Category: Holidays

It’s Wednesday morning here and the wind has really begun to get up.  It’s still very warm though and Paul has had a swim.  All weather reports are saying that we are heading for a tornado tonight with torrential rain.  It should all happen overnight though and be clear for tomorrow morning so fingers crossed!  We’ve been here for these severe weather conditions before so we’re not at all worried.

Yesterday we went into Epcot.  It was definitely the hottest day so far and getting more humid.  We got to the park at about lunchtime and immediately walked onto Spaceship Earth.  No words were exchanged, no question to the other of “shall we ride this?” we just both instinctively walked up the ramp without question!!  Are we getting stuck in a rut here??  The ride was the usual – what can I say?  My fave bit, the sleeping monk was still asleep and the burning smell was still cleverly contained in the correct area!  We did spot a hidden Mickey in the Renaissance area on the artists pallet though Paul knew where to look from his hidden Mickey book.  We compiled our video at the end and Paul has emailed it to himself to forward to those who want to see it. 

After this we went into Innovations where Paul rode a Segway.  He had done it before a couple of weeks ago and reckoned that it was easier second time.  He certainly didn’t kangaroo it at all.  I took some pics which one day Paul will post I am sure!!  We also went to see the Raytheon ride.  We tried out the seats but both found them way too clostrophobic.  I understand that Dave actually rode this a few weeks ago so way to go Dave – you’re way braver then me!  Both from the ride itself aspect and also from working for Raytheon; seeing them in action at work I’m not sure I’d trust anything they engineer.  It’s so comforting to know these people are writing our border control software – NOT!   Anyway, I digress.  Just before exiting Innovations we picked up our Kim Possible ticket and headed straight over to the World showcase.  We got the boat over to Germany as we had decided to have lunch in China.  Reading that back the geography sounds bizarre – only in Disney huh?!  At China we had orange chicken and steamed rice.  It was not overly hot (like all the food here) and was pretty medeocre.  We managed to sit outside though and saw lots of people completing the China Kim Possible mission.  After lunch we headed to Norway to begin our Kim Possible mission.  We could choose Norway or Mexico and decided to stick to Norway as we were there already.  (for anyone reading this who is now lost I shall explain – Kim Possible is a cartoon secret agent character.  You are given a mobile phone which interacts with various objects around the country of your mission and you are agents helping Kim solve a crime.  The phone gives you step by step instructions and clues that you have to solve to move onto the next place where it interacts – almost like a treasure hunt I guess.  At various points things happen – signs change to give you information, smoke signals from chimneys, and even a picture is taken and put on the front of a magazine and uploaded to the phone.  It’s all pretty simple as its designed for kids but the technology is superb).  So, back to the plot.  We helped Kim stop an art theft in Norway.  There were a lot of people doing the mission – way more then I had seen before.  We completed it pretty quickly in about 30 mins and decided not to do another that day.  Whilst in Norway we wanted to ride Maelstrom but it had a 30 minute queue so we gave it a miss.  We walked around the World Showcase, stopping a France to get a free sample of the new Guerlain perfume and onto the UK where we knew we could get a decent cuppa.  Father Christmas was in the UK (Santa was in the US and Pierre Noel in France etc) and it was the old traditional Father Christmas wearing green before Coke got hold of him!  We sat on a bench and drank our tea as he sang and entertained the crowd with stories of english traditions – for example, did you know that we invented the christmas card?  The first one was sent in the UK in the 1800’s.  The time was getting to about half 4 and we didn’t want a late one as we were heading out to La Nouba later.  Being the second consecutive park day we needed to take to easy as well as we’re not as young as we used to be.  We decided to ride the Land as it had no wait time at all.  I spotted a hidden mickey in the first fish tank on the left – this time with no book or prompting!  After this we decide to head for home.

