D & M (Team Florida) doing it again, Pre-Trippie

[barnsley]

CAST

DH - (Me) David, 41, Chief planner, driver, money earner
DW - Maxine, 42, Hates flying, Florida is the only thing that will get her in the air
DD - Kellie, 17, thinks pink fluffy thoughts, totally Disney Mad
DS - Ben, 13 (14 by the time we get there – can’t wait to get going)

Here we go again,

Just a bit of background, our 2 girls have been to Florida before with my in-laws. As DW does not like flying we never thought we would ever get to Florida. Friends had been and raved about it. We watched their videos, looked at their photographs. That was it; one evening without thinking we logged on to TCD, got a quote and booked. Our first trip was October 2005 for 9 of us. Our family of 5 and friends family of 4.

What a holiday, absolutely fantastic. We could not believe how brilliants it was. We knew we wanted to return to Florida even before we left to come home. We did nothing but reminisce. Everyday we thought about it and talked about it.

We then decided we would return to Florida in the summer holidays of 2007. Our eldest daughter decided not to come with us. She stayed home with her boyfriend looking after our 2 dogs and tortoise. We weren’t used to being just 4 so we invited our niece along. She couldn’t believe it. Her best friend holidays a lot in Florida, but her parents just do not want to go. Her parents trusted us, so we booked, started saving and began the countdown again.

It was an absolutely brilliant holiday; we packed so much in and still craved more. We returned home happy with our memories but gagging for more.

We decided due to the usual reason of money we would return in 2010 with in-laws who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately mum in law suffered a bad stroke a couple of years ago and although she still wants to go back she is not as mobile as she once was. She can make the decision later.

Although we still have 2010 penned in the diary, friends around us were booking to go this year. Now we are lucky because our son is home schooled we do not have to book to go in the school holidays. We looked to see when we could go for a reasonable price and at first decided to book our holiday at work for early November and take pot luck to see if there were any late deals. I got a message from a colleague at work; he had got a good deal and booked. There was only one thing for it, ring TCD and others to get a quote. TCD’s quote could not be beaten. I wanted to book without delay, DW, however, wanted to discuss financing unplanned holiday.
40 minutes later, after a stroll round the park, I was back on the pone to TCD, bank details in hand. That’s it 10 minutes later it was booked, deposit paid, as for the balance we will think of that later – Once in Florida financing it will be a thing of the past.

Our eldest daughter is staying home again with her best friend (boyfriend is away at another college). The dogs are booked into a very nice kennel. Holidays have been changed at work.

DH - working all O/T he can
DW - now doing an extra shift at work to plump up funds
DD - Already got spending money sorted but shopping for England for the trip.
DS - Counting down the days and telling everyone everyday what it is

Not long now, just sorting the itinerary (will post that when done) and finalising places to eat.

Well folks, that’s my first pre-trippie, hope it wasn’t too tiresome. Will do a trip report with photos on our return and when time allows.

D & M

Keeping an eye on that countdown timer

[Guest]

great pre trippie have a great time

[ely3857]

Great start, any photos of you lot?



Jodie

[JoJoBell]

That was not tiresome at all.
Looking forward to reading more.

[hel1304]

Loved the pre-trippie! Can't wait to 'meet' the family with pics xx

[Ilovesnowwhite]

Brilliant start cant wait for the trip report when you get back.

[barnsley]

I've just uploaded a few pictures (to my dibb album) from our previous trips have a look, will upload more soon.

D & M

[Guest]

Great start, looking forward to reading more.