The One With No Pretrip And A Better Chance Of Finishing - Day 19 - Homeward Bound

[clubhouse]

I surpassed myself in the early wake up stakes this morning, 3.10am! I spent a long few hours trying to lie quietly and rest because I was definitely not getting any more sleep. Around 7am I got up and finished off more packing as quietly as I could. I had my things and the kids things all sorted and just had to finish off Scott's. We'd deflated the floaties last night, with the exception of Croc - he's not coming home, he must be burst somewhere.

I laid out fresh clothes for travelling to the airport, packed another batch for on the plane, tidied up the bathroom and then got ready for the beach. I gave reception a quick call to see if we could get late check out,which was fine, no extra cost until midday, which suited us perfectly as our flight is at 5.30pm, so by the time we drive to Tampa, stopping off for something to eat, we reckoned we'd need to be on our way around then.

I headed down to the beach to soak up some rays, I was a bit sad when my Cabana wasn't set up. The reservation didn't seem to have worked, it only took a minute or 2 to get it organised, no 41 was still free. Ahhhhhh, bring on the sunshine. But it had clouded over, typical eh? It was a lovely temperature though and I think because it wasn't so hot, it was better as I actually nodded off for a bit. I'm pretty sure I woke myself with a snore/snort but I felt a bit better. Scott and the kids had still not appeared by 10am. I knew I needed to be in the shower at 11am so I left them to it. They eventually appeared and before long the sun came out and we were all a bit sad to be leaving. The sea was much calmer today.

11am came all too quickly so I said goodbye to the beach and headed up to the room to get ready. I was just about done when they got back. It was a bit of a mad dash, but before long we were ready to leave having checked all the drawers, under the beds etc! All that was left to do was have one last look at the view. Scott got a text from BA just as we were wrestling the bags out of the room, 4 hour delay, but we'd to check in at the same time. Annoying, but not too bad we thought and we were all changed and ready to travel anyway. We should still make our connection in Gatwick but the lounge I'd booked isn't needed now.

Scott loaded the car while I checked out. There was a bit of a wait but everything was in order and I paid the bill for the resort fee, taxes and upgrade. With heavy hearts we programmed the Here We Go app for Tampa Airport on were on our way by 12.30pm.

We stopped for petrol before leaving St Petes, always a bit of a faff prepaying when you don't know how much you'll need. It was an easy drive to Tampa, no photos this time, too sad.

As the shops and Cheesecake Factory were only 5 minutes from the airport we decided that's where we'd go for lunch. We were parked up by 1.15pm. The sky was looking a bit ominous, it's going to pour down! Thankfully we made it in before it started and were seated fairly quickly. While I was waiting I emailed No1 Lounges to see if I could cancel my booking as no chance we'd use it now.

We had a lovely waiter, we started with the lovely bread as usual. We wolfed this down as we were all starving!

We were all starting to get grumpy, maybe hangry and Abbie was moaning about being cold, I was cold too but I gave her my cardi and suffered in silence. Our lovely waiter brought us more bread, yum, the grumps were starting to wear off now.

Scott had great Cajun Chicken Pasta.

I had the Chicken Piccata.

Both of these were the lunch portions, but you can see they are still pretty big. We were determined to squeeze in a slice of cheesecake so thought it was sensible. Neither of us would have managed a bigger portion anyway.

Daniel was talked into ordering off the kids menu, he's at the age where most times he'd prefer something off the adult menu, but then wouldn't manage to eat it. The waiter was a great help talking him round! Both kids had chicken tenders and fries.

Then they had the kids hot fudge sundae each for dessert.

We shared the Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake.

It was delicious and looking back I wish we'd ordered a slice of something else now too! I had a latte to try to heat myself up a bit and I thought the caffeine might do me some good!

We took our time, before paying the bill.

As we were in no hurry now we decided to have a wander round the shops.

It's still not raining but you can tell it's on the way. I've not brought jackets so I'm really hoping we don't get wet!

Once in the Mall Abbie and I were freezing! We only managed a few shops, Abercrombie for the kids where we picked up jeans and a couple of TShirts for Daniel and a hoodie for Abbie and finally Dillard's. While we were in here the heavens opened. It got really dark and it was huge Florida rain. I was very glad to be inside but slightly concerned about getting back to the car.

