I'm Packing

[JamelUK]

IMPORTANT MESSAGE

The original title of this Trippie has been changed by request.
If you are easily offended by Carry On style innuendo in the spirit of Benny Hill kindly close this page now.

For everyone else, please keep up to date with all chapters over at The Index

If anyone would like a list of ALL the original chapter titles and promises categorically they wont hold them against me, please PM me.

MESSAGE ENDS

Right then.
This is it.
We set off soon.
Yay!

No more DIBBing from us for a fortnight.
Some of you may be grateful for this, as you might have noticed I have been a little bit hyper over recent days as the countdown hit low single digits. The DIBB gives you wings.

I make no apology – we’re going to Orlando! Again!

We’re all ready. Finally.


I got called to go for a job interview for a really good role next week
They agreed to fit me in today, so Ive just got back and all went very well.
If there is enough Pixie Dust in the air, Im hoping for a joyous phonecall on my mobi while we are out there.

As usual we have done a brilliant job of leaving our packing and the search for everything we need to the 12th hour.
Since the weekend Mel has been running around like a headless chicken, flapping and stressing for no rational reason. It is now somewhat of a tradition, and it would be rude if she didn’t.

I have laminated “The Plan”
This prevents any last minute “Oooh! What if... ?”s and alterations which may upset the perfectly balanced mix of time spent visiting attractions vs. stuffing your face silly on the dining plan.

The case is packed with enough outfits to cover us for the warm barmy days we will be getting (I paid extra for the upgrade) as well as a few for those cooler evenings.

Mel has packed a few of her special going out outfits.
I have packed a few of her special staying in outfits.

I’ve also packed our medical kit, with the usual essentials...
- Suntan Lotion
- Aftersun Lotion (coz we always forget to take the former to the parks )
- Paracetomol
- Germolene
- Blister Plasters
- Jack Bauer’s Super Concentrated Male Virility Cream (aka Clarins For Men Moisturiser)
- Some pills to start “stuff”
- Some pills to stop “stuff” (well you never know, do you?)
- and this...

Im hoping any other male DIBBers of a certain age will smile at me knowingly and agree that we should never speak of this device again.

Moving on...

On Saturday night, whilst taking a break from drooling at Brian Fortuna on Strictly, Mel decided that she needed to do some last minute shopping and we needed to go to the Trafford Centre.
So on Sunday morning we queued for over an hour, with all the other idiots, to park somewhere near Llandudno in the overflow area.

52 weeks in the year. 365 days. 8,760 hours.
And yet everyone decides to leave their Christmas shopping until the last couple of weekends before Christmas. You would think over the years we’d have learnt wouldn’t we?

But no, it seems it has become a sport. Mother’s using their prams as weapons to plough any other shoppers out of the way. Why else would they push along an empty pram, whilst their child walks happily alongside them at an arm length wide enough to block the entire pathway?

As we got ready to leave our car in the pouring rain, it was clear that Mel was struggling to control her Medusa like alter ego, ready to lash out at any innocent bystander stupid enough to share the same postcode.

Giving me that look, she moaned “I hate shopping at the Trafford Centre at the best of times, but especially at Christmas”
“But you said you wanted to come!”, I argued (stupidly)
“Yes I did, but I didn’t say I had to enjoy the experience...”

With that I dragged her off to Starbucks where her alkaline cappuccino went someway to calm her acidic mood.

We dived into the rabble, shopped and survived. Just.
45 minutes later we had obtained what we had come for.
This!

To be fair, this belt is an essential item, given Mel’s continued weight loss results.

Apologies we couldn’t hang around for the DIBB meet – we had to get back so Mel could spend a few more hours flapping about minor details.
It looks like you all had a great time, so put us down for the next one.

I have also organised all the required cameras, electronics and gizmos...
- My Nikon D70
- Flashgun
- 3 lenses
- 8Gb flash card. (That's enough for approx 2500 pics – you have been warned! )
- Tripod
- Mel’s Olympus Mju 1000
- Sony Camcorder and a stack of DV tapes
- 2 x Nintendo DS lites
- 2 x iPhones
- PSP
- and all associated chargers.

I remind you that there are only 2 of us travelling.

Mel of course has packed enough Clarins products to restock Selfridges (twice), an excessive, yet apparently vital library of paperbacks, and some of those individually wrapped marshmallow flump things she insists are for medicinal purposes only. We are taking full advantage of Virgins current baggage allowance whilst it lasts.

Finally, we’ve packed this.


This is a 1Kg tub of Uncle Joe’s Mintballs.

We did consider buying one of the Smarties penguins currently being advertised everywhere, but we have deemed Smarties as pointless now. Since they have removed all the colours and preservatives so you can no longer spend happy afternoons bouncing off the ceiling in a self induced hyperglycaemic frenzy, they’re just not the same.

No, it has to be Uncle Joe’s Mintballs.

Hailing originally from Wigan, Mel was bred on them. They are her life force – her mojo. Mel without mintballs is like Ying without Yang, Mickey without Minnie, Bert without Ernie, Statler without Waldorf, Car Insurance Comparison Websites without Meerkats.

So please dear reader, kindly take note of how many mintballs are in the jar now, as on our return we will be playing that favourite family game – how many sweets are left in the jar.

Mel’s actually found them to be an excellent hunger suppressant . So much so, we’ve thought about writing a book – “Uncle Joe’s Diet – lose weight by sucking on his minty balls”.

So I need to collect Mel from work soon, then we’re off to the SAS Radisson Manchester Airport for a relaxing night before flying on VS075 tomorrow morning.

We’ll soon be dancing a catchy rhythm,
singing a happy song,
playing together,
on our holiday!

We’ll see you on the other side.

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[Irishrover]

Waaay Heyyyyy...
Have a fantastic time!

I hope that manly contraption thingy has nuttin to do with Uncle Joes Minty balls

Hope the sun shines for you both!

Bren x

[Sarah84]

Hope you both have a wonderful time and with how enjoyable the pre trippie has been i cannot wait for the trip report on your return
And fingerscrossed for the job, hope Mel enjoys more of Uncle Joe's minty balls

[chaffey]

Hope you get good news whilst you are away.

Have a fab time and look forward to hearing all about it when you return.

[juless77]

OOHH have a lovely time you lucky lucky things could I be cheeky and ask you to post some piccies of the raddison when you come home as we are staying there in feb thanks

[Guest]

Loved that!

Have a stupidly amazing time, and fingers crossed it's good news with the job interveiw!

[Guest]

is orlando ready for you i ask myself

have fun

ps hope you get the job you have way to much time on your hands

[Redriva]

Can't wait to read this trippie! LOL
esp as we should have been going tomorrow too but due to having ended up with an unexpected 4th child this summer we have put it off till next Dec

hope you have a fabulous time!

[ali-s]

Have a safe journey and fantastic time. Looking forward to the trippie.

[JamelUK]

Evenin,

Someone asked for pics of the Radisson.#

Sorry, can't remember who and I'm dibbing via iPhone. Anyhows, here ya go.#

We have a business suite on 9th floor we didn't ask (not bothered) for air side view but you can still see some of the apron if you twist your neck a bit!