The Magnificent Seven - April 2018 - Day 22 - Going Home :(

[Redrach1903]

Day 21 is here

Saturday 28th April

I have finally got around to the last days of our trip report. I have had much hassle from Rach over the last few months as she does not like the fact she has been unable to put *complete* next to it! In my defence, we welcomed a new addition to the family in May so have been busy with a toddler and a newborn.

Meet Sean! And look how much Abi has changed since we went to Florida!



I can hear Rach saying what about before May but I am going to ignore her……..

Onto our final days of our awesome trip. Sigh.

The final day in Orlando was upon us. The worst thing about holidays is they never last long enough. This trip was the first time we had been away for 16 nights on a holiday and I have to say, those extra few nights made a big difference. We had a late checkout in the villa which was great so we didn’t need to rush. Just as well since we hadn’t finished packing yet!

Abigail started the day by covering herself in stickers!



We were going to go out for breakfast but Dad had a dodgy belly so didn’t want to eat a big meal before travelling so we decided we weren’t that fussed either so the plan was to head to Publix and buy some treats for the journey home and to take home.
We finished packing all the stuff in the cases and I made Paul re-pack the booster seat I had bought to take with us (which we had used a grand total of……zero times) Paul was not impressed I was taking it home but I said it will come in handy! Well, it is currently somewhere in the house collecting dust! We left the hand luggage to pack once we had been to Publix. I was under strict instructions not to buy too much.

We ate a concoction of what was left in the fridge for breakfast – fruit, pop tarts, juice and whatever else we fancied. We threw out all the half eaten food but left anything that wasn’t going to go off such as cans of juice / beer and hoped someone would be able to drink / eat what was left. There was a pack of half eaten double stuffed mint Oreos which Abigail discovered – they went down a treat with her! A girl after my own heart! I even caught her licking her foot when a crumb got stuck to the bottom of it!







We left Dad in front of the TV and we headed off to Publix. I just love this shop and was sad this was our last shop here. We had a wonder about and bought different flavours of M&M’s, jolly ranchers, more Oreos, butterfingers, chewing gum, some snacks for the plane and I bought a wee Publix reusable shopping bag which was now Dad’s hand luggage! I could have bought a lot more but we were tight on space. When we got back, dad asked if we had got everything from “pubic”! Well, that had, me laughing for AGES. Don’t know what their reusable shopping back would look like!

I filled Ziploc bags full of veggie sticks and other snacks for Abi. We had a night flight so was hoping she would sleep a lot but I didn’t want her to get hungry on the journey. We had a bit of a wait in London to connect to Edinburgh but we were trying not to think about that. I also had fudge from Kilwins to take home. The hand luggage was all organised for ease during the flight for grabbing nappies etc when we needed them. I still couldn’t believe this was going home day. We had had such a great time and none of us were happy to be going home but needs must and all that crap!

We pottered about putting off the inevitable and eventually we had to pack up the car, check the villa one more time and leave. We decided to get petrol once we were on the road which was a mistake. I knew we needed to have the car full on return but I forgot how close the airport is going up the I4 and before we knew it we were at the airport and we had to fill up using airport petrol stations. Yikes! It was soooo expensive but too late! Won’t make that mistake again.

Putting the car back was simple and we were soon in the terminal building. We knew from 2015 that all the good food was before security so we headed to the food court and had a wee look around. I decided to get a hot sandwich for Abi – like a cheese quesadilla and I had something similar. I can’t really remember what the boys had – burgers I think. I also went for a Cinnabon to finish off my meal. Dad is not the most patient travellers at the best of times but facing a long haul trip home he had already lost the will to live and we hadn’t even set foot in security! I wanted to stop in the Disney store much to Dad’s disgust, but I headed in anyway and bought some taffy and sweets for work. Didn’t take me long. Can’t resist Goofy taffy.

The queue for security was quite big but we had plenty of time so we joined the vast queue. Abi was being very good and amused herself with veggie sticks and people watching.



We did the whole carry on of stripping off and unpacking all electricals. We were diverted past the area with the sniffer dog which Abigail wanted to play with! Didn’t think getting arrested for touching a sniffer dog would be the perfect end to the holiday so we refrained!

When we got to the scanners we were told since we had been past the sniffer dog we could put back on / pack away all our clothes/shoes/belts/kindles that we had awkwardly been carrying for the last 30mins along with all of our hand luggage while restraining a toddler from giving a sniffer dog a bosie! You can imagine this went down really well with Dad who was beyond peed off! Queue loads of muttering, sighing and tutting from his direction. Not all of it was subtle! It actually took us about an hour to get through which we didn’t think was too bad! Dad on the other hand thought we had been in the queue for 3 years! Lol!

Once we were through we headed for our gate and just chilled in the seats and let Abi run about a bit before boarding. Dad mucked about with her a bit as well. There really isn’t much to do in an airport but I still like them – not so much on the way home!









It was time to board and we got on pretty quickly. Travelling with a toddler has its perks. When we had booked our return seats we had booked the front row middle section hoping Dad would get the 4th seat since this was supposed to be for a sky cot but there was some dude in that seat. Couldn’t understand since we couldn’t pre book it for Dad but he must have got it allocated on check in. Dad was just behind us to the left of me so not far. Dad wasn’t fussed and was hoping for some sleep.