We came straight home and got in about 6.  Paul was going to have a swim but ended up not doing!  We did some research online about laptops and macbooks as I have decided to buy my own (today we are heading to Best Buy to check them out) and watched some TV before getting ready to go out.  We left about 8ish which got us to La Nouba at about 8:40 – just right.  We took our seats which had an excellent view.  The Grand Chappiteau was quite empty with lots of spare seating.  Paul found the seats a bit uncomfortable he said but the show was still very good.  It’s one of the best Cirque shows as it goes from act to act with no fillers and also has no interval like European shows.   There were a couple of errors in it (we know it so well they are easy to spot!).  One girl dropped her diablo and amazingly the strong man missed his window in the bit where they trampoline up the side of the building.  He was ok though and I bet no one else really spotted it as he recovered well with another bounce!  We came out of La Nouba and headed straight home – getting here for about half 11.  We were shattered and headed straight for bed.

Today is a cloudy one but still very warm although there is a chance of rain later into this evening.

We have changed our itinerary a little as the good weather is all at the beginning of the week so we have shuffled all our park visits over the next couple of days to make the most of the sunshine.  Yesterday we sat around the pool until after lunch.  We were heading to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and as we would stay for Fantasmic at 8pm we didn’t want to get there too early.  It was warm and sunny and really nice out back.  The buzzards were circling and I swear I hear the wild boars from the swamp area.

We eventually left the house about half past 1 and decided we would go to Animal Kingdom first to go and see the Festival of the Lion King show.  It has to be one of the best shows with the tumble monkeys, the fire dancer, the acrobats and not forgetting Timon and Pumba!!  We got seats in the Lion section at the back but had a really good view.  We caught the 2:30 show so came out about 3pm.  We left Animal Kingdom straight away and went for a quick food stop at McDonald’s.  Paul is quite taken with the third pounders they do out here!

We got into MGM, sorry the Hollywood Studios (it will always be MGM to us) at just after 4pm.  There was a HSM show just about to start so we waited to see the start of that.  We couldn’t stay for it all as we wanted to go into the 5pm American Idol Experience.  The 3 contestants we saw were Morgan, a 15 year old girl who looked about 30!!!, Angela, a 35 year old woman who looked about 45!!!! and Nick an 18 year old who actually looked his age.  Nick was part of a chior group who had been performing at the Epcot carol evening and had his entire choir and their families in the audience.  He was also from Pennsylvania and the entire state seem to be in Florida at the moment so he had way more audience support that the others.  Since the winner is voted by the audience it was no surprise that Nick won a place in the daily final.  The English judge playing the Simon Cowell role was as insulting as ever telling the 15 year old who stumbled during her performance that he hoped she got a pitch pipe for Christmas!  Mind you, she was pitchy (to quote Randy Jackson).

After Idol we made our way towards the Osborne Family spectacle of lights.  We saw this last year and thought it was fab.  We had coffee and a cookie on the way as the lights get switched on at 6pm.  Just before the big switch on it started snowing all down the street (not real snow of course as this is Florida and it was 20 degrees!!).  At 6pm all 10 million lights went on.  Apparently many of the items such as the 70ft tree and the huge carousel of angels are actually from the Osbornes house (a reminder for anyone who doesn’t remember from last year this is nothing to do with Sharon and Ozzy but was a family from Arkansas who decorated their house each year).  The guy even bought the 2 houses either side if his so he could decorate with even more lights (money no object for him we can only assume!).  There was a sign up saying that there were 36 hidden Mickeys in the lights.  This is one of the first times we’ve seen Disney officially acknowledge the hidden Mickeys.  We wandered through hidden Mickey spotting and counted about 21 – not bad for a first pass.  Paul managed to get some photos of the lights and hopefully we can post some pics here soon.

We then wandered out of the street of lights and headed over to the great movie ride.  It was the usual Gangster routine but we still love the movie montage at the end – I could watch that over and over.  We came out of the ride and decided to head straight up to the Fantasmic auditorium as it often gets full an hour before the show.  It was about 7:15 and as we headed up the ramp after the Tower of Terror we hit a queue of people.  There had been an earlier show as there are now 2 to help ease the crowds and it seemed as though that was still being emptied out.  We queued for about 20 mins or so and eventually got seats quite near the entrance (which we want for a quick get away at the end).  By the time we had sat down the announcement came on that the show was in 15 mins.  The view we had was really good and the evening temperature was still at about 18 degrees so we didn’t need anything more than our hoodies.

