KevinTHFC
05-08-2004, 01:32
Set off from sunny Basingstoke at 6AM to get to Gatwick at the requested 4 hours :(before take off time. Journey to Gatwick went a lot quicker than expected and arrived at Gatwick at about 7:10, four and half hours before we were due to depart:(. Looked on the check in monitors to discover that we needed BA desks located in section F. We were met by a huge queue that we joined. However, all the check in desks said Europe and Africa only!
Were we in the wrong queue? Asked a BA lady who was trying desperately trying to sort out her ropes to control the queue, no we were not in the wrong queue she hadn't yet set up the diversion for the Tampa check in desk.[msnsmile2] She pointed us to the corner where we went straight to the front of the queue and checked in with the minimum fuss within five minutes. Procedded through security checks and grabbed some breakfast. The flight left on time and was fairly uneventful. The five of us were in row 27 A-E.
We arrived in the immigration hall in pretty good time but the wife and kids wanted to go to the loo. Foolishly I waited for them,[msncry] I should have got in line and let them join in when they had finished this meant we were pretty much at the end of the line when they had finally finished.
It took us about an hour to get through immigration and then another 20 minutes to get through customs. The good side of this was that there was no queue at the Dollar desk when we finally arrived to pick up the full sized car. The car was fine and the luggage fitted easily into the cavernous boot, oops trunk, but there is no CD player!! Major bummer the kids had spent ages making up the mixes they wanted to listen to.
The drive from Tampa to Davenport, we are staying in The Four Corners community on the 27 by the way, was very busy for the first half hour but was pretty good after that. We arrived at the Management Company at about 18:30, I entered the combination number in the box to allow for out of hours pick up of keys and was aghast to find no keys inide[msnoo]. Then I tried the door to the office that was open and fully manned [msnsmile2] picked up the keys took a quick detour to a Publix on the 27 to pick up some essentials, Beer, milk, beer, sausage patties, beer you get the picture. Dashed into the Chinesse take away on the same plot and then off to the villa.
The villa is great, 4 bed 3 baths games room and pool[msnsmile2]. Had a couple beers with an excellent take away, Beef & Broccoli and Seasame Chicken[msnsmile][msnsmile]before taking to our beds looking forward to a lazy day tomorrow.
Kevin
Were we in the wrong queue? Asked a BA lady who was trying desperately trying to sort out her ropes to control the queue, no we were not in the wrong queue she hadn't yet set up the diversion for the Tampa check in desk.[msnsmile2] She pointed us to the corner where we went straight to the front of the queue and checked in with the minimum fuss within five minutes. Procedded through security checks and grabbed some breakfast. The flight left on time and was fairly uneventful. The five of us were in row 27 A-E.
We arrived in the immigration hall in pretty good time but the wife and kids wanted to go to the loo. Foolishly I waited for them,[msncry] I should have got in line and let them join in when they had finished this meant we were pretty much at the end of the line when they had finally finished.
It took us about an hour to get through immigration and then another 20 minutes to get through customs. The good side of this was that there was no queue at the Dollar desk when we finally arrived to pick up the full sized car. The car was fine and the luggage fitted easily into the cavernous boot, oops trunk, but there is no CD player!! Major bummer the kids had spent ages making up the mixes they wanted to listen to.
The drive from Tampa to Davenport, we are staying in The Four Corners community on the 27 by the way, was very busy for the first half hour but was pretty good after that. We arrived at the Management Company at about 18:30, I entered the combination number in the box to allow for out of hours pick up of keys and was aghast to find no keys inide[msnoo]. Then I tried the door to the office that was open and fully manned [msnsmile2] picked up the keys took a quick detour to a Publix on the 27 to pick up some essentials, Beer, milk, beer, sausage patties, beer you get the picture. Dashed into the Chinesse take away on the same plot and then off to the villa.
The villa is great, 4 bed 3 baths games room and pool[msnsmile2]. Had a couple beers with an excellent take away, Beef & Broccoli and Seasame Chicken[msnsmile][msnsmile]before taking to our beds looking forward to a lazy day tomorrow.
Kevin