Live report - sticking to a budget, Universal and offsite

[Vinniecat]

Have a great holiday looking forward to the report.

[SquishTheWhale]

Oooh we love the Cabana Bay volcano view rooms- I think I cried when I had to leave that view lol. Totally worth it.

We are on the same flight in May so any report on the food offerings is appreciated! Always need to weigh up if I should buy an airport sandwich lol.

[offtoseemickey]

Day 1 - Travel Day - Thyme, Virgin Economy and Perkins

Alarms were set for 8:30 today, I woke up at what I thought was 8:15 only to realise it was actually 6:30 (yes I do wear glasses! ). I was pretty wide awake so wrote up the previous day’s report. I ended up dozing back off at about 7:30 until the alarm. Getting up was easy (why can’t I find it this easy to wake up on a work day?!), we got showered and dressed and made our way down to our pre-paid breakfast at Thyme within the Premier Inn Gatwick North.

Again, the staff were super friendly (and it feels sincere too), showed us to our table, showed us to the buffet and asked if we wanted to order any eggs as only fried eggs are on the buffet. I ordered two poached eggs; my favourite!

The buffet had the usual breakfast offerings; sausage, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, beans and also a potato and cabbage dish (bubble and squeak?). There were mini pastries, cereals, yoghurts, toast, pancakes, crumpets, fruit,along with juices, smoothies and hot drinks. Really everything you could ask for.

The buffet area was all clean and being constantly replenished. The toast machine wasn’t exactly cooperating with me, but that was my only hurdle. It was the conveyor kind of toaster and just wasn’t toasting!

I got back to my table and the eggs I ordered were waiting for me. From the buffet I had chosen a tiny glass of smoothie, a little pancake and a fried breakfast. I’ve given up coffee for lent (I’m not religious but we are doing a challenge at work) and I’m still missing it so much even though it’s been a few weeks now. At least my daily withdrawal headaches have stopped...! Every cloud...

The breakfast was really nice and I would definitely recommend it. The whole thing was much more relaxed than I’ve ever experienced eating in an airport and cheaper too, it was only £10.50 each to add onto our reservation.

The only things that I thought was ‘missing’ from the buffet was syrup for the pancakes and peanut butter. But they may have had these if I’d have asked. They did have Nutella and jams and honey.

DBF had a fried breakfast and some cornflakes. All as expected.

We went back to our room once we were done, zipped up our hand luggage wheelies and checked out. The airport is literally across the road and it’s so, so, so convenient. We were through security in no time (the officer complimented me for being so organised which I loved!). We were through security NINE MINUTES after checking out. Did I mention that I love the Premier Inn?!

We mooched about the terminal, treated ourselves to a big Jo Malone and DBF got himself a new pair of wireless Bose headphones. We got some drinks from Boots (£2.69) and just wandered about aimlessly really.

Our gate was soon up on the board and we made the short walk across. as soon as we sat down a member of staff asked to see our boarding cards. She saw that I’d been selected for additional security screening (it’s always me!) so sent us through. The screening was very rushed (they had a long list of names to get through), although very organised. One the officers were happy I wasn’t carrying drugs / explosives / whatever they’re looking for I was on my way!

We boarded Ruby Tuesday and made our way to the back of the plane. We had the first set of two seats by the windows at the back of the plane. You get a big space between the seat and the window here. It’s lovely!

Food and drink-wise we were given the tiny pretzels & drinks about half an hour after takeoff.

An hour later we had lunch, we both wanted the chicken but it was all gone by the time we were served, which we expected to be honest. I had the pesto pasta which was nice, kind of like gnocchi, not too cheesy or saucey. DBF has the chilli, he said it was fine. The sweet corn was mixed into the rice which could be problematic for someone who’d planned to not eat it (which I was planning to do with the peas on the chicken). I really enjoyed the crackers and Boursin, I find the gü pots too rich even though they are tiny. I obviously still ate it though... weirdly it tasted of orange to me, but it was salted caramel and chocolate.

How stunning.

Another two and a half hours on we all got the mini Fab ice lollies. Oh my god, so cute! We love these!

We flew alongside another plane for a while.

And we saw some snowy places too.

