Big Mack
05-10-2004, 23:57
Thursday September 9th
Well yet another week spent watching a hurricane on the internet!! However this one was slightly different, it was not due to hit until the start of next week and so we were pretty confident of actually making it to Orlando this time. We went through all of the same motions as last week but with much lighter hearts and big smiles on our face. After a hearty Chinese and much beer we settled down for the night dreaming of Mickey and the sunshine.
Friday September 10th
Up early again but with a spring in our steps, in laws arrived and cars were packed. No trouble checking in this time only had to wait about ten minutes while the ground crew changed our ticket details then it was off to the international departure lounge for perfume and sweets. Not even an over zealous wheelchair worker could dampen our spirits when he wanted to take my FIL to the lounge and dump him promising to come back and get him before his flight!! I had a quite word with him and asked for some rethinking, while mentioning that I worked with the Airport Fire Service at Glasgow and had specifically requested a chair in advance. (This is true by the way)
We had yet another good flight to Iceland and yet another lovely dip in the Blue Lagoon. My in laws never tired of telling anyone who would listen how we had done all of this before, only last week as well!!
With joy in our hearts we boarded the flight from Iceland to Orlando, the look on my sons face was priceless, he still thought that we might be sent home again but as we took off for Orlando his face was a picture of happiness.
We had a great flight which was only very slightly late in arriving due to dithering by ground staff at Iceland when checking boarding passes and passports. Nothing seems to be able to hurry these people up.
We sailed through homeland security (or whatever they are called) and were delighted to find car hire desks with no lines whatsoever. The girl checked our voucher and gave us our keys without so much as trying to sell us an air freshener!! Brilliant.
All in all we were out of the airport and in our car within an hour of landing.
We had been on the go for almost 24 hours but were feeling very chuffed that we were finally in Orlando. The first thing that hit us as we left the airport building was the stifling heat even at10o’clock at night it was roasting. The next surprise was the 8 seater “MINI” van, oh my god it was huge. My wife had volunteered to do the driving to the villa while I was chief navigator, however when she laid eyes on our chariot I think she began to regret it.
She wasn’t that phased though and after a quick familiarisation with it we were off and running. My wife did brilliantly even though I managed to take her the wrong way at the very first junction (Road signs in the US are not the greatest!) and considering she had more back seat drivers than you could shake a stick at. We finally found the 417, came off at junction 6 onto the 535 then 536 (or is that the other way around?), found Poinciana Boulevard with no problems and were pulling into Aster Cove, Crescent Lakes within 45 minutes of setting off.
The villa was lovely and we started to get settled in. I tried my best to raise a cable channel on one of the two TV’s but had no luck, however we did find K92FM on the radio and that was to become our adopted station during our stay in Florida. The girls went to the 7/11 gas station that we had passed on the way in and came back with some delicious hot dogs and cold beer. Once they were polished off we all hit the hay keeping our fingers crossed that Ivan would stay clear. [zzz]
Well yet another week spent watching a hurricane on the internet!! However this one was slightly different, it was not due to hit until the start of next week and so we were pretty confident of actually making it to Orlando this time. We went through all of the same motions as last week but with much lighter hearts and big smiles on our face. After a hearty Chinese and much beer we settled down for the night dreaming of Mickey and the sunshine.
Friday September 10th
Up early again but with a spring in our steps, in laws arrived and cars were packed. No trouble checking in this time only had to wait about ten minutes while the ground crew changed our ticket details then it was off to the international departure lounge for perfume and sweets. Not even an over zealous wheelchair worker could dampen our spirits when he wanted to take my FIL to the lounge and dump him promising to come back and get him before his flight!! I had a quite word with him and asked for some rethinking, while mentioning that I worked with the Airport Fire Service at Glasgow and had specifically requested a chair in advance. (This is true by the way)
We had yet another good flight to Iceland and yet another lovely dip in the Blue Lagoon. My in laws never tired of telling anyone who would listen how we had done all of this before, only last week as well!!
With joy in our hearts we boarded the flight from Iceland to Orlando, the look on my sons face was priceless, he still thought that we might be sent home again but as we took off for Orlando his face was a picture of happiness.
We had a great flight which was only very slightly late in arriving due to dithering by ground staff at Iceland when checking boarding passes and passports. Nothing seems to be able to hurry these people up.
We sailed through homeland security (or whatever they are called) and were delighted to find car hire desks with no lines whatsoever. The girl checked our voucher and gave us our keys without so much as trying to sell us an air freshener!! Brilliant.
All in all we were out of the airport and in our car within an hour of landing.
We had been on the go for almost 24 hours but were feeling very chuffed that we were finally in Orlando. The first thing that hit us as we left the airport building was the stifling heat even at10o’clock at night it was roasting. The next surprise was the 8 seater “MINI” van, oh my god it was huge. My wife had volunteered to do the driving to the villa while I was chief navigator, however when she laid eyes on our chariot I think she began to regret it.
She wasn’t that phased though and after a quick familiarisation with it we were off and running. My wife did brilliantly even though I managed to take her the wrong way at the very first junction (Road signs in the US are not the greatest!) and considering she had more back seat drivers than you could shake a stick at. We finally found the 417, came off at junction 6 onto the 535 then 536 (or is that the other way around?), found Poinciana Boulevard with no problems and were pulling into Aster Cove, Crescent Lakes within 45 minutes of setting off.
The villa was lovely and we started to get settled in. I tried my best to raise a cable channel on one of the two TV’s but had no luck, however we did find K92FM on the radio and that was to become our adopted station during our stay in Florida. The girls went to the 7/11 gas station that we had passed on the way in and came back with some delicious hot dogs and cold beer. Once they were polished off we all hit the hay keeping our fingers crossed that Ivan would stay clear. [zzz]