AMI After a 15 Night Layover-Travel Day 2nd September 2021-Home At Last

[Mqt]

Up nice and early and showered, we started the rest of the packing and decided we’d make it down for a quick bite to eat at 7am before our taxi came at 8am.

Slight glitch when our 8am taxi arrived at 7am, but no worries, we were told they would return at the correct time! Return they did, and by 8am, we were in the taxi on our way to the airport, keeping everything crossed for a smooth check in for our midday flight with Southwest to Orlando.

We needn’t have worried. All went well. We took up residence in a quiet part of the airport to wait for the flight. Mr Mqt got his laptop out to do some work and I spent time answering emails and messaging family, to check they’d got through Heathrow without any delays in immigration. They confirmed that they’d got through quickly and were on the M1 heading up North.

A little peckish, I went to find a snack and there was an Auntie Ann’s near to where we were sitting. I’d seen these in the USA malls and never given them a second glance. However, food offerings were a bit sparse so I picked up a couple of almond pretzels. Well, what a revelation! Hot and fresh with NO salt, but instead, a lovely crunchy almond topping. Yum! I really liked these and may well deviate to that side of a mall if I see one now! (Forgotten yesterday’s healthy eating promise already )

Look at this beauty! (Pic courtesy of Auntie Ann’s)

I was a little nervous about the flight-mainly because I knew we’d be in close proximity to many people. We were as careful as we could be in Jamaica, keeping our distance as much as possible as a family and the set up was very ‘Covid safe’. On the way out to Jamaica in UC, we’d managed to avoid being too close to anyone. I reasoned with myself that everyone on the flight (from 2 upwards, I believe) would have had a negative Covid test and anyway, there was nothing I could do about it! I needn’t have worried. Everyone was very respectful and there was plenty of sanitiser and wipes bandied about.

Remember these?

The flight to Orlando was smooth and after nearly 2 hours, we could see the coastline of Florida. It took my breath away. The colour of the sea was turquoise and I had never seen it looking so vivid and stunning. The pictures below don’t really do it justice, but you get the idea.

As we touched down, I felt quite strange. I’d expected to feel emotional but it was like an overwhelming serenity as after over 18 months of trying to get back here, we’d done it!

We taxied to the terminal building and were off the plane and heading to immigration within a few minutes. We have Global Entry and the kiosks had no queue. The immigration officer wished us a good stay and that was it-we were in!

Suitcases were grabbed and we went to sort out hire car out. I’d booked an SUV via Auto Europe with Sixt, at a cost of £855 for 31 days. I didn’t think that was too bad as when I’d been looking a couple of months ago, it was more than double that. There was a slight hitch, as the lady at the car hire desk explained that their maximum rental period was 28 days so after showing her the paperwork, she gave us a contract for 28 days with an email confirming this will be extended to 31 days, with a new agreement issued at the 28 day mark at no additional cost. We also added on an extra driver so we can both use it.

Now, as all Dibbers know, there’s nothing to beat that feeling of driving out of the airport with your holiday in front of you. The feeling was magnified many times. We had so missed spending time on Anna Maria, which had become our second home pre-pandemic. Going from spending several months a year there to nothing has been very hard. Knowing that there is no guarantee that the borders will reopen any time soon, we were both determined to make the most of our time there as we wouldn’t realistically be able to do the workaround again until after Christmas due to wanting to be around when our new grandchild is due in late November.

So, we headed out of the airport around 4.30pm with the strange feeling of not being jet lagged and had a swift journey past the Disney turn-offs which are usually heaving with traffic. There was no doubt that the roads were quieter than usual! We settled into the hire car and headed West!

Disclaimer..I am not the best photographer

So, feeling on top of the world, we were driving and chatting about the immediate things we needed to take care of when we arrived.

Our house had been empty since February 2020, apart from a cleaner doing a monthly quick call in to satisfy our home insurers. Our neighbour and gardener had kept a check on the outside but we knew there were certain things we needed to attend to when we arrived.

We have internal CCTV which we leave on between visits and knew that some pictures had fallen off the walls’ (Those picture-hanging Velcro sticky strips are not all they are made out to be!) This was the least of our worries though. We have a hot tub which we bought in 2019 and between visits, we empty it fully, clean it out and secure the lid leaving it spick and span for when we return. Ironically, when we left in February 2020, one of our daughters was coming across for half term the week later and we told her to just empty the hot tub partially but not to bother cleaning it This was because we were due to head back out less than 2 weeks after she left and we figured we’d save her the trouble. It was chlorinated and should have been fine until we returned.

