*Live* "Don't fall off your chair" Day 1 - Travel Day & Hyatt Regency MCO - Thurs 1st Nov 2018

[Fuellady]

Index

Day 1 -Travel Day & Hyatt Regency MCO

Thursday 1st November 2018

We were rudely awoken by the alarm at 3.15am this morning after (for me) a terrible nights sleep. The bed at the Moxy was so soft that it created a dip in the middle which I kept rolling into! It was also a double, which we're not used to so it felt cramped. Anyway, enough whinging, we're going on holiday today, and it's our 10th wedding anniversary.

I showered first, the shower was good, hot and fairly powerful. The toiletries provided here were nice, fresh smelling and good quality, and the shampoo didn't dry my hair out as some hotel shampoos do, and conditioner was provided as well. It was a bit of a challenge getting ready in the tiny bit of floor space available in the bathroom but we managed. I haven't taken my own hair dryer with me, so I used the one provided in the hotel room, and quite frankly it was rubbish. No matter what heat setting I tried it blew cold air so it took ages to dry my hair. However, we were finally ready to leave the hotel at 4.15am.

We were walking to the airport this morning, as it is only a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel. When we went outside we discovered it was raining, heavily. Neil had put his jacket in his suitcase, thinking he wouldn't need it for travelling. We stood stood at the door of the hotel for a couple of minutes deciding if he would get his jacket or not, but since it doesn't have a hood anyway he decided just to do without. I pulled my scarf over my head to protect my hair a bit, goodness knows what kind of sight I looked trundling towards the airport dragging my case in the rain like that! Anyway, we reached the airport 10 minutes later and went straight to the BA desk. We were seen immediately and managed to check in for our second flight there, which is Heathrow to Dublin. We still couldn't check in for our 3rd flight, Dublin to Orlando and we were told that we would need to see someone at Heathrow to do that.

We headed straight through the new security area at Aberdeen airport. The airport has been extended and upgraded recently and the new security area is much bigger. Embarrassingly my bag was pulled over for a check as I forgot to take out my little liquids bag. Neil will be casting this up for days.

We went to The Globe cafe where Neil had a bacon roll with tea and I had a sausage roll with a flat white coffee. We both had a glass of water as well, got to keep hydrated on travel days! This cost £15.60, daylight robbery although daylight wasn't even in yet! We didn't wait long to board our flight after that, and we took off on time at 6.10am. The flight was uneventful, I slept and Neil alternately dozed and looked out of the window.

We arrived at Heathrow on time, around 7.40am. We landed at T5 and our next flight out was from T2 so we headed along to get the bus. We didn't have a long wait and were soon in T2 where we went straight through security. It was very quiet and we were told we didn't need to take anything out of or bags so we were through in no time. Next order of the day was to try to get checked in for our 3rd flight. We easily found the Aer Lingus desk where Neil asked if there was any option for us to upgrade, as he thought it would be a nice treat for our anniversary. However, the woman at the desk could only offer one upgraded seat as that was all that was available, which was a shame. Never mind, the plane is a 2-4-2 configuration so we have a 2 rather than being part of a 4 so that will have to do.

Heathrow is all ready for Christmas even though it's only the 1st of November!

We didn't want anything to eat or to browse the duty free shops so we just got some water (hydration, remember ) and had to sit for about an hour before boarding for Heathrow to Dublin. We had a bit of a panic when we sat down as Neil couldn't find one of our boarding cards so I was sent back to look round the check outs at WH Smith where we had bought the water even though I was certain that I had returned it to the bag. Sure enough when I got back empty handed Neil was waving 4 boarding passes at me, it had been stuck to the back of another one! It was a miserable, dull day at Heathrow.

Soon it was time to board our second flight, so off we went to queue up. When it was our turn, Neil was first. They take a photo now at the gate and it has to match the photo from security previously. However, Neil's was rejected! He was asked to stand aside while she tried mine ... rejected! The woman called someone and we were asked to go to another desk. The woman there was really nice, but she couldn't get it to work either, so she called over another man to help. I'm very proud of how calm I still was at this point, normally I would be crying in a corner with the stress of it all by now. The man suggested trying our details manually, which the woman did, and thankfully it worked, they were able to see our previous security pictures so they authorised us to go through. We then had to go back to the original woman who then logged us as "boarded". Phew, we were on, second last passengers.

