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rosie
 4203 Posts
Joined: 14 May 2004
Status: offline |  Posted - 16 Oct 2004 : 14:57:23  
| Days 1&2.
Up early as usual to get to the airport in plenty of time. It’s only a 50 min drive but arriving at the airport is the start of any holiday for me and I do like to be in plenty of time and not rushing like a maniac at the last minute. Al usually complains bitterly at me waking him at ridiculous times but I'm excited, what can I say....
We leave home at 7am, bearing in mind the flight isn't till 12.30 but as I said I do like to be early. Never before has Al been so grateful I get up early. Parked the car in the Parking Express car park and caught the bus to the terminal, complete with 4 suitcases, laptop bag, 2 holdalls and I swear there’s a kitchen sink in there somewhere.
Struggle into the terminal to find an awful lot of people looking pretty fed up? The queues were very long for Premium economy so we tagged on the end. The guy in front asked if we were going to Orlando on the 12.30 flight, we replied yes and then he dropped the first bombshell of the day. THE FLIGHT HAD BEEN CANCELLED because of Jeanne.
Well there was no way I was going home again after breaking my back getting all those cases to the airport. Al went and spoke to one of the Virgin staff who confirmed our flight was indeed cancelled. After a quick decision we decided to try and get a flight to New York and stay with my aunt till Jeanne had passed. So off Al trotted to queue at the information desk.
Meanwhile I started chatting to a few people in the queue and told them we had bought a house in Fl and if anyone was planning a trip in the future to take a look at our website. Pulling cards from my handbag I handed them out to anyone who would take one.
Al got to the desk and asked them to get us on any flight to the US today so at least we could just jump on a plane down to Fl in a couple of days. His face told me it wasn't going well and I began to resign myself to the fact we weren't going anywhere.
Then a small miracle occurred, the guy on the desk pulled Al to one side and told him he had got us on the earlier flight, which was leaving in less than an hour. It seems they had 2 Premium economy tickets left for that one and we got them as we had booked PE for the 12.30 flight. Had we left any later from home we would have missed out, so he better not complain any more when I get him up early !!!
So we check in the luggage mountain and head straight off to the gate to board the plane. Flight was uneventful so we relaxed.
Arrived at MCO to wind and rain, picked up the car and headed off to the villa we were staying in till we closed on ours. Got in and unpacked some things and headed out to get something to eat. Ate at the first restaurant we came across which was the Ponderosa up by Formosa Gardens and then thought we better get some food in in case the storm got worse. It was 9pm by now and just about everything was closed, we found a small supermarket and picked up some water, beer and nibbles since most of the "real food" had long since been bought.
By now the wind was picking up and the rain was pretty hard so we went home to batten down the hatches and sit it out. Managed to stay up till 12.30 local time then gave in and went to bed only to be woken up 3 hours later when presumably the storm was at full blast. The noise was tremendous so we went downstairs to try and get some sleep on the sofas. We lost power about 20 minutes later closely followed by the phone going off too.
Managed to sleep off and on through most of the morning till lunchtime. It was still pouring hard with rain but at least now we had daylight, so being smokers we went out to the porch to try and light a ciggie. Not an easy task in all the rain and wind but us addicts manage somehow. The people in the villa next door were smokers too so we got to chatting (well shouting above the noise more than chatting) and met up through the day as we tried to smoke outside. We played board games and kept ourselves amused for the rest of the afternoon. At around 8pm when the wind had eased we decided to venture out and see if there was anywhere open, having no contact by phone, TV or radio meant we had no idea how bad or otherwise things had got so off we set. We got as far as Champions gate when we saw a police car and waved him to stop. He told us everything was closed and there was a curfew in place until 6am the following morning so we turned the car around and went home.
We had no sooner got into the house than the doorbell rang and it was our new neighbours asking if we had any food or drink. We told them we had cookies and beer and they were welcome to join us if they were stranded with nothing, but instead they went back and brought us a bag containing bread, butter, milk, bacon and eggs. Never before have bacon and eggs tasted so good and we will always grateful to them for that.
By 10pm we decided that sitting in the dark was really quite boring so headed off to bed again to try and get a full nights sleep in hope of being able to get out tomorrow........
As Scarlett once said “After all tomorrow is another day”……….
Part 2 http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic_14821.asp
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Rosie
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Edited by - rosie on 21 Sep 2005 21:23:58 | | Report this post to a moderator |
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E. Cosgrove
 United Kingdom
5874 Posts
Joined: 26 Apr 2004
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LiesaAnna
 United Kingdom
11841 Posts
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
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finishrich
 United Kingdom
93 Posts
Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 17 Oct 2004 : 21:58:59
| | What a day to arrive and then to have no power. We were staying at Disney's Pop Century when Jeanne passed through and thankfully we had power, I would have been a nightmare otherwise especially with a 4 year old. The news channel and Disney movies helped pass the time, plus swapping kids books with the neighbours. | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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Cruella DeVilla
 USA
10642 Posts
Joined: 18 May 2004
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CarolAnn
United Kingdom
4767 Posts
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Status: offline | Posted - 18 Oct 2004 : 11:18:16
| Read this once already Rose, but it was a bit quick, so back again! It really is compelling reading! You should make a book of it! Especially as you will be able to continue the adventure in December! | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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Ray&Sarah
 United Kingdom
10599 Posts
Joined: 11 Nov 2003
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Off to buy a house