There was no one in the row of three in front of us for the flight so I spent some time listening to my podcast (My Favourite Murder if I have any fellow Murderinos in the house?! SSDGM) and put my feet up (not on the seats, we aren’t animals!).

After another three hours we got the afternoon tea box.

Oh my this is cute! The illustrations inside the box are just so charming. There was a mozzarella, tomato and pesto seeded roll and a little scone with jam and clotted cream (of course)! So lovely, so cute and really tasty. I love that they kept the currants in the scone, because a scone without is just a bit let down if you ask me.

At this point we had an hour to go so I tidied up a bit, organised our passports and rental paperwork and looked out the window at this beautiful sight. I was really taken aback looking at these beautiful patterns made by the water.

The closer we got to Orlando, the cloudier it got! It was thick cloud when we came into land, hopefully we get some clearer skies for our holiday!

People seem to have such strong opinions on Virgin but we really do just go with whoever’s cheapest (this flight was only £299 each including cases). Maybe we’ve been lucky but I’ve never had a terrible flight with any airline. Yes you do get the cute scones and the baby Fab icelolly but they’re things I can buy from anywhere any other time. Are they worth hundreds of pounds? And yes, we did have a good flight... but no better than any other I’ve ever taken. I don’t know, just thinking out loud.

Anyway, we landed a bit ahead of schedule (6:30 Orlando time) and got through immigration by around 7:15. We went down to the self service kiosks at Alamo & checked in. I love not having to explain why I’m happy with the smallest car and yes I’m sure our cases will fit!

So we chose a black Hyundai Elantra and went on our way. We had a fairly uneventful drive to the Rosen Inn International (I did take a wrong turn off the turnpike but I’m 100% sure it wasn’t signposted). We arrived at the hotel at just gone 8pm. Check in was quick and easy, they tried to lure us into a timeshare talk, but no way Jose!

Our room is on the top floor of the main building looking onto i Drive. It’s reasonably noisy but it’s not terrible. We’ve stayed at the Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando for a night before. It’s exactly the same room-wise. It’s cheap and cheerful and does the job!

We decided to walk over to Perkins for dinner - we’d been emailed a BOGO offer for today which was perfect.

It took a few minutes to find our way out of the hotel on foot but we got there in the end.

We both ordered a raspberry lemonade.

DBF ordered the Patty Melt Pile on.
‘Two Angus beef patties, sautéed onions, American cheese and pickles on grilled Vienna bread.’

This was super tasty and quite rich. He enjoyed this so much he may have gotten a touch of the indigestion from it!

I ordered a SPINACH & MUSHROOM BREAKFAST SKILLET
’Our Fit Favorite entrées are lower in calories and taste great! Fresh from the garden. Fresh spinach, onions, crimini mushrooms and oven-roasted tomatoes, served with egg whites over homestyle seasoned potatoes.’

I asked for fried eggs over medium instead of egg whites and a side of toast for 99c. I loved this so much! I didn’t want too much and I really fancied something veggie. The meal was really tasty.

The service was a bit hit and miss as our server left halfway through the meal and the one that took over was a bit of a dolly daydream. But we weren’t in a rush so all’s ok. We paid $20.28 including tip and a BOGO entree coupon. Oh and the lady at the till got us refills of our lemonade to go too.

We crossed over and had a mooch around Walgreens but didn’t buy anything. We were in bed around 10pm. Excellent!

Today was really good on spends.
Drinks at airport - £2.69 = $3.50
Perkins - $20.28
Total - $23.78

Running total $23.78

[markpwa8]

Superb Travel Day report. Cant wait to read more!

[Vinniecat]

Sounds like a good start to your holiday. I like the look of the breakfast skillet. I agree with you regarding airlines I certainly haven't found any one airline to be worth hundreds of pounds more than another.

[SquishTheWhale]

Thank you for the plane food pics! If it's the same for us I'll be picking the pasta I think.

Also giving up coffee for lent 😱 I'd rather give up chocolate!

[DollyDimples]

Looking forward to reading along with the rest of your report.

[16offtodisney!]

Super travel day! My sort of spends too 😉

[Goldia]

Hope you have a fab holiday. We went to that Perkins on our first night at the Rosen Inn International!

[Floridaagogo]

Loving it x