Well we are here. Yay! We got stuck in an over an hour long traffic jam on the way down to Gatwick on Wednesday night. It just goes to show that living in the midlands leaves you will little choice other than to travel down the night before or leave 7 hours before the flight if travelling the same day to ensure we have enough time.
We stayed at the premier inn which was OK. Cheap enough at £70. They also do a parking package and are close enough to the airport to work to the North Terminal. I already had booked parking with Maple Manor.
Dropped the car off t 8:30 on Thursday morning and went and checked in. The standard queues for check in were long, the airport was pretty busy but we checked in at the club desks pretty quick and then went and got a McDonalds breakfast. We weren’t able to change our seats so we checked-in two rear facing seats right in the middle of the first row. Not ideal but at least they were together.
After we had breakfast we went through security. Although we had fast track passes we didn’t need it as security was well manned and not busy. After security we went to the Duty Free as I wanted to buy some new G2 (Jean Paul Gautier) aftershave. Well it was all a bit of a palaver. There was a freebie offer on but the terms of the offer weren’t clear (it said by one alcoholic purchase and one complimentary product, but the alcoholic purchase referred to Perfume). Anyway, we cleared it up and I picked up a bottle of G2 which the woman helping us said they had priced up incorrectly (it was priced at £26 instead of £39). After some to and fro (and without me asking) she said I could take the aftershave at the price on the box. So I thought we wouldn’t get our freebie due to this but she insisted we did have that also but couldn’t find it. After about 10 minutes they gave us the one of show and then, if that wasn’t enough she gave us another freebie Coffret for messing us around. Now I know you will all be thinking that I kicked up a fuss, but I didn’t say anything. I would have paid full price for the aftershave (I didn’t even notice it had been priced wrong) and we weren’t that bothered about the freebies either, but we ended up with 80ml of G2, plus 60ml of womens JPG (for Cindy) plus a free spray and the other free coffret for about £60. Bargain!
After we spent time in the duty free and a quick glance around the othershops it was time to board so we went straight down to the gate and go on within a few minutes.
Flight was amazingly quick at 8 hours and 15 minutes. I am sure we have had flights home take longer than that. And apart from a bumpy take off and a very bumpy landing there were just a few bumps along the flight.. Food on the flight was pretty poor. Sausages and Mash sounded OK but the sausages were undercooked and tasted odd. Cindy had a Chicken Tikka which again sounded nice, but when it turned up it looked awful.
Got off the flight and had a really officious immigration office. He wouldn’t take the passports barking, REMOVE them from the holders. I gave them back to him and he asked what the purpose of the visit was, to which I said pleasure. He then asked to see the return flight tickets (which were in the case). I was able to show him my itinerary which showed the return flight.
Cases didn’t get any priority off-loading but we only had the one case to look out for. Straight through customs and on the monorail and to an almost empty National car rental stand (all the other were heaving). It still took them about 5 minutes to serve the guy in front (why does that take so long?)
As the flight had got in early we drove straight to the Villa, which looks lovely. A few marks here and there, generally to the floor tiles, but other than that it was really welcoming. We unpacked and then went out for food at TGIs. They have changed their menu and taken off items that Cindy and I really like which was disappointing. Then went to Publix to pick up a few items and back to the House just before 7pm.
We unpacked the shopping and then I went for my first swim. It was heaven. Lovely and warm, it was still light and warm (although not hot and no humidity) we sat outside until about 9 when it was pitch black (sunset was sometime just after 7 but it stayed light until about 8:30) There is still no sign of building out the back (or at Vista Park!).
Went to bed around 10 and got woken up just before midnight by a Police helicopter circling for around 30 minutes. Kept going directly overhead which was really noisy. Got back off to sleep and woke up around 6am this morning.
We are off to Downtown this morning for a quick look around and the customary breakfast at McDonalds. Then we are going to Florida Mall this afternoon and I have booked a table at Ruth’s Chris for 7:30 tonight. Nothing on the schedule for tomorrow as yet so need to think about what to do.
Whether is set to lovely for the next week apart from some possible thunder showers over the weekend.
That’s all for now.
Paul