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Curly Wurly
 United Kingdom
258 Posts
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Status: offline |  Posted - 21 Sep 2005 : 10:37:02  
| Arriving, The Villa & Sarah
The captain announced our decent into Sanford after about 8 hours. I must admit that I don’t like landing at all, it scares me silly!! So with sweaty palms I reached out for Steve’s hand. The landing wasn’t too bad but Steve was grimacing because I had squeezed his hand into submission!
Upgraded passengers were first off the plane (another plus!) and then into immigration. It was empty! Our forms were checked by one of the ladies before telling us which desk to queue for. We can’t have been stood there more than 2 minutes when we were called forward. A very nice man checked all our passports, did the finger check thing and then the photo/eye thing (I think?), there was a small panic as Daron’s seemed to take an age and he had to re-do everything. But all was well, we were stamped where necessary and sent on our merry way. Last time we were in Sanford it took us over an hour to get through immigration, so we were pretty pleased. Next onto get the suitcases.
Well, we must have been one of the first few families through to luggage collection so we positioned ourselves round the conveyor belt (like you do) and waited. The conveyor belt starts off and a barrage of suitcases come flying out. Big ones, small ones, bright ones, but not ours! It seemed that everyone else’s on the plane came off before ours and they never come off at the same time do they? I think all in all we were about an hour waiting.
Next we were onto the dollar car hire desk. Again, we were sent in the right direction and told that only the drivers were allowed to go towards the desk and all other members of the party must wait outside in the car lot. We had 2 cars between the families but we had decided that we would each go on the others insurance in case we wanted to swap and change about etc.
The queues seem to move fairly quickly then it was our turn – we had to go to separate desks but explained that we wanted to be on each car. Richard’s seemed to move pretty quick and he was soon over to our lady to get our details. Ours seemed to be taking an age so I asked what the problem was. Turns out they were waiting for the 7 seaters to come back in. After about 15 minutes, kids were getting fed up of waiting so we asked what could be done. The lady went to her supervisor and came back and they only thing they could do was offer an upgrade to one with a sat nav for $70 so we took it because we really couldn’t be bothered waiting anymore.
We piled all the suitcases in the back and I got in (I was driver for all the holiday) and started trying to fathom out how to drive the thing! Richard pulled up in his Lincoln and explained the controls to me and slowly we set off out of the airport and headed for the 417. I soon got used to the driving but the only problem was I couldn’t fathom out how to move the seat forward so I spent the entire journey from Sanford to Kissimmee with my foot only just reaching the pedal!!
We hadn’t bothered with the Sat Nav because we had directions to the villa so we assumed we would be fine, but on the way Steve tried to figure out how to use it. As we came off the 417 we made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Celebration, don’t ask me how but I soon realised the mistake and headed back to the 192. It brought back memories of 2003 driving by Old town. The kids were getting excited in the back. By now it must have been about 10.30pm and I was starting to get tired, we knew the signs to look out for but somehow must have missed them and before I knew it we were on the US27 which I know was wrong. We pulled into the first petrol station and asked for directions – they both looked at me blank but said you need to be back on the 192!
So back on the 192, Steve frantically trying to figure out how the Sat nav worked. I was getting crotchety and short-tempered (oops!) so again we pulled in to ask for directions, this time stopping at the Best Western. I went in the reception and there was another lady asking for directions to Liki Tiki village (ha – not just us methinks!!). The girl on reception was very helpful and told us we only had about ½ mile to go before we turned off onto Lindfields. Back in the car Steve had managed to work the Sat Nav and had programmed in the address (thanks Steve – just 2 hours too late!!!)
The sat nav kicked in with a very posh voice, the children thought it was hilarious. “Cool” says Chris, “lets give her a name”. After much deliberating and discussion it was decided she would be “Sarah”.
After about 10 minutes “Sarah” announced that our destination was ahead on the left. Wow. We pulled into the drive and then set about opening the lock box and frantically looking for the alarm code. Then we walked in.
The villa was absolutely beautiful; the pictures we had seen just did not do it the full justice it deserved. We were in awe and just walked around with our mouths open. We had already flicked a coin to decide who had the upstairs/downstairs master bedrooms. We were upstairs. The children ran about getting suitcases and generally messing about and being giddy. I know it was all exciting but to be honest I was so bushwhacked I wasn’t amused. Whilst we were unpacking, Richard found some menu’s and we ordered Pizza’s to be delivered as the children were ravenous (like teenagers invariably are).
I didn’t really feel like eating but managed a couple of slices and then headed off for a shower and bed. Steve had already had his and was sat watching TV in bed. I was very grumpy by now so mumbled something about people being inconsiderate so he turned off the TV and we went to sleep.
At about 7am the next morning I woke up and now being nice & refreshed the excitement and giddiness hit me. I ran from the bathroom and jumped on the bed, nearly giving Steve a heart-attack. “We’re here, were in Florida!” I said. “yes I know!” he says.
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Janice |
Edited by - Curly Wurly on 21 Sep 2005 10:56:13 | | Report this post to a moderator |
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kitty
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Status: offline | Posted - 21 Sep 2005 : 20:12:22
| Hi curly good report but it brings back so many memories from our holiday last year we took a turn off the 417 ended up in celebration and had to find a way out,then when we finally found the 192 we went so far ended up at us27,only to find ourselves pulling into a petrol garage when we asked where we were he replied in a jokingly voice "gorgia",i think thats spelt right,anyway he told us where to go and after getting lost again we pulled into a hotel complex called summer bay and asked where liki tiki was ,that was where we were staying,to be told its next door,so your driving from the airport sounds very much like our.We have hired a sat nav this time and looking at your report better make sure we use it |
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Curly Wurly - Part 2 - Arriving, The Villa & Sarah