We decided to head to the airport around 3.30pm and managed to get during a break in the rain. Handing the car back was easy enough. Avis confirmed there was nothing to pay and we headed to the mono rail.

Just as we got to the check in desk we got another text saying we were further delayed and no need to come to the airport till 10pm! Brilliant eh? Delays are rotten, but we could have had the whole day at the beach! Never mind, we really just wanted to get home now! We were each given a voucher for $19 to cover food and drink, our bags were checked through to Edinburgh, though we were warned that we'd miss our connection and they didn't know what flight back we'd be on to Edinburgh.

Tampa airport is pretty good with lots of comfy chairs next to charging points. We grabbed 4 together and got settled in for a long afternoon.

Because we stayed landslide we could drink up the leftover water and soft drinks, so i suppose that was good. The kids as you can see were quite happy as they had hours of uninterrupted Ipad time (with no parental nagging) and there is even free WiFi in Tampa Airport.

We must have sat there until about 8pm. We got changed into travelling clothes and decided to see if we could use up our vouchers. You don't get change so being miserable Scots we tried to get the best value. We didn't think we were hungry but certainly managed to eat it all up.

It was a spicy chicken burger meal and a chicken nugget meal for Abbie and I from Chick Fil A.

Scott picked up a Baconator meal and a portion of chicken tenders from Wendies which was just next door.

Heres Abbie in her new hoodie, looking very pleased with herself, no idea why.

Fed and watered, we made our way to the final monorail to head to the gate.

The advantage of the delay was that there was absolutely no one at security! I tell you what it's definitely less stressful when it's like that!

When we got into the gate, it was pretty quiet. The kids headed over to the free gaming machine.

Scott and I headed to the bar for one last beer, BA was paying, so why not?

We had 1 voucher left so the kids spent this on sweeties and some juice for the flight. I had to carry all this of course.

I did some of the trippie and read a bit. Scott joined the kids, playing the free gaming thing. He was pushing his luck with the names again.

It definitely wasnt me that entered that! Finally around 11pm we started boarding. The plane was pretty grotty, it needed a good clean. There was chocolate on my seat, thankfully I had some baby wipes so I cleaned it up a bit. Boarding took ages despite the flight not being full. It was pretty full round us though I could spot some empty seats. We were delayed a bit again on the ground and I'm sure it was 12.01am when we finally took off!

We were all shattered by now. Dinner came round quickly. None of us wanted it but took it anyway. It was salad, chicken curry or cheese pasta, followed by Black Forrest Cheesecake. The curry tasted ok, the pasta was bleugh, we didn't try the dessert. The grown ups had a glass of wine and thankfully the crew cleared it all away quickly and the lights were dimmed.

The kids for the first time ever conceded they were tired and needed to sleep so ipads were packed away. Scott and I tried to watch a film, I don't think either of us saw it! We all got a good few hours kip, which is unusual for us.

Breakfast was a weird cream cheese pretzel, it was freezing and brick hard. You also got a cereal bar so we all ate that instead. The last hour dragged as it always does. A crew member was going round the plane telling people about their connecting flights. We were ignored at the stage. The poor American girl sitting next to Scott was want to be on the same flight as us to Edinburgh, she had been told at Tampa to rebook immediately. Her only option was a flight from London City and she'd need to make her own way across London! Poor girl!

Scott eventually stopped the crew member who told him there was 16 people affected and we should all be on the 5.30pm flight to Edinburgh. We got off and through immigration, we were all done in by now despite a reasonable sleep.

Gatwick was rammed with it being the start of the English school holidays it was a struggle to get a seat to collect our thoughts. We managed to get one and watched a family decant a whole bottle of talc into a multiple ziploc bags - not sure why! They also decanted rose water or similar into lots of smaller bottles, I assume they just didn't want to throw the big bottle away, but what a lot of hassle it was. The husband was being really helpful. I can imagine what Scott would say to me and it ends in OFF!

