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Old 9 Jan 22, 02:13 PM  
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moosha
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A Holly Jolly Poly Christmas December 2021: Day 0 - Travel to Gatwick

Pre-travel Day: 21st December 2021

The alarm was set for 6 am and I got up about 6.10. We’d had our home ‘Christmas Day’ the day before and I’d had a few Proseccos so it wasn’t exactly a leap out of bed but I was definitely excited and had a lot of nervous energy, plus there was a lot to do this morning.

Our Breathe Assured tests were booked for 9 am. I got showered and got the girls up about 8 because everyone needed to eat their breakfast before 8.30 in order to make sure it wouldn’t affect the tests. We also took our own tests at 8 for peace of mind but had been doing daily testing for a week or so to try and avoid any nasty surprises. Our 8 am tests were all good.

At 9 am we got on the call after a few technical issues over which device was actually going to work best. We settled on my iPad. Our nurse was Melanie and I think she was doing the call from home in South Africa. She was friendly but very professional and quite strict as I’m sure they’re expected to be to make sure protocols are followed. But it felt a little bit intimidating.

We had to set up the tests so she could see everything on the table and all of us sat around it. This meant propping up the iPad on the kitchen trolley (the girls worked out how best to sort this out based on all their FaceTime and Zoom experience) so that the whole table and each of us could be seen, which took a minute or two of faffing. We’ve had a lot of practice at LFTs in the last week or so but of course this was the most stressful. We were allowed to all take the tests at the same time. Once the tests were done, we had to sit and wait the 15 minutes for our results. Melanie went over all the details for the paperwork while we waited such as passport numbers, dates of birth etc to ensure everything was correct on the test certificates. The call cut off twice which was a bit worrying at the time as we didn’t know what would happen if she didn’t come back, but she did. It was poor connection at her end which wasn’t ideal. When the timer was up, we showed her the tests cassettes by hovering the iPad above them. Melanie said,

‘I see no faint lines, all looks good so you’re going on holiday.’ We were all ‘yay’ and ‘woo’ .

Once the call was over, we sent the girls off to pack their bags and get ready. Mat got on VeriFly and started inputting everything and then he took our four cats to the cattery. I got ready to rush out the door for my nail appointment which was at 10 am and didn’t realise until I was half way out of the door that I hadn’t said goodbye to the cats because I was rushing so that was a bit sad.

On the drive there, it was starting to sink in that we were actually going. Sophie has been doing my nails for years and we’ve become good friends so she knew all the ups and downs. We had been talking for a while about Disney nails but it wasn’t until the night before that I’d started to think about what I actually wanted as it still hadn’t seemed real and I hadn’t wanted to jinx it by choosing my designs.

When I got to Sophie’s I showed her the photos that Seren had sent me from Pinterest when I realised I actually needed a plan and we came up with this:





The art took quite a while and I still had a few bits to do at home before we could set off for Gatwick. In the end I didn’t get home until about 12.30 pm. I finished the packing and ate some lunch although that was a bit of a struggle as I was running on nervous energy and excitement. I got changed and ready, and double-checked to make sure the girls had everything they needed. It was a big rush and I think I was still a bit in shock as my head was all over the place.

The taxi was booked for 2 pm and the driver had texted mid-morning to ask if we wanted to go half an hour early as he’d done an earlier journey to Gatwick and it had been busy. We wouldn’t have been ready in time so we declined but he arrived ten minutes early and we were ready by then so we set off a few minutes before 1 pm.

Luckily the traffic wasn’t bad. It took one hour 40 minutes which is about the shortest we can do it in. We always use a local airport taxi firm if we’re not driving and today we had a driver we know who first collected us from St Pancras in 2011 on our way back from Disneyland Paris which had been the girls’ first Disney holiday. It was lovely that he remembered that. The journey went pretty quickly as we talked about Florida holidays since he and his family also love Florida. I also did my notes thus far and posted an update to my pre-trip report. Seren read half a book and Freya listened to music and texted friends.

We were dropped off at Hilton at South Terminal at 3.35 pm...



