did you fly premium? Never been with Thomson the plane looked nice.

[joanna23]

Love your live reports. Great travel day! Have an amazing holiday.