This was a short flight, around one hour and it took off about half an hour late. Still, we arrived in Dublin about 11.20am and were through passport control and settled in the T2 lounge just before 12 noon. Neil has his Priority Pass for the lounge so he just had to pay for me. I think it's £20. We were hungry by now, it was over 7 hours since we had our rolls in Aberdeen airport. There was a nice selection of items on offer, and we started with tomato soup and sandwiches. Neil had some cheese and crackers as well, and I followed suit a while later. Other offerings were veggie wraps, crisps, nuts and cakes as well as various drink options.

The person who checked us into the lounge recommended that we allow at least 1 1/2 hours to do security and US Pre Clearance, so we left the lounge at 1.30pm. The security before Pre Clearance is only for hand luggage, there are no scanners for people to go through. Once again my bag was pulled aside for checking. And I did have my liquids bag out this time! The reason was that a metal bar was showing across the top of the bag which turned out to the the top of my documents folder. It's a bit strange as it looks plastic to me. After having a rummage through, the security guy declared that I definitely didn't have any metal bars in my bag so I could go through. We joined the US Pre Clearance queue at 1.42pm and were cleared to enter the USA by 1.59pm. So the whole thing from leaving the lounge to clearing US immigration took less than half an hour. Obviously I can't guarantee it's always so quick, but that was our experience today.

We now had an hour before boarding our flight so just took a leisurely stroll over to our gate. I gave eldest daughter Shannon a call from here because I hadn't managed to speak to her yesterday. I wanted to speak to both of the girls before we left because we will have no way to communicate with them for the 3 days we are on the cruise ship. I had managed to speak to the youngest, Eilidh, briefly yesterday, so I was now happy that I had spoken with them both before leaving.

Thankfully this time, boarding was no problem at all, our boarding cards worked first time. This plane was much more spacious than the last one had been and it was nice to have a row to ourselves. We took off half an hour late at 3.45 and almost immediately hit some turbulence. Because of this they kept delaying the drinks service and it was about 5.30 before they finally served drinks. I had water and coke, as did Neil. I had asked for apple juice originally but they didn't have any. They only had orange or tomato juice which I thought was an odd option. For the drinks service, soft drinks are complimentary but alcoholic drinks have to be paid for.

We settled in to watch some films, there was a good choice available of both old and new films, as well as TV series'. First I watched Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom which I really enjoyed. I'd been wanting to see this for ages so I was pleased to see it was available on the plane. Neil watched Ready Player 1, which he tells me is sci-fi which he likes so he enjoyed that one. Next he watched Rampage which he says is predictable! The next film I watched was Tomb Raider. I like all of the older Tomb Raider films, and going back many many years, I used to play Tomb Raider on the PS2. Considering how useless I am now at video games, I was really good at it back then. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this new version, it was full of action. Neil watched a third film, a comedy, Tag.

In between watching films, dinner arrived about 6.45pm. An announcement was put out for everyone to have their seats upright for the duration of the food service, which was a relief for Neil as the guy in front of him had been fully reclined for most of the flight. For most of us the choices were the usual "chicken" or "beef" options which came in the form of Chicken with rice and a pepper sauce, Neil had this, and the other option was Beef Stroganoff which I had. Believe it or not, they were both really good, served nice and hot and quite tasty. There was a bit of soda bread, which I'm sure was stale it was that hard, so I didn't eat that. The pasta salad was ok, just cold pasta with some bits of cucumber, tomato and lettuce through it. Pudding was a chocolate and butterscotch mousse which was good too. So all in all a successful meal. A funny thing had happened not long before dinner, when one of the stewards came up and asked Neil if he knew the guy in charge of the plane. We're not sure if he meant the pilot or the head steward, but in any case Neil said no, he didn't. Then, when dinner arrived, the guy sitting across the aisle from us got his tray like everyone else, but they brought him fish with potatoes and vegetables on a china plate, so I'm guessing he's the guy who knows the guy! A bit later he was brought a other tray with little bottles of different gins, tonic water and tubs of Pringles. It's all about who you know, eh? We also got tea/coffee after dinner too. (A steward who isn't looking after our cabin has just come and crouched in the aisle and is now chatting and laughing very loudly with my plane neighbour!)

