Florida Guide > Miscellaneous
Pauls Florida Diary Day 1
Day 1
Ok, so today is the day, its Saturday morning we awoke at 6am. Will and Karlie were already up and ready to as normal I was the last out of bed, I didn’t take long to get dressed and get the 3 suit cases and one duffle bag loaded into the car, my bag was the lightest by far whereas the other members of our party were all a little concerned about the weight allowance.
After a quick weight check we were off the trip from our house to Manchester airport via Stockport is never a great journey and can be fraught with delays in heavy traffic but as we were early in the morning we arrived in good time without any hold ups
We found our parking and soon was on the bus from the parking to the airport and soon we were inside the departure lounge, this is the part of going on holiday I simply do not enjoy at all and as it had been some 4 years since I had flown I had found Manchester airport had changed significantly.
As we had done our check in online with Thompson we just had to check our cases. Bags checked in and through the security all that was left was time to get a bit of breakfast and a little duty free shopping, everything had changed in the departure area since I last flew the old café had gone replaced by some more upmarket restaurant, but we chose to eat at Frankie and Benny’s . I have to say the breakfast was very good and not bad value for in the airport, service was a bit slow though but we were all soon tucking in. After breakfast a little shopping for something to read and drink on the plan, Will and Karlie headed to the bar area to relax before the flight but before we knew it our flight was being called.
Soon we were having our boarding card checked and were finding our seats we were flying on the new Dreamliner which is a brilliant plane more leg room than you would ever need being just over 6 feet tall I even had room to spare.
The service on the flight was excellent very similar to many previous flights on Virgin that I had taken free drinks and decent food. Each seat has it own TV screen which is pretty much standard now in long haul flights but these were independently controlled and so you could pause or stop your own films at any time there were also games you could pay if films or the TV shows were not your thing.
About 3 films later and one meal later we were on the approach to Sanford airport in Orlando everyone buckled up as the pilot began his decen , we all gasped when he told us the temperature was in the low 30’s, that’s in the 80s to us older people
Soon we were on the ground and taxing towards the gate to unload a few minute later we had docked and were heading towards the immigration area of the airport. Some 30 minute later we were through customs and collecting our bags and then across the road to collect our hire car from Alamo , as they had not got any cars in the band we had chosen we were given a nice big luxury SUV a Chevy Tahoe, complete with sat nav. The staff were very helpful.
Cases loaded we set off onto the 417 toll road and the hour long journey to our villa, it takes Shirley time to adjust to driving in the USA, especially after an early start and a long flight, so we generally take the 417 toll road rather than the I4 which is always busy with traffic.
About an hour later we were on the end of the 192 in Kissimmee and it looked just as last time I visited only more houses were being built, as we had no food and it was approaching 7pm now we needed some supplies for a little supper and breakfast etc. so after a brief discussion we all voted for a quick trip to Publix supermarket not Walmart otherwise we would end up spending too much time browsing around Walmart unbelievable range of products for sale.
A quick shop at publics and we had supper, breakfast and beer all that we needed and a 5 minute journey to our villa, we rolled up onto the drive unlocked the door and took all our groceries inside a quick supper and a beer or two and It was time for bed after a very long day travelling and so ended Day one of our holiday.
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