We managed to get a really good get away after the show and headed straight for the exit.  We had to wait on the tram for a couple of minutes but all in all exited in record time.  We got in the car and came straight home getting in around 9pm.  We watched Harry Hill on ITV player as there was nothing on TV here!

We’re off to Epcot now…..

Well today is a very warm one as was yeterday.  The weather is getting better and better each day, although that is set to end about Thursday when it will rain and get colder again.  It’s Monday morning and as work emails fly into both mine and Paul’s mailboxes we sit in the sun by the pool and couldn’t care less!!  Paul has actually been in for a swim – the water is nice and warm.

Yesterday I left you as we headed out to Downtown Disney.  It was after 11 when we went out and very warm, enough to wear shorts and t-shirts.  We parked outside Cirque du Soleil and picked up our tickets for Thursday from the box office.  We also took a look around the shop.  They have some fab things, especially the venetian masks, but they are really pricey.  I had my photo taken wearing one instead of purchasing!

We wandered down to the balloon as this was the first thing we wanted to do.  There was a fairly big queue but we decided to go for it.  The original estimate was 30 minutes but it was actually an hour.  Good job it was a nice day really!  It took a while as the loads had been reduced to 10 passengers since there was some wind.  After weatching it go up and down endless times it was finally our turn.  Paul had been in it before in his previous trip so at least knew he had no problem with the height.  Our ascent was smooth enough and after 2.5 minutes we were at 400 feet.  The views accross Disney were excellent being a clear day and you can see all the parks.  The only thing you can’t see is Cinderalla’s castle as it is hidden behind the Contempory Resort hotel.  No one was allowed to walk around, we had to stay in our positions but we manged to get a good view ok.  After 5 minutes we began our descent.  We were told we would sway quite a lot and it could be bumpy but it felt fine.  We had seen from the ground the balloon sway a lot and figured it must feel a bit scary but it actually feels much less severe when in it than when observing it!  We landed absolutely fine.

We got off and decided to walk around to Market place to go in the Disney store.  We walked through Pleasure Island and as we went past the Irish pub we both smelt the chips and said we really fancied some.  So, we took a quick pit stop, sitting outside in the sun drinking root beer and munching on a bowl of chips.  I took the opportunity to give mum a quick call too.

After the unplanned pit stop (it was not on our strict itinerary but we coped – just about :-)) we continued over to marketplace.  We made a quick stop in the lego shop to see how the new technoloigy works; you hold a box to a camera and screen and it shows you holding the box with a virtual image of what can be made from the  bits inside – very neat really!  We then went into the Disney store which was quite busy.  The bibidy bobidy boutique was a popular as ever with little girls coming out all made up with scraped back sparkly hair (I so want to do it!).  Paul bought some key rings and I bought a Tinkerbell notebook.

After this we decided to get a water taxi back to the other side so made our way to the dock area.  It was only a couple of minutes wait before we boarded the boat.  We got off by the House of Blues and headed back to the car.  We had thought about doing the Diana exhibition but decided to give it a miss.  We headed into the Yacht club hotel as I wanted to look in the shop there.  We were slightly interrogated by the Security Guard who wanted to know what we were visiting so we lied and said we were hiring a boat!  In the shop I got some Tinkerbell Christmas cards and a silver Cinderalla’s coach charm from a new designer range.  We were only there about 20 minutes so if the guard saw us leave then he would have thought we had a really short boat ride, that or he thought his last hour on duty went real quick!!

 After the Yacht club we headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  It has been extended with a new area called Kidani Village that has not only rooms but a reserve area with animals that you can view and even feed.  We managed to get past security this time with a story about wanting to check out the restaurant and parked up.  (There are so many things you can do at Disney for free that Paul should write a book but the problem is that if everyone knows they will be swamped and may be taken away so we are keeping them to ourselves!)  We made our way to the reserve viewing area.  It is an outside platform with wooden rocking chairs overlooking a grassy reserve area with trees.  The Ranger was just driving around putting food out so our timing was great.  We saw all the Giraffes come for feeding and wathced them graze.  Their food was placed on the ground so they had to really bend to reach it.  They even have to spread their front legs to get down as their knees don’t bend properly.  One clever Gafflee figured that if he took a branch from the feeding pile and walked over to a palm tree he could wedge the branch he was eating in the palm tree fronds (the old brances that have been cut off in previous seasons on the tree trunk).  Very ingenious I thought and figured he was a very bright Gafflee until he took his second branch to another tree that was not a Palm and hence had a straight, smotth trunk.  We watched him as he tried to hook his branch several times and each time it just fell to the floor.  There were other animals in the reserve too; we saw emu, zebra, antelope and wilderbeast.   It was nice and warm in the sun and we sat there for some time watching them.