..and all looked good after the refurbishment.





We took the elevator up to reception...



...checked in and were given room 2298.

I took a bad photo of the bar, Amy's which is in the reception area:





I think the bar actually looks better in this photo:



We went up to the room. Our room was at the end of a long corridor which I prefer as you get less noise from inconsiderate people being loud while walking back to their rooms late at night.



My room photo got photobombed:



I had switched our booking from two rooms at Bloc to a family room here a few weeks before because of the extra space and how much easier it is with keeping everything together when it comes to repacking the bits we’ve used before leaving the airport. From the photos on the website, the room looked really big and I thought there would be space to open up a couple of cases on the large sideboard but there was less space than I expected. It wasn’t small and still better than the Bloc in terms of space but I had to open up the cases on the bed or floor.

The girls had single beds which was good and there was enough space between the three beds whereas when we’ve had this set-up in a Premier Inn family room, the entire room ends up being bed.

While we were in the room, we had a look at the restaurant menus. Amy’s restaurant just behind the bar was closed. The Garden restaurant downstairs had several vegan options. Mat and Seren went down to see if we could book the restaurant. Reception said they didn’t take bookings but there was currently plenty of space and we’d be fine. Freya and I finished faffing in the room and went down to meet them and then we walked over to the South Terminal as Seren and I wanted to pop to Boots for a couple of things.









The South Terminal looked pretty desolate. All of the upstairs where Giraffe is / was was boarded up for renovation. We popped into Boots so Seren and I could get some water, had a look for the bits we needed with no success and then took the shuttle to the North Terminal.

Arty (or just rubbish) shuttle photo. First ride of the holiday and all that:





We had completed VeriFly but hadn’t been able to check in as the BA website is rubbish and was saying we needed to complete more information despite us having inputted everything we needed. Every time we had tried to update it, it kept saying there was something wrong with the data. We googled it and apparently it was a problem with the BA website. I had also remembered some Dibbers before our trip saying the same thing so we weren’t panicked, and already had seats assigned for free because of Mat’s silver Avios. The plan was to go to the BA desks to sort it out. However when we got there, the desks were all closed as I assume there’s no late afternoon BA flights. There was a BA information desk at the end of the desks. Behind it was a guy holding a coffee who just happened to be hanging out behind the desk I guess. He told us to go to Vueling as the staff there also work on the BA desks. The desks are staffed by Gatwick Ground Staff since the BA ground staff were made redundant so they work on several airlines’ desks. I certainly wouldn’t say this was an improvement for customers since it was difficult for us to find someone to talk to. Plus once we had walked over to Vueling, the lady we spoke to wasn’t particularly friendly and said quite patronisingly that ‘the US requires more information and has more restrictions’ which was clearly just a fob off as we’d done everything we needed to do and were obviously aware of the ‘restrictions’. She said that we could sort it out tomorrow at actual check-in. We decided to try a self check-in kiosk which was amusing as Mat was struggling with typing the correct letters on the screen so Seren said ‘Let me do it’ in typical tech-savvy teen style and then proceeded to have exactly the same problems because it was just a tricky screen. So the embarrassed eye-rolling at her old dad had been unnecessary.



Any opportunity for a selfie:



We managed to scan our passports and put our arrival address in which was all the system wanted before we were all checked in. We walked away with our printed boarding passes feeling pleased with our success as now we didn’t have to faff about with checking in the next day.

As we passed WH Smith Freya announced she was hungry so she popped in and got some Skips.



We took the shuttle back to South Terminal. The face of a teenager that really doesn't want to have a photo taken eating crisps:





As I said earlier, the emptiness and the way things were shut up was a bit depressing and reminded us that even though we were lucky enough to be finally getting our holiday, things are still far from ‘normal’ and we are still living through a pandemic. Although full disclosure, and I've said this before in other trip reports, Mat and I really aren't Gatwick fans and will always choose Heathrow over Gatwick where possible because a) it's a much nicer airport with better hotels, restaurants and shops, and b) it's half as far from our house. On this occasion, we couldn't turn down £2500.00 for flights and car for all four of us over Christmas holidays, the price for Heathrow was a lot more.