We were getting settled in and I can’t remember what I had asked Paul to get me from the bags but could he find it? Could he hell! So much for our hand luggage system! He was getting irate by the time he had searched both bags twice so I told him to leave it for now. Abigail was settled on my knee for take-off and she was really good. No fuss at all during take-off and we played and chatted until food was served. Some sort of veggie pasta thing for me and can’t remember what Paul had but he doesn’t like plane food anyway which amazes me as he will eat anything. Abi wasn’t really interested in food so she picked at a few bits. I had her pj’s and sleeping bag looked out for the journey in the hope it would help her sleep. I went to the toilet to change her bum and change her into her sleep things. That was a bit of a challenge in a plane toilet I can tell you! No room to swing a mouse far less a cat! We managed though and I got comfy with us all seat belted in and a cover for me and settled down for a sleep. The seat belt round Abi was actually handy as it saved me thinking she was going to fall off my knee if I fell asleep. For all you greedy recliners out there – even with a sleeping toddler on my knee I didn’t recline!

Paul settled down to watch some TV and so did Dad. I closed my eyes and Abi fell asleep which is how she stayed for almost 6 hours! Total boost. I slept as well and when we woke up we only had a few hours to go until landing. We played and had some snacks and I decided to keep her in her sleeping bag and pj’s until we got to London and we could have room to get changed. Uneventful long haul flight.

Once in London we had the whole security palaver again. We didn’t get searched but Abigail did get metal detector'd! She was wearing a babygro with metal buttons so she just beeped! They deemed her to be of little threat and we were on our way to wait for the next flight. I got her changed into a vest and trousers – am not sure what happened to her t-shirt but the pictures show she wasn’t wearing one so I suspect either a spill or it was too hot for one.

We let her go wild in the soft play area – it was quiet as it was so early.





Dad hadn’t slept much so was resting his eyes in some seats. He was so over travelling by now and just wanted home! I think we went to the same place for breakfast as we did on the way over. Filled a hole until we could get home. We did have quite a long wait but we could only get a flight back to Edinburgh at 11.10 I think it was and we landed about 07.00, but it passed quick enough! It was time to board our final flight and it was a nice short one back up to Edinburgh. We had seats together and we all slept.

We landed on time and were collecting our luggage about 13.15. Abi charged about with her bag of veggie sticks while the boys were getting our luggage.





Our journey had not ended yet though as we still had to get back to Aberdeen. If you are reading this British Airways, please reinstate the Aberdeen – Gatwick option. Would make life so much easier for us Orlando loving Aberdonians.

Dad actually felt better after a sleep in Gatwick and on the flight up to Edinburgh. I offered to drive since I had slept the most out of all the grownups but he felt good for driving. We dragged all the cases, hand luggage and Abigail to the shuttle bus stop and waited. And waited and waited. By this time the queue was quite big but when the bus did arrive we managed to squeeze on so crisis averted we headed towards the car park. Could any of us remember where we were parked? Nope! Disney 101, always write down where you park! Luckily we recognised our area and we wondered in the general direction of where we thought the car was and we found it after not too long. With all luggage in the car (and around Abigail and Paul) we headed for home. Abigail was shattered and promptly fell asleep. So did Paul.



Dad and I yapped all the way home. We messaged Rach to say we were heading home so she didn’t worry.
We made good time back to where we stay which is North of Aberdeen by about 14 miles. Dad lives about 20minutes away. We invited him to stay the night but he decided to head home. Abigail looked really happy to be home. I always think your house looks weird when you come home from a holiday. Don’t know why! I got some bolognaise out the freezer and defrosted it in the micro and cooked some pasta for Abi and she wolfed it down.





The house was freezing so we put the heating on. Nothing happened. Grand. Went to check the boiler and the pressure was down so I upped the pressure and the boiler came on. Excellent. We had heating. We were pottering around when I said to Paul, what is that noise? I hear water! Opened the kitchen door and water was pouring from the roof through the smoke alarm onto the floor! NOOOOOOOOOOO! We had been home an hour! Sob! Back to reality with a thunk!

We phoned Chris to ask him to phone his friend who could help us out and luckily he lives down the road from us. He was here really quickly and located a faulty bit in our water tank and fixed it for us in no time. Life saver.

We decided to go against the grain and unpack our suitcases. We usually do it the next day. It’s a bit of a standing joke in my family as in my younger days after a holiday I used to put my suitcase in the cupboard and ignore it for weeks! Dirty clothes were taken out but the rest was just left until I got round to it! I know,I know but what can I say?! I also never used to unpack my suitcase when away either. Paul makes me unpack. Meanie.

I laid out our purchases and was quite impressed! We got a lot for us!



It was now about 19.00 and Abi was tired so we ran her bath and popped her to bed which is where she stayed and slept until 11.00 the next day!



We stayed up for a while and watched some TV and I sampled some Kilwins fudge. OMG. It is so good!





I also asked Paul where my Canadian All Dressed Lays were. He had thrown them away as he thought they were done because the bag was all crushed! Sob! I would have eaten them as crumbs! Lol!

That was us, back to earth with a bang and a long way away from our lovely Orlando villa. We had had such a good time and I was so pleased we had all managed to go away together. Orlando really is a fab place for a group as you get such a good mix of who does what with who and there is never any pressure to do something you don’t want to. I was glad we decided to go with Abi even though she was young. Her face was a picture at a lot of things and she travelled really well. The first few days were ropey but that was because she wasn’t well and they were soon forgotten by the 3rd day in.

Orlando is such an amazing place to visit and I will never tire of going there. I am often still on TheDibb even when I don’t have a trip planned. We have decided we will be going back in 2021! Abi will be 4 but going to school that year…..scary I know! Sean will be almost 2 so a good age. Think we will go after Easter so April/May time and I would really like to go back for 3 weeks…… so watch this space!
Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures!
Em
xxxx