We eventaully headed home about 5pm and as it was still warm sat out back.  Paul took a dip in the pool and I dangled my feet in.  We had a cuppa and watched some TV and decided to go out to eat about 7pm.  Longhorn was on the itinerary and as it was Sunday we thought it could be busy so tried to call ahead.  For some reason the phone was not connecting so in the end we had to just go.   When we got there it was not that busy at all so we reckon the Thanksgiving weekenders must all have headed home – we hope so and that we we have a quiet week ahead!

We both had the 7oz filet and it was really succulent.  Service was a little too quick though as mains arrived before we had finished our salads.  The food was good and we supped root beer to accompany it.  After we finished we decided to go into Target to get some washing powder and some more bagals.  Being able to shop at 8 or 9pm on a Sunday, or whenever you feel you need something really, is one of the great things about this place and what sucks about the UK!

We came home earlier than previous nights with no fireworks and got in about 9pm.  We were tired so it was nice to relax.

So, its a cool Sunday morning here now but we are expecting it to warm up later to the mid 70’s which will be really nice.

I last left you on Friday evening before we were heading out for dinner and to watch the fireworks.  We knew it would ge very cold so took 4 layers to wrap up in after dinner.  We went to Applebees and had chicken and rice bowls.  I had the orange chicken and Paul the Teryaki chicken.  We asked the chef to pick out the broccoli too 🙂  Neither of us were that hungry so we didn’t finish them but even so we decided to have the dessert shooters.  They are glass shot glasses with sundae’s in them.  I had chocolate and Paul had hot fudge.  Both were very nice but rich and a bit sickly so a shot glass is more then enough.  After dinner we made a quick pit stop at Publix as we had no milk we drove over to the Polynesian.   It was very quiet on the beach and VERY cold.  There was plenty of seats available so we settled down on a hammock just before 10pm.  Wishes was good and the hotel now play the Wishes music louder so you can hear it as you watch. 

We left straight after the fireworks very cold and very tired and made it to bed by about half 11. 

SATURDAY 28th.

Paul was up and about around half 7 I think but I had a lie in for another hour.  We had bagels for breakfast with peanut butter and grape jelly (not combined – though that’s a great American tradition!).  We were in no hurry to rush out so chilled out watching TV and sitting by the pool.  We had a visit from George too.  We eventually headed out about 11am.  The plan was to go to the top end of I-Drive to some of the outlet shops and TJ Maxx.  On the way Paul decided to stop at the Flea Market located in the old Dolly Parton building.  I was very dubious but soon ate humble pie when I saw a stall selling some great fake Tiffany silver jewellery.  I bought a ring and also found a fake LV scarf a little later on.  Many of the stalls were vacant and Paul said there was a lot less there than when he visited a few weeks ago. 

I-Drive was fairly busy and after a nice Starbucks drive through we parked and headed into Nine West.  Amazingly I could not find anything I wanted to buy.  Next we went into Calvin Klein.  The prices in there were really good and many things were 50% off.  There was a fab leather jacket I loved but sadly they dod not have it in my size.  Paul managed to get some jeans and a wash bag and I got a pink sweater.

After this we went over to TJ Maxx.  I thought the selection of stock was quite poor and especially in my size the rails were sadly lacking.  I tried on loads of jeans as was after some new skinny jeans to tuck into boots after Ruth stole mine!  I managed to get some and some leggings.  Paul wanted a belt but could not find one he liked.

Universal City Walk was next, specifically Hart and Huntingdon to book our next tattoos.  Paul is getting an Ambigram on his left forearm and I am getting a pheonix on my right thigh.  Our artist Rob was in the shop so we managed to speak to him directly.  We booked in for Thursday at 2pm and filled in and signed all the paperwork. 