We never did get back, and couldn’t get anyone out to clean it quickly due to Covid over in the US. After a certain amount of time had elapsed, we knew it was simply something we’d have to deal with when we finally got there.

Chatting about the house and what we wanted to achieve over the first few days passed the time quickly. I also did my first Instacart Publix shop whilst driving across so that we had milk and other essentials* for the evening and next morning. I was very impressed with the ‘within 2 hours’ delivery slot, but also a bit worried that it might arrive before we did and I’d be faced with our ‘essential’ shopping perishing on the doorstep!

*may have included some non essentials such as ice cream, cool whip, sweets and maple syrup

Heading over the causeway towards Anna Maria was fabulous. It was such a relief to be back and I felt like I was in a dream.

The shopping arrived at around 7pm, 10 minutes after we did (perfect) although it was midnight before we had anything to eat. We had been so busy checking everything out, unpacking, putting the washing machine on, making sense of the hot tub horrors which befell us and generally sorting the house out, that we didn’t sit down for hours.

The hot tub lid had buckled and rain water had filled it and had pooled on the lid. A rather splendid frog seemed put out when we moved him off the lid and into the garden.

Fortunately the rainwater inside looked pretty clean so we began the job of draining and cleaning. There was some green slime in parts (yuk!) but cleaning it off was tomorrow morning’s job, once it had been properly drained. Mr Mqt had brought a battery operated water pump from the U.K. to make sure we got the last residues of water from the bottom.

The waste disposal wasn’t working and we had a very small, dripping leak from the bottom of the toilet cistern (the cleaner must have noticed this and had turned the water supply to it off). Both were problems for tomorrow, along with a list of other jobs to tick off. Our electric toothbrush had done a runner. Maybe I’ll find it somewhere tomorrow….or maybe not.

It was late. I toyed with the idea of a pizza delivery, but in keeping with the new healthy eating regime (yeah, right!) , I made turkey and salad subs which we demolished gratefully.

The cleaner had put fresh bedding on the day before we arrived so we settled down and were asleep in seconds.

[Charlangela]

Can't wait for the next one

[MrsGrumpy]

Looking forward to the next installment! We are hoping we won't have to do the work-around in November but it's not looking hopeful! Glad the house was ok, in the same position, luckily we have family keeping an eye on our condo. Not too happy at paying all the tax and not being allowed in to stay there though! But what we miss most of all are our family, hence the work-around if necessary.

[JanetteP]

How wonderful to see that coastline, the weather looks beautiful. We should be there now, so looking forward to reading more.

[Mqt]

Originally Posted by MrsGrumpy

Looking forward to the next installment! We are hoping we won't have to do the work-around in November but it's not looking hopeful! Glad the house was ok, in the same position, luckily we have family keeping an eye on our condo. Not too happy at paying all the tax and not being allowed in to stay there though! But what we miss most of all are our family, hence the work-around if necessary.

See more...

I know, it’s been awful hasn’t it? Especially bad if you have family over here. Everything crossed that the borders open for us properly in the not too distant future. The workaround has been fine this time but won’t always be practical.

[MrsGrumpy]

Originally Posted by Mqt

I know, it’s been awful hasn’t it? Especially bad if you have family over here. Everything crossed that the borders open for us properly in the not too distant future. The workaround has been fine this time but won’t always be practical.

See more...

We’re in the lucky position that we can afford the extra time and (just about!) cost, but that doesn’t apply to everybody 😢
Enjoy yourselves, love AMI x

[Gryff]

We are doing the same to get home but going to Antigua for 16 nights
We have had guests so I know it will be 3 weeks of deep deep cleaning painting checking linens and going through our stacked to the rafters owners cupboards
Our lovely PM has offered to do an essential shop for us and leave it in the villa as we will have a fair drive from Miami
The things we owners do
Following along with interest

[Gryff]

Mrs Grumpy we not the bullet yesterday and cancelled our November flights and rebooked everything else
Retirement has some perks when it comes to time

[cornishfrogboy]

Very much looking forward to the next instalment. Trip reports are rather thin on the ground right now and this one has started just great!

[lfc_sarah]

Ahh yay, trip report!

Glad you got the hottub sorted and it wasn't too bad!