When we got back to the hotel, we went to Amy’s bar in the Hilton lobby which had got a lot busier since we’d set off from here just after 4 pm. It was now just before 5 pm. A host showed us to our table and the nice waiter was asking us for our orders before we’d even sat down.



I had Botanist gin and tonic, Mat had an Absolut and tonic, Freya a Diet Coke and Seren an apple juice. This had been the moment I had been focusing on during the stressful build up, being at the airport all ready to fly and feeling like it was all going to be okay and that we could finally relax.





We toasted to the holiday and then played a music trivia card game from the girls’ Christmas presents they’d received the day before. Mat and I beat the girls.

When we were all done with our drinks, we walked downstairs to The Garden restaurant. Initial impressions were good, I’d seen Trip Advisor reviews in the lead up to the holiday when I’d been investigating where we could eat and there were a few comments suggesting it was pretty soulless and people had experienced it being very empty. We were originally planning to take a train from Gatwick to Kings Cross and eat at a nice restaurant I’d booked there but decided in the end we couldn’t be bothered.

It was just before 6 pm when we walked in to The Garden. Most of the tables we could see were full and the decor and Christmas decorations were nice. The atmosphere was pretty good and even though it was a really cold evening and It felt cold by the door as it was close to the hotel’s entrance, the restaurant seemed nice and warm. However, the hostess walked us round the corner to a second dining area where no one else was sitting. It was actually quite amusing as half of this second area was in darkness and despite there being no other parties sat in the room, we were walked to the very back table. (Annoyingly I didn't get a photo of the nicer main area so you'll just have to believe me.)





Zayn was our server and when he came over he made jokes about the long walk to the table. He took our order. Seren chose chips and apple juice and Freya Diet Coke and a margherita pizza with a side of chips. I had vegan chicken popcorn and onion bhajis to share with anyone else who wanted them, plus tempeh tacos with Bombay Sapphire and tonic. Mat had ‘soup of the day’ which they confirmed was vegan followed by the vegan burger with a small glass of Pinot Noir. After he had taken our order, Zayn said ‘I’ll be back with it in about 30 minutes’ (because of the walk) which was quite amusing.





The bhajis didn’t arrive with all the other food so when Zayn came back to check on us, we mentioned that we hadn’t had them. He said they hadn’t cooked them because of Seren's nut allergy because they weren’t able to confirm no cross contamination. However no one had said any of this to us and it was me who ordered them, not Seren, so we thought it was a bit weird that he hadn’t just checked with us since Mat and I would have eaten them. Seren would have just avoided them. In any case we said we’d still have them.

Everything that had arrived was just ok.

Vegan popcorn chicken (this was probably my favourite part of the meal) :



Soup:



The bhajis came and they tasted of burnt. Mat tried them and agreed they were bad. Burnt bhajis:



I said to Zayn that they were horrible and that I don’t normally leave food but I couldn’t eat them. He said he would replace them and then came back and said the chef said he couldn’t cook them for less time as they’d be raw in the middle (!) So he offered to take them off the bill.

Tempeh tacos (Mat has not yet mastered the trip report food photography) :



Freya's pizza:



Vegan burger (again blurry) :



Chips:



We played trivia a bit more over dinner. The whole section filled up while we were there and they were even setting up some of the tables in the dark section. I think as there’s basically nowhere else to go and sit down for a meal in the airport, a lot of the hotel guests were eating here. It was a nice environment and we had a good time but the food was not worth the money.

When we were all done we went back upstairs to the bar. It was now about 7.30 and the bar was still pretty busy. There were a few groups who had been in here when we had entered before at around 5 pm and were still there. Again, not much to do at Gatwick at the moment.

