October 18 Its Meant To Be A Cheapie - Travel Day

[clubhouse]

Ouch, this is our earliest start to a holiday. It's still night time! We had done most of the packing on Wednesday night so I only had a wee bit to do after work. I got in around six and cracked on the kids were at their grandparents to I could get organised.

Scott went to get them around 7pm and drop off Frank, our pug as Gran and Grandad will be minding him while we are away.

They were back before long and I got the kids to check their travel bags and clothes as there will be no time for messing about tomorrow and sent them for showers. I got the usual protests. Is everyone's else's kids averse to getting washed?

Scott put 3 of the bags in the boot and left the other as it will need to go in between the kids. The kids marched off to bed at 9pm and there was just time for Scott to have a beer and I had a wee prosecco. Then we washed up, emptied bins, you know all the fun stuff and were away to bed by 11pm. We had multiple alarms set for 4am but I was awake around 3.30am and rather than excitement, I just felt tired.

We were up and organised quickly and we had the kids up and dressed by 4.25am and by 4.30am we were off. We had planned a taxi but when we called to book, they were pretty unhelpful advising us to call on the day... for a journey at 4.30am! So we just booked the closest parking at the airport, a bit dearer than the taxi but no hassle and you stay dry too!
But not helping us pass this off as a cheapie.

Bag drop was no bother as we'd checked in on line, we were surprised at the number of people around us rocking up for US flights without an ESTA, can't have been any DIBBers.

We had time for a couple of drinks at NERO, hot choc, tea, latte and OJ before the Gatwick flight, £9.97. Scott had remembered to bring some cereal bars, so we each had one to keep us going. We were soon boarded, it was a busy flight and it looked like there were lots of people flying on to Florida. We were delayed on board for about half an hour but the flight after that went pretty quickly. Anyone else miss the BA breakfast? I do. We disembarked onto the bus as usual then made our way back to departures and back through security.

My carryon was selected for random screening, I always think I've forgotten something when this happens. For the first time ever Scott and the kids had to go get searched while I didn't. Any way after all that we were beginning to feel a bit hungry so we headed to Jamies Diner for breakfast.

Scott and I had the Full Monty, the kids had waffles with bacon, in the summer we made them share, this time they demanded their own. They had apple juice, I had tea, Scott had water.

The food was good but the service was rubbish. We had no cutlery and had to ask for it when the food came, the waitress threw 3 sets down on the table and swiped a fourth from another table. I had to ask for my tea which came 10 minutes after the breakfast. Never mind, it can only get better. We paid the £47.46 and headed off to our gate, no time for looking at duty free today!

There was no queue at the gate and our group had been called so it was straight onto the plane.

It was a new style plain and we were in standard world traveller, no free upgrades this time, booooo! It was a 3,4,3 configuration and we chose the centre 4 seats in row 24, fairly near the front.

It seemed to be a busy flight and there appeared to be a few seat dramas, once that was all sorted we took off about 10 minutes late. I was just pleased to be on my way. Scott and managed a quick nap but before long it was time for a drink, wine for me beer for him.

The kids were shattered but refusing to sleep. Lunch was served after a couple of hours, we all had the chicken tikka masala which was very nice, the rainbow grain salad was not too bad either. I didn't really like the dessert, not sure that lemon caramel cheesecake really works for me.

Of course there was more wine.

The kids were very impressed with the new plane as the seat back entertainment was great, loads of decent films (lots of Disney films too) and games and best of all there were USB ports so they could charge their iPads. Heaven when you are 10 and nearly 12!

We all watched a few films, I watched Life of the Party, Unsane, Tully and Book Club, I think that's a record for me.

With about 3 hours to go they came around with mini magnums. Each time Scott's side of the plane got served around 10-15 minutes before mine!

After that we had some chicken sandwiches and tea, these were a bit meh! Although I did find out Abbie had eaten a whole tube or pringles herself so no wonder she wasn't hungry and Daniel had managed a whole share bag of skittles so he didn't want any either.

Anyways enough of my moaning we were surprised to see an empty immigration hall before us and our wait was under 10 minutes. No fingerprint scanning this time i noticed. I looked back to see a packed immigration hall now with the rest of our flight and the just landed Virgin flight, luck was on our side this afternoon.

Then we were off to find the bags. They started coming through just as we got there and we got 3 in quick succession but had to wait ages for the last one. They are doing a bit of construction (aren't they always?) so there didn't appear to be anywhere to hand in the customs form this time and we went a different route to the monorail. We were amazed at how quickly we got through.

The kids were pleased but looked shattered.

We made our way straight to the Avis garage as we are on the Preferred scheme, our name was in the board and our car was the first one in the row. It was a white one and it looks nice and new, it even has new car small. I'm just happy it's not crusty, the last few have been a bit crusty and grubby, yuk! I'm such a girl, but in my defence I was very tired. I will have a look later and take some photos. It's very big, a 7 seater so we folded down the back seats to make room for the bags and got buckled up and in our way.

We use the Here we go app but it wasn't working, I wasn't any help as I can't work Scott's Android phone and could get the built in sat nav to work either. Good thing Scott knows where he is going anyway, after a bit the app started to work though and we found our hotel for the night. Holiday Inn Express by Seaworld. We were all a bit startled when we got out the car and heard screaming... but it was just coming from the rollercoaster across the road, I forgot to take a picture, come to think of it I've not managed many decent photos today. I will try harder tomorrow.

We got checked quickly and headed to our room on the 6th floor.

This was a reward night for us through the IHG program, helping justify the cheapie title. However the room is a great size and I'd stay here again. It's a wee bit echoey though with hard floors and no curtains, just blinds.

We had wanted to head to Buffalo Wild Wings as it's nearby but none of us were in the mood so we decided to nip to Publix for water, beer and juice and grab a couple of sandwiches.

We were there and back in under an hour. The skies were clear and the temperature was lovely but were were all too tired to stay outside.

We had our wee picnic of chicken tender sandwiches which came to $60ish due to the 2 cases of beer and got ready for bed. It's only 7pm! We settled down to watch Despicable Me on the TV.

The kids struggled on till just before 8pm but when they noticed their dad was fast asleep they soon gave up and were off to the land of nod. I found my second wind and channel hopped for a bit. I gave up around 9pm and I was soon asleep too!

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New Photo Added by clubhouse - 13 Oct 18 11:02 AM.

[juless77]

Great start thanks for sharing

[princess allie]

Great travel day. Looking forward to reading more x

[mick]

Great travel day

Joan

[floridasarah]

Great travel day thanks for sharing. Nice early night too don't blame you after a 4am start. Looking forward to the rest.

[Cinderella]

Great travel day👍

[closeder]

Fab travel day, so excited to read more xxx

[florida addict]

great first day

[Floridaagogo]

Great start.Your dog is lush ! My 12 year old son thinks showering is optional ...”smell me..I’m fine “ 😡