So, here we are again. It’s only a few weeks since we were last here but you won’t hear me complaining. We travelled to Manchester on Wednesday (21st) for an overnight stay in the Hilton as we were on the early flight out on the 22nd – 10:25am.
As we arrived at the airport it seemed very quiet, check-in had no queues at all. Upon asking the check-in Agent if the flight was full as it seemed quiet she snapped back to us that everyone else had checked in already and the flight was very busy. She was really quite rude in her attitude so later on when I was given a survey card on the flight I was sure to comment on the check-in Agent!
Manchester Airport is still under refurbishment but most shops are open with new ones opening all the time. Paul wanted to get a spare battery for his new HD video camera, which he did, quite easily in Dixons. I wanted to check out the new Lacoste perfume and in doing so an Assistant pointed out a special edition Lacoste perfume that is part of the traveller collection, only available at travel outlets. It smelled really nice so I bought some.
We headed to the lounge, which is a shared one at Manchester and pretty naff (again something I pointed out on my comment card) for about 15 minutes before boarding was called. We were back in Virgin Upper class – THANK GOODNESS!! So could board straight away. We had our fave seats too, the front 2 6a and 6k.
The flight was scheduled to be just over 8.5 hours which was good, previously flights had been 9.5 hours but the winds had ceased and a clear path across the Atlantic presented itself. We were however, late pushing back as the jetty got stuck to the plane and would not come off!! According to the Captain’s announcement it took engineers with hammers to get it off!!
Eventually we pushed back about half an hour late.
The flight was very smooth, the seats excellent and event the food was good. We had tomato soup, chicken tikka massala and bread and butter pudding with champagne cream – yum! The films weren’t bad either so as well as my usual puzzler, brain training and ipod I watched ‘how to lose friends and alienate people’. It was ok but could have been finnier. Paul watched this and Beverly Hills Chihuahua as well.
We landed at about 2:30 local time. We got off quickly to an empty immigration hall. After the Agent had finally logged into his computer (which he struggled with!) we were through. The system has changed again with all fingers and thumbs now being scanned on both hands. The cases came off quickly (love that priority baggage!) and we were out of the airport in half an hour. We had booked a small compact car as they are cheap but the Alamo Agent kept on trying to get us to upgrade. After several ‘no thank you’s’ from us he finally offered us a deal too good to decline so we opted for a convertible!! We left the airport and headed straight over to the Villa. Paul’s folks were already here although not home when we arrived. We unpacked and freshened up as we had all decide to go to Applebees for dinner. Applebees was fairly busy at 8pm but we got a table straight away. The food was ok as ever and we then headed straight home. Given the time difference we were exhausted and went to bed about 9pm local time.
DAY 2 – FRIDAY
We all awoke early as was expected and Paul and I stuck to our usual routine of McD’s breakfast at Downtown Disney. It was reasonably quiet as it was still early and although fairly cold (12C) there was no wind and clear sky’s so in the sun it felt quite pleasant. We wandered around Downtown and went into the new ‘design a tee’ store. The idea (as the name suggests) is to design your own personalized t-shirt. Apparently, any wording you put on is moderated – yes I did think about it!!!
The designs were actually very limited. You had to have a character design in the middle with wording (very limited on characters) underneath. Since neither of us could think of anything amusing (that would not have been thrown out by the moderators – Walt would have turned in his grave about what we wanted to call Mickey) we bought nothing, although enjoyed playing for a good half an hour!!
We bought some sweets for the trip and finally left Downtown just after lunchtime.
We needed to find a UPS store to ship important docs to Annette who had been robbed in Jamaica!! After this we decided to go to the Florida Mall to get the bits I needed to buy – well there’s always something! It was not very busy and we parked right outside Dillards.
I managed to have a good spending spree which is a great way to start the holiday!
