Keep Calm and Have a Cocktail March 2018: Travel Day LGW- FLL , No1 Lounge and Norwegian Dreamliner

[WileyCoyote]

The previous day is HERE

Travel Day Fri 9 March

We both had a decent night’s sleep , despite waking at 3.30 before dozing off again

I had a quick bath before breakfast.

Always good to check out the amenities BEFORE you start personal ablutions - so good thing I hadn’t intended to wash my hair as the dispensers above the bath were body wash and body lotion - NOT shampoo and conditioner as I had thought without the benefit of my glasses

At least I hadn’t got my hair wet before realising.

Breakfast was booked for 8.00

Help yourself to cereals, juice and coffee.

Cooked breakfast was pre-set items. Came out " piping hot" as my Granny would say.

It was ok. Freshly cooked, could have done with more toast.

We sat and watched Homes Under the Hammer until it was time to catch the shuttle - I know, can it get more exciting than that.

The hotel shuttle was £11 that we had booked and paid for last night.

We were the only ones on there at 11 , took about 10 minutes and we were dropped at stop 9 at the South Terminal and picked up again from the same place.



There was a small queue at the Norwegian check in - the cases came in at 19 and 17kg so loads of room and the hand luggage was also weighed - 9kg for my case and bag combined and 7kg for Andy’s portable electronic store in his bag. They were really thorough on the weights.

We then headed for premium Security, which had been part of the booking for the No1 lounge.


I had expected Gatwick to be really busy with it being mid-morning and I was anxious about getting MiL’s ashes through the screening so thought premium would be less hassle.

We were the only people there at 1130 and they were fine about the ashes - not even requiring the various letters and certificates that we had brought.

That was a huge relief and we were quickly through to the other side, picking up some pain relief tablets for Andy who was struggling with some lower back pain which didn’t bode well for a 9-hour flight.


We headed straight to the No 1 Lounge and camped in a corner
I had pre-booked this for £48.

It gave us a chance to chill out and have a few drinks pre-flight as we wouldn't be experiencing the Virgin PE style food and drink fest on board

Obviously, as we are going Economy with Norwegian

Lounge was lovely and quiet so we obnoxiously occupied a large corner to ourselves and charged up the small electrical department in our hand luggage.

I was straight in the cake

Then some drinks and nibbles

Can't beat spicy hot nuts just before a flight... So, Andy says, fnaar fnaar.

Ok enough lowering the tone. By mid-day we were sampling the help yourself soup and salad table. Obviously not the table itself as that would be ridiculous, but the items on it

Some delicious tomato soup. Slightly over croutoned by Andy

I did some geeky plane spotting

Then we handed in our little cards for the Yorkie Pud and Cheese and Biscuits

Very pleasant and with wine and food plus premium security, definitely well worth it for us.

Very relaxing. It was noticeably busier when we left in the main lounge - the little side rooms were still quiet though.

As we were eating, the gate came up for boarding just after 1.30 so we packed up all our stuff and headed off - feeling super relaxed after our leisurely start.

It wasn’t quite true that they were boarding at the gate - there were loads of people milling round

and it was a little while (2pm) before they began to call out the rows for boarding.

We were in the last rows to get on around 2.30 but as we discovered we were in a little mini cabin - behind premium but separated by the door and a kitchen area from the main cabin.

We were delighted with the seats, Bargainous £775 total for low fare plus so this included meals, 3 checked bags and seat choice. We were in 6 C and D across the aisle from each other

After a short delay we were in the air at 3.20.

I started to watch the inflight entertainment but there were so many announcements that I waited a while before settling in to watch 3 Billboards.

Andy had the vegan meal which came out 45 minutes before the other meals and was so rapidly inhaled I didn't get a pic

I had my meal about 90 minutes after take off .

My choice was beef and mash or Chicken with " warm salad" .

Neither massively appealing but I went for chicken .

