The "Coastin', Cruisin', Chillin' Trip Report - July/Aug 2019 - Part 1 - Getting there

[Young Pooh]

Let me start by saying this was meant to be a live trip report but, although I started off by making lots of notes, I didn’t actually get around to writing them up for the first few days so abandoned the idea of a live report. Instead I will be doing a report in sections rather than day by day.

My pre-trip report can be found here which gives a bit of background as to who we are and what we have planned for this trip.

Part 1 – Getting there

We all finished school/work on Friday 19th July. Saturday was spent having hair/nails done and school uniform shopping for Evie and then I packed on the Sunday.

We left home at about 9.45am on the Monday morning for the drive down to Heathrow, stopping at Watford Gap services for lunch and arriving at the Premier Inn (T4) at about 2pm. The drive down was fine and we found the hotel without problem. We checked in and then took the car to the T3 long stay car park - the car park is directly under one of the flight paths!

We got the free shuttle bus back to T3. We used the free underground train back to T4 and walked to the PI through the covered walkway. The journey from T3 to T4 took 30 minutes. We watched TV for a bit, had a drink in the bar, a meal in the restaurant and then went to bed.

We were up at 4am and out of the hotel by 5.35am. Again the journey to T3 took us 30 minutes. Because Evie was in her wheelchair (see was also wearing a sunflower lanyard) we were directed to the Virgin PE check in. It took a total of 15 minutes from arriving in T3, doing bag drop, going through security and arriving in departures! I was really impressed with the service and that the airport was so quiet.

We had breakfast at the Curator and had a look around the shops. We were one of the first to get on the plane (Diamond Girl) which was late departing. Drinks service came around first, followed by lunch (chilli & rice, chicken or pasta, with cucumber salad and Gu dessert). Afternoon tea was a mozzarella and pesto roll and a jam/cream scone.

Evie was invited to the cockpit to meet the pilot as we left – I think she was more impressed with the upper class seats though!

Immigration was total chaos – we were directed to the screens and eventually managed to print out 3 slips but then had to fight our way back across the hall to the right hand side for the wheelchair line which was actually a mass of porters with wheelchairs. We seemed to be the only ones with our own chair. We eventually got through, picked up our bags which were sat waiting for us and then dropped them off for the connecting flight. Back through security in T4 where we were surprised at the good selection of shops and food places. We each had a hot dog and then had to get a quick bus transfer to T2 for our Delta flight to Miami. We were first on board again for the 3.5 hour flight.

Once at Miami we collected our bags and headed to car rental garage using the MIA mover. We had done online check in with Alamo so went straight to the garage as I had a barcode. The greeter said it wasn’t enough – I still needed to go to the counter as I hadn’t done STC. She said this time she would allow us to do the paperwork in the garage – I’m not sure if this was just a tactic as all the guy did was check our licences (which were already on the paperwork) – and then print out another agreement identical to the first. We had hired a full size SUV and all that was there were about 5 Nissan Armadas plus a couple of crossovers. I went back and asked if they had a Tahoe. She radioed though and said we could wait 15 minutes for a Tahoe or get an Expedition straight away. We went with the Expedition which had working sat nav. These are a few pictures from later in the trip.

Our first night was at the Nuvo Suites which we found no problem. Checked in and went to the room. We had an issue with Evie’s sofa bed – there was only a bottom sheet and pillow – no other bedding. It took over an hour and 3 phone calls to get the bedding, by which time Evie had fallen asleep on top of the bed. Other than the issue with the bedding, I was impressed with the hotel and would definitely stay there again.

Overall, whilst it was a very long day – 23 hours from getting up to going to bed – we wouldn’t hesitate to go indirect again if the price was right.

[Em4owen]

I remember reading you 2017 trippie. It sounds like a good start to your 2019 trip. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

[Young Pooh]

Thanks. Hopefully I will get part 2 done over the weekend!

[Floridafour]

A long day but you always get there & like you we are always indirect if the price is right 🙂