I got 3 pairs of shoes and some make-up & skin care products. The first 2 pairs of shoes were from Steve Madden where the deal was buy one and get the second 90% off. So by buying a pair at $90 I got the second pair at $8. Splitting the cost meant I had 2 great pairs of going out shoes (that Ruth will envy) for about £35 each. The final pair were from 9-West and were only $30 so deffo cheaper than I could have got anywhere at home. The make-up and skin care products were from Sephora. I was after a new Lippy that was advertised in a magazine I had read – a Geurlain one. In the store the Assistant wanted to know the colour number and I only had the name so Paul’s i-phone came into its own. A quick google and the number was found – sadly the store didn’t stock it though!! I found an alternative Givenchy one in the end.
After the FL Mall I wanted to go to Best Buy. YES, I wanted to, weird huh? Paul made me repeat this statement over and over!!! (for those in the dark its an electronics store and Paul’s fave – usually the equivalent torture for me that he endures in my shoe stores) We got some new earphones for my i-pod and some screen covers for Paul’s i-phone.
After this we headed over to Universal city walk. We needed to research and book a special event for Paul and I, but the details cannot be published here until the event itself! We successfully sorted it and headed for home about 5pm.
That evening we had all agreed to go to Longhorn for dinner. We called ahead as we knew it would be busy and sat down to eat about 8:30pm. We had a very weird server who we had seen before on previous visits. He thinks he is being helpful I am sure but seems to just confuse everyone! The steak was ok but everything was over seasoned and salty. Shame, as I love Longhorn usually.
We came straight home, exhausted once more and after a cup of tea went to bed about 11pm.
DAY 3 – Saturday
We were up slightly later and had breakfast at home. The weather was definitely getting warmer although cloudier. After reading some emails (how sad are we?) we decide to head out about midday. We had decided to got to Wall Mart and Target to see what bargains we could get!! We bought useful products for home that are always so much better out here than you could ever get at home. We got Joy Mangano huggable hangers (actually you can get these on QVC at home), a bath mat and some bed linen. The latter we managed to get an 8ft by 9ft comforter (duvet to us Brits) for $70. You cannot get anything that size at home and even half the size is twice the price. God Bless the USA!! J I also got a couple of Tinker Bell t-shirts and a cardigan.
After the shopping we had a bite to eat and headed up I-Drive. We had the roof down posing as was befitting of us!! It was cool but we whacked the heating up to compensate. Weirdly, whilst in a car park we had 2 people asking us what we thought of our new Sebring. Paul helpfully told one of them that with the roof down the boot space was very limited. She looked blankly at him so he showed her, only then did it click that to her it was the trunk and she had no idea what a boot was (other then something you wear on your foot)!
We also booked dinner at Kobe’s (Japanese steak hose and Paul’s fave) for 8pm. When the email confirmation came through (good old i-phone again) we realised it was the wrong restaurant! We booked the correct one but couldn’t get an answer from the first to cancel – oops. We did kept trying though and later on managed to cancel ok.
At the top end of I-Drive we went to TK Maxx and the 9-West outlet. I got a couple of pairs of jeans (one really cute with Tweety Pie on the behind!) and a Michael Kors bag but to Paul’s surprise came out of 9-Eest empty handed.
We drove around with the roof down a bit more before heading home about 5pm again. Before going out for dinner we watched Jeopardy. It reminded us of Ellen’s Universe of Energy at Epcot which we will miss this time as it’s closed for refurb.
After competing in testing out general knowledge we went for dinner. Kobe is a traditional Japanese steak house with the hibachi grill where the chef entertains as well as cooking great food right in front of you. Tables are for 10 so we had a family of 4 with us. The food was great as ever and the filet tender and cooked to perfection.
The chef was Mitsubishi but we saw Toyota at the next table!!
Anne and Dave (Paul’s Aunt and Uncle) almost lost their eyebrows in the fire but the kids of the American family found it highly amusing. It transpired the boy was there for his 9th birthday and after signing happy birthday he shared his cake with us.
After dinner the others went to a coffee shop but I needed to come home and drink some peppermint tea as I always over eat at Kobe’s and need to settle my stomach before bed. Exhausted once more (doing very little is so tiring!) we went to bed at about half 10.
It is now Sunday. The weather is fab – 80C. Warm, sunny and very clear. We are all off to the Swan for lunch so until next time…..