The people next to me had the beef. Which wasn't easy to cut with plastic knives so chicken was a winner ..

It was ok. I mixed the pasta in with it. I missed having a bread roll with it but it was an ok dinner. Came with a glass of wine, water and then a coffee afterwards.

The snack bar is available through the ife... A few prices for you

And you have to purchase earphones and blankets . I was glad we had our own earphones and I had a wrap as a cover up. The fresh air system makes the plane cold

After finishing food, I started to watch The Shape of Water but couldn’t get on with it so decided to have a small snooze which passed an hour so - it was feeling a long flight.

Continuing with the slightly depressing film choices, I watched Goodbye Christopher Robin. Afternoon tea was served (now past 11pm UK time)

It was ok. In hindsight, we could have done with taking on a couple of bottles of water but otherwise it was fine.

I did have someone behind me who must have struggled with screen as they were incredibly heavy handed and the continual punching sensation began to wear thin after a while. Tricky one tho, does anyone ever mention it - please stop rabbit punching me every time you change channels?


Andy spent the flight watching this pooch who was flying premium ...

He was a service dog.

Really impressed overall with Norwegian, liked the funky moodlighting , it was a bit cold but I will remember to take a warmer wrap next time.

We landed exactly on time ( 7.35 US time) and were a bit bemused to be shipped off in a bus to the terminal - and it felt like it was an age away (can see why having trekked there on the way back)

As we came down the escalators into the immigration hall our hearts sank at the huge queue ahead In fairness they had loads of desks open and the queue was moving but there were 3 or 4 plane loads all there at the same time.

Andy got the black X from the kiosk - probably as we had declared food.

It took just under an hour to get to the front and we were through in a few minutes which was great.

We arrived in baggage reclaim to find our flight didn’t exist according to the boards and no sign of any luggage - well that was one benefit of the immigration wait, the cases hadn’t even arrived yet.

A few minutes after getting there the carousel started up and lo, our cases were some of the first out. Imagine if you had gone whizzing through immigration to find an hours wait for the bags

We then set off for the hire car and discovered that this was another shuttle bus journey and being tired now, were unimpressed with the queue-jumping tactics involved in getting on the buses

We did manage to get on one and thankfully Alamo desk was quiet and very efficient.

2 hours after landing, we were driving away and feeling quite tired with it all.

Fortunately, it was only 30 minutes or so to the hotel, roads were quiet and Andy adjusts really quickly to the driving.

We drove past the Royal Beach Palace hotel not realising it was ours and had that depressing feeling it wasn’t anything like we expected.

There was no parking available and we did a couple of circuits before being able to park up at reception and check in - and of course we were then told we were in the furthest block, apparently in some villas. It didn't look very villa like to me - we just hadn't expected it to be motel style.

Our hearts sank even further - it was a ground floor room and it just didn’t look anything like we had expected - on walking there was a really strong smell of cigarettes and it didn’t look very Honeymoon special to us. ( we had booked the Honeymoon suite as it was only an extra $25 a night).

Andy was all for going back to reception but by now it was 10pm US time, so well into the early hours UK time and I just wanted to get rid of the cases and have something to eat.

I had pegged the Ocean Bar and Grille across the road as a suitable venue - after walking 10 minutes the wrong way, we eventually found said bar.

Which again looked nothing like we expected and were told it was already closing

no drinks and snacks by the waterfront for us then
.
Our opinion of FL was pretty low by now and it was left to MaccyDs to restore it.

Our accents asking for " a bottle of water" created all sorts of confusion. Apparently you have to say " water bottle" as a young spring breaker helped translate for us Everyone was really friendly though and a bit in awe of our 9 hour flight to get there !

Anyhow. It's McDs . And it was good.

We hadn’t realised how hungry we were - it really hit the spot, even though we both thought we would probably have chronic indigestion later on!