The weather now was really warm – it was about half 2 so we sat outside with some drinks and enjoyed the sun for about an hour or so.  We were getting hungry so decided to go to TGI’s for an early dinner ahead of the Disney Pirate firework cruise we had in store that evening.  We went to the one on I-Drive which had seating outside so we opted for that as it was still nice and warm.  I had Jack Daniels chicken and Paul had a Jack Daniels burger.  The food was good though Paul was slightly disappointed as they had run out of root beer.  The sun was starting to set at about 5pm so we finsihed up and came home. 

After watching Legally Blonde on TV we set about getting all our layers again ready for the Pirate Firework cruise.  We left the house about 8pm and made our way over to the Contemporary Resort where the cruise sailed from.  We had to be there for 8:45 and as we got out to the dock at 8:35 there was no one to be seen at all and no signs.  With only a few minutes left we started to wonder what was going on so headed back to reception to ask.  Apparantly the meeting point is in the hotel upstairs so we went up and check in at the desk.  We were the last party to arrive apparantly.  There were about 100 people there – some kids and adults in pirate costumes which made us think we should have worn ours!  There were pirate mannequins as well as Mr Smee and Captain Hook characters.  There were 2 other characters doing the organising; pirates called Patch.  There were snacks and drinks available – pretzels, peanuts, cookies, cotton candy (candy floss to the Brits) as well as soft drinks and hot drinks.  We had some and sat down.  We got talking to a family from Idaho on their first visit to WDW.  They asked if we had a boy or a girl and looked bemused as we answered neither!  Paul explained we were the big kids ourselves which made them smile.  We left the hotel about 20 past 9 and made our way to the docks.  There were 2 boats sailing with open bench style seating.  We sailed straight to the front of the Magic Kingdom area with some jokes and trivia on the way.  Patch also read out all group names and we had to say where we were from and say hi to everybody – very Disney!  There was a very loud and annoying drunken American woman who seemed insistant on entertaining the entire boat though like I said it was defintely more annoying than entertaining.  There were a couple of kids sat in front of us one of whom had obvously just had a new camera.  He took pictures literally every few seconds with the flash but being night time not one of them turned out at all!  Still, he was happy bless him!!  We were on the far side of the boat to watch the fireworks which meant that some of the really high up ones were hard to see as the boat had a canopy roof.  It was still a good show though and actually was not as cold as the previous night at all.  After the fireworks we set sail back and had more trivia.  The kids all got prizes for getting questions correct.  We got off the boat about half 10 and got in the car to some straight home.  A cuppa and bed was about all we were fit for so that was another day over.

This morning as we watch Richie Rich and I type this we are going to have bagals again for breakfast then head over to Downown Disney.   You can read what we get up to real soon….

Here we are again in the Sunshine state.  It’s been a while – almost a year in fact.  I won’t go into the reasons why as none of them are good so let’s focus on being here.

We flew out of Manchester on Thursday 26th after a night in the airport Hilton hotel.  After a cooked breakfast in the airport and the purchase of some special edition Dior lipgloss (Dior bling!) we boarded and took to our seats – and I mean OUR seats as we had 6A and 6K.  Despite some posh old lady wanting Pauls seat (she had 8A but with her dodgy eyesite insisted it was 6A) we settled in and supped the usual complimentary beverages.  Though Paul switched to fizzy water not champers for some reason.  The flight had a couple of bumpy spots at the first drinks service, in the  middle and before landing though the captain never switched on the seat belt sign.  The food on board was pretty poor so we were glad we’d had our fry up’s beforehand.  I did have some very nice butternut squash and sweet potato soup though.

Duty free purchases were more Dior (their range is called Dior Addict which is sooo appropriate for me) in the form of some plumping lip gloss and a Links friendship bracelet that I’ve been after for a while.

Films on board included Night at the Museum 2 – which is better that the first in my opinion, Adventureland – which Paul thought was rubbish and Transformers, Rise of the Fallen that Paul also reckoned was rubbish!!