There was one lady doing all of the table service as far as we could see so it took a while to get served. We were also a bit surprised to see Zayn pop up behind the bar while we were there, although I guess it’s not that far-fetched with everywhere being so short-staffed that staff are stretched thin. Mat had a J&B 80’s vintage whisky on the rocks which he pointed out is what Patrick Bateman drinks…not concerning at all . I had another Botanist and tonic and a large bottle of still mineral water to myself (I drink a lot of water and if I don’t, as I hadn’t today, I get headaches and feel rubbish so I knew I needed to top up). Seren had a tap water and Freya had her third Diet Coke which was interesting as she only drinks it while she’s out, it’s just water for her at home so I’m surprised she actually fancied a third, although I don’t think she drank all of it. It was a bit chilly in the bar with it being in the large open lobby, albeit upstairs from the main entrance. We played some more trivia, the girls played Harry Potter Top Trumps which is something they’ve done for years when we go on holiday but only on holidays, and we all had a laugh. We also saw some sights including a lady walking around the lobby with her friends in her pyjamas and dressing gown (I mean good for her) and Freya walked into the lobby toilets to find a lady going to the toilet with her cubicle door open so she could chat to her friends. There were a good few people going across the road to get McDonalds and bringing it back to their room / the hotel lounge as again, food options were pretty limited. While we were there I also caught up on my notes. Amusingly, the fairy lights around the section next to ours kept cutting out and after a few minutes Mat realised that the switch controlling them was under his seat and he kept kicking them on and off.

Top Trumps:



Music trivia and gin:



Oh she loves having her photo taken:



Before we left we got an extra bottle of water from the bar to take upstairs as it was too cold and too far to go traipsing back over to the terminal and we didn’t expect anything would be open. Although we probably should have just gone across the road to McDonald’s as it would have been cheaper. Overpaying for water was to unfortunately become a theme of the holiday as you’ll see as the week goes on .

We got upstairs about 9.20 pm and Seren put the TV on. We chilled with Christmas Bake Off and then Naked Attraction while getting ready. I think it was lights off around 11 pm as it, as always on Florida holidays, was to be an early start in the morning.
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Old 9 Jan 22, 08:16 PM  
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Good pre travel day


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Old 9 Jan 22, 08:30 PM  
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A shame the food wasn’t great but negative tests and minimal stress - I make that a good pre travel day
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Old 9 Jan 22, 09:00 PM  
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A brilliant pre travel day. I love your nails, they are fab, Christmassy and Disney altogether.
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2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
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Old 9 Jan 22, 10:18 PM  
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Great pre travel day although it sounds really strange with the airport being so quiet and lacking of amenities
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Old 10 Jan 22, 12:06 AM  
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Aw pleased you have started this. I followed along with your Instagram posts but nothing beats reading a trip report.
Love your Disney nails ❤️ Can’t wait to read more!
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Old 10 Jan 22, 02:01 PM  
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moosha
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Originally Posted by mick View Post
Good pre travel day


Joan
Thank you Joan ,

Originally Posted by Lizzim View Post
A shame the food wasn’t great but negative tests and minimal stress - I make that a good pre travel day
Yes, can’t complain since we actually passed the tests and made it to Gatwick .

Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
A brilliant pre travel day. I love your nails, they are fab, Christmassy and Disney altogether.
Thank you Abby . The nails are actually still on until Wednesday 😳😂 as my appointment’s not till then, but I was really happy with them.

Originally Posted by P&S View Post
Great pre travel day although it sounds really strange with the airport being so quiet and lacking of amenities
It was weird, so different to how it used to be and thankfully it wasn’t like that when we got to Florida . Thanks for reading along.

Originally Posted by donna252 View Post
Aw pleased you have started this. I followed along with your Instagram posts but nothing beats reading a trip report.
Love your Disney nails ❤️ Can’t wait to read more!
Thank you 😊. Yes the Instagram posts don’t tell the whole story like a trip report! I’m lucky that Sophie who does my nails loves Disney too so she’s quite happy to do some Mickey heads for me .
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Old 15 Feb 22, 09:22 PM  
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Michelle, I will second Donna Instagram is great but nothing beats a trip report
It seemed so quite , I’m sure by your next trip everything will feel a bit more normal x
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Old 16 Feb 22, 12:50 AM  
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Great pre-travel day!
Your girls are beautiful.

I can't wait to read the rest 😁
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