Back to the hotel, a good spray of Dove to deodorise the carpet and I unpacked the clothes we would need for the morning. Although I seem to have managed to make a mess of the cases already in my super tired state as I wanted to shove all the hand luggage stuff we didn't need in there and I was just too tired so had a bit of mini meltdown. Wretched cases !

I also spent 10 minutes flicking on and off every light switch trying to locate the light above the Jacuzzi but it was skilfully eluding me and I was starting to have a hissy fit about it keeping me up all night ( it kept changing colour) . It was eventually found and further meltdowns avoided

We dropped into the bed, which was very comfy and were probably asleep within seconds.

The next day Ocean Drive,Sawgrass Mills and Shulas is here

[Goldia]

Oh no a stinky room, sounds horrid, I had to go back and look at the photos for a 2nd time as it looked nice and modern in the room, a shame it wasn't quite what you were expecting your honeymoon suite to be.

Bizarrely DH always has trouble ordering water in the US, as they struggle to understand what he is saying, I normally end up in fits of giggles as I can't imagine what they think he's ordering ... There aren't that many drinks on a menu! So if it's not coke or beer or whatever surely they could guess?. He usually glares at me when I go all giggly about it and he gets more and more frustrated, which brings out the worst in me as I just tend to find it even funnier. I'd love to say I will give him the spring breakers tip of swapping the words around, but I enjoy the laughs too much it's become a holiday tradition now that Americans don't understand his English.

[Fuellady]

OMG - Homes under the Hammer on holiday, this brings back memories for me. One time we went to Tenerife on holiday, I think it was Easter so the sun didn't reach the pool area or our balcony until around 11am so every morning we had breakfast then watched Homes under the Hammer and by then we could go out in the sun! Sorry for the ramble but I haven't watched that programme before or since so as soon as you mentioned it the memory sprung to mind.

Anyway, enough of my holiday memories... what a lovely relaxing start you had, and wow, so much food in the lounge. It all looks good too

What a shame the flight seemed a bit long, and chilly. It all seemed a faff upon landing, lots of buses to catch and it seems like it wasn't as simple as it could have been.

How awful that the room smelled of smoke, and it does look a bit basic for a "honeymoon suite". I know what you mean about just wanting to get sorted out though, after a long flight I couldn't be bothered with complaining and moving room either.

At least you can always rely on Maccie D's wherever you are though...

[Melbatb]

What a long day and such a shame about the hotel! I have to say if it smelt of smoke I would have turned straight round!

What a cute pooch!

[CrispyA]

The flight sounds good, shame about the room smelling of smoke - it looks nice in the pictures! Hope you got a good nights sleep at least.

[CuriousAlice]

Seems you got through travel day despite the typical waiting around either end at airports. No spillages this time at least. Such a shame about your pongy room. It does appear to be more motel than villa. The bathroom seems decent though. Look at that impact lighting over the jacuzzi!

I have had the first night case melt down before too. Hoping it was forgotten next morning with a calorie laden US brekkie x

[stupet11]

Gotta love a NA Dreamliner!

Forget we used that lounge too when we flew NA - must see if I can get it this year…thanks for the memory jogger.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Oh no a stinky room, sounds horrid, I had to go back and look at the photos for a 2nd time as it looked nice and modern in the room, a shame it wasn't quite what you were expecting your honeymoon suite to be.

Bizarrely DH always has trouble ordering water in the US, as they struggle to understand what he is saying, I normally end up in fits of giggles as I can't imagine what they think he's ordering ... There aren't that many drinks on a menu! So if it's not coke or beer or whatever surely they could guess?. He usually glares at me when I go all giggly about it and he gets more and more frustrated, which brings out the worst in me as I just tend to find it even funnier. I'd love to say I will give him the spring breakers tip of swapping the words around, but I enjoy the laughs too much it's become a holiday tradition now that Americans don't understand his English.

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We didn't feel as bad about the room the next day but first impressions weren't great. The furniture was poor quality, the carpet was horrible but the bed was great and the bathroom and other amenities were good. The location was not so hot though. Wouldn't rush back.