We tried to drink the juice we bought in Tampa as it hadn't been touched in the plane. Most of it went in the bin and we headed back through security. Our BA app had updated and confirmed we had seats on the 5.30 flight, phew! But we wanted to see if we'd get a refreshment voucher as we'd missed out on our lounge access. The line at the BA desk was huge! But it turned out to be for multiple airlines and when Scott found the BA lady she wasn't even dealing with anyone, she handed him a £5 for each of us.

We debated where to go to get away from the crowds. The kids decided on Nando's even though it felt like breakfast time, it was 2.45pm UK time.

They are shattered! They got their usual medium chicken and Piri Piri chips.

Scott had some hot wings. We were able to use our £5 vouchers towards this. We hung about as long as we could here then went off in search of a seat. We finally found some in a corridor on the way to the loos. Pretty grim really. We passed the time on iPads. I read on the Dibb that another Dibb family seemed to be getting the runaround in terms of getting back, I think it worked out in the end and they got on the same flight as us. I eventually got a cup of tea, it was too watery. Booooo!

We got into the gate at 5pm.

They were happy to be on the final bit of the journey. We were pleased to see the American girl who had rebooked via City on this flight too. That would have saved her a lot of hassle. In the end we were delayed another wee bit. The flight to Edinburgh was full to capacity and passed quickly, thank goodness. We were finally off the plane around 7pm and the bags arrived after a short wait. Following all the delays so far our taxi was a bit late, groan.

Eventually it arrived, we managed to grab a few bits of shopping in M&S for a quick snack when we get home so it's not all bad!

We got home finally around 8.30pm after a very long day! We got the kids fed and off to bed and we were not far behind them. Scott and I were a bit sad not to be able to pick up Frank Dog, but it wouldn't be fair to get him all excited only for us to go off to bed and leave him. Back to work tomorrow!

Thanks for reading along and your patience while I've fallen behind. I have massive respect for all you LIVE trippie writers, it's a huge undertaking to upload a report every single day! I'm just glad I've finally completed a trippie - I've had 2 previous attempts where I've got to day 11 or 13 then life has taken over or technology beat me. If you've enjoyed reading along but haven't had a go, I recommend the photo reporter app, once you get the hang of it, it makes it really easy!

So all that remains is to get the next trip reorganised. We are back in October. The original plan was 10days at Cabana Bay, however I had washer/dryer withdrawal issues and we really liked having express passes. On top of that after reading about club level in Scottish Nellie's report I'm thinking the food/drink options would suit us better than eating in the parks so we will be doing some tweaking! Can't wait.

Frank Dog came home the next day and soon forgave us for leaving him behind. Gran and grandad obviously spoiled him rotten.

[app]

New Photo Added by clubhouse - 27 Jul 18 9:17 PM.

[Cinderella]

Thank you for sharing, I really do appreciate the time it takes to write them. 👍

[Floridaagogo]

Have thoroughly enjoyed your report.What a nightmare journey home 😢 p.s. Your dog is lush ❤️

[clubhouse]

Originally Posted by Cinderella

Thank you for sharing, I really do appreciate the time it takes to write them. 👍

See more...

I think it will be worth the effort to have something to look back on

[clubhouse]

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

Have thoroughly enjoyed your report.What a nightmare journey home 😢 p.s. Your dog is lush ❤️

See more...

Thanks, he is a lovely wee doggy, shame he is so stinky though

[mick]

Thank you very much for taking the time to do your trippie I have really enjoyed following along on your great holiday
Look forward to the next one

Joan

[sammykitten]

I've really enjoyed reading your trip reports, much appreciated for doing them as quickly as you have .

[JanetteP]

Really enjoyed reading along, I know it's very hard doing a trip report, I did my first one this year! You'll not regret doing club level we love it.

[clubhouse]

Originally Posted by JanetteParker

Really enjoyed reading along, I know it's very hard doing a trip report, I did my first one this year! You'll not regret doing club level we love it.

See more...

Thanks, it wasn’t as hard to write up and put in the photo reporter app as a standard report but I wish I’d noted more prices and small details. We’ve gone ahead with booking 2 nights club Level at Hard Rock - I’m sure we will
love it!