Before landing we had the usual sandwiches and scones or Brownies.  We got to the gate at about 7:45GMT so 2:45EST.  We got through Imigration, baggage collection and customs really quickly and within 30 minutes were at the Avis desk getting the hire car……a Ford Focus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My exclamation marks will be meanigful to any work colleagues who may read this.

We were both hungry as the sandwiches were not that filling so stopped at TGI’s on the 192 for dinner at about half 4.  I had chicken caeser salad and Paul had a Jack Daniels burger.  The food was good as ever.  We then headed to the house which we both commented that after 3 years still looks in very good nick.

We unpacked and set about writing our itinerary as we had not done so before we left.  Yet again its pretty jam packed with all the fave’s on there but rather than detail it all here you can read what happens after each day or so in this blog.

After watching some TV and printing off some tickets and details we had brought with us we hit the sack about 9pm.

FRIDAY 27th

We did consider heading out to the shops at 5am since we would be on UK time and could easily manage this.  Today is Black Friday and for anyone who doesn’t know about that then go and google it!  It’s the day after Thanks Giving  and has the greatest deals and savings that can be found.  Pretty much all shops open at 5am with limited numbers on most deals.  Best Buy for example had a 46 inch Samsung LED TV, usual price $2699 on offer today at $1599 but only 8 are available at each store.  All Black Friday deals are today only and most stores have things called door busters which again are limited stock sale items.

We ended up heading out about 8am but of course had to go to Downtown Disney McD’s for our obligatory first day brekky!  After this we headed straight to the Florida Mall as the Disney shops were still not open.  The car park looked heaving but we managed to get a space just outside the Florida hotel so headed into the Mall that way.  There were some disappointments in that Sephora have ceased to stock Decleor so I couldn’t get me eye cream and also that the Apple store were limiting the number of customers inside and had a queue outside.  Paul did not want to queue so didn’t get his Apple fix.  He did lurk outside for a few minutes to get a free wifi fix though!  Apple too had some good deals on ipods and macbooks etc.  The Mall istelf was busy but not so much so that you couldn’t get around, it certainly seemed better than the car park indicated.  There were some bargains to be had and I started my purchases at a very busy but firm favourite, Nine West.  I got some great high heeled trouser shoes at an extra 30% of the sale price bringing them to about 50 bucks.  After this we went into Yankee candle and spent AGES sniffing loads of candles.  I opted to buy tarts (wickless meltable patties) as I have an electric tart burner and they will be much better weight wise in my case than the jar candles.  I did get a special edition jar – Mrs Claus’s cookies and after spending over $30 got two more jars for just 10 bucks so still ended up with heavy carriage!  Paul looked in the game store as he is considering a DSi.  There is a bundle on offer at $170 but he is going to think about it.  Macy’s was next where I picked up a doorbuster deal on a DKNY jumper at $27.  At Aveda we got some shampoo etc and a quick stop at Trade Secret saw me get a manicure kit and a bronze coloured nail vanish.  We then went into Dillards where I got my Prescriptives face serum and eye cream and a fab DKNY cream leather handbag that was half price at $125.  I got some more bad news at the Prescriptives stand when I was told that the range was being completely discontinued worldwide!!  We made our way to the menswear section and Paul decided to do some serious shopping.  He got some real bargains – tracky bottoms at 13 bucks (with no cuffed ankles), a RL Polo shirt at $25, a RL black cotton sweater at $35 and 2 Mark Ecko tops at about 30 bucks each.  One is a Star Wars T shirt – nice and geeky :-).  It was now about 1pm and we were getting peckish so headed back towards the food court.  On the way I managed to get the Aldo boots I had been after in the UK but were all sold out.  I had to pay full price but at least I got the ones I wanted.

The food court was manic, this is clearly where all the people were, so we decided to leave and find somewhere else for lunch.  The weather outside was really nice.  Sunny and warm so we wanted to find somewhere to eat where we could sit outside.  We pondered and decided to try Downtown Disney but upon getting to car park it was clear this was a BAD idea.  Having followed several cars SLOWLY around for what seemed like an eternity we left – somewhat fractious!!  In the end we plumped for McDonalds as it at least had seating outside.

We headed for home at about 3pm stopping at Super Target on the way.  We bought every “Santa’s Treats” votive they had – 13 in all and some milk and kitchen roll.