I didn't want to watch anything else, so I wrote my notes up to date then settled down for a little doze. I slept lightly off and on for over an hour and was awoken by the smell of food! We were being offered a Chicken and Bell Pepper pastry, which was served hot. It was just ok, not something I would choose, but nice enough. It was about 20 minutes later before we were offered a drink, and then only tea, coffee or water. We both chose water. Meanwhile, the extra drinks still kept coming for my neighbour. 🙄

By the time that was all cleared away, there was less than an hour left until landing. Would I fly with Aer Lingus again? Yes, the seat area was comfortable and spacious, the IFE excellent. I would say that the food and drinks service is somewhat lacking. On a 9 hour flight we only had one soft/alcoholic drinks round with a tiny snack (pretzels), one main meal, one snack and 2 tea/coffee rounds. We've flown with Delta on a few occasions, and I have to say they are my favourite long haul airline. The drinks are almost constant, and more than once they offer bottles of water. I just felt with Aer Lingus that offers of water in particular were quite sparse.

Anyway, we arrived a half hour early, and just walked straight through. No passport control, no immigration, so easy. Down to baggage reclaim, where we waited almost an hour for our luggage. A small batch came out then the carousel stopped for over half an hour, then finally started again. Luckily our bags were amongst the first few out of the second batch. It was a bit of a trek back up stairs and along past all of the shops to the entrance of the Hyatt Regency. We were checked in in no time and we were told we had a newly refurbished room on the 9th floor. Neil asked if it was overlooking the concourse and we were told it was. We were pleased as I had emailed the hotel a few days ago saying it was our 10th wedding anniversary, and we would like a room overlooking the hotel interior if possible. When we reached the room ... wow... it's huge, with a massive bed, sofa, lovely bathroom, coffee maker, safe, fridge... and a bottle of champagne, 2 glasses, chocolate covered strawberries and a hand written anniversary card. What a lovely touch. We have been up for over 22 hours now, and this has just made our day. We had a wee toast with the champagne, Neil (ever the optimist) toasted for one more year, I went with another 10 years. Here are some pictures of the hotel below. Quick showers and off to bed for us now, ready to start our cruise adventure in the morning.

[mick]

A long but good travel day the Hyatt looks lovely 😊

Joan

[i love jack]

Originally Posted by mick

A long but good travel day the Hyatt looks lovely 😊

Joan

See more...

You’re up early!

The Hyatt looks lovely and nice anniversary treats.
The snacks in the lounge look tasty too

[jools1302]

A smooth but long travel day... always is from Aberdeen though 😬 we haven’t used that route yet but it may be one to think about?
Glad you got a lovely room at the Hyatt... it’s so nice when the hotel acknowledges a special occasion 🥂

[wilma-bride]

Wow, what a long travel day. You must have been shattered. That room at the Hyatt is fabulous - and what a lovely touch with the Anniversary gifts. Laughed out loud at Neil toasting for one more year - an eternal optimist

[collybird]

So glad they granted your room request, you wouldn't have really felt like you were in the airport without the view would you!?

Nik said 'it would be nice to stay there one trip wouldn't it', he meant for the entire trip, I told him that might be a bit of a drive to the parks every day haha.

[disneypars]

That's a long travel day. Thought it was bad enough indirect from Edinburgh. Pre clearance at Dublin is great. Hyatt looks brilliant. Thinking of Aer Lingus next year so thanks for posting. Have a great holiday.

[Goldia]

I'm glad it all ran smoothly in the end. I'd have been worrying about why they couldn't check us in for all the flights in 1 go...but still it all worked out. You had the same thing as us with the luggage taking ages to come out! It was weird that a few cases came and then nothing for such a long time.

What a lovely thing for the hotel to do, the chocolates look so cute. Plus the view from the room is fab. Happy anniversary.

[Cinderella]

Happy Anniversary 👍

[Col&Ali]

What a long day! You’re there now though 💃🕺🏽

Lol at Neil - you should make him sleep on the couch for that comment 😂

Happy anniversary 🥂