Cowboys, Chicken and Country Music ~ Pre Holiday Fun

[ariel2006]

The Holiday Plans

Hello and welcome to my Tennessee and Georgia trip report. For those who haven't read my pre-trippie you can check it out HERE, it will give you an idea of whose who and where and why we are going. But for a short recap this trip was to celebrate my Mum's 50th birthday. We changed our plan from New York to Dollywood at the last minute and ended up making it into a fun-packed, mini road trip that we all absolutely loved. Here is a recap of the cast:

Me ~ 23, loves Disney, traveling, spending time with my family, coasters. A major planner.
Nick ~ 24, my boyfriend of nearly 5 years. Loves traveling, sports, gadgets, and has a newly acquired love of Disney. Very laid back.
Mum ~ Will be 50 on the trip. Loves holidays, Disney, family, having fun. A worrier.
Dad ~ Loves holidays, especially to the US. Slightly mad, but in a fun way.
Sophie ~ my 12 year old sister. Loves animals (fanatically), Disney and holidays... oh and swimming, lots. Fun loving.

So anyway on with the show...


The Day Before the Day Before

After a brief drama where I managed to lock myself out of the house with no shoes, no phone, having just spent 2 hours cleaning and in desperate need of a shower (not a great idea to do guys ), Mum, Dad and Sophie arrived at our house. I gave Mum her first of many gifts of the holiday, an Animal wash bag complete with miniature tolitries.





We had some lunch and then we got my laptop out and looked at Dollywood, choosing the rides and shows we really wanted to do and the things we wanted to see. We then had a look at a few other things I had found to show them and by the time we had finished we were so excited. Nick came home early from work and we got our traditional pre-holiday Chinese takeaway for tea, complete with a bottle of wine, or two. After finishing a few important things like putting maps onto the TomTom and downloading a few last songs onto the Ipod it was time for bed, and man was I excited, after all tomorrow was the start of our holiday


The Day Before ~ The Start of our Holiday

We were up at 9am, the boys went into town and Mum and I got ready and double checked the packing (and Sophie watched Hannah Montana). When the boys got back we loaded up the boot and then Mum and Dad loaded the roof rack whilst I got some pizza ready for lunch. Nick had to go back into town as his stupid bank wouldn’t authorise such a big payment for Travelex so he had to go and get all the money out of his account, I really don’t understand banks sometimes . When he got back we all had lunch and then it was time for online check in. We managed to get some good seats although there weren’t many left. Once we had printed out our boarding passes we finished tidying the house, double checked we had all the important documents and then said goodbye to our little pussycats .

The journey to London Gatwick took about 90 minutes. We hit a bit of traffic on the M25 and the ariel kept banging on the roof so we had to stop to fix that, but with the help of some haribo and a bit of Dolly Parton on the stereo we were soon arriving at the long term car park we had booked. We quickly unloaded the car and then jumped on the transfer bus and headed to the South Terminal.
Once there we headed over to the Gatwick Hilton which was attached to the airport. Sophie and Mum were so excited about staying there and Dad still thought we were staying in a Travelodge about 10 miles away. When he saw we were entering the Hilton he was most excited, the look of excitement on his face was such a picture. We checked in pretty quickly and then we were off to our rooms, they had a family room in the main building and Nick and I had a deluxe room in the newer wing. We dropped off our bags to our room which was very nice, and the same as last time, and then walked over to meet them in their room. Their room was huge with a big area when you walk in with a fridge, tea and coffee area and lots of storage space, a huge main are with a double bed on one side, two singles on the other and then a desk and table and chairs in the middle and then another area with the bathroom and more storage space. They loved it and Mum wanted to live in it forever, it was quite nice.





And their million toiletries



Sophie made Mum go to ice machine with her whilst I set up her gift bag and some champagne and glasses and Thorton chocolates for her on the table. When she saw it she was so surprised, she loved it. I had put stickers on the bag naming lots of the places we were going to visit and things we were going to do and inside I had put a £15 Franky and Bennies voucher, £10 Starbucks voucher, a travel journal, a magazine, some pens, chewing gum and peardrops, she loved it all.





We put the champagne on ice and then went down to the lobby bar where I brought everyone a cocktail. The bar is very nice with big comfy chairs around the center of the lobby surrounded by the balconies of each floor.

[ariel2006]

Mum ordered a Mai Tai, Nick had a Mojito, I had a Long Island Iced Tea and Dad had a Sex on the Beach, which he was too embarrassed to ask for, it was so funny watching him blush. We sat and chatted for a while, Sophie and Dad took pictures from above, it was really nice and relaxing after weeks of running at full pace and knowing that we were finally at the start of our holiday.






We then walked across to the main terminal which took a few minutes and went up to Franky and Bennies for tea.



We were seated but it took quite a while to get served as it was pretty busy. We got a bottle of Fetzer Rose to share and played Sophie’s card game whilst we waited for the food, we were having great fun already.



Mum and Dad looking perhaps a bit too serious for a child's card game


Dad got Tomato soup to start and Nick and I got Mama’s cheesebake which was neopolitan sauce and mozzarella with ciabatta bread which we shared with the others. For mains Mum and Paul shared the spaghetti and meatballs and the New York chicken, Nick had BBQ lasagne, I had the New York chicken and Sophie had the childrens BBQ chicken, it was all very good. We got some more drinks and Mum ate Sophie’s chocolate icecream and then we paid the bill and had a look around a few shops. We brought a few things from Accessorise, Nick got a coffee from Costa and then we walked back to the Hilton. We all went back to Mums room and had some champagne and chatted about the holiday again, as you can tell, we were slightly excited . Eventually at 11pm we called it a night and Nick and I went back to our room after a lovely evening. We watched a re-run of the Olympic Opening Ceremony for a bit, sorted out our things for the morning and then went to bed dreaming of our holiday tomorrow, after all tomorrow was the start of our holiday... again

[truesdpr]

What a great start. Lovely photos - you all look so excited. Lucky Mum with all those surprises!

Pam.

[ely3857]

I'm giggling away at your dad blushing when asking for a Sex on the Beach



Jodie

[ariel2006]

Originally Posted by truesdpr

What a great start. Lovely photos - you all look so excited. Lucky Mum with all those surprises!

Pam.

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Thanks. And yes, we were all so excited.

Originally Posted by ely3857

I'm giggling away at your dad blushing when asking for a Sex on the Beach



Jodie

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It was so funny. First off he asked me to ask for it, but he wouldn't even say the name to me he just pointed at it. And then when we made him do it he went all red and kind of pointed at it, the waitress went "ah Sex on the Beach" and then kind of blushed too. We told him that she was giving him an invitation

[Cyclospora]

Your mum looks amazing for 50!

Looking forward to the rest of the trippy - thanks for posting!

[Strommie]

Wonderful start with lovely photos

[Guest]

Great start, and lovely photo's! My DM is 50 this Sunday and we're all going for a weekend break to London! Looking forward to the next installment!

[Guest]

Brillant start Sammie... off to read the next installment.

[voddygirl]

Great start...and your Mum looks fab at 50... you`ll be hoping you have her genes !