212.6 Miles Too Far South - Day 0 - 29/7/2018

[Leyfy]

So, here we are at the start of another Kim and Phil's Excellent Adventure!

INDEX

Luckily we don't look like that!

However, if you've not caught up on our previous adventures then go and check out our pre trip report here and catch up on all the action! We've been to Orlando several times as a couple and last year we'd ventured further south in Florida and we had a fantastic time exploring Key West and Naples. So originally this was going to be a 'no Orlando trip' - hence 212.6 miles too far south (distance from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale, where we were flying into). However, the thought of going to Florida and *not* visiting Orlando bugged me more and more and, after an annoying flight time change by Norwegian, five (almost six) sneaky days in the Land of the Mouse were added on back in March this year!

So before I dive into the pre-travel day, here is a quick run down of what we finally had booked:

30/7 - 2/8 - Pelican Grand at Fort Lauderdale
2/8 - 6/8 - Cruise with Carnival
6/8 - 9/8 - Naples
9/8 -13/8 - Key West
13/8 - 18/8 - WDW Dolphin.

With that out of the way it's time to, buckle up, and get yourself ready because it's time to dive into the pre-travel day:

(Well, ahem, yes we do. We need several roads. Plus quite a big bridge, a Dreamliner and a rather large boat... )

Day 0 - 29/07/2018: Our house/Stanhill Court Hotel

So our first 'holiday' thing to do on our pre-travel day was a late breakfast at Bill's at 12pm. We'd eaten there the morning of our previous trip, so Phil insisted that it was now a 'tradition' and we have to eat there again! Last year I'd booked us a table and it was a Tuesday morning so the place was empty. This year was a Sunday and it was absolutely *heaving* in there! However, having booked a table again we were soon seated and we ordered a ginger beer for me and a coffee for Phil. As it was so busy, we took the opportunity to order our food at the same time. I had the smashed avocado and Phil had the Bill's breakfast with a side of black pudding. Being that it was quite busy, it did take a bit of an age for the food to arrive. We sat there and chatted about our upcoming trip and eventually the food arrived:

This was *so* good!

(I didn't take picture of Phil's, sorry!). This was very good and quite filling!

By 1pm we were done and paid up so we walked the short ten minute journey back home to our house. We finished packing up a few last bits and I had a last-minute run back into town because I couldn't find the strap for my waterproof camera, so I went to our local camera shop to see if I could find something suitable.

By 4pm we were ready to leave and we said goodbye to the cats. This one is our 'regular' spoilt cat Zelda who was very interested in coming with us:

This is the stray named Stalin we had been looking after (search his name on here and you'll find the saga of the stray cat!) who didn't seem bothered either way that we were going!

Our next door neighbour is brilliant with cats and he'd be feeding both of them and looking after them for us for the time we were away.

So, cats sorted and suitcases loaded, we headed out towards the A12 and then the M25 to take us to Stanhill Court, the airport hotel of choice and where we'd be leaving the car for the three weeks we were away. Luckily the Dartford crossing was fine going over, although I did notice the great big queue of traffic going the other way to the tunnel, which we were bound to hit in exactly three weeks time coming back...

We got to Gatwick and then we seemed to end up down a lot of little country lanes to get to the hotel. There was a long driveway up to the hotel itself and it was lined with all of these stone statues:

All I could think of was 'Blink' from Doctor Who...

Creepy statues behind us, I parked the car in the expansive car park and we trundled our cases over to the temporary reception. It seemed they had renovation work going on, so there was a reception area set up on the side of the hotel. Despite having two groups in front of us we were soon checked in and given a room on the 1st floor. This *really* pleased Phil as there was no lift and he had to lug our suitcases up the stairs, both of which were pretty much at the full 20kg capacity!

We sorted out a few bits in our room, which was spacious and clean, before heading down to the bar for a sprite for me and a beer for Phil. The bar was a tiny little room with what looked like a giant marquee next to it with lots of tables in? Tbh it was a bit devoid of atmosphere as there wasn't even any music playing! We ordered some drinks and this led to the historic first 'pointing at a pint' photo:

By about 6pm we were the only people in there! We were planning on eating at the bar so we ordered some food. I got the ham egg and chips:

Phil went for the scampi, which again I didn't manage to get a photo of (I do get better at this, I promise! ) . A few more people turned up and all of them seemed to be ordering ham, egg and chips too!

We sat in the bar for a couple of hours but it didn't get any busier:

By 9.30pm I'd had enough and left Phil to it and went to bed, setting several alarms for a 6am start!

Day 1 - Travel Day

[katebush95]

Looking forward to reading your report 💕

[stecee]

I've been looking forward to this.

[pandanne]

Good start, looking forward to reading more

[summersun]

great pre travel day, looking forward to more x

[lmi_77]

always enjoy reading your trip reports and looking forward to reading your new trip reports

[Goldia]

Fab start, I can't wait to read all about the trip. I hope you had a wonderful time.

[Floridaagogo]

3 weeks of Phil pointing at pints... I am soooo excited 😀😀

[mick]

Great start

Joan

[Fuellady]

Shame your hotel lacked a bit of atmosphere, the ham, egg and chips look good though