chrisj
19-08-2004, 23:56
Day 1
Yippie after planning for a year, the day had finally come. was meant to go to work for the morning but decided not to, we had a very lazy morning just putting the last bits and bobs in the cases, putting our pot plants in next door, car away etc
2pm came and the mini bus arrived, kids very excited now, we pulled off and hit heavy traffic from Heathrow all the way round to Gatwick, took an age to get to the airport, glad I wasn#8217;t driving it would have got me mad
got to the airport straight to twi-light check in and this year we actually got our pre-booked seats. Took 5 minutes to check in, then walked over to the Hilton and booked into our family room, the room was really big. Dumped our cases and got directions to a local pub, it wasn#8217;t that far so we walked. Cant remember the name but it was a little country pub, we sat outside had a lovely meal and a few drinks. Walked back to the hotel and hit the sack
Day 2
Woke up and we all had showers, took the 3 minute walk back to the terminal, Gee glad we booked in last night the place was heaving. Sailed through customs with No problem at all, did a bit of shopping and went to the gate., me and mum sat down had our last couple of smokes for about 11 hours and we boarded the plane. For some
reason that we never found out we sat on the plane for an hour before we took off ??
The FA#8217;s this year were not the Trolly Dolly#8217;s from Hell that we had last year and they were brilliant and always around, Flight was approx 8 hours which was good Cos the film selection was rubbish. Gee I hate long flights my bum gets numb
Plane landed and off we got straight to the customs hall, wow hardly anyone there, We went through no problem, then was called back, he had found the immigration forms for the kids, he obviously made a mistake but starting giving us the third degree for some reason, then it happened, the computer system crashed, if he could have been any slower he would have fallen asleep, then out of the blue he pologised
smiled, yep he actually smiled and said to have a great time., wow that made me laugh .
Got our luggage and was waived through the bit where they scan your cases, handed them back over and onto the next bit, when we got there our cases were already going round, so picked them up and downstairs for the hire car.
Glad we hadn#8217;t booked with Alamo, they must have had 30 plus people in their queue, we were 6th in line at Dollar, now we may have only been 6th, but these guys were really great at being slow, so me and mum outside for a puff, got back and we had moved to 2nd, not bad. Anyway our turn. Chap asked if we wanted an upgrade no thanks, remembered what John said and made sure wife#8217;s details were on the hire agreement as well. This is when the fun really began.
Walked over to the Dollar bit in the car park and waited where they hand you the keys for your car, when it was my turn the lady (Cruella we named her) grabbed my paperwork, turned round and threw the keys on the counter and shouted something, I asked her what she had said, so she shouted it again, I just burst into laughter and asked the lady working with her, she said our car was in L75 and we had to check it for scratches and if we found something wrong to come back, I said that I thought it was for them to check the cars for scratches, Cruella shouted something at me, well she barked at me really, so off we went to find L75, we found it but no car
So back to Cruella who I told we couldn#8217;t find the car, wow the look she gave me, grabbed the paperwork and keys then barked at me again, I got the giggles and she seemed to get annoyed at me her mate said it was L25, so off we went again in search for L25 #8211; oh dear a white one, now I hate white, the car was dirty and I mean dirty but
no way was I going to tackle Cruella anymore, she might have attacked me , so loaded the car and off we went.
[i]Now this bit is for Blott, we followed her great instructions she sent, wow really doing well then for some reason that beats us all we took a wrong turn and misse
Yippie after planning for a year, the day had finally come. was meant to go to work for the morning but decided not to, we had a very lazy morning just putting the last bits and bobs in the cases, putting our pot plants in next door, car away etc
2pm came and the mini bus arrived, kids very excited now, we pulled off and hit heavy traffic from Heathrow all the way round to Gatwick, took an age to get to the airport, glad I wasn#8217;t driving it would have got me mad
got to the airport straight to twi-light check in and this year we actually got our pre-booked seats. Took 5 minutes to check in, then walked over to the Hilton and booked into our family room, the room was really big. Dumped our cases and got directions to a local pub, it wasn#8217;t that far so we walked. Cant remember the name but it was a little country pub, we sat outside had a lovely meal and a few drinks. Walked back to the hotel and hit the sack
Day 2
Woke up and we all had showers, took the 3 minute walk back to the terminal, Gee glad we booked in last night the place was heaving. Sailed through customs with No problem at all, did a bit of shopping and went to the gate., me and mum sat down had our last couple of smokes for about 11 hours and we boarded the plane. For some
reason that we never found out we sat on the plane for an hour before we took off ??
The FA#8217;s this year were not the Trolly Dolly#8217;s from Hell that we had last year and they were brilliant and always around, Flight was approx 8 hours which was good Cos the film selection was rubbish. Gee I hate long flights my bum gets numb
Plane landed and off we got straight to the customs hall, wow hardly anyone there, We went through no problem, then was called back, he had found the immigration forms for the kids, he obviously made a mistake but starting giving us the third degree for some reason, then it happened, the computer system crashed, if he could have been any slower he would have fallen asleep, then out of the blue he pologised
smiled, yep he actually smiled and said to have a great time., wow that made me laugh .
Got our luggage and was waived through the bit where they scan your cases, handed them back over and onto the next bit, when we got there our cases were already going round, so picked them up and downstairs for the hire car.
Glad we hadn#8217;t booked with Alamo, they must have had 30 plus people in their queue, we were 6th in line at Dollar, now we may have only been 6th, but these guys were really great at being slow, so me and mum outside for a puff, got back and we had moved to 2nd, not bad. Anyway our turn. Chap asked if we wanted an upgrade no thanks, remembered what John said and made sure wife#8217;s details were on the hire agreement as well. This is when the fun really began.
Walked over to the Dollar bit in the car park and waited where they hand you the keys for your car, when it was my turn the lady (Cruella we named her) grabbed my paperwork, turned round and threw the keys on the counter and shouted something, I asked her what she had said, so she shouted it again, I just burst into laughter and asked the lady working with her, she said our car was in L75 and we had to check it for scratches and if we found something wrong to come back, I said that I thought it was for them to check the cars for scratches, Cruella shouted something at me, well she barked at me really, so off we went to find L75, we found it but no car
So back to Cruella who I told we couldn#8217;t find the car, wow the look she gave me, grabbed the paperwork and keys then barked at me again, I got the giggles and she seemed to get annoyed at me her mate said it was L25, so off we went again in search for L25 #8211; oh dear a white one, now I hate white, the car was dirty and I mean dirty but
no way was I going to tackle Cruella anymore, she might have attacked me , so loaded the car and off we went.
[i]Now this bit is for Blott, we followed her great instructions she sent, wow really doing well then for some reason that beats us all we took a wrong turn and misse