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Curly Wurly
 United Kingdom
258 Posts
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Status: offline |  Posted - 20 Sep 2005 : 08:28:36  
| Preparations and the Journey
I’ve never done a trip report before so I’ll apologise way in advance it I rattle on and go off on a tangent!!
I’ll start by introducing our Motley crew…. There’s the Webb’s that’s us - me (Janice), my husband Steve and 3 children Daron (16) Chris (15) and Leanne (12)
Then we have the Hannam’s who are Richard, Bev and their son Adam (14) and last but not least Stacey (adam’s friend)
Friday 26th August
Woke up very early just so excited that this was our last day in England but I had half a day’s work to get through first so off I trundled. The morning seemed to drag forever but at last it was 12pm and time to go home, wait for hubby then off to the airport hotel. When I got home the children had tidied everything up, hoovered, washed-up etc (bless ‘em!!) and we were just raring to set off but we knew we had to wait till at least 3pm when Steve came home and showered etc.
Anyway, Steve managed to finish early so by 2.45pm we were on our way towards Manchester after checking and double-checking all tickets/passports/money etc. After a fairly uneventful trip down the motorway we hit a traffic jam just by the Trafford shopping centre but it soon moved and we were at the Britannia Country House hotel by just after 4pm. The Hannam’s had already arrived earlier in the day so we went straight to their room to say we had landed! The rooms were quite spacious to say we had a double bed, a single bed & bunk-beds. Adam & Stacey decided to go for a swim in the hotel pool so the other boys and fella’s played pool while us girlies had a coffee and chilled.
At about 6pm we were all ready for something to eat – Richard pipes up ‘I saw a couple of pubs just up past the traffic lights when we were on our way, lets take an amble up there’. We decided it couldn’t be far so we set off en masse. Mistake. Just past the traffic lights turned out to be about a 3-mile hike! (or it certainly felt like it) but at last we reached a pub (can’t remember the name).
We all goes in and it felt like every set of eyes turned round and looked at us (help!). The kids and Bev all went to get some seats, Steve set off to the loo and me & Richard stood in the bar area waiting for some menu’s. After a few minutes a scary looking barmaid appeared complete with crew-cut hair and says ‘No Food available’ with a hand gesture which looked like she wanted to cut our throats!  Oo-er. We didn’t need telling again so we made a hasty exit and set off along the road again. Poor Stacey only had her flip-flops on and I don’t know how she managed to walk so far. At last we spotted another more respectable looking place and sat down to a nice meal. Then trekked back to the Hotel ready for our last sleep!! I couldn’t sleep for 2 reasons 1) I was so excited and 2) the children kept whispering and holding their mobiles up to see the time!!
Saturday 27th August
We got up early and went off (in the opposite direction to the night before I might add!!) to a café for breakfast. We knew it was there because we used it last time we stayed at the hotel. Stocked up on sweeties and magazines for the flight and then back to the Hotel to grab the cases ready for the coach to take us to the airport. It arrived bang on time and we were on our way. We were dropped off at Terminal 2 and had then to use the walkway to get to the Station for our check in at Travel City. When we got in there was a big queue already, but having booked for the Upper Deck, we had priority check-in and went straight to the front of the priority desk. It was great. (sorry to anyone who might have been stood in that queue!!) Within 10 minutes all cases had been checked in and we then had to make our way back to Terminal 2 (this a bit of a pain but its not that far).
When we got in the Terminal I went in search of our plane and there it was standing bright and looking huge (I’ve never been on a Jumbo before). A quick look round the shops and then just waited. We were called to the gate at 12.45pm and were boarding by 1pm. Again; because of the upgrade we were given priority boarding. We were quite impressed with the legroom and a very handy storage compartment at the window seat. Steve and I sat together with a nice lady from Newcastle and the three children were behind us. Bev, Richard, Adam and Stacey were a few rows in front of us. Flight was about 20 minutes late in setting off but then we were off down the runway!!! Wooo-hooooo.
Vvvvrooooooommmmmmm…………….
The flight was very good. The flight attendants were friendly and efficient. Only disappointment was we were supposed to have Madagascar as one of our films but we didn’t, we had Kicking & Screaming instead. The meal was a choice of chicken or beef (which for aeroplane food was not bad!). Time seemed to fly by quite literally and before I knew it we were making our decent to Sanford………Mickey Mouse here we come! 
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Status: offline | Posted - 20 Sep 2005 : 16:50:49
| Good, love it when people start from the beginning,ie. the last moments before getting to the airplane, makes it so real and exciting. |
Jan |
Edited by - eagleydo on 20 Sep 2005 17:02:09 | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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Curly wurly - Part 1 - intro & journey
