Wot, no Disney?! August 2019 Going home :-(

[tory79]

Well that’s it, 2 weeks gone in the blink of an eye... our trips are usually 3 weeks so this did feel particularly short!

We have a rubbish return flight time of 3:40 so will need to be heading to the airport around 12, which obviously means that we will end up not doing anything in the morning by the time we’ve lacked and sorted. We did have plans to go to Celebration which is our traditional last day activity, seeing as we had the hire car, but everyone (except me as per usual) slept in a bit and dh still wasn’t feeling very well. So we got up and showered and packed and then just hung out in our hotel room. I hate wasting valuable last minute holiday time like this!

Check out was 11 and there was really no point going anywhere except to the airport by this stage so off we went. Car was returned easily enough except weirdly after we filled it up with petrol we realised that the gauge was still only showing 3/4 full. No idea why as dh had filled it to the brim. Anyway he spoke to Avis about it and they seemed to accept it as he had receipts for the petrol but we will keep an eye out for random card charges.

We went in to the airport. Checked in no problem. Bought a last minute magnet from the universal shop as we get one every holiday and realised we’d forgotten so far this year. Through security in about 40m or so.

We headed to Outback for lunch. We used to go quite regularly when they were still in the UK and we ordered our favourite Bloomin’ onion for old times sake! Dh had chicken tenders, I had a chicken burger, DS1 had a bacon cheeseburger and ds2 had grilled chicken. It was all delicious.

By the time we’re done here it was only an hour til boarding so we headed down to get seats by the gate. I went back to the shops to get water and sandwiches for the boys. Eye wateringly expensive, it was just like being back at the parks!

Then it was boarding time. On we got and settled ourselves down. Sadly there was some waffle about paperwork and then a queue of 10 planes apparently, that meant we left an hour late at 4:40. I was really dreading this flight back, firstly as the seats don’t recline and don’t have a proper headrest, but also just due to the time. We’d be landing around 12:30 am Florida time which would mean that no one was likely to sleep very much, by the time we would be tired enough to sleep it would only be a couple of hours until landing and they would be serving breakfast etc. This proved right. Ds2 managed to sleep for a couple of hours but DS1 only really managed to doze for about 10m and dh and I didn’t really sleep at all. Ah well.
The flight was fine, the food was rubbish and the staff were somewhat surly. I miss Virgin and wouldn’t fly with TC again if I I’d the choice. Yes it was a bargain and ultimately just a means to an end but nonetheless Virgin is definitely the better option for me!

We arrived around 12:30, got through immigration and got our luggage back fairly quickly. Collecting our car via meet and greet was easy and soon we were setting off on our journey home. It was about 6:30am UK time by this point. I was expecting the boys to fall asleep straight away in the car but they didn’t and were whining for their iPads (as if they hadn’t just had them for hours on the plane) I gave it half an hour before giving in! Ds2 especially really could have done with going to sleep as minutes before we arrived home he threw up everywhere which I’m quite sure was just down to being so overtired. So that was a lovely thing to get home to! I took him inside to clean him up while dh sorted the mess in the car out. Poor ds2 is hardly ever sick, as in he’s nearly 5 and this was literally the 4th time he’s ever vomited in his life (apart from baby milk voms of course) so he’s really not used to it all. Anyway, a quick shower for him and clean clothes and then I put both boys in to bed for a nap. I also headed off for a nap but just tossed and turned for a while really. I mentioned we are having an extension built and of course the builders were here and being noisy. Dh faffed for a bit with the builders and some house stuff and then also came to lie down for a while. We knew we would never last the day without a rest now as we’d literally had no sleep on the plane.

Woke the boys up after about 3 hours. They spent the rest of the day lying in front of the tv while dh and i pottered and unpacked (I can’t bare to leave it, unpacking is always done on the day we get back in this house) and I did several loads of washing. I definitely prefer having a villa from this perspective - I’m used to coming home with only a couple of days worth of clothes to wash!

Dh and the boys walked round to see his parents just before tea so they had a little bit of fresh air! I wasn’t sure how bedtime would go as they’d slept until 12:30 but actually they both went to sleep pretty quickly and slept through until 9am this morning! Dh was really struggling so we put a film on (Aquaman - awful! ) and ate our party candy to stay awake! Went to bed about 10:30 and both took some melatonin - it’s the first time we’ve tried it- and woke up around 8:30 (dh alarm went off at 7 but he ignored it :-) feeling fairly refreshed!

Now it’s lunchtime and I have no idea what sort of time it feels like! The boys and I have done nothing yet today apart from have breakfast and get dressed so best do lunch and head out to the park for a bit!

I’m kind of glad to be back as we have so much to do on the house and to get ready for ds2 starting school this year... and this helps too...

[duchy]

I always like a late flight. Loved the Norwegian 23.45 flight last year (we ambled up from Vero Beach)
I don't think I'd survive a homeward transatlantic with no sleep at all but we now tend not to drive home as it's as cheap to have a chauffeur driven MERC both ways than an airport hotel and two week's parking (for some reason the private hire is even cheaper than a bog standard minicab by about a fiver each way). Knowing we don't *have* to stay awake seems to help somehow.

[tory79]

We couldn’t do a flight that late with small children but usually prefer to fly around 6 or 8. Middle of the afternoon was truly a rubbish time!

[ShezMcQ]

Fab trip report. Sounds like a rubbish journey home but at least you all had a good night's sleep last night. That's the main thing. Exciting countdown!