Oh the water bottle - how many ways can you ask for it - we were pointing to the chiller cabinet with the bottles in and I was trying to do a tap turning action ( think jet lagged charades). Totally comedy moment. (of course, nobody turns taps any more its this stupid "place your hand under and waft it like tai chi" rubbish so no wonder he didn't get it )
But he got there and we were grateful of it as everywhere else was closed and we wanted it for the room.

Originally Posted by Fuellady

OMG - Homes under the Hammer on holiday, this brings back memories for me. One time we went to Tenerife on holiday, I think it was Easter so the sun didn't reach the pool area or our balcony until around 11am so every morning we had breakfast then watched Homes under the Hammer and by then we could go out in the sun! Sorry for the ramble but I haven't watched that programme before or since so as soon as you mentioned it the memory sprung to mind.

Anyway, enough of my holiday memories... what a lovely relaxing start you had, and wow, so much food in the lounge. It all looks good too

What a shame the flight seemed a bit long, and chilly. It all seemed a faff upon landing, lots of buses to catch and it seems like it wasn't as simple as it could have been.

How awful that the room smelled of smoke, and it does look a bit basic for a "honeymoon suite". I know what you mean about just wanting to get sorted out though, after a long flight I couldn't be bothered with complaining and moving room either.

At least you can always rely on Maccie D's wherever you are though...

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Its that or Jeremy Kyle -its becoming a bit of a tradition - we were a bit put out we had to leave before the end - we will never know how they got on
The lounge worked perfectly for us and probably worked out cheaper than the same food and drink in the main departures areas !
The flight was definitely cold. I did wish I hadn't worn a summery dress and had a jumper on instead.

I always think the bus from the plane thing is for the small European airports - just wasn't expecting it ! Wasn't much gain in paying for premium to get any priority exiting for sure !

The Room reminded us of the Rosen - but three times the price so we felt it was basic for what we got - but the whole area was so expensive. I now think we just caught a cold with it being Spring Break and all the hotels being pricey.

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a long day and such a shame about the hotel! I have to say if it smelt of smoke I would have turned straight round!

What a cute pooch!

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Yes Andy was all for a change but given he falls asleep in a nano second I knew it wouldn't really bother him that much ...
There were two of those dogs in the end - they were travelling to a new home to be service dogs. They were unbelievably well behaved.

Originally Posted by CrispyA

The flight sounds good, shame about the room smelling of smoke - it looks nice in the pictures! Hope you got a good nights sleep at least.

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Thanks - we got a short nights sleep ! Flight was good though. Impressed with Norwegian

Originally Posted by CuriousAlice

Seems you got through travel day despite the typical waiting around either end at airports. No spillages this time at least. Such a shame about your pongy room. It does appear to be more motel than villa. The bathroom seems decent though. Look at that impact lighting over the jacuzzi!

I have had the first night case melt down before too. Hoping it was forgotten next morning with a calorie laden US brekkie x

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Yeah, no spillages ! It was described as a Tiki Villa and it didnt feel very Tiki or Villa to me ! That lighting was nice but I hate any sort of light creep when I am trying to sleep and it took an age to find the damn switch to turn it off

Those cases - I hate them I think they know it too

Originally Posted by stupet11

Gotta love a NA Dreamliner!

Forget we used that lounge too when we flew NA - must see if I can get it this year…thanks for the memory jogger.

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thanks - yes , totally impressed with the Lounge and the Dreamliner - a great start !

[princess boo]

Thank you for the photos of the dreamliner. We are flying on the same plane but into MCO, we are in row 7, couldn't book row 6 because the children couldn't sit in that road!

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by princess boo

Thank you for the photos of the dreamliner. We are flying on the same plane but into MCO, we are in row 7, couldn't book row 6 because the children couldn't sit in that road!

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Hope you have a great flight !