We got home about 4pm and have since sat by the pool supping tea and pounding the keyboards on our laptops.  So, that brings me to the present moment so I will close for now.  We plan on going to Applebees for dinner and then over to watch the Wishes fireworks from the beach at the Polynesian later.  It is getting quite chilly so jumpers and coats will be required.  I’ll write tomorrow on how we got on but for now it’s farewell.

So I’m writing this from a much colder place even given the unseasonable weather we had in Orlando.

The final day was pretty uneventful.  We managed to pack everything – just – but had to expand both our cases.  They didn’t weigh very much though, both under 23kg even though we had a 32kg limit in Premium.  Paul seemed to end up with most of the presents as I had to get all my own purchases in!  We did bring our small cases too.  We ended up with everything except my teddy packed.  Since the world and his wife seem to have more then 1 piece of hand luggage on most Orlando flights – especially cuddly Disney toys – I decided to carry him (him doesn’t have a name yet and needs one).

We packed the owners closet and tidied the house and were all ready to leave at about 2pm.  Paul managed to have one last swim which was good.

We decided to go over to the FL Mall again as I wanted to get something for my Brother.  We managed to do so and also found something else for him in Macys.  I don’t think he’ll read this blog but I best not say just in case.  We’re still 2 presents short so will have to do some shopping at home.

We left the mall and had some lunch at McDonalds (yet more unhealthy stuff).  The traffic was absolutely horrendous – no idea where everyone was going on a Saturday at 5pm but it was the busiest we’ve ever seen it so we set out for the airport.

We dropped the awful car back at Dollar; it really had been bad and was on its last legs.  We checked in quite quickly at the Premium queue but sadly there were no upgrades or exit seats available.  We had about an hour to kill before boarding and with no lounge access decided to try and find a quiet part of the airport away from the “marauding” brits.  We found somewhere and Paul could log into his laptop so the hour went quickly.

The other Virgin flights were all very delayed.  We found out later that Gatwick had been closed for 5 hours Friday causing the delays but we never found out why.  The Gatwick flight was not scheduled to take off until 11:30pm so we were so grateful we weren’t on that.  The early Manchester flight was delayed to about the same time as ours so we were lucky really.  We got to the gate about 8pm – it was heaving!  They had delayed boarding until 8:40 so more waiting!

Because of the tail winds the flight time was set to be just over 7 hours – that’s well quick from Orlando.  We eventually got on and away on what was to be a bumpy flight.  Paul had checked the flying websites he uses so we expected it.  It was ok to begin with right until just after dinner.  Dinner was horrible BTW.  Paul had a seafood option which he couldn’t even eat and I had a chicken dish that looked like a Denny’s senior meal!  Both were pretty foul and we were glad of the cheese and biscuits to fill us up.  After dinner I went to the loo and got about 2 steps before the Captain turned on the sest belt sign – typical.  It was then on for about 2 hours and whilst bumpy sometimes it was quite smooth for a lot of it.  People were going to the loo despite the sign being on – Paul being one of them!  The flight path took us high; up the Eastern seaboard coast and over just under Iceland.  The belt sign went on a few times but it was never really bad, just mildly bumpy.

We couldn’t sleep much in those seats – we missed our flat beds and duvets – so listened to our ipods.  We landed at 10am to a cold and misty Manchester.  We quickly got through immigration despite not using the IRIS channel – we couldn’t find it to be truthful!  Then got to the luggage belt.  My case came off in about 10 mins then we waited, and waited, and waited…….  We both started to get a bad feeling that the case with all the gifts in had gone walk about.  There were still lots of people around and cases being unloaded so we had no choice but to wait.  I thought I saw it at one point but it never seemed to come back around if I did.  Eventually after about 45 mins it turned up.  How on earth they get so seperated I don’t know.  Just another reason to go back to upper class with priority bags!!

We got out of Manchester at about half 11 and were home by 1pm.  We did little but sleep, unpack and sleep some more.  We even heard the X Factor results on the Radio on the way home so that was spoiled for us!!

It’s all becoming a distant memory now….for 6 weeks anyway….bring on January!!

I’ll have no one to type to but may keep a journal anyway….

Until then….

moscow